When governments find it impossible to continue raising taxes or borrowing funds, they have invariably turned to printing paper money to finance their growing expenditures. The political economy of the French Revolution is a tragic example of this.
MARKETS
The French Physiocrats and the Case for Laissez-Faire: Economic Ideas
The best policy for government to follow is “laisser passer, laisser faire” — let goods pass and leave men alone to their own decisions.
Mercantilism as Monarchy’s Planned Economy: Economic Ideas
Mercantilism developed in the emerging nation-states under the kings, especially, in France and Spain and in Great Britain, as a set of economic tools to assist in bringing about the centralization of political power and control.
Midnight in America
Stunned political analysts are missing the most plausible argument explaining Donald Trump's unexpected victory. The misreading of the American electorate stems from the political class’ acceptance of mistaken (and increasingly insane) economic dogma that has arisen...
The Church, “Just Price” and Interest: The Institutions and Economics of the Middle Ages, Part 2
The Catholic Church had a set of fundamental beliefs and principles that set it apart from the Greek and Roman views that had preceded it, and which were to have importance in the future in terms of their economic impact.
The Election’s Bearing on Monetary Freedom
The sad reality is that the battle for monetary freedom has for some time now taken the form of a rearguard action, aimed at resisting as much as possible ever-increasing government incursions into an ever-shrinking realm of financial choice.
Manorial and Guild Systems: The Institutions and Economics of the Middle Ages, Part 1
Political, social, and economic life in the Middle Ages revolved around two sets of institutions.
The Perils of Financial Over-Regulation
Financial systems, like economies generally, are organic entities. They must be allowed to flourish in a natural way.
Globalization Faces Challenges
For much of the second half of the 20th Century, and even into the new millennium, “Globalization” was the dominant theme used to describe the drift of the world economy. It was widely considered both natural and inevitable that the world economy would continue to...
An Introduction to Austrian Economics (Part 9 of 9): Booms and Busts
Government Regulation of Business: Protection or Harm?
Government should get out of regulating business at all, including regulations on product safety, emissions, and dealing with industrial waste.
An Introduction to Austrian Economics (Part 8 of 9): Government Intervention
The Ancient Romans: From Rule of Law to Price Controls
The area in which the Ancient Romans did leave a body of thought, and one that has had lasting influence and significance for future generations, especially in the West up until our own time was in the area of law and contract.
Video: An Introduction to Austrian Economics (Part 7 of 9): Everything Takes Time: Savings, Investment, and Prosperity
Video: An Introduction to Austrian Economics (Part 6 of 9): Why Socialism Was and Always Will Be “Impossible”
The Next Recession Looms Large
Currently economists and market watchers roughly fall into two camps: Those who believe that the Federal Reserve must begin raising interest rates now so that it will have enough rate cutting firepower to fight the next recession, and those who believe that raising...
Aristotle and Economics
Political-Economic Ideas of The Greeks, Part 3
The Investment Bankers Contribution: Directing Capital To Productive Uses
Productive companies and investment bankers who help them obtain capital are making an important contribution to human flourishing for which they should be proud.
Video: An Introduction to Austrian Economics (Part 5 of 9): Economic Calculation, Profit and Loss
Austrian Economics is the most powerful explanation of why governments, no matter how well-intentioned, lack the knowledge, wisdom and ability to direct the lives of multitudes of people better than those people can do for themselves.
Video: An Introduction to Austrian Economics (Part 4 of 9): Entrepreneurs
Austrian Economics is the most powerful explanation of why governments, no matter how well-intentioned, lack the knowledge, wisdom and ability to direct the lives of multitudes of people better than those people can do for themselves.
Video: An Introduction to Austrian Economics (Part 3 of 9): The Market as a Process of Competitive Cooperation
Austrian Economics is the most powerful explanation of why governments, no matter how well-intentioned, lack the knowledge, wisdom and ability to direct the lives of multitudes of people better than those people can do for themselves.
Video: An Introduction to Austrian Economics (Part 2 of 9): Economics is Human Action
Austrian Economics is the most powerful explanation of why governments, no matter how well-intentioned, lack the knowledge, wisdom and ability to direct the lives of multitudes of people better than those people can do for themselves.
Ludwig von Mises’s Majestic Magnum Opus, Human Action: A Treatise on Economics
Ludwig von Mises’s majestic magnum opus, Human Action: A Treatise on Economics, was published on September 14, 1949. In the nearly seven decades since its appearance, Human Action has come to be recognized as one of the truly great classics of modern economics.
Free Banking and the Federal Reserve
The record of past "free banking" systems, in which paper currency consisted of competitively supplied banknotes, contradicts the widespread belief that central banks play an essential part in promoting financial stability....
Subscribe for free.
Read by students, professors, and citizens, Capitalism Magazine provides over 9,000 free to read articles and essays from pro-reason, individual rights perspective.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.