Should you be allowed to put a “For Sale” sign on your own car? Most people would say yes, but some local governments say no — and the courts approve this because somehow “commercial speech” is deemed less worthy of protection than political speech. Never mind, of course, that political speech about issues typically involves advocating the use of
This article from MSNBC shows how government-sponsored ethanol may seriously harm the environment, as fertilizer from the increased corn production makes its way to the Gulf of Mexico and kills sea life. So not only does ethanol hit taxpayers twice — first through subsidies and then through higher prices for corn and related products such as milk
Yes, that’s an actual New York Times editorial headline: Charity Begins in Washington . Ever-increasing private philanthropy is actually a bad thing, says the Times , because it crowds out government spending. Why, those private philanthropists can just give money to whatever they want! Better to tax us and let Washington decide where that money
Review of Restoring the Lost Constitution: The Presumption of Liberty , by Randy E. Barnett (Princeton University Press, 2004). [This review appears in the Journal of Libertarian Studies ] Randy Barnett is among the world’s leading libertarian academics and lawyers, perhaps second only to Richard Epstein in influence. In fact, Mr. Barnett has
[This review of Richard A. Posner, Catastrophe: Risk and Response (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) originally appeared in the Journal of Libertarian Studies , Vol. 20, No. 4, Fall 2006.] Richard Posner is widely described as a libertarian, [1] but as many of this journal’s readers likely know, this is not true. [2] And the latest of his
[Chapter 10 of Libertarianism Today by Jacob Huebert (Praeger, 2010). Reproduced with permission of ABC-CLIO, LLC, Santa Barbara, CA.] When the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) wins a $1.92 million verdict against a 32-year-old Minnesota woman for sharing 24 songs online, is that good for liberty? When Disney and other big media
[ Who Owns the Sky? The Struggle to Control Airspace from the Wright Brothers On • By Stuart Banner • Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2008 • 192 pages] Who owns the sky? For most of history, people never actually visited the sky, but the common law nonetheless had an answer: cujus est solum ejus est usque ad coelum — he who
[Speech given at the Mises Circle in Chicago on April 9, 2011. The video and audio recordings are available through Mises.tv .] Is there hope for liberty in our lifetime? It’s tempting to think so. As I discuss in the first part of my book, Libertarianism Today , libertarianism used to be of interest only to a tiny handful of people scattered
Today (via Drudge) we get a clear example of what radical environmentalists are about: University of Texas professor Dr. Eric Pianka -- who has just been named a “distinguished scientist” by the Texas Academy of Science -- has called for the elimination of 90 percent of the human population, preferably via disease. Here’s just a small taste of his
Should employers be allowed to check job applicants’ credit reports? I debated that question on CNBC’s Street Signs today: Click here to see video. Of course employers should be allowed to check applicants’ credit. Why should they look only at the biased information you put on your resume? Credit reports provide a fuller picture. My debate
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.