Mises Media: Recent Episodes
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Podcasts, interviews, lectures, narrated articles and essays, and more. This is the Mises Institute's master online media catalog.
Yes, college professors are 10-to-1 Democrats over Republicans. Mark Thornton reviews some of the technical literature on the political ideology of college professors in the United States.
"Economics laureates should disclose their political ideologies in policy petitions" by Emre Kuvvet (Economics Affairs, PDF): Mises.org/MI_95_A
"Your Kids Are Already Communists, and College Will Make It Worse" (Minor Issues, Episode 89): Mises.org/MI_89
Order a free paperback copy of Murray Rothbard’s What Has Government Done to Our Money? at Mises.org/IssuesFree.
Follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
While it is often framed in the media as a battle between principled conservatives and an angry, non-ideological movement focused solely on personal loyalty to Trump, the current civil war on the American right is only the latest chapter in a much older story.
Read the article here: https://mises.org/mises-wire/context-behind-donald-trumps-takeover-american-right
Be sure to follow the Guns and Butter podcast at Mises.org/GB
Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop examine the role that ideology and interest groups will have on Trump's administration and on his political appointees.
Register for Educating for Liberty: Mises Circle in Tampa, Florida, on February 22, 2025:
Anatomy of the State by Murray Rothbard: https://mises.org/Anatomy
Get free copies of What Has Government Done to Our Money? at https://Mises.org/RothPodFREE
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard
Radio Rothbard mugs are available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
Since 1956, few presidential candidates have managed to get more than 51 percent of the vote in national elections.
Be sure to follow the Loot and Lobby podcast at Mises.org/LL
Even if whole regions of the country vote overwhelmingly against a president, they are still forced to submit to four years of that president’s rule-by-decree.
Be sure to follow the Loot and Lobby podcast at Mises.org/LL
On November 12, 2024, Ryan McMaken appeared on World Affairs In Context with Lena Petrova to discuss whether the Trump administration would seek Fed Chair Jerome Powell's resignation, how the Fed has enabled government spending on programs that do not benefit the American people, its role as a servant of the banker class, and whether it should be abolished.
The original episode is available on YouTube.
A recent fraudulent check-kiting scheme featured on TikTok bears resemblance to some of the "free money" schemes that have been coming from the Federal Reserve.
Original article: No Matter the Form, Easy Money Is Still a Fraud
With Europe moving toward conflict in 1938, a number of economists and other intellectuals met in Paris to try to revitalize liberalism. Ludwig von Mises also was there as a lonely voice defending laissez-faire and the free market economy.
Original article: Who Killed Liberalism? Remembering the Walter Lippmann-Mises Colloquium
Contra Marx, the laws of economics are immutable and are the same no matter what historical epoch exists. Economies cannot flourish unless market prices, private property rights, and profits and losses are unhampered.
Original article: The Manifestation of Economic Laws Across Societies and Epochs
One sign of a fraying society is that its laws increasingly become political tools. The latest round involves Democrats trying to use criminal law in a very questionable way to try to put Donald Trump in prison, while Trump promises to retaliate if he is elected.
Original article: The Perils of Lawfare
A common belief among economists is that the central bank determines what interest rates should be. But is that accurate? Indeed, there is more to the story.
Original article: Does the Central Bank Determine Interest Rates?
When the bankers called for a central bank in the US, they claimed to only want a way to stop bank runs. It turns out that they wanted—and got—much more. The permanent regime of inflation and asset bubbles is the result.
Original article: How the Bankers Outfoxed the Politicians
While the US Constitution made the US a large free trade zone, prohibiting states from erecting trade barriers against each other, it also empowered the central government to erect tariffs on goods imported from outside the country.
Original article: The Constitution’s Negative Effects on Free Trade
John Maynard Keynes is the best-known economist from the 20th Century, that not being a good thing. At least he was more famous for his success in promoting his views than for his lack of success as an investor. His failures were an extension of his lack of economic understanding.
Original article: Keynes Was Not Much Better at Investing than He Was at Understanding Economics
Very difficult economic headwinds of the business cycle are coming right at us. Inflation is still a problem, the employment picture is increasingly difficult, the delinquency rate on credit cards for small banks is at an all-time high, auto loan delinquencies are at a thirteen-year-year high, and asset prices are vulnerable to disappointing business activity levels and profits.
Order a free paperback copy of Murray Rothbard’s What Has Government Done to Our Money? at Mises.org/IssuesFree.
Follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
The Fed wants independence so it can serve the interests of the banker class. There is no higher principle here. There is only power.
Be sure to follow the Loot and Lobby podcast at Mises.org/LL
After explaining the backstory of how Bob put forth a proposal for codifying property rights in space-based resources, Bob then explains how the prospect of a future inflow of extraterrestrial riches could boost the standard of living on Earth in the near term.
- Bob Murphy Show, "Scott Horton on American Interference in the 1996 Russian Election": Mises.org/HAP473a
The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Murray Rothbard’s, What Has Government Done to Our Money? Get your free copy at Mises.org/HAPodFree
The Fed claims things are going very well, but Fed Chairman Jerome Powell got three questions at the press conference that he had trouble answering honestly.
Be sure to follow the Loot and Lobby podcast at Mises.org/LL
Ryan and Tho talk about what Donald Trump must do if he wants to actually fix our mounting economic problems of stagnation, debt, and inflation.
Register for Elections and the Economy: Do They Really Matter? in Fort Meyers, Florida, on November 9:
Register for Educating for Liberty: Mises Circle in Tampa, Florida, on February 22, 2025:
Anatomy of the State by Murray Rothbard: https://mises.org/Anatomy
Get free copies of What Has Government Done to Our Money? at https://Mises.org/RothPodFREE
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard
Radio Rothbard mugs are available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
As American culture becomes dominated by militant feminism, a new voting group of dissenters is arising: young male voters. These are young men that believe that the system is stacked against them, which is why Trump's populism appeals to them.
Original article: Ignore The New Power Demographic at Your Own Risk: Young Male Voters
Government education is a self-perpetuating monster and has been for a long time. While parents and organizations seek accountability, the dynamics driving government education point to a powerful and unaccountable bureaucracy that serves its own interests.
Original article: Mute Buttons: Two Ways the School Complex Muzzles Parents and Students
In its so-called war against “hate,” the state determines who are the villains and then instructs everyone else to hate the “haters.” As one might expect, the state then engages in a campaign of vilification and intimidation against the newly-designated enemy.
Original article: The State’s War Against Hate
As Murray Rothbard often noted, freedom of association is a fundamental right, what he called a “subset of private property rights.” Unfortunately, our modern cancel culture has taken aim at this right, taking away the voluntary nature of human interaction.
Original article: Freedom of Association and Cancel Culture
Democracy, or at least the “democracy” that ensures the “right people” are elected, is the religion of American progressives. Despite its obvious failures, however, progressives claim that democracy is the Holy Grail of governance. Why people believe this is another question.
Original article: Why Democracy Has Such Staying Power
Legal philosopher Jeremy Waldron in his book The Rule of Law and the Measure of Property challenges the Lockean view of legitimate property ownership. David Gordon sheds light on Waldron's confusing positions.
Original article: Whose Property Is It?
In its so-called war against “hate,” the state determines who are the villains and then instructs everyone else to hate the “haters.” As one might expect, the state then engages in a campaign of vilification and intimidation against the newly-designated enemy.
Original article: The Myth of the Entrepreneurial State
Donald Trump's win last night is arguably an even bigger repudiation of the establishment than his win in 2016. And that's worth celebrating. But there is much the electorate still needs to understand about how those in power are ripping us off if we’re ever going to see an end to it.
Read the article here: https://mises.org/mises-wire/why-trumps-victory-matters-and-why-it-doesnt
Be sure to follow the Guns and Butter podcast at Mises.org/GB
We have crossed the boundary that lies between Republic and Empire. If you ask when, the answer is that you cannot make a single stroke between day and night; the precise moment does not matter. There was no painted sign to say: “You now are entering Imperium.” Yet it was a very old road and the voice of history was saying: “Whether you know it or not, the act of crossing may be irreversible.”
This article appeared in a 1966 issue of Left and Right, edited by Murray Rothbard, and is a condensed version of Garet Garrett’s pamphlet, The Rise of Empire, published in 1952, and included in his collection The People’s Pottage (Caldwell, ID: Caxton Printers, 1953).
The election is upon us. We wonder whether we have to have war, tariffs, and deficit spending, regardless of whom we support. What are we to do?
Original article: The Menace of the State
The 2024 election will provide few solutions to the underlying pressures eroding American political norms. Regardless of the outcome, half the country will feel like they live under an occupational government.
Original article: No Matter Who Wins, Half the Country Won’t Believe in the Election
Job growth was only positive in October because of government jobs, funded by huge federal deficits.
Be sure to follow the Loot and Lobby podcast at Mises.org/LL
On October 30, 2024, Mark Thornton was interviewed by Greg Penglis on The Action Radio Show. They discuss the economy, the presidential election, and our current calamitous conditions.
The original episode is available on Action Radio.
Government's power to control our lives—its power to tax and spend, and the enormous, but largely cloaked power to print money—has created the “great divide” in America. Unfortunately, it has pitted Americans against each other.
"Main Street Uncertainty Reaches All-Time High" (Small Business Optimism Index, September 2024): Mises.org/Minor_93_A
Order a free paperback copy of Murray Rothbard’s What Has Government Done to Our Money? at Mises.org/IssuesFree.
Follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Mises Fellow Kristoffer Hansen joins Bob to discuss Mises' perspective on fractional reserve banking and free banking. Earlier this month, Larry White referenced Hansen’s work on fractional reserve banking, asserting that Hansen indicated Mises acknowledged the benefits of FRB. Kristoffer clarifies his paper and examines what Mises wrote in Human Action on the topic.
Additionally, Bob and Kristoffer delve into the influence of the Currency School on banking and economic instability, as well as how commodity-backed money might impact the business cycle.
- Kristoffer's Article in the QJAE, "Sound Money without Free Banking": Mises.org/HAP472a
- Kristoffer and Jonathan Newman's Article in the QJAE Clarifying Rothbard's Definition of Inflation: Mises.org/HAP472b
- Human Action Podcast Episode 470 on the Debate Over Fractional Reserve Banking: Mises.org/HAP472c
The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Murray Rothbard’s, What Has Government Done to Our Money? Get your free copy at Mises.org/HAPodFree
It is always a mistake to advocate government action, for there is no way you can fully anticipate how government will be used. Nor can you ever count on a slice of the population to be moral in its advocacy of the uses of the police power.
Original article (2004): The Reality of Red-State Fascism
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop talk about the possibilities after next week's election. What should we expect from a Harris Administration? What could happen with Trump 2.0? What actually matters?
"The Establishment Media Is Unaware of Its Growing Irrelevance" by Connor O'Keeffe: https://mises.org/RR_211_A
"Trump’s Latest Tariff Plan Just Replaces One Tax with Another" by Ryan McMaken: https://mises.org/RR_211_B
"It’s Good to be Skeptical of Elections" by Connor O'Keeffe: https://mises.org/RR_211_C
"The Revolution Continues: The Ranks of Anti-Fed Republicans Grow" by Tho Bishop: https://mises.org/RR_211_D
Register for Elections and the Economy: Do They Really Matter? in Fort Meyers, Florida, on November 9:
Register for Educating for Liberty: Mises Circle in Tampa, Florida, on February 22, 2025:
Anatomy of the State by Murray Rothbard: https://mises.org/Anatomy
Get free copies of What Has Government Done to Our Money? at https://Mises.org/RothPodFREE
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard
Radio Rothbard mugs are available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
The outcry from establishment media figures following the decision by the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times to not endorse a presidential candidate shows how out of touch they have become about how much we rely on them.
Read the article here: https://mises.org/mises-wire/establishment-media-unaware-its-growing-irrelevance
Be sure to follow the Guns and Butter podcast at Mises.org/GB
On October 30, 2024, Mark Thornton was interviewed by guest host Joseph Patterson on The Alan Nathan Show. Is a vote for Trump a vote for fascism?
The original episode is available on the Main Street Radio Network.
On July 25, 2024, Tom DiLorenzo appeared on Everything's Political with Thea Shoemake to discuss the Federal Reserve.
The original episode is available at https://www.iheart.com/podcast/966-everythings-political-70910324/
On September 24, 2024, Tom DiLorenzo appeared on Tommy's Podcast to place current US political and economic issues in a historical perspective.
The original episode is available at TommysPodcast.com.
On October 30, 2024, Mark Thornton appeared on The Lakey Effect to discuss fascism and US politics.
The original episode is available on Newstalk AM 600 KCOL.
On October 23, 2024, Jonathan Newman appeared on Kerry Lutz's Financial Survival Network to discuss the Mises Institute's commitment to promoting Austrian economics and individual liberty, the historical role of government in monetary control, and the concept of competing currencies as alternatives to government-managed money.
The original episode is available at FinancialSurvivalNetwork.com.
On October 29, 2024, Mark Thornton appeared on The Schilling Show to discuss Ludwig von Mises, fascism, and the current state of US politics.
The original episode is available on News Radio WINA 98.9 FM and 1070 AM at https://cvillerightnow.com/podcasts/categories/the-schilling-show/
Progressives claim that the state grants us our rights, and that liberty can flourish only in the presence of a powerful state. The truth runs in the opposite direction.
Original article: The Presumption of Liberty
In the spirit of a new Cold War, Matthew Kroenig and Dan Negrea have written a new book, We Win, They Lose: Republican Foreign Policy and the New Cold War, which tries to fuse the foreign policies of Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump. The result is a foreign policy Frankenstein.
Original article: We Lose, They Lose: A Reagan-Trump Fusion
While the US dollar is the world's “reserve” currency—at least for now—the reckless spending and money creation policies of the US government place the dollar in peril.
Original article: Can America Survive Global De-Dollarization?
Would America’s federal government deliberately undermine recovery efforts to try to achieve its own desired political ends? Of course.
Original article: The Regime Wants Appalachia To Suffer
Einstein's name is synonymous with brilliance, yet his great intelligence did not translate to logical economic thinking. Instead, Einstein embraced socialism, thinking that one could guide an economy like one guides a mathematical equation.
Original article: Einstein Was the Greatest Physicist but Was Economically Illiterate
One of the myths of Keynesian theory is that through monetary injections and government purchases, an economy can spend itself into prosperity. While such a scenario is economically impossible, most mainstream economists still believe it.
Original article: The Keynesian Multiplier Fairy Tale
“In 1988, Murray Rothbard wrote a great monograph called Ludwig von Mises: Scholar, Creator, Hero. I'd like to concentrate today on the third of the qualities, Mises as a hero.”
Original article: Ludwig von Mises, Hero
As real wages decline and middle-class savings are depleted, the government expands its influence, garnering support from a substantial portion of the populace.
Original article: This Is a Slow-Motion Nationalization of the Economy
Trump’s tax reform just replaces one tax with another. And would probably result in higher taxes.
Be sure to follow the Loot and Lobby podcast at Mises.org/LL
On October 28, 2024, Mark Thornton appeared on The Richard Syrett Show to discuss economics and the state of US politics.
The original episode is available on TheRichardSyrettShow.com.
On October 28, 2024, Tom DiLorenzo appeared on The Shawn Thompson Show to explain why we should stop rewarding the government when it fails.
The original episode is available at The Shaun Thompson Show.
In response to Murphy's recent article on comparative advantage, economist Jorge Morales Meoqui objected that Murphy was continuing the same erroneous story about Adam Smith vs. David Ricardo. In this episode, Murphy clarifies what is right and wrong in Meoqui's own paper on the topic.
- Jorge Morales Meoqui's Article on Comparative Advantage: Mises.org/HAP471a
- The Bob Murphy Show, Episode 352 on Comparative Advantage: Mises.org/HAP471b
- Bob's Article, "The Beauty and Importance of Comparative Advantage": Mises.org/HAP471c
The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Murray Rothbard’s, What Has Government Done to Our Money? Get your free copy at Mises.org/HAPodFree
Prohibition is one way the government swings the fist of violence into our daily lives.
Mark Thornton presented this talk at the Mises Institute's Supporters Summit in Hilton Head, South Carolina, on October 12, 2024.
Order a free paperback copy of Murray Rothbard’s What Has Government Done to Our Money? at Mises.org/IssuesFree.
Follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
On August 17, 2024, Wanjiru Njoya appeared on The Drew Allen Show to discuss why Americans are unable to link their economic troubles to the economic policies that caused them.
The original episode is available on Patriot TV: https://drewallen.substack.com/p/240-harriswalz-want-to-make-america
As with any other government-controlled institution, a high level of public skepticism about elections is healthy.
Read the article here: https://mises.org/mises-wire/its-good-be-skeptical-elections
Be sure to follow the Guns and Butter podcast at Mises.org/GB
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Jonathan Newman joins Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop to discuss the Mises Institute’s new documentary, Playing With Fire: Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve, and respond to some friendly critics about the continuing importance of Austrian Business Cycle Theory in the modern financial world.
"A Modest Proposal to End Fed Independence" by Joseph T. Salerno: https://mises.org/RR_210_A
"Who Starts Business Cycles? Banks or the Fed?" by Jonathan Newman: https://mises.org/RR_210_B
"The Federal Reserve and the Regime Are One and the Same" by Ryan McMaken: https://mises.org/RR_210_C
"Playing With Fire – a Very Disappointing and Factually Incorrect Mises Article on Money" by Mike Shedlock: https://mises.org/RR_210_D
"The Role of Shadow Banking in the Business Cycle" by Arkadiusz Sieroń: https://mises.org/RR_210_E
Anatomy of the State by Murray Rothbard: https://mises.org/Anatomy
Get free copies of What Has Government Done to Our Money? at https://Mises.org/RothPodFREE
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard
Radio Rothbard mugs are available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
On July 19, 2024, Tom DiLorenzo appeared on The Pelle Neroth Taylor Show to discuss the Federal Reserve, Trump, free markets, and American History.
The original episode is available on TNT News at https://tnt.news/shows/pelle-neroth-taylor.
On July 15, 2024, Tom DiLorenzo appeared on The Bill Meyer Show to explain why the Federal Reserve does not benefit ordinary people or make the US economy more stable.
The original episode is available on KMED.com.
On August 23, 2024, Wanjiru Njoya appeared on Politics and Profits with Bill Amato to discuss a message which has been incorrectly demonized by some in today’s culture.
The original episode is available on Your America TV at https://youramericatv.com/2024/08/how-capitalism-defeats-racism
On October 23, 2024, Tom DiLorenzo appeared NOW with Stacy Washington, to explain how the Chinese Communist Party is imitating what the Federal Reserve did in the early 2000s.
The original episode is available on SalemNewsChannel.com.
Stacy Washington (SW): Welcome back to Salem News Channel. There's no room for argument when it comes to which candidate in this election will fix our economy. We know what both plans are, and John Paulson wrapped it up nicely on Fox Business.
Fox Business: And I feel like it's so disingenuous of Kamala Harris to talk about plans to rein in inflation by, you know, getting corporations to admit that they've been price gouging. It's so disingenuous to not recognize the $7 trillion in spending on how we got there. Yeah, that's because they don't really have an economic plan. Their plan is spend, increase government spending, increase taxes, increase the deficit. That doesn't work.
SW: Mm-hmm. So when business people talk about the economy in conjunction with the election, you get analysis like that, not, oh, he can't be my babysitter, so he can't be my president. We turn now to China's economy, trying to bolster it's standing by citizens investing in stocks. Joining me now to break this down is president of the Mises Institute, Thomas DiLorenzo. Thomas, welcome back to the program.
Tom DiLorenzo (TD): Thanks for having me again, Stacy.
SW: It's good to have you here. So talk to us about this. You have China's economy and they're allowing investments? What's going on here?
TD: Well, I think what's going on is the Chinese Communist Party decided they basically want to imitate what our Federal Reserve did in the early 2000s. They're dropping interest rates and they do have allow private investment over there. And so they're claiming that the reduction in interest rates that is being caused by a flooding more money into the Chinese economy is going to stimulate their economy. That's the exact same argument that our Federal Reserve made in the early 2000s. They said they wanted to create a housing bubble. One of their advisors, Paul Krugman, the New York Times columnist, said after the stock market crash of 2000, he said in the New York Times, we need to create a housing market bubble. Well, they did. And the Chinese economists, or Chinese government, I just read today, said the same thing. They said they want to create, they didn't call it a bubble, they want to create "investment in housing". But that's what will happen. They're flooding their economy with money and lowering interest rates, creating some sort of housing bubble. So investors are looking at this and they're saying, well, if the Chinese economy picks up and maybe doubles the GDP growth, well, people are going to be wealthy enough to be gambling, again, in Macau, where all these American casinos are located. That's where the investment is going now. The speculative investment is going into these mostly American-owned casinos in Macau, part of China, and the price of the stocks of these casinos has been going up very, very strongly in the last day or two because of that. But bubbles always burst. And so they'll probably create some temporary prosperity, but the bubble will burst and no one can predict when the bubble will burst, but it will. And then that's what happens when the central banks create too much money.
