Do Markets Cater to Our Worst Impulses?
For all the great value in Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein’s new book, A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century, we find plenty of enmity toward markets and market forces. The market’s avarice and ravenous desire for growth is bad for
How Easy Money Inflated Corporate Profits
After many months of covid stimulus, there's a bonanza in US pandemic profits. But unlike price inflation, these profits really are likely to be transitory. Original Article: "How Easy Money Inflated Corporate Profits" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher
Unmask America
Enough is enough. It is time to stop wearing masks, or at the very least to eliminate mask mandates in all settings. This is especially urgent for children in schools and universities, who suffer the effects of masks for long hours each day
Stop Trying to Turn Economics into a Branch of Psychology
Recently, a relatively new economics called behavioral economics (BE) has started to gain popularity. Its practitioners, such as Daniel Kahneman, Vernon Smith, and Richard Thaler, were awarded Nobel Prizes for their contribution in the field of BE. The BE framework emerged
Can You Say Marginal Rate of Substitution?
Once, when my newborn son was barely back from the hospital, I was holding him in my arms with my wife looking on. I asked him, "Can you say marginal rate of substitution?" My wife recognized that as a bit of
Down with Legal Tender
When one studies the history of money, one cannot help wondering why people should have put up for so long with governments exercising an exclusive power over 2,000 years that was regularly used to exploit and defraud them. This can
The Municipal Convention Center Racket Is Alive and Well
The crown jewel of Las Vegas trade shows, the Consumer Electronics Show, just left town having attracted only a quarter of the show’s typical attendance. At the same time, the Consumer Electronics Show was the first big test for Elon
The Louisiana Purchase and the Corruption of the Jeffersonians
The Revolution of 1800 removed the Hamiltonians from power, and in Jefferson's first term, America witnessed a major reduction of federal power. In his second term, however, an offer by French Emperor Napoleon to purchase the Louisiana territory would mark
Germany’s New Green Stimulus Plan Won’t Fix the Economy
Recently, there has been a debate in Germany on the constitutionality of additional government borrowing of €60 billion. The borrowing is debated because Germany has a constitutional debt brake. The debt brake limits the possibility of the government to indebt
Why They Want To Keep the “Health Emergency” Going Forever
Last month, Colorado governor Jared Polis ended statewide mask mandates and social-distancing provisions, stating that "the emergency is over." This, of course, does not mean Colorado is now laissez-faire in terms of covid. Public higher education institutions—thanks to Polis’ tacit approval—still