In socialist countries of old, it was easy to find cookies and candies in state-owned stores while fresh meat and bread was rare, writes Jim Fedako. This audio Mises Daily is narrated by Joe
In the absence of prices, could a central planner efficiently run an economy? Before you answer, I’ll drop the Hayekian proviso that the planner be vile. Instead, I’ll only ask you to consider a planner who is a soccer mom wanting to maximize happiness among all. Would you still answer in the negative? I live in a neighborhood that has an
If I were a business owner, must I sell to you? If you answer yes, you must balance that requirement with your obligation to buy from me. All trade is bilateral. Well, to be more exact, and since we live in a country where a nebby uncle named Sam interferes in many trades, it is better to state that all free trade is bilateral. In a modern
With the recent court decisions — and lack thereof — in the case involving Elaine and Jonathan Huguenin and their refusal to photograph the commitment ceremony of a lesbian couple, we find ourselves ever further down what appears to be a slippery slope to slavery. A cursory review of the decision of the New Mexico State Supreme Court suggests it
Some 27 years ago, I spent two weeks in Yugoslavia, the supposed workers’ paradise cobbled together by the strong arm of Marshal Tito. And, if my memory serves, the country was an overflowing candy store — a middle schooler’s sweet-toothed delight. Socialism as a candy store? Sure. But you have to consider the question and its answer in context.
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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.