SW: So what happens in conjunction with our economy? Because like it or not, the American economy is impacted by what happens in China because they're a major trading partner for us. When their bubble bursts, what will we see happening here?
TD: Well, when China or any country becomes more prosperous, they have a better ability to buy American goods, American exports. And so it wouldn't be good in general for them to become poorer when the bubble bursts. But in the meantime, the American casino companies will do very well and everything related to the casino companies in Las Vegas, because they have these very big businesses in Macau now, very big casinos, some much bigger than the ones in Las Vegas. And so that part of the US economy will be prospering temporarily, but it'll create a bust in China, just like it creates a bust in America or England or France or Mexico or anywhere else, whenever the central bank, ours is called the Federal Reserve, steps on the gas and prints too much money. That's what happened in 2008. We had the bubble in real estate that burst. It was right after a bubble that was created in a stock market, yet again, in 2000, that bubble burst and we had a recession thereafter. It wasn't nearly as bad as the '08 recession, but it was a recession, very deep recession. And that's what's going to happen in the economy in China, I believe.
SW: So the thing that we're concerned with is obviously, I mean, it's a little bit of a flex that they're copying something that our Federal Reserve did years and years ago, but the end result will not be exactly what they're hoping for. So have they really looked at this? What do we know about their thought process for implementing this, knowing that the possibility, the end of it could be bad?
TD: Well, it's interesting. Our politicians are always short-sighted because they're always looking to make themselves look good before the next election. But you've got a dictatorship in China, but they still want to be popular. They don't want to be overthrown, even if you're a dictator, especially in a country with over a billion people. And so what our politicians and politicians all over the world do is they know this. They can study the history as well as you or I can. And they know that they can pump up the economy, especially before an election, like in our economy, and which is what they're doing now, which is sort of a feeble attempt to cut interest rates a couple of weeks ago by the Federal Reserve to help the Kamala Harris campaign. But that seems to have backfired because mortgage rates are going back up this week. And so they know that, but the game is to make themselves look good temporarily. And then when the crash happens, they blame somebody else. It was like the Biden administration created all this inflation with the help of the Federal Reserve, printing money to finance all of their endless spending programs. And now they're blaming corporations for price gouging, which is very silly. It's sort of the propaganda tool that Democrats always use. You know, if these corporations have the ability to just willy-nilly raise prices like they do now, why don't they do it all the time? All of a sudden, Kamala Harris is running for president. All of a sudden, they decide, let's make more money with price gouging. And it makes no sense at all. So it's just a rhetorical mumbo jumbo. They're hoping that American voters are so ignorant that they will fall for this, the price gouging thing. And Chinese communist politicians are politicians. They don't want to make the public too angry with them. There's always a threat of a revolution or a revolt, even in communist countries like China, which has moved away from pure communism, of course, but their government still is a communist party of China. I think they're doing the same thing, basically, that our politicians do, trying to make themselves look good temporarily. And, from their perspective, they probably think, well, maybe that'll invite more foreign investment in China, if they can brag that their economy is growing. more robustly, there might be more foreign investment in China.
SW: Well, I think what they're missing is that there is no shortcut to economic prosperity. Good policy year over year brings good prospects. It's actually a complex mix. You can't just have good policy. You also have to have a business environment, a regulatory environment, and you have to have people who are producing products, goods, and services. And then you have to have people who are earning money to be able to purchase it. So, you know, the communist paradigm goes against the free market system. And it's kind of hard for them to, you know, kind of pick and choose little bits of it that they wanna stick into their communist reality. I think it's interesting that they're at least acknowledging. This is an acknowledgement that their system doesn't really work and ours does. As flawed as ours is, it's far better than what they're working with. And I think that's the big takeaway here among the other details that you shared. Thomas DiLorenzo, president of the Mises Institute. Thank you, sir, for joining me today.
TD: Thank you for having me.
On October 16, 2024, Tom DiLorenzo appeared on the Two Mikes podcast, with Dr. Michael Scheuer and Col Mike, to discuss the Federal Reserve.
The original episode is available on the Freedom First Network.
Western governments are keen on pursuing “hate crimes” and criminalizing what it calls “hate symbols.” However, these governments reserve to themselves just how one defines “hate,” which is nothing more than an attack upon free speech.
Original article: “Hate Symbols” and the Meaning of Liberty
The Old Right was a principled band of intellectuals and activists, who fought the “industrial regimentation” of the New Deal. They loathed tariffs and saw protectionism as a species of socialist planning.
Original article: The Old Right Opposed Tariffs
Critics of Austrian economics often claim that real economic events are too complex to be dealt with via free markets. However, because Austrian economics is based upon understanding human action, it better explains why economic intervention routinely fails.
Original article: Simple Counters to Simplistic Critiques of Austrian Economics
Vegas expected Renato “Sound Money” Moicano to lose his UFC fight against Benoit Saint Denis. Instead, he won and used the opportunity to promote the work of another Austrian economist. This time, it was Hans-Hermann Hoppe.
Original article: Underdog Moicano Wins UFC Fight, Bashes Macron in France, Promotes Hoppe
John Hasnas has written a new book outlining how societies operate with mutual cooperation and common law. According to David Gordon, it is a major contribution to libertarian social thought.
Original article: A Major Contribution to Libertarian Social Thinking
Central to the paradigm of Austrian Economics is the action axiom. People act, and they act purposefully. That knowledge alone permits us to construct an entire set of theories that explains economic life.
Original article: Understanding the Action Axiom: How It Shapes the Structure of Society
The concept of economic calculation is vitally important to understanding our modern economy, yet few people— and especially economists—comprehend that it even exists.
Original article: Economic Calculation and the Entrepreneur
Modern historians romanticize the reign of the Tudors in England, but in reality, they were brutal to their subjects and they centralized power to the detriment of the people. Governments today continue this march against freedom.
Original article: Repeating the Interventionist Excesses of the Tudor Period
On October 21, 2024, Wanjiru Njoya appeared on The Pelle Neroth Taylor Show to discuss capitalism, racism, and race Marxism.
The original episode is available on TNT News at https://tnt.news/shows/pelle-neroth-taylor
On July 18, 2024, Tom DiLorenzo appeared NOW with Stacy Washington.
The original episode is available on SalemNewsChannel.com.
On October 18, 2024, Jonathan Newman appeared on The Lakey Effect with Jimmy Lakey to discuss whether or not voters should trust Trump on the economy. Or, should voters trust the experts who say that Donald Trump is going to ruin the economy?
The original episode is available at The Lakey Effect (Newstalk 600 KCOL) on iHeartRadio.com.
On October 17, 2024, Jonathan Newman appeared on Wake-Up Call with Bill Lundun to discuss Austrian economics, Donald Trump, and mainstream economists.
The original episode is available at News Radio 1120 KPNW.
Bill Lundun (BL): News Radio 1120 KPNW, thanks for being with us this morning. We have like two different things that we keep hearing when it comes to this particular election period. And it is that Americans overall trust Trump more on the economy. And that's we're talking about voters, whereas the so-called experts don't. Who to believe to discuss it this morning? It is Dr. Jonathan Newman. He is a fellow at the Mises Institute, which is a nonprofit that promotes the teaching and research in the Austrian School of Economics. And it's in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard. And welcome to the show. We appreciate you being here with us. Thank you, Jonathan.
Jonathan Newman (JN): Hey, thanks for having me.
BL: Yeah. Talk a little bit about Ludwig von Mises and kind of what he stood for in his branch of, if you will, economic research.
JN: Sure, Ludwig von Mises is sort of the godfather of Austrian economics, which is a school of economic thought that's very free market. We don't do a lot of mathematical modeling. We consider the individual as having subjective value, and through people's subjective values, they interact in markets, creating market prices, and those market prices are fundamental for developing an economy, for understanding how resources should be allocated. We should be using the profit and loss test to determine how to most efficiently produce things. And so many of the conclusions of the Austrian school are very free market. And of course, Ludwig von Mises was one of the you know the main figures in Austrian economics. He started his career, obviously in Austria, that's why the name of the school's called Austrian economics. But he had to flee the Nazis. So he was he was under pressure from the Nazis, because he was saying things that were critical of government. Obviously he had to flee that area, and he came over to the United States in New York. And had a very famous seminar where many American economists and others were listening to him, and he sort of sparked the Austrian movement in the United States. And so it's grown and flourished since then, and we have the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, that champions his ideas, champions Austrian economics, and is trying to educate everybody about the best way to think about the economy, the best way to analyze policy proposals from politicians and bureaucrats, and promote free markets along the way.
BL: If he were to see the markets today and the way that things are, if you will, manipulated in a number of ways, the way the government policy attempts to manipulate things, what would be his takeaway, do you think?
JN: I think Mises would be most disturbed by the fiat money system that we have in place today. So in the United States, we have the Federal Reserve, which is our central bank. They are the ones who are controlling the supply of money. They're manipulating interest rates. And Mises would pin the blame on this monetary policy by the Federal Reserve for creating booms and busts, for creating these artificial booms where employment goes up, stock prices go up, everything seems to be going well, and then all of a sudden it crashes. And so one of the crown jewels of Austrian economics is Austrian business cycle theory, which explains how it's actually government manipulation in credit markets that causes these booms and busts, that causes the business cycle. So he would definitely not like that, but he also, just in terms of the general effects of inflation, he would say that the fact that savings rates are way down, nobody's really saving for the future, is because people's money is losing value. And so it doesn't really make any sense to save money for retirement if that money is going to be losing its purchasing power over time. And so that forces people to save for retirement, for example, by investing in the volatile stock markets. So he would obviously, he would disagree with the monetary policy, he would disagree with the size and scope of government as it exists today, and he would champion a more free market approach, where markets are the ones that are and regulating themselves, where consumers are the ones that are deciding which companies are producing things that we like, and use the profit and loss test of the market to rationally and efficiently allocate factors of production, so that we have a growing progressing economy.
BL: Alright. To the very basic question. In polling, there's been a lot of polling in regards to this, and that Americans actually trust Trump on the economy, and yet we have these experts, call them so-called or call them actual experts, that don't and the question is so who to believe
JN: Well, I definitely wouldn't put much faith in the so-called experts. The so-called experts have been wrong about so many things in the past. And so I think that the reason why people think that Trump and the Republican Party represents more of a... would represent a turn towards a stronger economy is because they're really the only ones that are talking about decreasing, or at least limiting, the increases in the size and scope of government. So if you look at the rhetoric and the proposals from Democrats, there's this problem in the United States and we can solve it with more government intervention and more government spending. There's this other problem that we can solve with more government intervention and more government spending. And yet only on the Trump side, you have at least some rhetoric about how we need more efficiency in government, we need to decrease the size and scope of government. And so people realize that a lot of the problems that the Democrats are pointing out are ones that are caused or exacerbated by government spending and government intervention. And so it makes sense that Americans are sort of doubtful that the Democrats have any sort of a good plan regarding a stronger economy.
BL: What about the criticism that has been made because, you know, Trump has once again talked about tariffs, in particular regarding China, and a lot of the, as we've talked about them, the experts are like, "Oh my God, it's going to do these horrible things to the economy. It's going to cause prices to spike again." What's your take on that?
JN: I think it's a valid criticism. I think it's good to be distrustful of tariffs because, I mean, in the end a tariff is a tax. And so I'm not going to be the one that says, you know, everything that Trump has ever proposed is a free market and it's going to be good for the economy. But, of course, what Trump is seeing and what the people in the Republican party are seeing is, you know, hollowed out manufacturing in the United States. They see, you know, loss of jobs. So they see these sorts of the things happening, and so they think the tariffs would be a good way to address it. I think that economic theory going all the way back to the 1700s, I mean, you can go back to Richard Cantillon, to Adam Smith, to those guys. And I think that they very compellingly showed that tariffs and protectionism is not a good way to address those sorts of problems. But, in terms of the grand scheme of things, if we're arguing over should we have, you know, this tariff rate versus that marginally different tariff rate, then that's sort of a side issue. Really, the main thing that I think people are focused on is inflation. It's all of the regulations that are imposed on the economy by the government. It's those sorts of things. So, yes, I do have some quibbles with the with the tariff idea, but I still think that it makes sense that Americans are trusting the Trump side and really the distrust of the establishment and the distrust of the so-called experts.
BL: Right. You know, one of the things that you hear from the public individuals is, you know, "I just want to see prices come down," and you look at it and I don't remember any time that prices, maybe a little bit here and there, where once you have a period of inflation, with maybe the exception of gas prices, where prices fall and come down. Unless we're talking about a major case of deflation, which is a whole other you know a whole a whole other can of worms that can be actually worse than inflation. Talk a little bit about that whole idea of prices coming down.
JN: I think people are worried about deflation for the wrong reasons. And I think the reason that they're worried about is because they associate it with what happened during the Great Depression, where we had a huge increase in unemployment, where output shrank, and we also had price deflation happening at the same time. And so people sort of associate those things. They think deflation is associated with recessions. But it's worth pointing out that there are quite a few things that could result in deflation. And one of the healthiest periods of, you know, economic growth in the United States happened when we were under a gold standard, where output was increasing but the money supply was not increasing by the same amount. And so we had, you know, steady deflation. And we didn't have – it was a long-term steady deflation that promoted savings that allowed – made it easy – for businesses and for consumers and households to make decisions over the long term. It made it easy for people to save with money as opposed to investing in the stock market. And so if your money is gaining value over time, then you can imagine how that would totally restructure the way that the whole economy is allocating resources. So, if money is gaining value over time, then people have an incentive to save. If people are saving, then we have more capital accumulation. If we have more capital accumulation, then our economy can grow in a sustainable sort of way as opposed to the booms and busts that we have now. So, I think the fear of deflation, or deflation-phobia as some people call it, is just based on that one episode in economic history in the United States where I think we should be more comfortable with the idea of our money gaining purchasing power over time, and it could be a very healthy sort of thing.
BL: How is that going to happen though? Because you mentioned and you started off by qualifying it with, "While we were under the gold standard." It's a completely different valuation of the way that the dollar is factored right now. Can that could that happen again on a federal reserve system like we have?
JN: Oh, absolutely not. Going back to that sort of system of sound money, and I'm not saying that it has to be a gold standard, but going back to a system where, you know, government is not intervening in money and banking, would require a huge shift. It would require a shift in people's thinking and the way that they vote. It would have to require, you know, ending the Federal Reserve, or at least severely limiting its power. And so you're absolutely right that, you know, going back to a system like that, it would require a big change. But the really the first thing that people think about when somebody proposes ending the Federal Reserve or auditing the Federal Reserve or limiting its power is, they think, "Well, what about deflation?" or "What about booms and busts?" And really what Austrian economists are saying is that, if we did get rid of the Fed, then we would actually have a smoother economic growth. We would have stable deflation where people's money is growing in purchasing power. We wouldn't have all the booms and busts, because Austrian economists point out that it's manipulated interest rates that result in those artificial booms and the painful busts that follow. So, you're absolutely right. It would require a big shift. If people are interested in how we would actually reach that stage where we could go back to sound money as opposed to political money, fiat money, then I recommend that listeners check out the writings by Murray Rothbard. If they go to Mises.org/MyMoney, then they'll receive a free reading from Rothbard, a PDF, where they can get it mailed to them. And so there's great plans offered by Rothbard, a great Austrian economist, that would explain how we get there.
BL: All right. Appreciate you joining us on the Wake Up Call. Dr. Jonathan Newman here on KPNW. Thanks again.
JN: Thanks for having me.
On October 21, 2024, Jonathan Newman appeared on WILKOW! with Andrew Wilkow to discuss Donald Trump, mainstream economists, and the state of US economy.
The original episode is available at SalemNewsChannel.com.
In August, the money supply grew at the fastest rate in 23 months. The Fed fears a recession, so we can now expect even more monetary growth.
For graphs and more, read https://mises.org/mises-wire/money-supply-growth-hit-23-month-high-and-fed-wants-more
Be sure to follow the Loot and Lobby podcast at Mises.org/LL
While F.A. Hayek contributed much to the Austrian School of Economics, he also supported the establishment of the welfare state, believing that it was compatible with the rule of law. Ludwig von Mises, however, knew that the welfare state is the ubiquitous slippery slope.
Original article: Hayek on the Welfare State
Thanks to increasingly broad car-seat laws, a third child often requires the purchase of a larger, more expensive vehicle. At the margins, this has an effect on fertility.
Original article: Yes, Car Seat Laws Reduce the Birth Rate
When people speak of “old school economics,” they generally mean the application of economic thinking that involves what we might call “common sense.” That would include permitting a price system to work, protecting private property, and so on. But there is more.
Original article: What is Old School Economics?
Regulators with the European Union want people to believe that the “dead hand” of government regulation actually enhances competition. The only thing their actions enhance is more government power.
Original article: Ctrl+Alt+Regulate: The DMA’s Misguided Reboot of Competition
What explains Bitcoin? Why does it exist, and why is “nothing” worth $70,000 a piece? Moreover, there are millions of owners of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and yet few real transactions take place relatively speaking. How does this relate to the coming of a BRICs currency, the reserve status of the petrol-dollar, and the war on cash?
Mark Thornton discusses Gresham’s Law, one of the most ancient and impactful principles of modern human society.
Order a free paperback copy of Murray Rothbard’s What Has Government Done to Our Money? at Mises.org/IssuesFree.
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As monetary authorities continue to inflate the money supply, they inflict more and more damage upon the currency. Unfortunately, as the economy falters under the inflationary regime, the “solution” always is to ramp up inflation.
Original article: The Present Monetary System Is Heading for a Breakdown
Home prices continue to rise as the government tries to further intervene into the housing markets, all in the name of the “American Dream.” However, remember that these massive increases in housing prices began when the government decided to make housing more “affordable.”
Original article: Home Ownership Is Not the American Dream
What if we could have eavesdropped on a conversation between Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen? It might have gone as follows....
Original article: “I Have Bills to Pay,” Or Why the Fed Really Cut Interest Rates
One of the outcomes of the American Civil War was the movement toward centralization of political power in Washington. The Reconstruction regime imposed upon the former Confederate states following the war was an overt attempt to further impose federal power there.
Original article: Centralizing Federal Power through Southern Reconstruction
Murphy lays out the various camps in the debate over FRB. He endorses the view of Joe Salerno, namely that Mises favored "free banking" as the best means for limiting credit expansion and ensuring banks carry high reserve ratios.
- Bob's Article in the QJAE on Fractional Reserve Banking: Mises.org/HAP470a
- Joe Salerno, "Ludwig von Mises as Currency School Free Banker": Mises.org/HAP470b
The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Murray Rothbard’s, What Has Government Done to Our Money? Get your free copy at Mises.org/HAPodFree
Ryan, Tho, and Zach Yost talk about some recent efforts by Polish lobbyists to shame Americans into spending more treasure (and maybe also American lives) on waging wars for Eastern European states.
"Europe's Interests and Ours" by Zachary Yost: https://mises.org/RR_209_A
Anatomy of the State by Murray Rothbard: https://mises.org/Anatomy
Get free copies of What Has Government Done to Our Money? at https://Mises.org/RothPodFREE
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Presented in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina on Saturday, October 12, 2024.
Sponsored by Andy Hord.
Presented in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina on Saturday, October 12, 2024.
Sponsored by David and Suzanne Britton-Ohl.
Presented in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina on Saturday, October 12, 2024.
Sponsored by Gregory and Jane Gandee.
Presented in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina on Saturday, October 12, 2024.
Sponsored by Carl and Karen Bowen.
Presented in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina on Saturday, October 12, 2024.
Sponsored by Dan Johnson and Randee Laskewitz.
Presented in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina on Saturday, October 12, 2024.
Sponsored by Jeff Leskovar.
Presented in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina on Saturday, October 12, 2024.
Sponsored by Steven and Cassandra Torello.
Presented in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina on Saturday, October 12, 2024.
Sponsored by Nicholas Maier.
Presented in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina on Friday, October 11, 2024.
Sponsored by Yousif Almoayyed.
Presented in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina on Friday, October 11, 2024.
Sponsored by Nicholas Maier.
Throughout the Trump years, many of the worst war hawks have abandoned the GOP. However, others are trying to rebrand the same old neoconservative interventionism as part of a new “America First” agenda. Don’t fall for it.
Read the article here: https://mises.org/mises-wire/beware-war-hawks-america-first-clothing
Be sure to follow the Guns and Butter podcast at Mises.org/GB
Presented in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina on Friday, October 11, 2024.
Sponsored by Don Wills.
Presented in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina on Friday, October 11, 2024.
Sponsored by David and Suzanne Britton-Ohl.
Presented in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina on Friday, October 11, 2024.
Sponsored by Mark and Mirella Monoscalco.
Presented in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina on Friday, October 11, 2024.
Includes awarding the 2024 Mises Institute Peterson-Luddy Chair in Austrian Economics to Dr. Jeffrey Herbener.
