Spoken Mises

Even though most academics do not question the logic of government domination of law and the maintenance of order, writes Bruce Benson, large segments of the population do. Surveys and polls indicate growing dissatisfaction with all aspects of government law enforcement in the United States, particularly with the courts and the corrections system. More importantly, citizens are turning to the private sector in ever increasing numbers for services which presumably are "not controversial functions of government." Privately produced crime detection and prevention, arbitration, and mediation are growth industries in the United States.

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The Enterprise of Customary Law (19.23 MB)

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Inching Toward Commercial Freedom (1.13 MB)

We are still, writes Murray Rothbard, suffering from the delusion of Woodrow Wilson: that "democracies" ipso facto will never embark on war, and that "dictatorships" are always prone to engage in war. Much as we may and do abhor the domestic programs of most dictators (and certainly of the Nazis and Communists), this has no necessary relation to their foreign policies: indeed, many dictatorships have been passive and static in history, and, contrariwise, many democracies have led in promoting and waging war. Revisionism may, once and for all, be able to destroy this Wilsonian myth.

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Revisionism for Our Time (2.21 MB)

The political season brings promises to "bring us together as a community" and "heal the divisions between us." Here is what the political class won't reveal: their laws, programs, restrictions, subsidies — the whole panoply of interventionist measures they love and of which they promise ever more — are the main source of social division. In contrast, markets draw people into peaceful social relationships, and encourage and reward harmonious interaction among people.

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The State Breeds Social Conflict (1.65 MB)

The Student Loan Sunshine Act is the latest legislative attempt to crack down on student loan curruption. Straightforward as this act seems, writes Robert Murphy, it will fail to address the true causes of corruption in higher education. Stronger proposals, such as to bypass the private lenders altogether and have all students get their loans directly from the federal government, would be disastrous. At root the problem is massive government subsidies and regulations, and more of the same will only make the situation worse.

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The Student Loan Fiasco: Made in D.C. (1.01 MB)

As our political class prides itself on past, current, and future exploits, the masses pay for monuments that will one day tumble into the mud. Hubris is one human attribute that never goes wanting, and it increases with power and prestige. Wars and carnivals, or guns and butter, destroy the capital needed to keep society progressing. Either we learn our lessons from the Romans or we will be the archeological site of a subsequent generation. Trading Liberty, Freedom, and Property for a marble obelisk that will not weather the storms of the ages is no inheritance for our children, or our children's children.

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Economic Lessons Everywhere (1.87 MB)

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A Market for Criminal Skills (895.00 KB)

On Saturday, June 23, Hans F. Sennholz died at the age of 85.In October 2004, he was awarded the Gary G. Schlarbaum Prize for lifetime defense of liberty. This article is taken from Lew Rockwell's introduction to Professor Sennholz.

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Hans Sennholz, RIP (1.62 MB)

Public-choice theory — the application of economic theory and methodology to the study of politics and political institutions — has been based primarily on neoclassical price theory, applied to the the operations and activities of governments. But, writes Thomas DiLorenzo, if neoclassical price theory is itself flawed, then perhaps its applications to the study of political decision-making have produced uncertain results. DiLorenzo explores two strands of Austrian economics — theories of competition and of entrepreneurship — and their implications for public-choice theory.

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Can Governments Function Like Markets? Austrian Insights into Public-Choice Theory (7.31 MB)

The right of property implies the right to make contracts about that property: to give it away or to exchange titles of ownership for the property of another person. Unfortunately, writes Murray Rothbard, many libertarians, devoted to the right to make contracts, hold the contract itself to be an absolute, and therefore maintain that any voluntary contract whatever must be legally enforceable in the free society. Their error is a failure to realize that the right to contract is strictly derivable from the right of private property

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Property Rights and the Theory of Contracts (9.62 MB)