War and continued economic contraction underscore the reality that involvement in public affairs is crucial for the survival of liberty. As Mises wrote, “Economics must not be relegated to classrooms and statistical offices and must not be left to esoteric circles. It is the philosophy of human life and action and concerns everybody and
Few countries around the world wanted to be entangled in the War on Iraq, but now everyone seems eager to participate in reconstruction. The United States, as primary military aggressor, has estimated the cost of this effort totaling $100 billion over the next several years. Foreign aid seems to many as the only answer for Iraq’s shattered
Wilhelm Roepke is often credited as the theoretical architect of Germany’s postwar “miracle.” Few know that he was actually quite critical of the postwar system’s compromises with state intervention. In fact, in 1960, he wrote that the contrast between the productive market and “continuous redistribution of income for the sake of equality” is
In an odd twist, pro-market conservatives and libertarians have lined up en masse to protest the passage by the House of the drug reimportation bill authorizing the purchase of prescription drugs from Canada and roughly two dozen other countries. From Cato to Heritage, the American Enterprise Institute to The Weekly Standard , those with
There is, it seems, a segment of the American population that firmly believes China to be the greatest economic threat facing our country. As if domestic taxation, regulation and deficit spending were of negligible effect upon America’s economic well being, dealing with the threat from the Far East now ranks as our nation’s #1 priority. This
On the surface there was a triumph of trade two weeks ago for U.S. corporations and the Chinese people. Almost simultaneously, the Big Three in Detroit, followed closely by GE and Boeing, announced massive trade deals with the Chinese government valued at over three billions dollars. For his part, GM chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner sounded quite
It appears as though my prediction that pharmaceutical companies would cease to sell to Canadian pharmacies that export to the United States has come true. Today’s Wall Street Journal Reports ($): “Canadian internet pharmacies are refusing to back down as big drug makers intensify their battle to block exports of cut-price drugs to the
The Guardian has launched a website advocating the abolishment of all agricultural subsidies in Europe and the US. Although replete with historical inaccuracies, (e.g., “Giving subsidies to farmers was a brilliant idea that transformed the food shortages after the second world war into a surplus.”) the newspaper’s sudden discovery of free trade
From a 1982 article appearing in the New York Times, “A Nobel Winner Assesses Reagan”: “The only way you can finance a deficit is by inflation. You cannot raise this amount by genuine borrowing. You borrow from banks, which create credit for the purpose. A large government deficit is a certain way to inflation.”
Trade With China Is Heating Up As a Business and Political Issue (WSJ): “Although many U.S. corporations are seeking to tap into China to make and sell their products, a lengthening queue of U.S. industries are petitioning the government for relief from Chinese imports; more than one-fifth of the cases in which U.S. companies accuse overseas
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.