Presented in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina on Friday, October 11, 2024.
Sponsored by Murray and Florence Sabrin.
Why do people prep? The mainstream media demeans preppers as irrational and out of touch with reality. From a scientific point of view, however, prepping is rational, efficient, and very normal.
Order a free paperback copy of Murray Rothbard’s What Has Government Done to Our Money? at Mises.org/IssuesFree.
Follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
While Henri Bergson did not point his intellectual abilities toward politics, lesser men who were unscrupulous commandeered his ideas to promote their own collectivist ideologies.
Original article: Henri Bergson: The Philosopher of Life and Creative Evolution
Remember when progressive governments outlawed church gatherings but sanctioned sex orgies? Yes, it really happened.
Original article: Covid Tyrants Partied While Demanding Lockdowns for Everyone Else
The Ukraine war rages on and while the media and political classes repeat the “Putin started it” mantra, the evidence points elsewhere. The US government and its European allies have provoked Russia for years, hoping it would lead to an outbreak of war.
Original article: Enough Already: Stop Provoking Russia
In the past four years, a number of monuments honoring the Confederacy have been torn down or removed. As we have seen before, however, the activism behind this movement will not stop with just taking down Confederate symbols.
Original article: The Battle of the Confederate Monuments
What does ChatGPT know about money? More than one might think. George Ford Smith asks the AI program some questions about money and gets some surprising answers.
Original article: What Does ChatGPT Know about Money?
When discussing the homeless situation in the US, Star Trek does not usually come to mind. However, one episode from about three decades ago was both insightful and prophetic in presenting what would be homelessness in San Francisco.
Original article: Past Tense—The Homeless Problem in Star Trek DS9
Ask most people why our economy is advanced, and they will likely will answer, “Technology.” Yet, technical knowledge is meaningless without capital development, and capital development is impossible without real savings.
Original article: Does Technical Knowledge by Itself Drive Economic Growth?
Dr. Philipp Bagus explains the main ideas from his new book, Full Reserve Banking versus the Real Bills Doctrine, which defends Misesian business cycle theory from a recent critique. Bagus provides an in-depth criticism of the Real Bills Doctrine, emphasizing the importance of real savings in economic stability. He defends full reserve banking and critiques fractional reserve systems for creating money without real economic backing, leading to inflation and business cycles.
- Full Reserve Banking versus the Real Bills Doctrine: Mises.org/HAP469a
- Bob's Study Guide to The Theory of Money and Credit: Mises.org/HAP469b
- Philipp Bagus, "Entrepreneurial Error Does Not Equal Market Failure" Mises.org/HAP469c
The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Murray Rothbard’s, What Has Government Done to Our Money? Get your free copy at Mises.org/HAPodFree
We must first build institutions that can replace the state. Institutions like families, churches, and schools.
"We're in the Middle of a Long War with the State" by Ryan McMaken: https://mises.org/RR_208_A
"The State: Its Rise and Decline" by Martin van Creveld: https://mises.org/RR_208_B
Anatomy of the State by Murray Rothbard: https://mises.org/Anatomy
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Storms like Helene and Milton ought to drive us to recommit to and expand the very institutions that have made natural disasters more survivable for so many, not to abandon them out of some false hope that bad weather can be eliminated.
Read the Article Here: https://mises.org/mises-wire/hurricanes-are-not-going-away-we-must-double-down-whats-making-them-more-survivable
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September's job numbers were driven by big increases in government jobs and part-time work.
Be sure to follow the Loot and Lobby podcast at Mises.org/LL
Banking systems around the world have huge effects on our lives, yet few people understand how banks work. Worse yet, even fewer understand the malign powers of central banks and how this system undermines economies. Thus, it is important to demystify these systems.
Original article: Understanding the Basics of Modern Banking
The political zeitgeist is to embrace protectionism, leading some who support free trade to embrace open borders. However, as Murray Rothbard explained, people and societies are complex entities and what may work for trade does not work for open immigration.
Original article: Tariffs, Protectionism, and Why Borders Matter
The Fed’s specialty is propaganda through data, with a long record of failure. This is by design. Their communication tools must work in overtime, particularly in the face of a decision like this, to avoid “spooking markets”, though this veneer is easy to see through.
Original article: An Economy So Strong It Requires Crisis-Level Fed Action
Many proponents of free markets have tried to cast aside the name “capitalism” as a descriptor of the market system. They should take caution before doing so.
Original article: Yes, We Should Defend the Term “Capitalism”
The more things change, the more they remain the same. In our present age of inflation, we are reminded of how Diocletian and other Roman authorities ordered price controls and other measures to hold down prices. None of these edicts were successful in bringing down prices.
Original article: The Denarius and the Dollar: Price Controls Then and Now
The Fed is desperate for you to think that “this time is different.” Unfortunately, Powell can’t seem to come up with explanation of why that is the case.
Original article: The Fed Hits the Panic Button and Slashes the Fed Funds Rate
This year's presidential election is presented in stark terms of right and left, Trump on the right and Harris on the left. However, it is more realistic to say that both candidates are to the left of where electoral politics was located just a couple decades ago.
Original article: The Gradual Leftward Shift in US Politics and Economy
After Trump narrowly escaped another assassination attempt, the establishment seems uninterested in the motives of the would-be shooter. Perhaps that’s because he’s echoing the same simplistic narratives about the Ukraine war and Trump that they demand we all believe.
Original article: The Second Trump Shooter Believed Exactly What the Establishment Media Wanted Him to Believe
Children in the US are raised to be communists. Most of the parents are, too, and don’t even know it. It doesn’t matter if you send them to public or private schools, as all degree-granting schools bias the learning process against the competitive, capitalist, “liberal,” open-minded society—even though its benefits are all around us helping to feed, cloth, house, and protect us.
Order a free paperback copy of Murray Rothbard’s What Has Government Done to Our Money? at Mises.org/IssuesFree.
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Paul Cwik revisits the podcast to explain his new book, which aims to simplify ABCT for economics students and professors, especially those teaching at the principles level. Dr. Cwik critiques mainstream economic theories for oversimplifying business cycles, arguing that the Austrian theory better explains systemic errors and the boom-bust cycle driven by distorted interest rates.
- Dr. Cwik's New Book, Austrian Business Cycle Theory: An Introduction: Mises.org/HAP468a
- Roger Garrison's Famous Lecture, "The Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle": Mises.org/HAP468b
- Richard Ebeling's Monograph, The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle: Mises.org/HAP468c
- Carilli and Dempster, "Expectations in Austrian Business Cycle Theory: An Application of the Prisoner’s Dilemma": Mises.org/HAP468d
The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Murray Rothbard’s, What Has Government Done to Our Money? Get your free copy at Mises.org/HAPodFree
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Patrick Newman. The three discuss Dr. Newman's upcoming book, Cronyism: Rise of the Corporatist State, 1849–1929, the importance of historical revisionism in the battle against statism, and the dynamics that led to American politics being captured by special interests.
Become a patron for Cronyism: Rise of the Corporatist State, 1849–1929 at https://Mises.org/Cronyism2
"How the New York Times Stole the Presidency" by Tho Bishop: https://Mises.org/RR_207_A
"Why We Need Revisionist History" by Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.: https://Mises.org/RR_207_B
"Why We Need True History and Good Historians" by Ryan McMaken: https://Mises.org/RR_207_C
Liberty vs. Power Podcast with Patrick Newman and Tho Bishop: https://Mises.org/RR_207_D
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The two-percent price inflation target is just a political slogan, and the Fed has many ways of ignoring its supposed two-percent target.
Be sure to follow the Loot and Lobby podcast at Mises.org/LL
Wanjiru Njoya tells Charles Malet (UKColumn.org) how she sees a truly free market, devoid of any government intervention, as being the route by which all societies are improved.
For more information visit https://www.ukcolumn.org/video/governments-make-everything-worse-with-wanjiru-njoya-0
Donald Trump and Elon Musk want to make the federal government more efficient. But if the true aim of our political system is not to solve the problems facing Americans but to transfer wealth to the government and the politically-connected, the government is already very efficient.
Read the Article Here: https://mises.org/mises-wire/america-doesnt-need-more-efficient-government
Be sure to follow the Guns and Butter podcast at Mises.org/GB
Donate $5 today to support our Fall Campaign and receive a physical copy of Anatomy of the State: Mises.org/HH5
Tom Luongo hosts the Gold, Goats, 'n Guns podcast and newsletter. He explains the different factions among bankers, including rivalries between New York and San Francisco, and the US versus Europe.
- Read More from Tom Luongo: Mises.org/HAP467a
This Sunday, September 29, marks the birthday of Ludwig von Mises, and all fall campaign donations will be doubled in celebration. Join us! Mises.org/mi5
John Maynard Keynes was an English “economist” who spawned a revolution in economic thinking that emerged out of a cesspool of socialist thinking in Britain, creating a tidal wave of anti-economics that overwhelmed and dominated the economics profession worldwide, known as Keynesian economics. His experience as an investor is very instructive of his mindset—and the unfortunate revolution that he brought to the world.
Follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
It is understood that Marx's theories stand entirely upon his Labor Theory of Value. If that theory is discredited, so is the scenario that leads to the inevitable triumph of communism. That fact, however, doesn't stop Marx's disciples from employing other fallacies.
Original article: New “Engels” on Marx
Politicians have long claimed that states are like big families, and that political regimes rule in ways similar to how parents raise their families. This is nonsense.
Original article: Why the Family Is Not the Model for the State
The Perfect Market Hypothesis claims that all movements in the market can be considered as random, as market players and prices adjust immediately to new information. However, market players do seek new information and seek to use it.
Original article: Do Financial Markets Immediately Provide All Relevant Information?
The standard belief is that slavery was about obtaining “cheap labor,“ yet nothing could be further from the truth. Slavery comes with high opportunity costs, which is why American slave owners depended upon several government regulations to subsidize their “peculiar institution.”
Original article: Understanding the Real Costs of Slavery: It’s Not Cheap labor
Many “mainstream” economists are bothered by the popularity of economically-flawed policy proposals like tariffs and price controls. It’s their own fault.
Read the Article Here: https://mises.org/mises-wire/economically-illiterate-policy-proposals-are-popular-and-economists-are-blame
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On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Aaron Sobczak of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. The three discuss conservative calls to revive the "Hamiltonian tradition," why it stands opposed to the classical liberalism of the American Revolution, and the role it has played in the growth of the modern regime that neo-Hamiltonians claim to oppose.
Donate $5 today to support the Mises Institute's Fall Campaign and receive a physical copy of Murray Rothbard's Anatomy of the State: https://mises.org/rr5
"It’s Always Been Hamiltonian Statecraft" by Aaron Sobczak: https://Mises.org/RR_206_A
Follow Aaron on X @aaron_sobczak • Read his work at https://ResponsibleStatecraft.org/author/AaronSobczak
"The Return of Hamiltonian Statecraft: A Grand Strategy for a Turbulent World" by Walter Russell Mead (Foreign Affairs): https://Mises.org/RR_206_B
"The Unseen Costs of Humanitarian Intervention" by Ryan McMaken: https://Mises.org/RR_206_C
Follow Aaron on X @aaron_sobczak
Read his work at The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
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The common belief regarding state power is that it is always justified and there can be no questioning the state's existence. But is that true? Does state power conform to natural law or is it imposed upon subjected people?
Original article: Can the State be Justified?
The ruling elites of the US are calling for a "return" to "Hamiltonian Statecraft" and to move away from so-called isolationism. However, there has been no time since the end of World War II that the US has been anything but aggressive in its foreign policy.
Original article: It’s Always Been Hamiltonian Statecraft
Academic historians and archivists have been captured by the hard left and the DEI industry. Not only will the current trends make them bad historians, but it also makes them intolerant people. Mises knew better.
Original article: The Stewards of History Desperately Need Mises
The Salamanca School is known for important contributions to free-market economics and the Austrian School. The Bolognese jurists also made key contributions.
Original article: The Bolognese Jurists behind the Proto-Austrians of the Salamanca School
What Murray Rothbard used to call the "Old Right" stood for liberty, freedom of speech, and a free economy. Most importantly, they stood for peace, all in contrast to the "liberals" of their day and ours.
Original article: The Rebellious Old Right
When our ruling classes speak of “believing in democracy,” they are speaking of a romantic version of a form of governance that, in real life, is quite different than the sanitized version presented in our media.
Original article: Smashing the Western Illusion of Democracy
California's 2014 ban on “single-use” plastic bags was supposed to lead to less waste of plastic, which hasn't happened. Now environmentalists are demanding the state ban the same plastic bags mandated by the original legislation. One intervention begets another and another.
Original article: “Paper or Plastic?” How One Market Intervention Requires Another to “Correct” the Original One
This week kicks off the Mises Institute's Fall Campaign. Make a $100+ donation or a recurring donation of $5 or more, and Mark will send you a signed copy of The Skyscraper Curse: mises.org/mi5
The hatred and disparagement of gold as money and the gold standard has become standard dogma of and a pillar of the modern State. Mr. Buffet and Mr. Ramsey don’t know what they are talking about and have failed to look at the facts of history—any kind of history—in voicing their opinions. In complete contrast, regular people in society still see gold as an emblem of excellence more than a half century since the last vestige of the gold standard was taken away from us.
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David R. Henderson is a research fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He joins Bob to critique a recent Brad DeLong essay, which argued that the US had tried an experiment in "neo-liberalism" and that it failed utterly.
- DeLong's Article, "America Has No Alternative to Industrial Policy": Mises.org/HAP466a
- Henderson's Critique of DeLong's Article: Mises.org/HAP466b
- Bob's Journal Aritcle on 1970s Crude Oil Price Controls: Mises.org/HAP466c
- Subscribe to David's Substack, "I Blog to Differ": Mises.org/HAP466d
Ryan, Tho, and Jonathan Newman look at how the state and the media treat homeschooling and why parents are increasingly looking to homeschooling as an alternative.
"Taking Back Economics Education" by Thomas DiLorenzo: https://Mises.org/RR_205_A
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Keynesians are known for using obscure and jumbled jargon to explain their fallacious ideas. The hope being that, the more confusing the language, the greater the perceived scholarship. Good economics can and should be clearly logically explained.
Original article: Conceptual Clarity in Dismantling Economic Jargon
Mainstream economists speak of GDP as though it is the economy itself, however, GDP is not a good measure of economic reality. Instead, it presents a distorted picture of genuine economic activity and leads to mistaken conclusions about the economy.
Original article: Is GDP an Accurate Measure of Reality?
Despite claims from progressive historians that US slavery was a natural outgrowth of a free market economy, the reality is that slavery would have been much costlier without governments—federal and state—subsidizing it. It is time to set the record straight.
Original article: Governments Had a Major Role in Sustaining Slavery
The US Armed Forces expand their footprints in the Indian Ocean, not to defend this country, but to expand military power. The Diego Garcia base has left a trail of ruined lives for those forced off their land to make room for yet another military base.
Original article: Diego Garcia and Cocos Islands: Another Example of US Imperialism
What is the source of our rights, natural Law or the state? Unfortunately, too many people who should know better choose the latter. David Gordon makes short work of their internal contradictions.
Original article: How to Contradict Yourself about Rights
As AI continues to develop, so does the hysteria that AI will soon take over and relegate us to a dystopian future. We need to realize that, like so many other tools, AI can have good and bad uses, but it cannot control itself.
Original article: Debunking Alarmism over Artificial Intelligence
While the world is abuzz over artificial intelligence (AI), present technologies are limited more than most people want to believe. The situation is ripe for malinvestments.
Original article: Is Artificial Intelligence the Next Easy-Money Bust?
Yet another discouraging trend in law in the UK, Europe, and the US has been the criminalization of what authorities call “hate speech.” However, much of what passes for such “speech” is innocuous at worst and historically has been protected.
Original article: The Folly of Criminalizing “Hate”
The Fed is desperate for you to think that "this time is different." Unfortunately, Powell can't seem to come up with an explanation of why that is the case.
Be sure to follow the Loot and Lobby podcast at Mises.org/LL
Building up non-state institutions is a key factor to being free in an unfree world.
Presented in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Saturday, September 14, 2024.
Technology, like any tool, can be used for good or ill. Combined with good ideas, we can find new and better ways to use technology to promote liberty, free markets, and overall societal well-being.
Presented in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Saturday, September 14, 2024.
After Trump narrowly escaped another assassination attempt, the establishment seems uninterested in the motives of the would-be shooter. Perhaps that’s because he’s echoing the same simplistic narratives about the Ukraine war and Trump that they demand we all believe.
Read the Article Here: Mises.org/mises-wire/second-trump-shooter-believed-exactly-what-establishment-media-wanted-him-believe
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In this episode of the Human Action Podcast, Bob welcomes guest Joshua Mawhorter to discuss his recent article on the role of government in sustaining slavery. The conversation covers several key points, including slave patrols, fugitive slave laws, manumission restrictions, and constitutional subsidies. Mawhorter argues that slavery persisted largely due to government intervention rather than free-market mechanisms and highlights the inefficiencies and extensive costs associated with maintaining the institution. They also touch on modern discussions of reparations and the historical patterns of slavery's abolition in other countries.
- Josh's Mises Wire Article, "Governments Had a Major Role in Sustaining Slavery": Mises.org/HAP465a
- Mark Thornton, "Slavery, Profitability, and the Market Process": Mises.org/HAP465b
- Jeffrey Hummel, "The Political Economy of Slavery, Secession, and Emancipation": Mises.org/HAP465c
- Jeffrey Hummel, "U.S. Slavery and Economic Thought": Mises.org/HAP465d
- Alan Olmstead, "Cotton, Slavery, and the New History of Capitalism": Mises.org/HAP465e
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There is good evidence that the Skyscraper Curse is dead. But what does that mean? Mark Thornton digs down to the foundations to see what the ramifications are. It could mean historical changes are in the works!
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The US government says that there are no limits on its ability to militarily dominate every corner of the globe. Ryan, Zach, and Tho talk about why that's a lot more expensive than the regime admits.
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How do we guard against misinformation when business firms join with government to promote things that simply are false? As Murray Rothbard noted, people still have reason and the free will to make decisions for themselves.
Original article: Praxeology and Robert Malone’s “Surveillance Capitalism”
Despite opposition from government at every turn, homeschooling has developed into an industry with astounding resources and high-quality results. Contrast the individual educational tailoring of homeschooling versus the government's version of individual care: the IEP label.
Original article: Education: Labeling vs. Tailoring
While the Harris-Walz campaign doesn't publicize the candidates’ records on the Covid-19 lockdowns and mask mandates, voters should know what they did. Not only did the lockdowns create massive economic damage, but they led to many more deaths than lives saved.
Original article: Harris-Walz: The Ticket of Covid Tyranny
Progressive and even many mainstream economists believe that cash is a relic from the past and should be replaced with digital money. There are many good reasons why not to follow this course, and no good reasons to replace cash.
Original article: The Regime’s War on Cash Could Destroy the Economy
The TSA's record for incompetence is astounding, even for a government agency. Any complaints, as this article shows, will be seen as subversion.
Original article: TSA Tyranny Goes Cutesy
From 1949 to 1962, American libertarian R.C. Hoiles and Ludwig von Mises corresponded many times, discussing issues relating to state power. While the correspondence at times was acrimonious, nonetheless, it offered valuable insight into the issues we still face.
Original article: The Mises-Hoiles Correspondence: What Might Have Been
The TSA's record for incompetence is astounding, even for a government agency. Any complaints, as this article shows, will be seen as subversion.
Original article: Free Speech and Legislative Bans on DEI
Contrary to myths of “Fed independence,” the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department work closely together to keep monetary inflation going nonstop.
Original article: Does Any Daylight Remain between Monetary and Fiscal Policy?
As our government officials crack down on what they call “foreign disinformation,” allegedly meant to influence the 2024 election, it’s worth remembering that they, too, are willing to use disinformation, not only against foreign regimes, but against Americans themselves.
Read the article here: Mises.org/mises-wire/its-also-disinformation-when-our-government-does-it
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On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Connor O'Keeffe joins Tho Bishop to talk about last night's debate. How should we think about the political circus? Will any of it matter in November? And what should we think about the corporate press's role in the current election? Tune in for this and more.
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Politicians and hedge funds that push “Environmental, Social, and Governance” (ESG) scores and investing do so with the notion of improving social welfare. What they fail to realize is that these concerns are accounted for in human action already.
Original article: ESG Undermines Social Welfare
Herbert Butterfield, who taught history at Cambridge, had many insights on the sea changes brought about by World War I and the collapse of the Old World Order. The new order that followed, he realized, was not an improvement over what previously existed.
Original article: The Wisdom of Herbert Butterfield
It may not have been created in the lab of a mad scientist, but the euro is still a manufactured, cobbled-together currency made from a number of national monetary units. Indeed, it is the perfect Frankenstein currency.
