Spoken Mises

If the part played by profits in the economy is found to be misrepresented for purposes of analytical tidiness, the need for correction is all the more urgent in an age of increasing recourse to government action. Inasmuch as realism in our economics points to the same need, it would be unwise to cling to any theory — no matter what its other attributes — which sacrifices this need for reasons of arbitrary neatness; more, it would be scientifically indefensible.

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The Present State of Profit Theory: Asset or Liability? (7.76 MB)

This article is a translation of a 1959 interview in the Argentinian newspaper La Presna. It appears here in English for the first time, thanks to the Hayek Foundation. "The Austrian-born North American economist, writer, and teacher, Ludwig von Mises, who, we are informed, arrived from New York early yesterday morning, spoke with us about his activities in Buenos Aires. In Buenos Aires, he will give a series of talks in the Faculty of Economic Sciences with the sponsorship of the Center for the Promotion of the Free Economy, chaired by Mr. Alberto Benegas Lynch."

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Mises in Argentina (1.23 MB)

Contemplating the grotesque potential side effects of bioethanol subsidies in the world's most developed economies is almost unbearable. While everyone is affected by higher food prices, for some people, the more costly food puts their very subsistence into question. No doubt, the politicians who came up with the idea of subsidizing the diversion of grain to the production of bioethanol did not intend to starve the world's poorest people; but the fact that the consequences were unintended does not absolve them of responsibility.

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Starving the World's Poorest (1.19 MB)

The remnants of socialist central planning killed the kids. Yes, the government is to blame. The survivors and their families are right about that. But they have another enemy as well. It is the deadly ideology that set out to put government in charge of economic life, which includes building structures to house children for educational purposes. They can add the tragedy of the Xianjian Primary School to the list of deaths caused by socialism.

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Socialism and the Chinese Earthquake (1.34 MB)

Consumers shell-shocked by ever higher records for oil and gasoline prices may have been surprised by the mild Producer Price Index (PPI) update recently issued. The Labor Department says that energy prices fell 0.2 percent, and in particular gasoline prices fell by 4.6 percent. This struck me as odd. It reminds of a line from Chico Marx: "Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?"

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The Government's Statistical Whopper of the Year (2.52 MB)

Rather than write a standard historical narrative, Nicholson Baker presents on each page a separate fact, often taken from contemporary newspaper accounts. A number of these facts show Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt in less than a favorable light, and this has proved too much not only for Pryce-Jones but for John Lukacs as well. For Lukacs and his ilk, Churchill is the Schwannritter of the 20th century, and inconvenient truths must not be permitted to jar unwary readers from the veneration properly his due.

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Inconvenient Facts about World War II (2.20 MB)

There will come a day that the world financiers will rush from dollars just as they have recently rushed into dollars, causing even worse chaos in the international financial markets. Without a stable monetary unit, the speculation will continue and worsen. Overreaction is now becoming more commonplace, but this is a predictable consequence of a world gone mad with fiat currencies, debt creation, and overspending. Massive debt liquidation will come.

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The Economics of a Free Society (3.94 MB)

The clich "Third Way" has been used to define the so-called compromise between the conventional wisdom of the conservative and liberal firebrands. This nice-sounding compromise refers to the noisy rhetoric we hear not only in the US Congress but also in Britain, Germany, and other nations as well. The question, though, remains: Is there really anything new being offered? The demand for bipartisanship is nothing more than a continuation of the Third Way movement of the last several decades.

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Challenge to America: A Current Assessment of Our Republic (12.83 MB)

Advocates of government planning often cite China as an example of economic success. China supposedly achieved success by adopting a mixed economy. According to Joseph Stiglitz, the Chinese government has avoided the deficiencies of capitalism and communism by allowing a limited amount of private competition, while also retaining strong governmental controls over investment.

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China and the Development Myth (1.14 MB)

To devise a libertarian paternalism seems no more promising an endeavor than to construct a square circle. Our eminent authors, though, are not convinced: libertarian paternalism is exactly the position they wish to defend. Their escape from apparent contradiction is ingenious. Still, Tocqueville long ago warned against the policies of paternalism: "it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd."

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Libertarian Paternalism (2.76 MB)