Do people have a right to go wherever they want and for whatever reason they like? Certainly not. I have no right to use or occupy your rightful property without your permission. And the same applies for you and everyone with my property. Do people have a right to migrate to whatever part of the world they please? They certainly do. If they don’t
In a 30 minute lecture for the Research Platform on Economic Thought, Dr. Per Bylund looks at the history of the Austrian School and its future prospects in academia and beyond.
“You do not have the right to parade through the public streets or to obstruct public thoroughfares. You have the right of assembly, yes, on your own property, and on the property of your adherents or your friends. But nobody has the ‘right’ to clog the streets.” –Ayn Rand I encountered this quote recently on one of the social media sites. To me,
It’s widely agreed that we need more entrepreneurship for economic growth and a higher standard of living. But more is not always better. In fact, there can be too much of a good thing, in entrepreneurship as in so many other things. The reason is that economic growth comes from successful entrepreneurship that is also productive. And not all
Subjective value is not objective. Sounds obvious, but the distinction is lost on most — scholars and practitioners alike. People seem to think subjective value is simply a person’s ‘willingness to pay’ a price. Well, it’s not. Subjective value cannot be expressed in dollars and cents, because that would simply mean subjective value is an
Life in a startup is fast paced, varied and fun. But it is also a constant and chaotic struggle, a juggling of disparate issues that need attention and decisions to be made at a moment’s notice. There are employees who need directions, tensions that threaten to erupt into personal conflicts, the bank that keeps calling about refinancing the loan,
Tweeting about poverty and wealth is quite instructive. It’s obvious that many feel very strongly about it yet know so little. Consider what wealth is: it is to have the means to satisfy wants. Those means can be anything, including berries or fruits growing in the wild. But the vast majority of means are created. There are no hamburgers, iPhones,
Every year Grove City College hosts the Austrian Students Scholars Conference , bringing together students to present their own research papers written in the tradition of the Austrian school. Mises Institute Fellow Per Bylund delivered a keynote speech this year titled “ What Entrepreneurship Means for Economics.” Video of the talk is available
The trade policies of both the USA and the EU seem to be based on the contradictory philosophy that unrestricted trade is beneficial within its borders, even if across internal borders, but not with parties outside those borders. But this makes no sense. From the point of view of trade, the voluntary exchange of goods, why are the borders between
There’s a whole lot of buzz about the sharing economy. Many seem to think it is something new, with some calling for a ‘new economics’ to explain it while others deride the ‘gig economy’ as a higher level of exploitation, inequality, and poverty. Neither is a good analysis. First things first: the sharing economy was facilitated by advances in
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.