Original article: The Euro Is a Frankenstein-Currency
While recent European Parliament elections have raised questions about Ireland’s role in the EU, the truth is that Ireland’s historical role in civilizing Europe reminds us that Ireland is more European than the EU itself.
Original article: Ireland, Authenticity, and the European Union
Socialist regimes tend to follow the same playbook: promise much, deliver little, and, in the end, blame capitalism. Venezuela is the latest socialist entity to enter the Failed State Hall of Fame.
Original article: The Dark Spectacle of Maduro: Elon Musk, Lula, and Electoral Fraud
Modern egalitarians play down the idea of free will, claiming that free will is relevant only if individuals have no interference with their choices. Murray Rothbard, on the other hand, recognized that self-ownership and one's ability to engage in reason is enough to recognize free will.
Original article: Rothbard on Liberty and Free Will
The total number of employed persons has fallen by 66,000 since August of 2023. Moreover, the new job growth is almost all in part-time jobs.
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The Federal Reserve seems to have finally publicly committed to its rate-cutting cycle—specifically the federal funds rate or policy rate. The Fed wanted to remain perceived as coming to the economy's rescue, rather than goosing the stock market higher. But the Federal Reserve is playing a confidence game with the general public, and the Fed can't save you. What insights can we learn from Austrian Business Cycle Theory?
"10-Year Treasury Constant Maturity Minus 2-Year Treasury Constant Maturity" (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis): Mises.org/Minor_85
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Bob goes solo to explain the contributions of Carl Menger and Ludwig von Mises to monetary theory. He then deals with the critique of David Graeber, who argues that the economists' story of the origin of money is bogus.
- Bob's Article, "Origin of the Specie": Mises.org/HAP464a
- R. A. Radford, "The Economic Organisation of a P.O.W": Mises.org/HAP464b
- Bob's Book, Understanding Money Mechanics: Mises.org/HAP464c
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On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop talk about Zuckerberg's recent letter from Congress, Elon Musk's showdown in Brazil, and the growing global hostility from governments towards free speech.
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Keynesians believe that if there is a bout of inflation, central banks can slowly guide the economy to a “soft landing” which minimizes unemployment and income losses. Such policies, however, only lead to further boom-and-bust scenarios.
Original article: The Fable of the Economic “Soft Landing”
It has been nearly 80 years since US aircraft dropped two atomic bombs on Japanese cities, but today, nations stockpiled with nuclear weapons engage in reckless foreign policies. It is time to recognize the danger irresponsible western governments pose to everyone else.
Original article: Diplomacy, Distrust, and Nuclear War
Modern mainstream economics bases its theories on utilitarianism. Murray Rothbard, on the other hand, saw economic law as based in natural law. Furthermore, he rejected the legal positivism of our age, again deferring to the law of nature.
Original article: Natural Law and Rothbardian Liberty
While Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can boggle the mind with their complex relationships, nonetheless, we are witnessing the development of a parallel economy that has sprung up in the wake of harmful government intervention.
Original article: Review: Bitcoin: The Inverse of Clown World
A few years ago, the leftist publication The Intercept claimed that inflation only hurts the “one percent,” but is “good” for everyone else. The truth is much different, as the Fed’s inflationary policies have benefited the politically-connected crony class.
Original article: Why the Crony Class Loves Artificially-Low Interest Rates—And Why You Shouldn’t
Even though homeschooling is growing in this country and the educational results are overwhelmingly positive, US progressive journalists naturally believe homeschooling is dangerous and in need of “oversight.”
Original article: What the Media Says about Homeschooling
While we experience the predictable economic consequences of bad economic policies, the two main presidential candidates seem to be competing in an unspoken contest to demonstrate profound economic illiteracy. Unfortunately, whoever wins in this contest, we lose.
Original article: Presidential Election or Economic Illiteracy Contest?
The flurry of post-Watergate “reforms” supposedly were passed to counteract government abuse of citizens. Not surprisingly, the FISA program, which was aimed at reducing internal government spying became the means of massive growth of the surveillance state.
Original article: FISA: How a Watergate-Era “Reform” Turned into a Mechanism of Massive State Surveillance
Harris promises to reduce prices by printing more money, reducing competition, and attacking businesses. Welcome to the US version of Argentina's “Peronism.”
Original article: American Peronism: Kamala’s Plan to Ruin America’s Economy
Despite all the money spent on US healthcare, an astounding number of Americans suffer from chronic illnesses. Yet the political establishment has shown no interest in even discussing the issue. It's important to understand why.
This episode is available as an article at Mises.org/mises-wire/why-political-establishment-wont-touch-chronic-disease-issue
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Price inflation is never caused by greed. It's always caused by a growing money supply. The money supply has grown big-time since 2020, and now we pay a lot more for food and housing.
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The phrase, old school economics, is often used positively or approvingly by many, but it's rarely explained. What is this school and where is it located? You can be sure that it is not what is taught in most college classrooms today. It's definitely not Keynesian or Marxist economics. But what is it?
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Dr. Jonathan Newman joins Bob to analyze Kamala Harris's proposals against price gouging, and how some mainstream economists defend Government price controls. They also address misconceptions about price gouging and the evolving mainstream narrative on inflation.
- Bob's Article on Harris's Anti-Price Gouging Proposals: Mises.org/HAP463a
- The Boston Globe Article Supporting Harris's Proposal: Mises.org/HAP463b
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A recurring myth among progressives is that the state can enforce "fairness." However, given that government cannot even effectively define fairness, one doubts that the state can "enforce" what it doesn't know.
Original article: Why State Enforcement of “Fairness” is Wrong
Politicians say "greedflation," and profits are what fuels rising prices, but the real culprit is fiat money creation fueled by the central bank.
Original article: The Fed’s Fiat Money Is the Real Cause of Price Inflation
With the US government engaged in out-of-control spending, we are looking at tax increases in the coming years. And even if Congress does not pass official tax hikes, we will see the government seizing wealth via inflation.
Original article: Be Prepared to Hear More about Taxes, Taxes, Taxes
The Nigerian government has passed a new minimum wage law, and the usual suspects are happy because the country "is getting a raise." Economic reality, however, will set in soon enough as people find that government edicts do not create wealth.
Original article: The New Minimum Wage Increase in Nigeria is a Pyrrhic Victory for Organized Labor
David Gordon reviews J.W. Rich's new book, Praxeological Ethics: An Inquiry into the Nature and Foundation of Ethics and finds much to like about this volume.
Original article: Is There a Praxeological Ethics?
By appealing to tariffs and other forms of economic regulation, Republicans have tossed aside any commitment to free market economics. Unfortunately, their program will lead to more economic stagnation, inflation, and runaway government spending.
Original article: Republicans Declare War on the American Economy
While Donald Trump is trying to appeal to homeschooling families with his Agenda 47 plan, the reality is that by offering tax breaks and subsidies, the federal government ultimately will be able to regulate homeschooling, and federal control will ruin homeschooling as we know it.
Original article: The Problem with Trump’s Agenda 47 for Homeschoolers
Taxing "the rich" won't make life more affordable for ordinary people. The true cause of the affordability crisis is inflation caused by central banks.
Original article: Tax the Rich? Not a Good Idea
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss the recent news of Robert Kennedy, Jr., and Tulsi Gabbard joining forces with Donald Trump. The two discuss what this new coalition means for broader realignment between parties, the significance of the crypto industries' support for Trump, and what lessons can be learned from past political realignments.
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While the Ukrainian incursion in Russia’s Kursk region is dramatic, the operation does not change the fact that the Ukrainian position in future talks with Russia continues to grow weaker and weaker.
This episode is available as an article at Mises.org/mises-wire/incursion-russia-will-not-solve-ukraines-biggest-problem
Be sure to follow the Guns and Butter podcast at Mises.org/GB
Mark discusses the issues of homelessness, poverty, technology, and government in two award-winning episodes of the 1995 Star Trek series, Deep Space 9. As in the entire Star Trek genre, the basic condition of scarcity is overlooked, particularly in the cases of issues back on Earth. However, considering the roles of scarcity and incentives, Mark suggests some real-life reforms.
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The Fed promises a soft landing, but the fact that the Fed now plans to start cutting interest rates is one of the strongest recession signals we can get.
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Bob quotes from David Ricardo to show that the classical economists understood that utility was essential to explaining market value, but then he also explains why the Marginalist Revolution was a scientific advancement.
- Bob's Journal of Libertarian Studies Article on The Labor Theory of Value: Mises.org/HAP462a
- Human Action Podcast Episode 460, "What Does Say’s Law Really Say?": Mises.org/HAP462b
- David Ricardo, On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation: Mises.org/HAP462c
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The US will add another $2 trillion to the total debt this year, and the US is now spending a trillion of your dollars on interest per year. There is no end in sight.
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Ryan McMaken and economist Jonathan Newman look at what happens when governments try to control prices. It turns out bad things happen.
“Krugman: Harris Hasn’t Proposed Price Controls and It’s Good That She Did” by Jonathan Newman: https://Mises.org/RR_200_A
“Kamala Wants Price Controls, and It’s Not Because She Has 'Good Intentions'” by Ryan McMaken: https://Mises.org/RR_200_B
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Ryan McMaken takes a look at Ludwig von Mises's definition of "democracy" and how democracy only works when mixed with an unlimited right to secession.
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While many are celebrating the Chevron decision that limits the power of federal bureaucracies to interpret federal law, it also may provide an opportunity to change federal policies regarding land ownership in the West.
Original article: The Chevron decision may also apply to federal land policies in the West
While many people currently are likely to view the rule of law as simply a collection of arbitrary rules, it involves private property rights and limits on state power.
Original article: The rule of law and property rights
One of the excuses for levying protective tariffs is to protect emerging domestic industries. However, this kind of protectionism, contrary to popular opinion, leaves an economy worse off every time.
Original article: Protecting infant industries doesn’t help the economy
Contrary to popular belief, China's economy depends much less on central planning than in the past. China is strong in EV development, and the success is due not to government subsidies and direction but to plain good economics.
Original article: China’s competitiveness is driven by low taxation, not by industrial policy
The U.S. government is spending trillions of dollars to prop up military ventures around the world. This kind of spending and exhausting of military resources cannot be sustained much longer.
Original article: The U.S. military machine is unsustainable
While F.A. Hayek was a promoter of liberty, his work nonetheless often failed to acknowledge just how predatory the state really is. Murray Rothbard understood that the real enemy is the predatory state.
Original article: Hayekian liberty and the predatory state
While Kamala Harris accuses Republicans of censoring books and library materials, her press secretary, Brian Fallon, tried to censor opinion articles critical of Eric Holder and the Department of Justice during the Obama years.
Original article: Kamala’s press chief tried to censor me
As the Federal Reserve manipulates the money supply and interest rates, the yield curve becomes a less reliable indicator of economic activity. The more the Fed plays havoc with the system, the more we see the boom-and-bust syndrome.
Original article: The Fed Is Warping the Shape of the Yield Curve
Massive increases in government debts, much of it to foreigners, a willingness to pay for ongoing bureaucratic expenses with budget deficits, and a tidal wave of interest payments on the national debt. Could a so-called Democratic Socialist government be described as a role model for the United States?
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With recent market turbulence and new potential recession indicators emerging, Peter St. Onge joins Bob to examine whether market performance accurately reflects the true state of economic health. There is rising debt, growing entitlements, and ongoing structural issues within the US economy, Bob and Professor St. Onge analyze how these factors contribute to our current economic landscape and whether recent developments are indicative of a 1987-style crash or a 2008-style crash.
They also explain the Japanese carry trade, its impact on the dollar and Japanese markets, and the recent market fluctuations, including the significant decline in the Japanese stock exchange and the S&P 500.
- Dr. St. Onge, "Is it Black Monday or Another 2008?": Mises.org/HAP461a
The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Murray Rothbard's, What Has Government Done to Our Money? Get your free copy at Mises.org/HAPodFree
All politics aside, in the modern capitalistic society, population and population growth—or decline—is a matter of choice. We need not worry about running out of resources, land, people, and energy.
See also the "Population" episode of the Minor Issues Podcast: Mises.org/Minor64
Subscribe to this monthly podcast at Mises.org/Unanimity.
Music: “My Universe” ℗ 2006 Kate Higgins (katehiggins.com). Used with permission.
War, Economy, and State merges with Radio Rothbard on this episode, with Zachary Yost joining Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop for a look at the draft. The three discuss the rising interest in the draft throughout the West, including the expansion of selective service in the US and calls for an expanded "citizen army" in Europe. What would a modern draft look like, and what is the potential political fallout?
“The Return of the Military Draft” by Raphael S. Cohen: https://Mises.org/RR_199_A
“It’s Wrong to Draft Women. It’s Also Wrong to Draft Men.” by Ryan McMaken: https://Mises.org/RR_199_B
“The US Military Is Laying the Groundwork to Reinstitute the Draft” by Zachary Yost: https://Mises.org/RR_199_C
“The Present Age by Robert A. Nisbet: https://Mises.org/RR_199_D
“Why Conservatives Hate War” by William S. Lind: https://Mises.org/RR_199_E
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The current trend in money-supply growth is a big turnaround from the many months of depression-level contractions we saw in 2022 and 2023.
Original article: Money-Supply Growth Accelerates as Wall Street Demands Even More Easy Money
"Self-determination, imperialism, and secession are three ways of looking at the same object. Because, as we will see, the tradition of self-determination is closely connected to the issue of secession, and also its opposite then, imperialism and colonialism."
Recorded on August 3, 2024, at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.
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Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug
PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
Libertarians have no problem dealing with how private property should be policed, but what about those areas we call public spaces? Murray Rothbard, not surprisingly, examined the issue thoroughly and had some insightful ideas.
Original Article: How should government police the public domain?
When municipalities embrace new technologies, people often refer to them as “smart cities.” However, all too often these technological “revenue enhancers” are nothing more than shakedowns of local citizens.
Original Article: A ‘smart city’ is a city plagued by high taxes and central planning
Rachel Maddow, the leftwing broadcaster, tries her hand at rewriting history. Unfortunately, her tendency to see a fascist hiding behind every bush and tree clouds her writing judgment.
Original Article: Rachel Maddow’s hunt for imaginary fascists
The United States abolished its first three central banks, and this was followed by a period of immense economic growth. End the Fed? We did it before and can do it again.
Original Article: The American tradition of abolishing central banks
Following the release of today’s jobs report, it seems serious cracks are now appearing in the media's narrative on our "strong" economy.
Original Article: Bidenomics: New employment numbers say recession is here
With its focus on dismantling the administrative state, Project 2025 represents a refreshingly serious turn for the American right. However, its policy prescriptions remain frustratingly moderate.
Original Article: Project 2025: The good, the bad, and the frustrating
By appealing to the self-interest of buyers and sellers, capitalism foils attempts by lawmakers to create racially constructed limits on voluntary exchange. Capitalism undermines racism.
Original Article: How capitalism defeats racism
With the European economy remaining relatively stagnant and government debt levels climbing to disturbing levels, it's possible that some of these countries will see another debt crisis like we saw in Greece more than a decade ago.
Original Article: Is the European Union headed for another debt crisis?
With Mises University over and the stock market showing the first crack in its armor, it's time to check the underbelly of the economy’s mighty growth industry.
Check out "Big Tech Doesn't Want You Anymore" with Patrick Boyle: Mises.org/MI_81
Download The Skyscraper Curse by Mark Thornton at Mises.org/Curse.
Order a free paperback copy of Murray Rothbard’s What Has Government Done to Our Money? at Mises.org/IssuesFree.
Follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Bob goes solo to give the historical context and true meaning behind "Say's Law," as well as the caricature presented by Keynesian critics.
- J.B. Say's A Treatise on Political Economy: Mises.org/HAP460a
- James Mill, "On the Overproduction and Underconsumption Fallacies": Mises.org/HAP460b
The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Murray Rothbard's, What Has Government Done to Our Money? Get your free copy at Mises.org/HAPodFree
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by friend of the show, Peter St. Onge. The three recap the highs and lows of the past week, look at the real state of the economy, and why Americans are forced to care about Japanese monetary policy.
“A Fed rate cut will not solve our economic problems” by Connor O'Keeffe: https://Mises.org/RR_198_A
“Is it Black Monday or Another 2008?” by Peter St. Onge: https://Mises.org/RR_198_B
Follow Peter on X: https://x.com/profstonge
Subscribe to Peter's Substack: https://www.profstonge.com
Get free copies of What Has Government Done to Our Money? at https://Mises.org/RothPodFREE
Get your ticket to Elections and the Economy: Do They Really Matter? in Fort Myers, Florida: https://Mises.org/Myers
Registration for the 2024 Mises Institute Supporters Summit is open for Mises Members: https://Mises.org/SS24
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard
Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug
PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
Kamala Harris is more than a continuation of the Obama-Biden progressive interventionism at home and abroad. She's an acceleration.
Original Article: Kamala Harris is awful
For all the regime's talk about "democracy," it is clear at this point that the White House is run by unelected personnel who are accountable only to technocratic elites.
Original Article: Unelected technocrats are now the nation’s chief executives
Social justice is a nonsensical term that interferes with the attempts to find authentic justice. It is not about equality so much as it is about imposing outcomes incompatible with a free society.
Original Article: Time to reject ‘social justice’ and replace it with real justice
While defenders of democracy claim to hold fealty to the U.S. Constitution, they are quick to jettison it when they claim that democracy itself is in peril. David Gordon disagrees.
Original Article: No exceptions, please!
The president's latest episode of "transparency" was the same deceitful behavior that has characterized his administration for the past four years. This time, it is employing deceit to "save democracy."
Original Article: Biden’s parting deluge of deceit deserves damning
In the wake of the Labor Party's huge win in Great Britain, one is reminded that Labor and Conservatives are far more united in their economic and policy viewpoints than they pretend to be.
Original Article: United in economic stagnation and false fears
Surprisingly, Project 2025 blames the Fed for exacerbating the cycle of booms and busts, inflating away the value of the dollar, enabling exorbitant deficit spending.
Original Article: What Project 2025 says about the Fed
What we may call the “spending illusion” is perhaps the gravest error in the history of economic thought and has been deeply embedded in economics since the early twentieth century.
Original Article: Have we been living in an MMT world since 2008?
Live at Mises University in Auburn Alabama, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop look at the methods of radical libertarians in light of Rothbard's essay on revolution.
“The Meaning of Revolution” by Murray Rothbard: https://Mises.org/RR_197_A
Get free copies of What Has Government Done to Our Money? at https://Mises.org/RothPodFREE
Get your ticket to Elections and the Economy: Do They Really Matter? in Fort Myers, Florida: https://Mises.org/Myers
Registration for the 2024 Mises Institute Supporters Summit is open for Mises Members: https://Mises.org/SS24
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard
Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug
PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
Alexander Hamilton hated decentralization, and wanted a strong central government, high taxes, and a central bank. Hamilton's legacy today dominates in Washington, DC.
Original Article: Alexander Hamilton’s poisoned legacy
Critics of capitalism claim that private enterprise gives workers the unhappy choice of either working difficult, low-paying jobs or outright starving. The claim is false and the history of capitalism tells a different story.
Original Article: The problem with ‘work or starve’
One of the reasons for the hard-left turn in higher education has been the increasing radicalization of accreditation agencies. It is important for colleges and universities to break away from these agencies and rethink the accreditation process.
Original Article: A historical lesson in higher-education self-governance
Under the regime of apartheid, South Africa's government engaged in legal discrimination. In the new South Africa, the government also engages in legal racial discrimination in the name of "equity."
Original Article: Legal discrimination in apartheid and equity
By appealing to the self-interest of buyers and sellers, capitalism foils attempts by lawmakers to create racially constructed limits on voluntary exchange. Capitalism undermines racism.
Original Article: How capitalism defeats racism
The 1866 civil rights law was historical not because it promised racial equality but because it changed the legal relationship between the states and the federal government.
Original Article: The 1866 civil rights revolution
The degrowth movement seeks to mitigate climate change by ending economic growth, which is really a move to engage in large-scale depopulation.
Original Article: The degrowth movement is antihuman, and its advocates are fine with that
More than two decades ago, the Federal Reserve joined with the federal government to make housing more affordable. The first housing bubble popped in 2008, and a second bubble is on its way to bursting.
Original Article: Are apartment syndicators incompetent or crooked? The answer is yes
Recorded in front of a live audience at the 2024 Mises University, Bob discusses recent market turbulence with Mark Thornton. They also delve into the Skyscraper theory and the practicality of the Austrian Business Cycle Theory.
Mises University is the world’s leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream
- Dr. Thornton’s Minor Issues Episode on the Inverted Yield Curve: Mises.org/HAP459a
- The Skyscraper Curse: Mises.org/HAP459b
- Dr. Thornton's Article From 2004 on the Housing Market: Mises.org/HAP459c
- The Inverted Yield Curve from Understanding Money Mechanics: Mises.org/HAP459d
- Bob’s Econlib Article on Fiscal Austerity and Tax Rates: Mises.org/HAP459e
Join Peter Klein and Ryan McMaken in Albuquerque, New Mexico for a Mises event on strategy, economics, and decentralization of power. Register now: Mises.org/NM24
The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Murray Rothbard's, What Has Government Done to Our Money? Get your free copy at Mises.org/HAPodFree
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on August 3, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
"Murray Rothbard used this term debamboozle, because the idea is that the state and all of its minions—the media, the universities—they're all in the business of bamboozling the public—confusing the public into thinking the state is benevolent and omnipotent and wonderful."
