How sad to hear the news that Harry Browne (born June 17, 1933), author and long-time spokesman for libertarian causes, died yesterday, March 1, 2006. He was a man of great principle who courageously and consistently stood up for liberty even when his position clashed with mainstream political culture and public opinion. He was a great writer who
The Free Market 6, no. 8 (August 1988) In primitive societies, witchdoctors legitimized tyrannical government by naming it the mandate of heaven. In return, they got a cut of the earthly loot. In the U.S., some economists serve the same function. For promoting government intervention as scientific, and advising on the most efficient forms, they
The Free Market 5, no. 8 (August 1987) To most Americans, economists don’t leap instantly to mind as treasures, let alone national treasures. Whether making arrogant and fallacious mathematical predictions; filling the minds of college students with Keynesian and socialist buncombe; or giving a theoretical cover to State inflation, taxation,
[This speech was delivered at the offices of the Mises Institute, September 14, 1999, the date on which Human Action was published 50 years ago. The Mises Institute published the pocket paperback edition in November 2010. ] In a 1949 memo circulated within Yale University Press, the publicity department expressed astonishment at the rapid sales of
This was the keynote address at the Ludwig von Mises Institute’s new building dedication and conference on the great Austrian economists, June 5-6, 1998, in Auburn, Alabama. * * * * We come together at a crucial time in the history of the Mises Institute and the history of liberty. This weekend, we dedicate a new home, which we see as a new
Chronicles December 1998 Polemics & Exchanges Freedom and School Vouchers Milton Friedman: Lew Rockwell (”Flies in the Ointment,” September) and I have the same ultimate objective: “an educational market in which parents are responsible for paying for their own children’s education.” We agree also on “the twin evils of public education:
Delivered February 6, 1999 The head of state makes a speech to a packed house of legislators, and is cheered to the rafters for his flurry of visionary policy ideas. He calls for the restoration of cities and towns, and the revival of the nation’s industrial base through new spending programs. He makes more housing a national priority. He promises
Pause for a moment from the parade of nonsense that is American public life, and consider the source of great ideas that would dramatically improve our world. The life and work of economist Friedrich August von Hayek (1899-1992), born 100 years ago, is cause for celebration because they have helped lead the revival of the idea of liberty in a
Not a news event passes when anyone who knew him doesn’t wonder: what would Rothbard say about this? It’s a fun game to play, because Murray provided the outstanding example of how adherence to principles, and strategic application of principles, work themselves out in the real world. Reading or hearing his take on the passing scene was always a
Sometimes it’s painful to read the business press, and never more so than during an economic slump. Reporters flail about for explanations. They quote stock analysts, politicians, day traders, other journalists, and even, from time to time, academic economists. But they never seem to arrive at anything approaching an explanation. And what,
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.