Henry Manne passed away yesterday at the age of 86. Manne was a wonderfully smart, creative, and iconoclastic writer and teacher best known for his work on corporate and securities law, particularly his vigorous defense of insider trading and his pathbreaking analysis of the market for corporate control. He wrote on many other topics as well,
A central premise of Keynesian economics is that, during a recession, government spending increases total output through a “multiplier” effect. If the multiplier is 1.0, then every dollar spent by the government on its own consumption -- rather than reducing someone else’s consumption or investment by $1 -- adds a dollar to GDP. Money for nothing!
Thanks to Per Bylund for organizing this excellent session at the upcoming meeting of the Academy of Management in Vancouver, August 7-11, 2015. Austrian economics is gaining increasing recognition and influence in the academic fields of strategic management, entrepreneurship, organizational design, and related areas. This session brings together
The Institute of Economic Affairs has published a useful review of Randy Holcombe’s recent book, An Advanced Introduction to the Austrian School of Economics . Reviewer Mikko Arevuo calls it “an erudite, accessible, and lucidly written introduction to the core principles, ideas and diversity of modern Austrian thinking.” Arevuo, who teaches
University of Sussex Professor Mariana Mazzucato is making headlines with her 2013 book The Entrepreneurial State , which argues that government, not the private sector, ultimately drives technological innovation. In a series of detailed case studies from information technology, pharmaceuticals, biotech, and other industries she argues that
The new issue of Economica features Tomasz Mickiewicz’s thoughtful review of my 2012 book with Nicolai Foss, Organizing Entrepreneurial Judgment: A New Approach to the Firm . Notes Mickiewicz: [T]he main contribution of this book is to highlight how the various efforts to reach beyond the marginalist equilibrium theory were interrelated, how they
Agricultural economist Jayson Lusk has a nice discussion of the US government’s SNAP (”food stamps”) program that nicely illustrates Mises’s theory of interventionism . Mises argued that government interventions such as price controls, subsidies, and other regulations not only fail to achieve their stated aims, but also generate unanticipated
The old Keynesian idea that war is good for the economy is not taken seriously by anyone outside the New York Times op-ed page. But much of the discussion still focuses on macroeconomic effects (on aggregate demand, labor-force mobilization, etc.). The more important effects, as we’ve often discussed on these pages, are microeconomic —namely,
Here are two very interesting journal articles on Kirzner’s theory of entrepreneurship. Peter Lewin’s characteristically thoughtful and careful treatment characterizes entrepreneurial opportunities as “the potential to create value,” a formulation that rightly emphasizes the uncertainty inherent in entrepreneurial action. (In a 2008 article I
Jeffrey Selingo raises an important point about the distinction between “public” and “private” universities, but I disagree with his analysis and recommendation. Selingo points out that the elite private universities have huge endowments and land holdings, the income from which, because of the universities’ nonprofit status, is untaxed. He calls
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.