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on August 3, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
"Self-determination, imperialism, and secession are three ways of looking at the same object. Because, as we will see, the tradition of self-determination is closely connected to the issue of secession, and also its opposite then, imperialism and colonialism."
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on August 3, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
"There are different ways that we can take what we've learned here at Mises U and apply it."
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on August 3, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
Mark Thornton reviews Philip Duffy's book about the mysterious Irish banker Richard Cantillon (1680–1734). Many crucial Austrian insights have been found in the economics of Cantillon and his lone surviving publication, Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en General. Indeed, the origins of economic theory itself can be traced to CantilIon.
Purchase A Tale of Four Cities: From Invisible Hand to Cancel Culture by Philip G. Duffy at Mises.org/DuffyBook.
Download An Essay on Economic Theory by Richard Cantillon (edited by Mark Thornton) at Mises.org/Essai.
Order a free paperback copy of Murray Rothbard’s What Has Government Done to Our Money? at Mises.org/IssuesFree.
Follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on August 2, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on August 2, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
"Even those who look upon the inequality of wealth and incomes as a deplorable thing, cannot deny that it makes for progressing capital accumulation. And it is additional capital accumulation alone that brings about technological improvement, rising wage rates, and a higher standard of living." —Ludwig von Mises, Human Action
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on August 2, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on August 2, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on August 2, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
"Malinformation is information which may be true, but causes the receiver, the recipient of that malinformation, to become more distrustful of the government. I guarantee that you all have heard a bucket load of malinformation over the last couple of days."
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on August 1, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
People are tempted to think we need government regulation and intervention in product safety.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on August 1, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
The analysis of the operations of the military industrial congressional complex can be applied to other types of bureaucracies that have the ability to bestow favors and implement graft.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on August 1, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on August 1, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
There is no general social benefit from government spending regardless of how it is financed.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on August 1, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on August 1, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
Every game has a structure that involves three elements: you have players, you have strategies, and you have the outcomes.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on August 1, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
The application of Austrian economics to the study of games, video games, and virtual worlds.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on August 1, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
The task of the economic historian that views government regulation through the lens of cronyism is to uncover the actual motivations—not the stated motivations—behind legislation and reveal who really benefited.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 31, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
"The market process is cumulative. It builds off of what is. So, if you abolish the regulations, that's going to be better."
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 31, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
Comparative institutional analysis of both policing provided by government bureaucracies and by private enterprises that can engage in economic calculation.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 31, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 31, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
Threats to capitalism, arguments raised against capitalism, and the importance of liberty.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 31, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
What has been the rhetoric and what has been the reality of trade policy? Where do we stand at this point in time? Why don't trade agreements work? Where should we concentrate our efforts in the future if we want to champion this fight?
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 31, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
Is ethics objectively true?
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 31, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
Austrian economists understand how we can apply economic laws and concepts to what we see in the real world.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 30, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
The minimum wage is harmful, racist, sexist, and completely unnecessary.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 30, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
"This is a core topic for Austrian economists, because we have a particular way of thinking about competition and the absence of competition in the form of monopoly. that is a little bit different from the way some other economists approach the problem. And this is a perennially important sort of public policy topic."
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 30, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
Austrian business cycle theory is the defining feature of Austrian economics.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 30, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
Capital is the sum of the whole complex of goods destined for acquisition, evaluated in money terms.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 30, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
A modern socialist economy is impossible.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 30, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 30, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
The entrepreneur is the driving force of the whole market system.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 29, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 29, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
Money, what it is, where it came from, and why it is essential for just thriving society and economy.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 29, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
"Division of labor really is the market economy."
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 29, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
"The word praxeology can be used in two different ways. One is for a science of human action. as developed by Ludwig von Mises and his successors, principally Murray Rothbard. And the other is for the deductive method used in the science of human action."
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 29, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
"Price theory is the cornerstone of the foundation of economic calculation, and economic calculation is the foundation upon which rests our understanding of the market economy."
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 29, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
"Menger developed the whole system of economics, and he showed that it was based on subjective value and individual choice based on the principle of margin utility. He was a creative genius."
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 29, 2024. Includes an introduction by Joseph. T. Salerno.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 28, 2024. Includes an introduction by Joseph. T. Salerno.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 28, 2024.
Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.
Economic laws represent the real world. They are not ideologies or objects of worship. These laws are not the product of an ideological wish list but rather explain production and exchange.
Original Article: The Limitations of Economic Laws
Instead of the usual claptrap that characterizes most graduation speeches, someone needs to give a speech that defends liberty and tells the truth about government and capitalism.
Original Article: The commencement speech someone needs to give
Issues of immigration are complex. The current system of open borders, detention and expanding access to welfare is destructive to our body politic. We need to come up with a better system that protects the rights of all.
Original Article: Natural rights and the American border
Continued bailouts undermine the entire economy by rewarding financial failure and discouraging productive economic activity.
Original Article: How Corporate Bailouts Inflate the Money Supply
Commonsense safety measures are being replaced in our working culture by an impossible “no risk” standard. A culture of “can do” is replaced by the culture of fear.
Original Article: Fear is the mind killer: America’s dangerous obsession with ‘safety’
Economic mythology said governments must regulate markets to prevent monopolies. In reality, it is the government regulation itself that creates monopolies, which do not emerge in free markets.
Original Article: Government regulation of competitive firms creates monopolies
The Washington political establishment's uniform condemnation of the assassination attempt against Donald Trump does not square with the apocalyptic rhetoric they have used to describe him over the past eight years.
Original Article: The Trump assassination attempt exposes the establishment’s deceitfulness
While protecting “intellectual property” has a good sound to it — even among libertarians — such policies are harmful to authentic property rights. We need to pursue another path.
Original Article: The Absurdity of Intellectual Property Laws
Prompted by a listener request, Bob gives the standard economic analysis of tariffs and other types of taxes. This is relevant because the populist Right is arguing for a hike in tariffs to fund income tax cuts.
- Bob's Article, "Carbon Taxes and the 'Tax Interaction Effect'": Mises.org/HAP458a
- Trump-Biden Tariff Tracker: Mises.org/HAP458b
- Bob and Dave Smith on Open Borders: Mises.org/HAP458c
- Frédéric Bastiat's Candlestick Makers' Petition: Mises.org/HAP458d
Join Peter Klein and Ryan McMaken in Albuquerque, New Mexico for a Mises event on strategy, economics, and decentralization of power. Register now: Mises.org/NM24
The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Murray Rothbard's, What Has Government Done to Our Money? Get your free copy at Mises.org/HAPodFree
The great reckoning seems to be following the course that Mark Thornton has been charting by guesswork. In other words, the great train wreck seems to be happening. Mark shares his current outlook.
What the Fed does, what the stock market does, and what the economy does cannot be predicted in the same sense that the mechanical and physical sciences can predict simple relationships of physical bodies and forces.
"10-Year Treasury Constant Maturity Minus 2-Year Treasury Constant Maturity" (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis): Mises.org/MI_79_Graph
Download The Skyscraper Curse by Mark Thornton at Mises.org/Curse.
Order a free paperback copy of Murray Rothbard’s What Has Government Done to Our Money? at Mises.org/IssuesFree.
Follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss America's new chapter of late-stage Soviet politics. What does the last week show about where true political power lies in the country, and what can we expect going forward?
“Kamala Harris is awful” by Connor O'Keeffe: https://Mises.org/RR_196_A
“Unelected technocrats are now the nation’s chief executives” by Ryan McMaken: https://Mises.org/RR_196_B
“The party of 'democracy' will now choose your candidate for you” by Ryan McMaken: https://Mises.org/RR_196_C
“Does J.D. Vance threaten the regime?” by Tho Bishop: https://Mises.org/RR_196_D
Get free copies of What Has Government Done to Our Money? at https://Mises.org/RothPodFREE
Get your ticket to Elections and the Economy: Do They Really Matter? in Fort Myers, Florida: https://Mises.org/Myers
Registration for the 2024 Mises Institute Supporters Summit is open for Mises Members: https://Mises.org/SS24
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard
Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug
PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
For all of his freedom-loving rhetoric, it is clear that Woodrow Wilson was one of the most antifreedom presidents in U.S. history.
Original Article: Woodrow Wilson and Freedom
It’s finally clear to everyone that President Biden is not running the federal government. Yet the government is carrying on as it always has. It’s important to understand why.
Original Article: Biden Is Not Running the Government. So, Who Is?
Utopians are not satisfied with imposing DEI on humans. They also want the state to treat animals as “oppressed” minorities with positive rights.
Original Article: Praxeology and Animals
The Biden administration is determined to do an end run around the courts and ram through yet another student loan forgiveness plan. It is not real “loan forgiveness” but just a massive wealth transfer from lower-income to higher-income groups.
Original Article: Biden’s Student Loan Gift SAVE Is Simply a Wealth Transfer
Human action is not a figment of our imaginations, nor is it a social construct. Praxeology describes real and purposeful actions by people who act on what they know or what they believe to be true.
Original Article: The Reality of Human Action
With political turmoil creating anxiety in Great Britain, The Economist chose to describe the political situation as “anarchy.” In reality, this is political chaos, not anarchy, since anarchy is based upon social cooperation and peaceful resolution of conflicts.
Original Article: Anarchy in the UK
Progressives promote civil rights viewpoints as being “good for the whole” of society. Yet most of the modern civil rights movements and accompanying legislation simply promote the "good" of one group at the expense of others.
Original Article: Group interests and the ‘good of the whole’
When governments seize private firms in the name of nationalization, the moves are usually politically popular. However, it doesn't take long for the nationalized firms to turn into a financial black hole.
Original Article: Though popular, nationalizations ruin economies
Jason Purcell is an analyst at a major financial institution with a specialty in bond analysis. He joins Bob to discuss his historical analysis of yield curves (in both UK and US) going back to the 1870s, which shows that central banks do indeed manipulate short-term interest rates.
- Bob's Article on the Inverted Yield Curve: Mises.org/HAP457a
- Goerge Selgin's Cato Article on the Fed: Mises.org/HAP457b
- The Charts Referenced in this Episode: Mises.org/HAP457c
- Jason's Twitter: Mises.org/HAP457d
- Purcell Investment Research: Mises.org/HAP457e
- Read More on Jason's Substack: Mises.org/HAP457f
Join us in Fort Myers, Florida, on November 9, 2024, to cut through the political noise and discuss the state of the economy. Distinguished speakers Tom DiLorenzo, Mark Thornton, and Murray Sabrin will challenge prevailing economic myths and take a critical look at the US political theater, offering insights into how political interventions distort our economy. It’s an opportunity to move beyond partisan rhetoric and examine the way the government affects our lives and livelihoods. Register now: Mises.org/FtMyers24
The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Murray Rothbard's, What Has Government Done to Our Money? Get your free copy at Mises.org/HAPodFree
Is equality good and inequality bad?
Over the known history of man, increasing economic inequality is associated with rising standards of living for all. Using common analogies, increased economic inequality lifts all boats, and not only increases the size of the economic pie, but also cuts everyone larger pieces of pie.
Subscribe to this monthly podcast at Mises.org/Unanimity.
Music: “My Universe” ℗ 2006 Kate Higgins (katehiggins.com). Used with permission.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, asking the question of whether it was extreme incompetence or regime malice.
“The Trump assassination attempt exposes the establishment’s deceitfulness” by Connor O'Keeffe: https://Mises.org/RR_195_A
“The hope for national unity in the shadow of a failing state” by Tho Bishop: https://Mises.org/RR_195_B
“Propaganda: How the media handles Biden’s rapid decline and the Trump shooting” by William L. Anderson: https://Mises.org/RR_195_C
“Choose one: Law enforcement at Trump shooting was either incompetent or complicit” by Ryan McMaken: https://Mises.org/RR_195_D
“Rothbard in 1972: Another lone nut?” by Murray Rothbard: https://Mises.org/RR_195_E
Get free copies of What Has Government Done to Our Money? at https://Mises.org/RothPodFREE
Get your ticket to Elections and the Economy: Do They Really Matter? in Fort Myers, Florida: https://Mises.org/Myers
Registration for the 2024 Mises Institute Supporters Summit is open for Mises Members https://Mises.org/SS24
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard
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Last week, Julian Assange was freed and the Chevron doctrine was overturned. These are huge wins for liberty. Not long ago, they felt completely out of reach.
Original Article: Julian Assange, the Chevron Doctrine, and the Case against Pessimism
As the progressive Left expands its occupation of our institutions, the concept of truth itself becomes little more than a weapon to utilize to achieve political goals.
Original Article: Varying Interpretations of Truth, or Truth as a Social Construct
Academic elites claim that there is no objective truth, only social constructs. Thus, people can create their own reality in many areas, and everyone else is expected to accept whatever “reality” is presented—or face serious consequences.
Original Article: Reality Is NOT a Social Construct
For all of the claims that governments “create jobs,” in reality, government jobs come at a greater cost than any value those jobs may create. Government jobs are a burden to the economy.
Original Article: The State Does Not Create Value-Enhancing Jobs
While F.A. Hayek saw human ignorance as the basis for what he called spontaneous order, Ludwig von Mises saw human reason as the basis for praxeology.
Original Article: Human Ignorance Is an Unstable Basis for Liberty and Praxeology
Javier Milei’s recent “snub” of Spain's political establishment during a recent visit there may have been a “violation” of diplomatic protocol, but it also was a statement that Spain’s socialism itself is uncivilized.
Original Article: Milei Snubs the Spanish Political Establishment
It has been nearly eighty years since the US used atomic warfare on Japan as a way to end World War II. The legacy of that event is not one of peace but of outright madness.
Original Article: From Milk Runs to MAD to Madness
Many small colleges are shutting their doors, and it is largely the fault of overexpansion, government protectionism, and bureaucratic infiltration.
Original Article: Bureaucracy: The Death Knell of Higher Education
Trade is under tremendous threat from both major political parties in the United States and their presidential candidates. In this episode, Mark Thornton discusses his new paper, "Ludwig von Mises on Trade, Human Development, and Human Progress," explains how Mises examined trade holistically and integrated it into a powerful social theory. Ideologically, the commitment to free trade must be understood and sustained in order for us to continue to receive the benefits of trade in the international division of labor.
Download Dr. Thornton's paper, "Ludwig von Mises on Trade, Human Development, and Human Progress" at Mises.org/MI_78_A
Order a free paperback copy of Murray Rothbard’s What Has Government Done to Our Money? at Mises.org/IssuesFree.
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Contrary to Milton Friedman’s thesis that the decline in the money supply caused the Great Depression, the real reason was the collapse of real savings, which was due to loose monetary policies by the Federal Reserve.
Original Article: The Collapse of Real Savings Caused the Great Depression
Even as the Federal Reserve continues to manipulate interest rates to “fight” the results of the business cycle, Austrian economics teaches that business cycles occur because of the manipulation. They never learn.
Original Article: The Impact of Interest Rates on Economic Growth: An Austrian Perspective
A common complaint is that the 1964 Civil Rights Act started in the “right direction,” valuing so-called equality of opportunity, but then went off the rails with “equality of result.” In truth, the act cannot be reconciled with a libertarian society.
Original Article: The “Equality of Opportunity” Fallacy
What began as supposedly a free trade union has been turning into an authoritarian, interventionist nightmare. A recent speech by a top European Union commissioner shows the sad direction the EU is heading.
Original Article: Draghi’s Globalist EU Speech Urges Concentration of Power
While President Biden’s inflationary economy continues to falter, the president proposes to outlaw bank overdraft fees, ostensibly to help lower-income Americans. Bank fees, however, are not the biggest threat consumers face; inflation and intervention are the real threats.
Original Article: Biden’s Blarney on Bank Fees
The current explosion in rental and home prices is the direct result of government intervention aimed at making it easier to buy a house. Mises wrote that government intervention into the market tends to make things worse. He was right.
Original Article: It All Began When the Government Tried to Make Housing More Affordable
For all of the media ballyhoo about the CHIPS Act, it really is a page out of the old five-year plans from the Soviet Union. The CHIPS Act will have the same success as befell the Soviets.
Original Article: Chop the Federal CHIPS Act
Environmentalists insist on banning fossil fuels and refrigerant gasses in order to end heat waves. That means people will face future heat waves (which will always be with us) without air conditioning, bringing even more heat-related deaths.
Original Article: Banning Fossil Fuels Will Make Heat Waves More Dangerous, Not Less
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Connor O'Keeffe fills in for Ryan McMaken for a conversation with Tho Bishop and William Yarwood about last week's British election. What caused the collapse of the Torys, what might come from a new Labor regime, and what is the future for Nigel Farage? Tune in for answers to these questions and more.
“The Bank of England Made Liz Truss a Scapegoat” by Daniel Lacalle: https://Mises.org/RR_194_A
“Why Did Trussonomics Fail So Quickly?” by Kevin Dowd: https://Mises.org/RR_194_B
“British Sound Money MP Replaced by Labor Party Apparatchik: A Sign of the Times” by Jack Watt: https://Mises.org/RR_194_C
Follow William Yarwood on Twitter @yarwoodwilliam
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This 4th of July holiday, take a moment to re-declare independence from your government and commit yourself to being a more appreciative member of your voluntary society—and for the people upon which you depend.
Order a free paperback copy of Murray Rothbard’s What Has Government Done to Our Money? at Mises.org/IssuesFree.
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Are wealthy people getting wealthier because they work harder? Dr. Jonathan Newman is back on the show to discuss Robert Reich's latest videos about debunking economic myths.
Robert Reich incorrectly blames the free market when businesses act on incentives provided by the government. He condenses this information into short, impactful videos for his audience. However, most of what Reich talks about isn't really economics. And when he does discuss economics, he relies on flawed assumptions that have been meticulously refuted over the past century. Bob and Dr. Newman dissect the misconceptions and provide some insights.
- Robert Reich's "Debunking Economic Myths" Episode 3: Mises.org/HAP455a
- Robert Reich's "Debunking Economic Myths" Episode 4: Mises.org/HAP455b
- Dr. Newman's Post on Reich's Episode 5: Mises.org/HAP455c
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On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop celebrate Independence Day, respond to the revolution's critics, and explain why Rothbard viewed it as an example for libertarian strategy.
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The tainted blood scandal in the UK should be a warning to people about the dangers of the National Health Service. Instead, we hear endless promises of reform that never will happen.
Original Article: The UK Blood Scandal Exposes British Elites
Stephanie Kelton, the most visible promoter of MMT, is being derelict in her academic duties by not replying to Per Bylund’s critique of her theories in the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics.
Original Article: Is Stephanie Kelton Failing Her Academic Responsibility?
Is charity a right held by everyone or should charity be confined to private, voluntary action within a free market? David Gordon argues for the latter.
Original Article: What Price Charity?
The US and Iran have been mortal enemies since 1979. It is clear that the belligerent approach to dealing with Iran has failed. We need to engage policies that promote peace, not warfare.
Original Article: The 45-Year-Old Cold War with Iran Is a Failure. It’s Time for a New Approach
Philosopher Harry Frankfurt definitely was not a product of modern academe, where wokeness and outright humbug rule. He understood that the equal-outcomes portion of DEI was neither possible nor desirable.
Original Article: Harry Frankfurt, Humbug, and the Battle against Wokery
Lysander Spooner was one of this country’s most important libertarians. His views on economics, while flawed, are free market in principle and have some insights Austrians can appreciate.
Original Article: Lysander Spooner’s Flawed War on Poverty
Caitlin Clark, with her array of basketball skills, has filled arenas in her inaugural WNBA season. However, the idea of merit clashes with the leftist, egalitarian mindset that dominates in the league, and the early reaction to her success has been discouraging.
Original Article: Caitlin Clark, Bullying and the Business of Basketball
The expansion of "civil rights" places emphasis upon "positive rights" that apply to specific groups with political privilege. This is a far cry from the concept of rights that helped build a free society in the United States.
Original Article: Phony Civil Rights
Ludwig von Mises’s life was dedicated to intellectually combating the evils of socialism, interventionism, inflationism, and tyranny. He recognized that it would always be an uphill battle. Easy money creates artificial good times that empower and enrich the political class; cleaning up the mess after that is difficult.The only solution is for the public to understand the game, to be empowered to see past the cheap political rhetoric, and to identify the powerful actors who are ripping them off. That has been the driving mission of this documentary, Playing with Fire: Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve. We have brought in some of our greatest advocates; what we need now is you.Your support will help us complete this film and distribute it for free on platforms like YouTube and Amazon Prime. It will also help with promotional efforts to expose these truths to audiences outside our orbit.Right now the most powerful names in media are not corporate outlets but free thinkers like Joe Rogan and Tucker Carlson. We have a unique opening to strike at the root of the most pressing issue facing Americans: the forces making us poorer and stealing away our future.In the words of Lew Rockwell, “If you hate war, oppose the Fed. If you hate violations of your liberties, oppose the Fed. If you want to restrain despotism, restrain the Fed. If you want to secure freedom for yourself and your descendants, abolish the Fed.”With your support, we can bring this message to millions. Your donation will make a difference. Please give today!Every donor who gives $50 or more will get a copy of Taking Back Our Money by Murray Rothbard.Every donor who gives $1,000 or more will be listed in the rolling credits at the end of the film.
