From either side of the Atlantic, two of the more influential proselytes of that degenerate old collectivist, John Maynard Keynes, have chosen to re-iterate all the old myths once again. ‘Now the corporate sector at large doesn’t merely want to reduce its net borrowings but actually in many cases wants to become a net saver. In the language of
How much comfort can the U.S. take in the sufferings of Japan? In a side-by-side comparison of the productivity of the two economies, the U.S. comes off looking worse than one might expect, while Japan, long in the mire of recession, not as badly as one might assume. True, this little examination may seem misplaced now that Resona Bank, Japan’s
“One way to make sure that the manufacturing sector does well is to send a message overseas, [to] say, look, we expect there to be a fair playing field when it comes to trade. See, we in America believe we can compete with anybody, just so long as the rules are fair, and we intend to keep the rules fair.” Dubya-Dubya-III in Richfield , Ohio In a
As all Austrians should be aware, recessions themselves only come about as a reaction to the unsustainable tempo of the preceding Boom. They also know that, at root, the Boom itself always has its genesis in an unwarranted expansion of the means of payment. When the central bank proactively encourages--or retroactively endorses--a credit
Inflation tends not only to pressure, but to increase, the maldistribution of labour between industries, which must produce unemployment as soon as the inflation ceases. F.A. Hayek, Open or Repressed Inflation , 1969. The failings of the Macromancers who dominate contemporary economic reasoning can be encapsulated as follows: if you can’t leave
We have seen the temperature rise along the corridors of power in recent days as finance ministers, central bankers, and others have clamored to have their say on the current disruption in international capital and goods markets. This disruption has its roots in America’s Military Keynesianism and the Asian Mercantilist response it has elicited.
Let us look at the fundamental question of how we characterize growth in the modern economy. Familiar usage and complacency of thought have allowed the idea to arise that any increase in prosperity can be measured strictly in terms of the macro-economic entity called Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This has led to a horrible inversion of means and
Just when you thought that threat of DISINflation (a Good Thing, the Fed tells us) turning into DEFlation (A V-E-R-Y Bad Thing) had vanished and that instead we were on the verge of INflation (A Not Quite So Bad Thing), up pops another frightful creature from the Fearsome ‘Flation Family—STAGflation! For example, Bloomberg News recently ran a
Open the business section of a newspaper today and you are likely to find some mention of (a) America ’s wide trade gap; (b) the increasing Federal budget deficit; and often (c) the two of these, yoked together as ‘The Twin Deficit” problem. Indeed, such is the current focus that listed in the NY Times non-fiction best sellers list for much of
Currently, the French établissement is enjoying the spectacle of a power struggle between President Jacques Chirac and his hyperactive former protégé , Finance Minister Nicolas Sarkozy as a spat has broken out over the latter’s ill-concealed desire to secure his place in the Palais d’Él ysées , once M. Chirac’s incumbency ends. For his part, M.
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.