[E]conomic power is exercised by means of a positive, by offering men a reward, an incentive, a payment, a value; political power is exercised by means of a negative, by the threat of punishment, injury, imprisonment, destruction. The businessman’s tool is values; the bureaucrat’s tool is fear. – AYN RAND
Ayn Rand publicly recommended the works of Mises but not of Hayek. Today, when Hayek is much better known than Mises, it's worth seeing why. I came to the full realization of what's wrong with Hayek's approach while re-reading Atlas Shrugged. No, not in Galt's speech,...
Those three elements are (a) division of labor; (b) impersonal exchange based on prices; and (3) economies of scale based on knowledge.
Some creative rethinking can put us on the road to a better tomorrow.
Open, competitive markets have a resilient capacity to successfully coordinate the actions of, now, billions of people around the world. With an amazing adaptability to changing circumstances, the actions and reactions of multitudes of suppliers and demanders are...
Despite the support which it historically gave to the exploitation theory, classical economics provides the basis for turning the exploitation theory upside down.
Introduce government intervention into the market system, and monopoly becomes a social harm and an economic problem.
The fundamental flaw in Professor DeLong’s view, as in John Maynard Keynes’ 1936 book is the idea that there exists a macro-economy the two sides of which are composed of aggregate demand and aggregate supply.
It is not for the president or any politician or regulator to issue dictates telling individuals or businesses where and what and how much to invest, much less what to say
Football is popular enough to thrive without politicians subsidizing it.
A felicitous introduction to Mises’ ideas.
Is profit a dirty word? Would the world be better off without them?
When grounded on the right foundations Richard Salsman shows why economics is an objective science.
When grounded on the right foundations Richard Salsman shows why economics is an objective science.
The Best Short and Long Run Policy: Limited Government
Democracy and freedom are frequently heralded as being synonyms. An important question, however, is, What do these concepts mean, and are they in fact synonymous?
What is the fundamental issue is: monetary central planning – with its embarrassingly awful one hundred year track record with paper monies – or getting government’s direct or indirect hand off the handle of the monetary printing press.
But behind all of these negative and usually unintended consequences arising from the imposing of a government-enforced hourly minimum wage remains the fundamental ethical issue: who shall have the right to decide under what terms and conditions people enter into gainful employment?
The illogical trade policies of President Trump not only threaten to make Americans poorer, but could start a global trade war that could lead to decreasing standards of living for hundreds of millions of people around the globe.
The competitive market economy is a powerful institutional mechanism for bringing human ingenuity, energy and creativity to bear to improve both the material and cultural circumstances of multitudes of people around the world. Wherever relatively free market...
According to the critics of capitalism, competition is a cruel process feeding unnecessary wants, that evolves into anti-competitive monopolies acting contrary to the “public interest.”
Harmful monopolies are always created by government.
Those who speak about being on the “right side of history” have, knowingly or not, adopted a central element in Karl Marx’s analysis of capitalism
One of the most common phrases to be heard from those on “the left” is the assertion that someone or some public policy is or is not on “the right side of history.”
If we embraced the moral code of rational egoism, we would solve all of today’s economic problems … and reach unprecedented human prosperity and flourishing
The task is not to be on some mythical “right side of history,” but to make history reflect the triumph and success of the idea and ideals of human liberty.
Marx saw himself as the sociological and economic analyst of the capitalist epoch through which he was living.
Almost 170 years have passed since Frédéric Bastiat’s death, but there are few writers on economic topics that remain as readable or relevant to the issues of our own day.
The essential element in government planning is the threat or use of force to make all the others in society conform to political planner’s purposes and intentions.
Where are you more likely to earn a better salaried income, in the private sector or working for the government?
The narrative of ‘the monopolist jacking up prices to exploit its customers’ only applies to government-granted monopolies, such as the postal service or many utilities.
A false guide for central bank monetary policy.
Though it may seem strange, Karl Marx was not always a communist. As late as 1842, when Marx was in his mid-20s, he actually said he opposed any attempt to establish a communist system. In October 1842, he became editor of the Rheinische Zeitung [the Rhineland Times],...