Mark Thornton looks at the potential for everyone to run for the exits in the financial markets. In the absence of a gold monetary system and full reserve deposit banking, only the Fed can engineer economy-wide liquidity crises or fundamental crises.
Order a free paperback copy of Murray Rothbard’s What Has Government Done to Our Money? at Mises.org/IssuesFree.
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What does the state do when in a financial fix? Unlike the rest of us, it legally counterfeits. By so doing, it transfers wealth to those who are politically connected—and then lies about it.
Original Article: The State’s Best-Kept Secret
The abolition of chattel slavery was a great advancement for human liberty. But many of those celebrating Juneteenth today still accept the core assumptions that underlie slavery.
Original Article: The Problem with Juneteenth
President Biden’s student loan forgiveness scheme is really Robin Hood in reverse, transferring wealth from people from lower-income groups to those who are relatively affluent.
Original Article: Joe Biden’s Reverse Robin Hood Student Debt Cancellation
As if the government has not done enough destruction in the housing market, there now is a scheme to have the government nationalize second mortgages. Given the previous disaster with primary mortgages, we do not anxiously await the outcome of this proposal.
Original Article: The State Wants to Nationalize Second Mortgages. What Possibly Can Go Wrong?
Commercial real estate in the USA is facing a major crisis which could not have been possible without the enabling of the Fed and the draconian restrictions imposed during covid. As commercial real estate prices collapse, the usual suspects call for even more bailouts.
Original Article: How Washington and the Fed Caused the Commercial Real Estate Crisis
Murray Rothbard noted that the culture wars are not the result of conservative intransigence but rather of progressive elites’ insistence on forcing new cultural rules on people who don’t want to be coerced.
Original Article: Resisting the Brave New Culture
In its attempt to claim that the concept of free trade is full of fallacies, The American Compass builds its anti-free trade case upon...fallacies.
Original Article: The Fallacies of Conservative Protectionists
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss the first presidential debate. The event was low on substance but high in significance, with a performance from Joe Biden so bad that not even MSNBC's Morning Joe could spin it away.
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The decolonization movement seeks to destroy both economics and science, all in the name of social justice. In the end, however, what they get is not justice and certainly not order, but rather chaos, and deadly chaos at that.
Original Article: Decolonizers’ Assault on Science
Thanks to the war uniparty that controls Washington, Americans are mired in endless wars and military and political intervention. As Washington creates legions of new enemies, the future for average Americans grows uncertain.
Original Article: Has Interventionism Jeopardized America’s Future?
As AI continues to develop, the prophets of doom claim that it will “take over” and create a dystopian society. Far from being an “existential threat,” AI is a tool that can be used for good or ill.
Original Article: AI: “Existential Crisis” or Excuse for Cronyism?
In his 2006 book The Wages of Destruction, Columbia University historian Adam Tooze explains Hitler’s policy of seeking lebensraum (living room). However, Ludwig von Mises (whom Tooze ignores) already explained that policy in his 1944 Omnipotent Government.
Original Article: The Quest for Lebensraum
As the war in Ukraine drags on in its third year, Ukraine is bleeding and the future is even more gloomy. Unfortunately, even though it is time to end this conflict, the Biden administration continues to demand this war be fought to the last living Ukrainian.
Original Article: There Are Only Downsides to Prolonging the War in Ukraine
Various indexes are used to determine the ease of doing business in countries around the world. Not surprisingly, the nations that allow for protection of private property and have economic freedom also are the most prosperous.
Original Article: The Best Thing Governments Can Do for Business Is Get Out of the Way
Alex Pertsev, a developer of Tornado Cash, has been sentenced to prison by a Dutch court for helping build a platform that guarantees financial privacy. If there is one thing the state cannot tolerate, it is someone making financial transactions without government agents watching.
Original Article: Governments Hate Privacy Software
Like bad money driving out good money, government intervention can also create Gresham’s law conditions for entrepreneurs. Using the political process, bad entrepreneurs can get government to regulate entrepreneurial competition out of business.
Original Article: How Bad Economic Policies Drive Out Good Entrepreneurs
Oklahoma City recently approved the construction of the Legends Tower at a record-setting height of 1,907 feet. Is this the skyscraper curse in the making? Or, could it be an indication of a global stock market boom?
Download The Skyscraper Curse at Mises.org/Curse.
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Order a free paperback copy of Murray Rothbard’s What Has Government Done to Our Money? at Mises.org/IssuesFree.
In order to vastly expand the regulatory state, the Biden administration is using fake cost-benefit ratios to make its regulations seem less costly and more beneficial. This is clearly fraudulent, but no bureaucrat will be charged with any crimes.
Original Article: The Biden Administration Uses Fudged Numbers to Justify Imposing Punitive Regulations
While our political “leaders” insist that the government is “protecting” us, it offers the same kind of “protection” that mobsters offer: pay us to “protect” you, or we burn down your place with you in it.
Original Article: Do You Know Who’s Hitting You?
Socialists pride themselves on their supposed good intentions even as they fashion policies that create havoc and harm the people socialists claim to be helping. Ludwig von Mises called it destructionism.
Original Article: The Socialist Road to Destruction amid So-Called Good Intentions
Long before government mandates and pressure infected businesses and universities with the DEI virus, Ludwig von Mises explained how bureaucracies infect the decision-making process.
Original Article: From Profits to Pandering: How Government Turned Universities and Businesses into DEI Bureaucracies
The endless bubble economy has a new lending craze: loans backed by AI chips. The problem is that while the chips serve as collateral, companies right now cannot make enough revenue to cover their costs.
Original Article: The Unsustainable AI-Driven Lending Boom
Ordinary people cannot stop the Fed and the government from inflating the currency, but they can take measures to shield themselves from some of its harmful effects. Mark Thornton presents a few ideas on how it can be done.
Original Article: How People Can Better Fight Inflation
The case against Donald Trump was utterly ridiculous. Yet he was convicted anyway. Opponents of the political establishment need to understand why.
Original Article: The Lesson of the Trump Conviction
In the aftermath of Donald Trump's conviction in Manhattan—a political show trial, to be sure—David Gordon reviews Danilo Zolo’s, Victor’s Justice, which examined the Nuremberg Trials following World War II.
Original Article: The Menace of Political Show Trials
Bob continues his feud with George Selgin, explaining why the alleged free banking period in Scotland doesn't show that free-market banks would carry low reserve ratios.
- Reason Debate Between Bob and George Selgin: Mises.org/HAP453a
- George Selgin Interview on Free Banking: Mises.org/HAP453b
- Selgin's Response to Bob on Twitter: Mises.org/HAP453c
- Rothbard's Economic Controversies: Mises.org/HAP453d
Join us in October for a weekend of celebration at the 2024 Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Registration is open for Mises Members at Mises.org/SS24
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On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss recent European elections, the apparent collapse of the British Conservative Party, and how inflation and immigration are influencing a new generation of voters.
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Mises is on the march, and the elites are terrified.
For decades, the most powerful institutions, from academia to the corporate press, have made a concerted effort to marginalize the wisdom of Austrian economics. Their control is breaking. From Tucker Carlson to UFC, the name Ludwig von Mises has reached the masses in ways he could have never imagined.
Now, we're looking to take it to the next level.
We are releasing our newest documentary, exposing how the Federal Reserve is ripping off the public and enriching the parasitic elite. This documentary isn't just for supporters of the Mises Institute. It is for the masses, made ready to stream to anyone with access to Amazon Prime or YouTube.
We already have the support of some of the Fed's greatest critics: Ron Paul and Jim Grant. What we need is your help.
Your donation will help us release this documentary to the public at a time when inflation is the country's number one issue. From teenagers fearing they will never enjoy the life of their parents to retirees fearful of what is happening to their savings, everyone is learning exactly what government has done to our money.
Help us meet our fundraising goal. Donate $50 today and receive our new, never-before-published booklet by Murray Rothbard, Taking Back Our Money. Donors of $1,000 or more will be listed in the film credits.
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David Gordon reviews How to Run Wars, by Christopher J. Coyne and Abigail R. Hall. Their tone is satirical, aimed at showing the folly and corruption that marks the policies of the foreign policy elites.
Original Article: Coyning US into War
What makes a libertarian society libertarian? Certainly, one must begin—as did Murray Rothbard—not only with the nonaggression principle, but also with the unequivocal protection of private property rights.
Original Article: Distinguishing Libertarian Philosophy from Political Strategy
Asset forfeiture is another term for state-sponsored theft. Reform of this pernicious policy is almost impossible because of the incentives set up by governments at all levels.
Original Article: No Honor Among Government Thieves: The Evil of Asset Forfeiture
The Tennessee Board of Regents for higher education is finding that their DEI efforts are not successful, and the Tennessee legislature has become skeptical. It might be better to scrap the DEI collectivist “solutions” altogether.
Original Article: Unsuccessful DEI Efforts Meet Legislative Opposition in Tennessee
One of the problems in presenting economic concepts to a public audience is that too many people in the academic world do not comprehend the simple presence of opportunity cost.
Original Article: Scott Galloway’s TED Talk Reveals a Basic Ignorance of Economics
Political and academic elites claim that economic freedom is the antithesis of civilization. They claim that functioning civilization can come only from a welfare state, a nonsensical proposition
Original Article: Civilization Depends upon Economic Freedom
Robert Reich is an economic fallacy machine, and he has begun a ten-week series in which he claims to debunk economic myths. Of course, to do so, he has to create economic myths and present them as factual.
Original Article: Debunking Robert Reich’s Debunking
Keynesian economists believe that the key to increasing economic growth is increasing the supply of money in circulation. Money, however, is a means of exchange, not a means of payments. The difference is vital to understanding economics.
Original Article: Does Increasing the Money Supply also Increase Economic Growth?
Mark Thornton joins Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop on Radio Rothbard to discuss the current state of the economy and what to expect as we near the election.
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Order a free paperback copy of Murray Rothbard’s What Has Government Done to Our Money? at Mises.org/IssuesFree.
In a new YouTube series, former US Secretary of Labor Robert Reich promises to explode ten "economic myths." Jonathan Newman joins Bob to respond to the first two episodes in the series, regarding whether economics is an objective science, and whether government intervention interferes with a free market.
- Robert Reich's 'Debunking Economic Myths' Series: Mises.org/HAP452a
The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Murray Rothbard's, What Has Government Done to Our Money? Get your free copy at Mises.org/HAPodFree
Switzerland has been a neutral country for about five hundred years. Sweden also has a tradition of neutrality, but it has recently changed its position, to its own detriment.
Original Article: Switzerland Still Cherishes its Traditional Neutrality
The US government’s recent arms sale to Israel is a reminder that arms sales have become a significant part of US foreign policy, as well as a major source of instability around the world.
Original Article: US Arms Sales Are a Clear and Present Danger
Even though the US had a semilibertarian revolution, there are few libertarians in representative governance.
Original Article: Why Does America Have a Lack of Libertarian Representation?
Central banks intervene in order to “create demand,” and then they intervene in order to try to mitigate the damage they caused earlier. This is a never-ending scenario of economic destruction.
Original Article: Central Banks Are Destroying Our Economies
While her record is hardly perfect, Judy Shelton has been a rarity among monetary economists: an advocate for gold and sound money.
Original Article: Judy Shelton’s Lasting Legacies
According to an article in The Atlantic, Washington is turning away from its previous commitment to “free trade.” However, there never was a “free trade consensus” because Washington always has sought state-managed trade.
Original Article: Don’t Call It Free Trade
Even though our legal authorities treat smugglers as criminals, smugglers actually are promoters of liberty who usually break unjust laws. The US was practically founded on smuggling.
Original Article: Smugglers: True Heroes of Liberty
Mainstream economists insist that data alone can explain economic events, permitting them to test economic theories. In truth, without sound theory, data is meaningless.
Original Article: Can Data by Itself Inform Us about the Real World?
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Mark Thornton joins Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop to discuss the current state of the economy and what to expect as we near the election.
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Contra critical theorists, who claim human reason is nothing more than a social construct, reason is both understandable and universal. We cannot abandon it, for if we do, we abandon liberty itself.
Original Article: Understanding Reason Is Paramount to Understanding Liberty
The watchword in higher education today is decolonization, which depends upon what Ludwig von Mises called racial polylogism. Mises understood that polylogism undermines the very foundations of scientific thought.
Original Article: The Intellectual Poverty of Racial Polylogism
Israel’s defenders act like Netanyahu and his allies have had no choice but to react to October 7 in the manner that they have. But that isn’t true.
Original Article: What Israel Is Doing to Gaza Is a Choice
Government schooling advocates are demanding that homeschoolers be regulated by public school authorities. Perhaps homeschooling advocates should be monitoring the government.
Original Article: Homeschoolers Don’t Need Government Regulation
We are seeing Joseph Schumpeter's concept of creative destruction at work in higher education. The shake-up will continue.
Original Article: Creative Destruction in American Higher Education: Schumpeter in Action
Supporters of the new California minimum wage law for fast-food restaurants claim it will bolster economic opportunity for lower-income people. It actually will be a wealth transfer from the poor to the rich.
Original Article: The Consequences of California’s New Minimum Wage Law
Politicians will invoke the venerable just war theory when they believe they can manipulate the facts in their favor. In truth, it is the rare government that engages in a justified conflict.
Original Article: Why Politicians Cannot Be Trusted with Just War Theory
Well-functioning labor markets and the rise of Western Civilization—and our standard of living—is not an accident, coincidence, or a matter of chance.
The topic of this episode is probably familiar to most everyone—especially the arguments on both sides of the political debate. Mark largely ignores the politics, however, and digs deeper into more important aspects of the issue. Minimum wage laws don't have to be politically divisive. Can minimum wage policy achieve shared goals and shared values?
Subscribe to this monthly podcast at Mises.org/Unanimity.
Economics researcher Joakim Book joins Bob to discuss his recent article on the dollar's international dominance at the American Institute for Economic Research.
US Sanctions incentivize foreign governments to find alternatives to the dollar, but none have successfully escaped Washington's grip. Joakim argues that alternative payment systems are in the works, but even international banking transactions still use US banking systems. How much longer will the US dollar be the king currency? Why aren't foreign Governments fleeing to BTC and Gold? Bob and Joakim discuss.
- Joakim's Article at the AIER: Mises.org/HAP451a
The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Murray Rothbard's, What Has Government Done to Our Money? Get your free copy at Mises.org/HAPodFree
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Mises Institute Senior Editor Bill Anderson to discuss Donald Trump's conviction. Bill explains the tortured logic of the case and its lasting significance for the regime.
Discussed on the Show “Don’t Listen to the Elites: Trump’s Conviction Is NOT a 'Victory' for the Rule of Law” by William L. Anderson: https://Mises.org/RR_189_A
“The Lesson of the Trump Conviction” by Connor O'Keeffe: https://Mises.org/RR_189_B
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Jonathan Newman returns to help Bob dissect a Twitter thread melting down about Rep. Massie's new bill to End the Fed.
- The X thread discussing the "End the Fed Bill": Mises.org/HAP450a
- Selgin, Lastrapes, and White, "Has the Fed Been a Failure?": Mises.org/HAP450b
- Bob's Article, "Putting the Country Back on Gold": Mises.org/HAP450c
The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Murray Rothbard's, What Has Government Done to Our Money? Get your free copy at Mises.org/Money
Human Action Podcast listeners can get a free book: Mises.org/HAPodFree
As the world heads further down the road to trade protectionism and war, Mark takes a look at what Ludwig von Mises dubbed the "Montaigne Fallacy." This fallacy is based on the illogical idea that with voluntary exchange, one person's benefits come at the expense of the other, or what we call "zero sum thinking." Mark shows exactly why the idea is wrong and explains that Montaigne's other ideas are also wrongheaded.
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On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Mises Apprentice Liam McCollum, who was at last weekend's Libertarian Party National Convention. They discuss Donald Trump's presence at the event, what the LP nominee means for 2024, and the potential future of libertarian transactional politics.
Discussed on the Show “To Stop the Left, America Needs a Rothbardian Right” by Tho Bishop: https://Mises.org/RR_188_A
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Mises is on the march, and the elites are terrified.For decades, the most powerful institutions, from academia to the corporate press, have made a concerted effort to marginalize the wisdom of Austrian economics. Their control is breaking. From Tucker Carlson to UFC, the name Ludwig von Mises has reached the masses in ways he could have never imagined.Now, we're looking to take it to the next level.We are releasing our newest documentary, exposing how the Federal Reserve is ripping off the public and enriching the parasitic elite. This documentary isn't just for supporters of the Mises Institute. It is for the masses, made ready to stream to anyone with access to Amazon Prime or YouTube.We already have the support of some of the Fed's greatest critics: Ron Paul, Jim Grant, Mark Spitznagel, Joe Salerno, and more. What we need is your help.Your donation will help us release this documentary to the public at a time when inflation is the country's number one issue. From teenagers fearing they will never enjoy the life of their parents to retirees fearful of what is happening to their savings, everyone is learning exactly what government has done to our money.Help us meet our fundraising goal. Donate $50 today and receive our new, never-before-published booklet by Murray Rothbard, Taking Back Our Money. Donors of $1,000 or more will be listed in the film credits.Please give today at mises.org/fed or call us at (334) 321-2100 to donate.
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In this week's episode, Mark reviews several ways to fight the Fed's price inflation. Adopting these strategies proactively can improve our lives economically and psychologically—and even improve our health. They can make your family less vulnerable and improve your self-confidence.
Register for the 2024 Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Hilton Head, South Carolina, at Mises.org/SS24
Join the Mises Institute at Freedom Fest 2024! Mises.org/FreedomFest24
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Order a free paperback copy of Murray Rothbard’s What Has Government Done to Our Money? at Mises.org/Money.
Garett Jones is Associate Professor of Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He joins Bob to discuss his book, detailing the impact that immigrants' culture has on the institutions of their new home.
- Professor Jones' New Book, The Culture Transplant: Mises.org/HAP449a
The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Murray Rothbard's, What Has Government Done to Our Money? Get your free copy at Mises.org/Money
Human Action Podcast listeners can get a free book: Mises.org/HAPodFree
Political and academic elites have successfully convinced the public that they should fear private enterprise. However, people really should fear an out-of-control government.
Original Article: They Want to Scare You with Myths of “Unhampered Capitalism”
Contrary to popular belief, regulatory agencies do not improve the quality of our lives, nor do they provide safety or security. They need to be abolished, as free markets provide their own effective forms of regulation.
Original Article: The Case for Abolishing Regulatory Agencies
Contrary to mainstream economists, credit expansion that is not backed by real savings leads ultimately to an economic downturn.
Original Article: Lending without Saving Brings Recession and Poverty
Ludwig von Mises was ridiculed for his assertion that “middle of the road” leads to socialism in the end. As the federal government swallows increasing amounts of the economy, we see that Mises was right.
Original Article: No, Mises Was not Wrong about the Middle of the Road
Do Austrian theories also apply to financial markets?
Original Article: Man, Economy, and Financial Markets
Ryan and Tho and guest Karl Streitel talk about how the public school monopoly conditions students for obedience while failing to educate them.
Discussed on the Show “Public Schools Have No Respect for the Students or Their Parents” by Karl Streitel: https://Mises.org/RR_187_A
“Government Schools Are Propaganda Machines” by Karl Streitel: https://Mises.org/RR_187_B
"The Costs of the Progressives": https://Mises.org/RR_187_C
Additional ResourcesOptions for Education: https://Mises.org/RR_187_D
Quantum Courses: https://Mises.org/RR_187_E
Prenda: https://Mises.org/RR_187_F
Acton Academy: https://Mises.org/RR_187_G
The Learning Liberty Podcast: https://Mises.org/RR_187_H
Claim your free copy of What Has Government Done to Our Money?: https://Mises.org/Money
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug
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Ryan and Zach talk about how the realities of expensive industrial warfare are still relevant. The Pentagon's fantasy of precision techno-war doesn't apply to wars with peer countries like Russia or China.
Recommended Reading"In a war of attrition, you want an economist as defense minister" - The Bell: https://Mises.org/WES_21_A
"The Economics of War" by Murray Rothbard: https://Mises.org/WES_21_B
"The Economics of War" by Matthew McCaffrey: https://Mises.org/WES_21_C
"Defense, Controls, and Inflation" edited by Aaron Director: https://Mises.org/WES_21_D
"Guardians of the Warfare State" by T. Hunt Tooley: https://Mises.org/WES_21_E
"Wartime: Understanding and Behaviour in the Second World War" by Paul Fussell: https://Mises.org/WES_21_F
Be sure to follow War, Economy, and State at https://Mises.org/WES.
