The Free Market 26, no. 1 (January 2005) It is the conviction of the liberal intellectual tradition dating back to the Middle Ages that society contains within itself the capacity for internal self-management. This is in contrast to the claims of the sociology literature, which posits that human society is riddled with conflict between groups:
The Free Market 26, no. 3 (March 2005) In the ten years between 1994 and 2004, a dramatic turn took place within the Republican Party. The themes of the 1994 election weren’t just about cutting government, though that was the central campaign promise of that generation of elected officials sent to Washington. The core was more revolutionary than
The Free Market 26, no. 4 (April 2005) Our image of Svengali derives from a 1894 novel by George Du Maurier (Trilby) that tells of a hypnotist who exercised psychological power over a woman. Insofar as Svengali is in control, she can sing beautifully. But when he is not around, she is reduced to barely functioning at all. Svengali himself
The Free Market 26, no. 5 (May 2005) O ur times are much like the 1930s, when it was widely assumed that there were only two viable ideological positions: communism or fascism. Liberalism of the old school was considered to be a failure, and not even worth considering. In the name of anticommunism, and lacking a full faith in the workings of
The Free Market 26, no. 6 (June 2005) E conomic downturns are precipitated by credit expansions and contractions but monetary policy cannot alone account for the length, breadth, and shape. This is inspired by other factors. So, no, the Austrian theory of the business cycle does not explain the length and breadth of the Great Depression. The
The Free Market 26, no. 7 (July 2005) The 20th century was a time when the world sang the praises of despots and despotism. The more wars government leaders fought, the more they centralized their control, the more they hobbled the economy, the more liberty they stole, the more they cut off trade and exchange with other nations, the more their
The Free Market 26, no. 8 (August 2005) A law of democratic government is that any group that gains power becomes part of the problem, not the solution. Republicans are the classic case. They are elected to cut government and then race each other to outdo their opponents in expanding it, while all promises to the contrary are forgotten or
The Free Market 26, no. 10 (October 2005) T he Mises Institute has worked for more than two decades to advance one purpose: the cause of economic freedom in academia and public life. The two comments on our work that I hear most often are: (1) you guys are doing a great job, and (2) it is not working. On the first point, I can only thank
The Free Market 26, no. 12 (December 2005) Ludwig von Mises didn’t like references to the “miracle” of the marketplace or the “magic” of production or other terms that suggest that economic systems depend on some force that is beyond human comprehension. In his view, we are better off coming to a rational understanding of why markets are
Yes, the Bush administration has paid intellectuals to echo its political priorities. What’s more surprising, actually, is all those who toe the line without being paid. Never wonder again how it is that the pharaohs were treated as gods, how Kim Il Sung and Nicholai Ceausescu got away with making monuments and billboards to themselves and forcing
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.