Presented at the 2024 Human Action Conference on Saturday, 18 May 2024, at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.
Presented at the 2024 Human Action Conference on Saturday, 18 May 2024, at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.
Presented at the 2024 Human Action Conference on Saturday, 18 May 2024, at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.
Presented at the 2024 Human Action Conference on Saturday, 18 May 2024, at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.
Presented at the 2024 Human Action Conference on Saturday, 18 May 2024, at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.
"Those first 300 pages are rather difficult. And they're difficult for a variety of different reasons for both professional economists as well as just regular people. Regular people wonder, what are all these insane criticisms that Mises is spending so much time addressing? And the professional economist wants to know, why doesn't he get on to regular economics? I'm going to talk about that a little differently here today."
Presented at the 2024 Human Action Conference on Saturday, 18 May 2024, at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.
"When Human Action first appeared, its distinctive Austrian school approach was already considered a closed chapter in the history of economic thought. So, Human Action and Mises' New York University seminar had a huge impact. It's the reason that we're here today. It's the reason that we have a modern Austrian school."
Presented at the 2024 Human Action Conference on Saturday, 18 May 2024, at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.
"Like most of us in this room, I have never met Ludwig von Mises in person. I first encountered his ideas some 20 years after his passing. In what follows, I will first describe this encounter. And then I will zoom in on his book, Human Action, and explain why it embodies the research paradigm of praxeological realism and also what the challenges related to it are."
Presented at the 2024 Human Action Conference on Saturday, 18 May 2024, at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.
In this week's episode, Mark analyzes the record high price of copper. He explains why Wall Street focuses on the price of copper and why this crucial economic indicator seems at odds with the weak global economy. This has serious implications for our economic future. Get a free copy of Mark's book, The Skyscraper Curse, for the rest of the story: Mises.org/Curse.
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Order a free paperback copy of Murray Rothbard’s What Has Government Done to Our Money? at Mises.org/Money.
"Sociology is in constant danger of thinking something is a law that is not a law. And economists frequently think that something is a hypothesis for the viable regularity when it is, in fact, a logically necessary truth. And Mises is a person who can set us right in all of this. and help us avoid these confusions that have invaded most of the social sciences."
Presented at the 2024 Human Action Conference on Friday, 17 May 2024, at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.
Unfortunately, these assaults on the First Amendment continue to find support even among people who pretend to be in support of freedom and opposed to federal power.
Original Article: War Hysteria Fuels New Attacks on Free Speech
For most Americans, the debate is about what size the welfare state should be. But why is there a welfare state at all?
Original Article: Thinking Properly about Public Welfare
Mainstream economists claim money has purchasing power because the government issuing the money has so declared. That makes no sense.
Original Article: How Does Money in Our Possession Acquire Value?
The decades of American and European intervention in Africa are coming to an end, and things are even worse for American interests there. Perhaps overthrowing governments and trying to dictate political outcomes wasn’t a good idea.
Original Article: Blowback in the African Coup Belt
In a recent symposium on Murray Rothbard's For a New Liberty, philosopher Matt Zwolinski takes issue with Rothbard on Murray’s views of freedom and property rights.
Original Article: Zwolinski Tries to Take Rothbard to the Mat
Many people are selling their gold to make ends meet. Others are buying gold as insurance against mounting price inflation.
Original Article: As the Dollar Falters, Gold Becomes Insurance, Not Speculation
Despite statements from Biden and other progressives, profits in a market economy are not a form of plunder. Instead, they represent entrepreneurial gains that mostly benefit consumers.
Original Article: Profit Is Not Plunder
Despite the media definitions of the Trump trial as a “hush money trial,” the actual criminal charges are contrived and legally unprecedented. This is a show trial.
Original Article: The Hush-Money Case against Trump Is Ridiculous and Revealing
"One of the great lessons of Mises's Human Action is that the institutions of the free society—private property and sound money—make up the environment enabling economic progress and hence economic flourishing."
Presented at the 2024 Human Action Conference on Friday, 17 May 2024, at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.
"We can build a society that's based on peace and cooperation, and we can create a society that flourishes. That's why the law of association is so important."
Presented at the 2024 Human Action Conference on Friday, 17 May 2024, at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.
"It is impossible to eliminate the entrepreneur from the picture of a market economy. So, an entrepreneur is central to our understanding of what a market is."
Presented at the 2024 Human Action Conference on Friday, 17 May 2024, at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.
"Read the great book of Mises. It's the foundation that all of us have tried to develop and defend: the praxeological edifice of economic theory."
Presented at the 2024 Human Action Conference on Friday, 17 May 2024, at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.
"These days, Stoicism is very fashionable, and popular books on this subject are easy to find. Ludwig von Mises drew from a different tradition of Greek ethics, Epicureanism."
Presented at the 2024 Human Action Conference on Friday, 17 May 2024, at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.
"Human Action is the foundational work of modern Austrian economics, and that is reason enough for reading it. But there is an equally compelling reason for carefully studying Mises's great treatise. For it is the antidote to the real and immediate threat to human liberty and society, represented by the prevailing social philosophy of progressivism."
Presented at the 2024 Human Action Conference on Friday, 17 May 2024, at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.
"The empire can and should be dismantled. 1949 was a crucial mistake—a pivot point that has led to this massive fiscal and political crisis that we have in America today. This is pretty evident to a lot of us, but it was evident to Mises in 1949, and I think we should have followed his advice."
Presented at the 2024 Human Action Conference on Friday, 17 May 2024, at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.
Tom DiLorenzo welcomes attendees to the 2024 Human Action Conference. Recorded Friday, 17 May 2024, at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.
Mateusz "Matt" Machaj holds a PhD in economics and is a Fellow with the Mises Institute, who has also won both the Douglas E. French and the Lawrence Fertig prizes in Austrian economics. He joins Bob to discuss his new booklet from Routledge, which explains how mainstream economists have responded to the recent bout of price inflation.
- Dr. Machaj's Monetary Policy and Inflation: Mises.org/HAP448a
- Bob's Book on MMT, Understanding Money Mechanics: Mises.org/HAP448b
- Bob's MisesU Lecture, "Price Inflation: Corona vs. QE": Mises.org/HAP448c
The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Murray Rothbard's, What Has Government Done to Our Money? Get your free copy at Mises.org/Money
Human Action Podcast listeners can get a free book: Mises.org/HAPodFree
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss a recent op-ed from a trio of octogenarian former Republican senators lamenting the state of the GOP.
Discussed on the Show “Between Trump and Biden, what should real Republicans do?” by John Danforth, William Cohen and Alan Simpson: https://Mises.org/RR_186_A
“To Stop the Left, America Needs a Rothbardian Right” by Tho Bishop: https://Mises.org/RR_186_B
Claim your free copy of What Has Government Done to Our Money?: https://Mises.org/Money
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug
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Progressive historians, journalists, and politicians claim that the Industrial Revolution and the growth of industry brought poverty and exploitation to American workers. The truth is much different, even if it is rarely heard.
Original Article: The American Labor Market: Fact vs. Fiction
In publicly opposing apartheid, William H. Hutt saw how legal segregation kept black South Africans from pursuing legitimate economic goals. To Hutt, apartheid deprived people of equality of economic opportunity, which kept them in poverty.
Original Article: State Coercion and the Injustice of Apartheid
What better way to explain the relationship between higher-order and lower-order goods than with food? Here, we look at the falafel sandwich.
Original Article: What Can Carl Menger Teach Us about Falafel Sandwiches?
Somalia is a country invented by European intervention. The region known as Somaliland ought to be free to secede from this imperialist creation.
Original Article: Somaliland Needs Self-Determination
While Austrian and feminist critiques of neoclassical economics have some similarities, they also differ strongly on important points. Feminist critiques are based upon what Mises called polylogism, while Austrian critiques are based upon praxeology.
Original Article: Can There Be an Alliance between Austrian and Feminist Schools of Economics?
Despite the accusations that Javier Milei is a fascist in libertarian clothes, many of his reforms have been successful in reversing some of the damage done to Argentina's economy by real fascists.
Original Article: No, Milei Is Not a Fascist
Congress claims to have targeted TikTok because China's government allegedly uses it to spy on Americans. Besides dealing with a nonexistent threat, the bill gives the federal government vast new powers to misuse.
Original Article: The TikTok Ban Is the Next Patriot Act
Progressives claim that profits are an unjust transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich. In reality, entrepreneurs earn profits by directing resources from less valued to more valued uses to satisfy consumer needs.
Original Article: Free-Market Profit Comes From Voluntary Exchange, not Exploitation
According to a recent 60 Minutes broadcast, Russian agents are suspected of launching microwave rays at US diplomats abroad. The problem is that many of these stories are technologically implausible. Maybe skepticism is in order here.
Original Article: Is “Havana Syndrome” Russian Aggression or Another Media Conspiracy Theory?
On this day ninety-one years ago President Franklin D. Roosevelt via executive order seized gold legally held by Americans, criminalizing the use of sound money. Our economy and our nation has never recovered from this act.
Original Article: Fixing FDR’s Biggest Blunder: From Gold Standard to Fiat Folly and Back
Government officials like to claim they are doing something about reducing poverty. The trouble is, of course, that what they are doing makes things worse. Here on Income Tax Day, we recommend that next time, they should do nothing.
Original Article: The War on Poverty Makes Poverty Worse
A strategy for liberty must be both optimistic and realistic. Murray Rothbard understood that important point and laid out strategies and their moral justification.
Original Article: An Optimistic Strategy for Liberty
Bolivia has been mired in poverty, hyperinflation, and state control of the economy for generations. It is time for a change, and the Alasitas Fair is leading the way.
Original Article: How the “Informal” Economy Creates Free Markets in Bolivia
F.A. Hayek coined the term spontaneous order to point out that the prosperous societies are also societies where people are free to pursue their own goals. The result is, ironically, harmony that cannot come about through central state planning.
Original Article: The Intellectual Humility of the Spontaneous Order
In this review of Edward Chancellor’s The Price of Time, Joakim Book notes that a market economy cannot function correctly when central bankers manipulate interest rates.
Original Article: Artificially Low Interest Rates Are Creating Economic Chaos
States know that treason and sedition laws are about much more than matters of law and order. They are essential components of enhancing state power.
Original Article: Abolish all Treason and Sedition Laws
In this week's episode, Mark looks at the current state of the commercial real estate market, especially the problematic refinancing requirement in an environment of lower prices and a declining tenant base. Combined with a higher interest rate, this market faces difficult financing over the next three years. This is another negative manifestation of the Fed's control over interest rates in our economy.
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Order a free paperback copy of Murray Rothbard’s What Has Government Done to Our Money? at Mises.org/Money.
Stephanie Kelton is the star of a new documentary film touting the alleged brilliance of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). Murphy gives a comprehensive critique of the film, covering the flaws in its theory, history, and policy recommendations.
- Finding the Money Documentary: Mises.org/HAP447a
- Bob's Book on MMT, Understanding Money Mechanics: Mises.org/HAP447b
- Radford's Paper on P.O.W. Camps: Mises.org/HAP447c
- The Upside-Down World of MMT: Mises.org/HAP447d
- Bob's Article on Debt and Future Generations: Mises.org/HAP447e
The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Murray Rothbard's, What Has Government Done to Our Money? Get your free copy at Mises.org/Money
Human Action Podcast listeners can get a free copy of Dr. Ron Paul's Gold, Peace, and Prosperity: Mises.org/HAPodFree
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss the media campaign around Joseph Stiglitz's new book, The Road to Freedom, which coincides with the birthday of one of his favorite targets: F.A. Hayek. Is Stiglitz, a past champion of Hugo Chavez, someone we should trust with his vision of true freedom?
Discussed on the Show “Clinton Adviser, Nobel Prize Winning Economist Endorsed Venezuelan Socialism” by Tho Bishop: https://Mises.org/RR_185_A
“Sorry, Stiglitz: It’s Socialism That’s Rigged — not Capitalism” by William L. Anderson: https://Mises.org/RR_185_B
“Freedom for the Wolves” by Joseph E. Stiglitz: https://Mises.org/RR_185_C
“Neoliberal economics: The road to freedom or authoritarianism?” by Greg Rosalsky: https://Mises.org/RR_185_D
“Joseph Stiglitz and the Meaning of Freedom” by John Cassidy: https://Mises.org/RR_185_E
Claim your free copy of What Has Government Done to Our Money?: https://Mises.org/Money
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug
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In 1959, Ludwig von Mises gave lectures on economics in Argentina, where the economy was in steep decline. In the 1920s, Argentina was one of the world's wealthiest countries, but decades of Peronism and inflation started the country on the long road to poverty.
Original Article: Mises in Argentina: Lessons of the Past for Today
Although mainstream economists hold that Adam Smith is the father of modern economics, it was Richard Cantillon that recognized the centrality of entrepreneurship in economic development.
Original Article: Creating Wealth: The Cantillon or the Smith Way
Like the Biden administration, the European Union elites are seeking to crush free speech on the Internet in the name of preventing “hate speech” and “disinformation.” Of course, the EU ruling classes won’t have to worry about being censored.
Original Article: How EU Law Has Made the Internet Less Free for Everyone Else
Mainstream economists believe that economic theory is valid when it “predicts” economic actions or trends. Austrian economists, however, say that the purpose of economic theory is to explain economic events.
Original Article: What Is the Purpose of Economic Theory?
Why have some Americans opposed this nation’s involvement in foreign wars? According to Jacob Heilbrunn of The National Interest, it is because those Americans love bloody dictators like Adolph Hitler.
Original Article: Opposing Military Intervention: Loving Dictators or Hating War?
Animal control officers are supposed to, well, control animals in a municipal area. But thanks to animal control policies, it's the stray animals that are in control of our author’s town.
Original Article: Thanks to Government Animal Control, Stray Animals Rule My Neighborhood
While these students are right to oppose the horrific Israeli attacks on Gaza, many of the protests reflect leftist groupthink and typical higher education collectivism.
Original Article: What the Campus Protesters and Their Critics Get Right and Wrong
The attempt by the mainstream economics profession to create economic literacy has turned into a movement to promote economic illiteracy.
Original Article: Economic Education Has Become Economic Disinformation
Individual rights originated in Western thinking. Today, it is the West that produces the ruling class that disdains individual rights and replaces them with collectivism.
Original Article: Why the West Is Giving Up on Individual Rights
The only answer lies in eviscerating their budgets, abolishing their enabling legislation, and encouraging aggressive lawfare against the regime in retribution for these agencies' many crimes.
Original Article: The FBI and CIA Are Enemies of the American People
Unsurprisingly, Javier Milei’s free-market and antistate initiatives face opposition in Argentina. Whether he is successful depends on his being able to politically outlast his collectivist opposition.
Original Article: Javier Milei vs. the Status Quo
A common knock on libertarianism is that it is so individualistic that it rejects the concept of community. (Think of the political cartoon in which the libertarian lifeguard let people drown.) In truth, strong communities also need free individuals.
Original Article: Does Libertarianism Reject Communities? Libertarianism Actually Strengthens Them
Economists use time preference to explain the existence of interest, but the ability of people to postpone some present consumption in order to save for the future has much broader social ramifications.
Original Article: Low Time Preference Leads to Civilization
The New York Times recently characterized House Republicans that voted to extend government domestic spying and continue to fund wars in the Middle East and Ukraine as “the adults in the room.” This is ironic, as real adults would not spend the country into oblivion.
Original Article: Cowardice, Not Courage, Led House Republicans to Side with the Democrats
While conservatives and followers of Austrian economics often have much in common, many conservatives are against free trade and free exchange. Austrians need to carefully explain why those beliefs are harmful.
Original Article: Conservatives Are Wrong on Economics. Here’s How to Fix the Problem.
People often stubbornly hold to false beliefs, one of them being that government regulation of driving prevents chaos. However, the opposite seems to be true: government involvement in anything, including driving a car, creates the chaos we claim we want to avoid.
Original Article: Privatize Driver’s Licenses
The Mises Institute's Connor O'Keeffe recently wrote an article detailing the campus protests over the happenings in Gaza. Connor joins Bob to discuss his article, the recent antisemitism bill, and why we should be defunding universities.
- Connor's Article on the Campus Protests: Mises.org/HAP446a
Human Action Podcast listeners can get a free copy of Dr. Ron Paul's Gold, Peace, and Prosperity: Mises.org/HAPodFree
In this episode, Mark Thornton discusses Consumer Confidence as a reliable indicator of the current economy. Individual components of the index are declining, but do not yet indicate a looming crisis or recession. Mark thinks that it does indicate, along with other economic statistics, of a clear worsening in the economy and his predictions for 2024.
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Get your free copy of Dr. Guido Hülsmann's How Inflation Destroys Civilization at Mises.org/IssuesFree.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Peter St. Onge, a visiting fellow of the Heritage Foundation. As inflation remains high, even Washington's preferred jobs and economic growth measures are beginning to weaken, fueling fears of stagflation. Peter, Ryan, and Tho talk about what this means for Americans, its potential political fallout for November, and what mix of "carrots and sticks" Washington may have planned for dealing with the public backlash.
Claim your free book: Mises.org/RothPodFree
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at Mises.org/RothMug
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Biden has embraced the trade war. But, if protectionism actually produced competitiveness, American steel manufacturers would have become world leaders long ago.
Original Article: Biden Perpetuates Washington’s Idiotic Steel Trade Policies
Washington Post conservative George Will trots out every tired slogan and bromide in the book to claim that Putin is Hitler and the Ukraine war is a fight for civilization. Recommended Reading“So, 112 ignoble, infantile Republicans voted to endanger civilization“ by George Will: https://Mises.org/WES_20_A“Piers Morgan vs John Mearsheimer” on YouTube: https://Mises.org/WES_20_BBe sure to follow War, Economy, and State at https://Mises.org/WES.
Biden has embraced the trade war. But, if protectionism actually produced competitiveness, American steel manufacturers would have become world leaders long ago.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Libertarianism is criticized on all sides, but a new criticism has emerged that claims libertarianism is little more than another form of critical theory. Like the other complaints, this one is based on fallacious thinking.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
People have come to believe that only the state is morally qualified to create and maintain a system of justice. However, given that the state itself acts unjustly, perhaps it is time to look outside of the state.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
While chattel slavery exists in some parts of the world, it mostly has been abolished. Perhaps we should do the same thing to the state.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Great Britain are shifting back toward railway nationalization. Of course, the vaunted railway privatization of the 1990s wasn’t real privatization at all.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Robert Nozick’s Anarchy, State and Utopia turns fifty this year, and this libertarian classic has stood the test of time.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Feminist theorist Judith Butler is calling for mandatory education to confront children with modern gender theory. As David Gordon points out, she wants to use coercion to force people to accept her theories.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The academic world is supposed to serve as a beacon of enlightenment. Instead, as Wanjiru Njoya demonstrates, it promotes a failed liberalism.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
From 'A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II'. Narrated by Matthew Mezinskis.
In this week's episode, Mark examines the Chocolate Crisis of 2024. Cocoa prices have skyrocketed. The media is trying to paint this as another example of the ravages of Climate Change, but the market is making all of its typical adjustments to ensure that chocolate products continue to flow to consumers, and also making adjustments to improve the long term conditions.Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues.Get your free copy of Dr. Guido Hülsmann's How Inflation Destroys Civilization at https://Mises.org/IssuesFree.
Recently on Twitter, as a reaction to an FT post worrying about the growing debts of various governments, fans of MMT were posting screenshots from a May 2020 FT debate involving Stephanie Kelton. The implication was that Kelton had correctly predicted that government debt would be benign. Bob and guest Jonathan Newman dissent.Stephanie Kelton and Edward Chancellor's Debate on Government Debt: https://Mises.org/HAP445aMartin Wolf's Article on Government Debt: https://Mises.org/HAP445bBob's Debate with Warren Mosler on MMT: https://Mises.org/HAP445cBob and Jonathan's Episode on Price Inflation: https://Mises.org/HAP445dBob's Article on the Economic Outlook for the US: https://Mises.org/HAP445e
When a war occurs, the government feels that it's obliged to propound a certain line about how the enemy was totally responsible for this war: "We never did anything wrong! The enemy has committed terrible atrocities!"Recorded at Mises University 2005 at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss Tucker Carlson's recent interview with Joe Rogan, and why he's right about America's dangerous "security" agencies.Discussed on the Show "The FBI and CIA Are Enemies of the American People" by Ryan McMaken https://Mises.org/RR_183_A"Cowardice, Not Courage, Led House Republicans to Side with the Democrats" by Connor O'Keeffe: https://Mises.org/RR_183_BClaim your free book: https://Mises.org/RothPodFreeBe sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMugPROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
Chapter 11 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities. Narrated by John Quattrucci.
Chapter 12 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities. Narrated by John Quattrucci.
Chapter 13 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities. Narrated by John Quattrucci.
Chapter 8 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities. Narrated by John Quattrucci.
Chapter 9 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities. Narrated by John Quattrucci.
Chapter 10 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities. Narrated by John Quattrucci.
Postscript to Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities. Narrated by John Quattrucci.
Recent Iranian missile strikes on Israel in response to its earlier attack on the Iranian consulate in Syria have escalated the prospects of all-out war in the Middle East. There is an alternative to expanding the war: de-escalation.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
While “colorblind equality” has a better ring to it than the DEI regime, nonetheless, the concept is unworkable and actually contributes to worsening racial outcomes.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
As Murray Rothbard noted, reason is a powerful tool to help us discern how to thrive in our world. Government, through propaganda and interference with education, seeks to stifle reason and replace it with obedience to the state.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In less than a century, Argentina went from being one of the world’s wealthiest nations to one that struggles with poverty and massive inflation. Human Action provides lasting wisdom to improve life in that country.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
There has been much hysteria over the rise of artificial intelligence, much of it overblown and downright silly. No, AI is not about to impose tyranny on helpless humanity. Like all other technology, AI is a tool that can be used for good or ill.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
As artificially low interest rates damage the economy, progressives in Congress demand more of the same. In the vernacular, they want the economy to “take the hair of the dog that bit them.” Of course, this only makes things worse in the long run—which is where we are today.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
California’s draconian fast-food minimum wage law is bad enough, but it turns out a company can avoid the trouble if it has ties to the governor.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
For the past fifty years, Nigeria’s government has required young people to “serve” for a year under the National Youth Service Corp. This more resembles slavery than service.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Chapter 14 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities. Narrated by John Quattrucci.
Chapter 15 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities. Narrated by John Quattrucci.
Chapter 16 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities. Narrated by John Quattrucci.
Chapter 17 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities. Narrated by John Quattrucci.
Chapter 18 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities. Narrated by John Quattrucci.
Chapter 19 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities. Narrated by John Quattrucci.
Chapter 20 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities. Narrated by John Quattrucci.
Foreword to Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities. Narrated by John Quattrucci.
Preface to Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities. Narrated by John Quattrucci.
Introduction to Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities.Narrated by John Quattrucci.
Chapter 1 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities. Narrated by John Quattrucci.
Chapter 2 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities. Narrated by John Quattrucci.
Chapter 3 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities. Narrated by John Quattrucci.
Chapter 4 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities.Narrated by John Quattrucci.
Chapter 5 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities. Narrated by John Quattrucci.
Chapter 6 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities.Narrated by John Quattrucci.
Chapter 7 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities.Narrated by John Quattrucci.
Mark Thornton launches a new podcast called Unanimity: Where Thoughts Matter. Exploring basic concepts of the world and humanity, he hopes to unlock the mystery of widespread disagreeableness in society. Please subscribe to this monthly podcast at https://Mises.org/Unanimity.Unanimity will not replace the weekly Minor Issues podcast (https://Mises.org/MinorIssues).
In this week's episode, Mark takes another look at the Producer Price Index. As suggested in an episode from September 2023 (see https://Mises.org/MI_35), the PPI has indeed leveled off and is no longer "contributing" to the Federal Reserve's "Immaculate Disinflation." Mark points out that wholesale price increases are already in the long PPI "pipeline" and will likely make the Fed's announced plans fall apart.Additional ResourcesPPI at Fred: https://Mises.org/MI_67APPI 2022: "The Producer Price Index" at https://Mises.org/MI_35CPI: "Where’s the Beef?" at https://Mises.org/MI_36"The Fed's Immaculate Disinflation" at https://Mises.org/MI_03Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues.Get your free copy of Dr. Guido Hülsmann's How Inflation Destroys Civilization at https://Mises.org/IssuesFree.
Historian David Beito has a new book from the Independent Institute titled, "The New Deal's War on the Bill of Rights." He joins Bob to discuss issues such as the Japanese concentration camps and the government's mass surveillance of telegrams.David's new book, The New Deal's War on the Bill of Rights: https://Mises.org/HAP444a
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss Renato Moicano's viral Mises moment and the backlash it received from pundit Sohrab Ahmari.Discussed on the Show "Six Graphs Showing Just How Much the Government Has Grown" by Ryan McMaken https://Mises.org/RR_182_A"Why You Should Read Ludwig von Mises" by Tho Bishop: https://Mises.org/RR_182_B"Mises Against the Neoliberals" by Ryan McMaken: https://Mises.org/RR_182_CClaim your free book: https://Mises.org/RothPodFreeBe sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMugPROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
The State is tightening its stranglehold on its own narrative as its web of lies unravels. The government's lapdogs in the news media continue to bark and howl on TV even though a majority of American households have cut the cord. And of course, nothing resembling the truth can be heard in the softball press conferences at the White House and the Federal Reserve.Suppression and censorship are the tools of a regime that is fearful and hostile to the truth. Perhaps the easiest way to discern the truth in all the chaos is to doubt everything the government says.Featuring Ron Paul, Tom DiLorenzo, Daniel McAdams, and Ryan McMaken. This event was co-hosted by the Mises Institute and the Ron Paul Institute, and recorded in Lake Jackson, Texas, on April 13, 2024.
The State is tightening its stranglehold on its own narrative as its web of lies unravels. The government's lapdogs in the news media continue to bark and howl on TV even though a majority of American households have cut the cord. And of course, nothing resembling the truth can be heard in the softball press conferences at the White House and the Federal Reserve.Suppression and censorship are the tools of a regime that is fearful and hostile to the truth. Perhaps the easiest way to discern the truth in all the chaos is to doubt everything the government says.Featuring Ron Paul, Tom DiLorenzo, Daniel McAdams, and Ryan McMaken. This event was co-hosted by the Mises Institute and the Ron Paul Institute, and recorded in Lake Jackson, Texas, on April 13, 2024.
The State is tightening its stranglehold on its own narrative as its web of lies unravels. The government's lapdogs in the news media continue to bark and howl on TV even though a majority of American households have cut the cord. And of course, nothing resembling the truth can be heard in the softball press conferences at the White House and the Federal Reserve.Suppression and censorship are the tools of a regime that is fearful and hostile to the truth. Perhaps the easiest way to discern the truth in all the chaos is to doubt everything the government says.Featuring Ron Paul, Tom DiLorenzo, Daniel McAdams, and Ryan McMaken. This event was co-hosted by the Mises Institute and the Ron Paul Institute, and recorded in Lake Jackson, Texas, on April 13, 2024.
The State is tightening its stranglehold on its own narrative as its web of lies unravels. The government's lapdogs in the news media continue to bark and howl on TV even though a majority of American households have cut the cord. And of course, nothing resembling the truth can be heard in the softball press conferences at the White House and the Federal Reserve.Suppression and censorship are the tools of a regime that is fearful and hostile to the truth. Perhaps the easiest way to discern the truth in all the chaos is to doubt everything the government says.Featuring Ron Paul, Tom DiLorenzo, Daniel McAdams, and Ryan McMaken. This event was co-hosted by the Mises Institute and the Ron Paul Institute, and recorded in Lake Jackson, Texas, on April 13, 2024.
The State is tightening its stranglehold on its own narrative as its web of lies unravels. The government's lapdogs in the news media continue to bark and howl on TV even though a majority of American households have cut the cord. And of course, nothing resembling the truth can be heard in the softball press conferences at the White House and the Federal Reserve.Suppression and censorship are the tools of a regime that is fearful and hostile to the truth. Perhaps the easiest way to discern the truth in all the chaos is to doubt everything the government says.Featuring Ron Paul, Tom DiLorenzo, Daniel McAdams, and Ryan McMaken. This event was co-hosted by the Mises Institute and the Ron Paul Institute, and recorded in Lake Jackson, Texas, on April 13, 2024.
Although fractional reserve banking is the most popular model for banking, it is fraudulent at its core, something the Austrians have noted for many years.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Today we are featuring the winning essays in the Student Essay Contest for undergraduates at the Austrian Economics Research Conference.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Today we are featuring the winning essays in the Student Essay Contest for undergraduates at the Austrian Economics Research Conference.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Today we are featuring the winning essays in the Student Essay Contest for undergraduates at the Austrian Economics Research Conference.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Today we are featuring the winning essays in the Student Essay Contest for undergraduates at the Austrian Economics Research Conference.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Henry Hazlitt's The Failure of the New Economics remains the best criticism of J.M. Keynes's General Theory.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In the early republic, debates over constitutional rights were centered on state bills of rights. But, over time the state charters were gradually co-opted by federal judges and courts.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
One of the great myths of US history is that Herbert Hoover was a laissez-faire president. In truth, he intervened in the economy more than any of his predecessors, creating the crisis known as the Great Depression. His successor made things even worse.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The inflation news from the Federal Reserve is once again disappointing. All the measures were up and higher than predicted by the experts. Mark recaps this news and compares his guesses about the economy to the forecasts of the Federal Reserve and Wall Street economists. Mark also reiterates his predictions about rate cuts and the economy.Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues.Get your free copy of Dr. Guido Hülsmann's How Inflation Destroys Civilization at https://Mises.org/IssuesFree.
Simon Guenzl joins Bob to push back on Dave Smith's recent appearance, where Dave had made the case against open borders. Guenzl has published a libertarian critique of the Hoppean framework. The debate revolves around the status of government property. Bob plays devil's advocate, especially with a lightning round of "hard cases" for Guenzl at the end.Simon's paper, "Public Property and the Libertarian ImmigrationDebate" in Libertarian Papers: https://Mises.org/HAP443aDave Smith on Open Borders: https://Mises.org/HAP443bBob on Blockades and Immigration in a Voluntary Society: https://Mises.org/HAP443c
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Łukasz Dominiak, a Mises Fellow and Associate Professor at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Poland. He shares the unique history of Polish liberalism and why Poland has become a hotbed for libertarian scholarship.Claim your free book: https://Mises.org/RothPodFreeBe sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMugPROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
California’s legislature wants to combine the idea of two-part price discrimination with a soak-the-rich mentality in charging for utilities. What possibly could go wrong?Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
As the official government in Haiti loses control, many are calling it a failed state. Crises like this are often evoked to discredit libertarians. But blame for Haiti’s current plight lies with the actions of states, not the absence of them.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Congress and the courts have eviscerated the Constitution to empower police dogs. The injustices are massive, but the authorities don't care.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
“The public be damned” is a statement by railroad magnate William Henry Vanderbilt that has been twisted out of context. While the American ruling classes insist that private enterprise is the enemy of the people, it really is our government that bears that distinction.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
A recent CNN broadcast claimed that deflation was bad for the economy and that we need to adjust to higher prices. As usual, the journalistic “experts” got it backward.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
When the government wants to make something more affordable, that usually means new subsidies, laws, and regulations that drive up the real price. Higher medical prices will mean more medical bankruptcies.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In reviewing Reconsidering Reparations by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, David Gordon and Wanjiru Njoya point out the book's many fallacies and the lack of a coherent theory of justice by the author.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
While Vivek Ramaswamy was unsuccessful in his Republican presidential primary bid, at least he helped to demystify the Federal Reserve. This is not the usual political rhetoric the public receives.
What happens when war shuts down the Strait of Hormuz? Mark looks at the economics and causes of a growing list of problems with the chokepoints of international trade: the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal, and Baltimore harbor. Will these chokepoints become Scapegoats for the Federal Reserve, and could war closing the Strait of Hormuz become a genuine world crisis?Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues.Get your free copy of Dr. Guido Hülsmann's How Inflation Destroys Civilization at https://Mises.org/IssuesFree.
Nick Gillespie, editor-at-large for Reason, recently got into a friendly dispute with Bob over whether American libertarians were being too pessimistic. He joins Bob to make the case for optimism, while Bob demurs.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Karl-Friedrich Israel, recorded during AERC 2024. Dr. Israel discusses the economic conditions in Europe, the problem with inflation measures, and the network of European scholars rallying to the ideas of Austrian economics.Congratulations to Ralph Lehman for winning the Human Action Conference raffle!Claim your free book: https://Mises.org/RothPodFreeBe sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMugPROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
While Connecticut authorities call on "experts" to help them quell the state's housing shortage, they fail to consider the policies that have caused it.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Do you like your central bank capital positive or negative? The Fed is bankrupt, but even after taking recent losses, the Swiss National Bank still has positive capital.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Once again, Congress is threatening to ban TikTok over “national security concerns.” But as long as Washington continues its unnecessary and provocative posturing around China’s coasts, Americans will never be safe.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
One of the myths of protectionism is that it will result in an abundance of goods on the home front. Shortages are no abundance.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In his review of The Political Thought of David Hume: The Origins of Liberalism and the Modern Political Imagination, David Gordon examines systems of ethical norms. The Misesians have the best insights, of course.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In a new book, The Natural Order of Money, Roy Sebag argues that money is the "extension of the natural order," and that it is not arbitrary.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
According to Marx, all ideas represent class-based interests, leaving no room for objective truth. The problem is that Marxists claim to hold to objective truth, but manage to contradict themselves.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
As the government expands the reach of civil rights law, one of the casualties is the presumption of innocence. The new rule seems to be “guilty until proven guilty.”Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
On March 26 Bob gave this talk at Oklahoma State, where he was invited by the Free Enterprise Society. He assumed the students had no prior knowledge of the topic and made the case, from scratch, for a voluntary society with privately provided legal and defense services.Bob's article, "Libertarian Law and Military Defense" in Libertarian Papers: https://Mises.org/HAP441a
Senior Fellow Jörg Guido Hülsmann joins Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop to talk about his new book on the economics of generosity, charity, and abundance. This is a much-neglected field of economics that mainstream economists lack tools to explain. Discussed on the Show "Abundance, Generosity, and the State: An Inquiry into Economic Principles" by Hülsmann, Jörg Guido https://Mises.org/RR_179_AClaim your free book: https://Mises.org/RothPodFreeBe sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMugPROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
Many signs are now emerging that NATO and the West are slowly withdrawing support from Ukraine in its war with Russia. How much longer can the war continue?Recommended Reading"Intercept of German generals planning Taurus strike on Crimean bridge": https://Mises.org/WES_19_A"Army aims to double 155mm shell production by October" by Sam Skove https://Mises.org/WES_19_B"The deception behind America’s support for Ukraine" by Malcom Kyeyune: https://Mises.org/WES_19_C"Draft-dodging plagues Ukraine as Kyiv faces acute soldier shortage" by Jamie Dettmer: https://Mises.org/WES_19_DRemarks by Jake Sullivan and Andriy Yermak in Press Conference: https://Mises.org/WES_19_E"Biden's adviser did not mention regaining territories when talking about conditions for Ukraine's victory": https://Mises.org/WES_19_FBe sure to follow War, Economy, and State at https://Mises.org/WES.
When people say that “socialism doesn’t work,” what do they mean? To better examine and critique socialism, one should apply the socialists’ framework, which is alone worthy of condemnation.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
While modern India is known for adopting socialism in the 1940s, it has an older tradition of free markets. It is time to rediscover that tradition.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Henry Hazlitt Memorial Lecture. Sponsored by Shone and Brae Sadler. Includes an introduction by Joseph T. Salerno.Recorded at the 2024 Austrian Economics Research Conference at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, March 22-23, 2024.
The Friedrich A. Hayek Memorial Lecture. Sponsored by Donald and Judy Rembert. Includes an introduction by Joseph T. Salerno.Recorded at the 2024 Austrian Economics Research Conference at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, March 22-23, 2024.
The Murray N. Rothbard Memorial Lecture. Sponsored by Steven and Cassandra Torello. Includes an introduction by Joseph T. Salerno and an audience question and answer period.Recorded at the 2024 Austrian Economics Research Conference at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, March 22-23, 2024.
The Ludwig von Mises Memorial Lecture. Sponsored by Yousif Almoayyed. Includes an introduction by Joseph T. Salerno.Recorded at the 2024 Austrian Economics Research Conference at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, March 22-23, 2024.
Far from being an “automatic stabilizer” that mitigates recessions by engaging in “countercyclical” spending, the welfare state actually makes recessions longer and deeper. Time to acknowledge that fact and do away with it altogether.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
While “wokeness” seems to be a new phenomenon, the problems are tied to a sixty-year-old “landmark” law: the 1964 Civil Rights Act. This law, unfortunately, promotes government tyranny in the name of freedom.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The Federal Reserve claims to be independent and politically neutral. But since its actions have political ramifications, it is impossible for the Fed to be either.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
By the logic of "we tried it before," the Soviet victory over Lithuania in 1953 meant that the question of independence was settled forever, and that Irish secession was forever verboten after the Easter Rebellion failed.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
When someone makes the “roads” argument for the presence of government, they fail to point out that the final government product is substandard and often a hazard to people who use those roads. There is a better way.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Ryan McMaken recently gave a talk at Oklahoma State outlining the history of secessions and making the case that they promote liberty and peace. He joins Bob to discuss his major themes and to address common objections.Ryan's Talk at Oklahoma State: https://Mises.org/HAP440aBreaking Away: The Case for Secession: https://Mises.org/HAP440b
In this episode, Mark shares the latest video in the Mises Institute's The Costs of the Progressives video series, "The Drug War," which cites Mark's research on the economics of prohibition."The Costs of the Progressives" is a historical series that focuses on great leaps in Washington's consolidation of power on a variety of issues that affect our day-to-day lives, and the costs we pay with our taxes and our liberty: https://Mises.org/ProgressivismBe sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues.Get your free copy of Dr. Guido Hülsmann's How Inflation Destroys Civilization at https://Mises.org/IssuesFree.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Marcel Gautreau to discuss the situation unfolding in Haiti. The three discuss the history of US involvement, the propaganda game, and Washington's true aims in its foreign policy.Discussed on the Show"American Policies Only Make Haiti Worse" by Marcel Gautreau https://Mises.org/RR_178_A"How State Intervention Fueled Haiti's Descent into Chaos" by Connor O'Keeffe: https://Mises.org/RR_178_B"Now's a Great Time to Stop Meddling in Haiti" by Ryan McMaken: https://Mises.org/RR_178_CFollow Marcel Gautreau on Twitter: https://twitter.com/anarchyinblackSubscribe to Marcel's Substack: https://mgautreau.substack.com/Win a Free Admission to the Human Action Conference: https://Mises.org/RRraffleClaim your free book: https://Mises.org/RothPodFreeBe sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMugPROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
Starting with Crusoe economics, Rothbard builds the economic concepts which can be developed by this analogy. These concepts are the axiom of human action. Among them are: man acts, man acts by virtue of his existence, man acts with purposeful behavior, man prefers present to future actions, resources are means to achieve ends, scarcity exists, actions take time, life is uncertain, and the theory of value is subjective.Part one of seven from Introduction to Economics: A Private Seminar with Murray N. Rothbard.This informal seminar with Murray N. Rothbard was recorded in Toronto, Ontario, on 4 September 1983. Special thanks to Don Morrison for making these recordings available.
Rothbard continues the Crusoe analogy. He covers subjectivity of value, and the concept of marginal utility.Part two of seven from Introduction to Economics: A Private Seminar with Murray N. Rothbard.This informal seminar with Murray N. Rothbard was recorded in Toronto, Ontario, on 4 September 1983. Special thanks to Don Morrison for making these recordings available.
Rothbard considers how prices are determined by supply and demand on the free market. All long shortages are caused by government interventions. Forecasting is not possible. Economics is not an objective science.Part three of seven from Introduction to Economics: A Private Seminar with Murray N. Rothbard.This informal seminar with Murray N. Rothbard was recorded in Toronto, Ontario, on 4 September 1983. Special thanks to Don Morrison for making these recordings available.
Costs are always ex ante. There are no such things as social costs or social benefits. Costs are determined by how much entrepreneurs think consumers will pay. Costs are not determined by supply and demand. Nobody waits for costs to raise prices. Rothbard does not believe in cost curves.Antitrust suits are often filed by one set of competitors trying to eliminate another set. Additionally, antitrust suits are money making rackets for lawyers.Interest is not just a loan; it is a time preference. Usury laws misunderstood interest.Part four of seven from Introduction to Economics: A Private Seminar with Murray N. Rothbard.This informal seminar with Murray N. Rothbard was recorded in Toronto, Ontario, on 4 September 1983. Special thanks to Don Morrison for making these recordings available.
The entrepreneur is the major risk bearer. Business return on capital is long run profits or losses. Real rate of interest is determined by time preferences. Government contracts are cost plus. Medical costs are higher because supply is so restricted by government intervention. Who benefits? [by government action]. Rockefeller families are heavily invested in drug companies. Cartelism. Monopolies. Yet, free market productivity causes prices of goods to drop, e.g. computer products.How the history of the business cycle starts. War stimulus, famine, were outside the market and not cyclical until around 1750. There then began to be wave-type activities. The Industrial Revolution and fractional reserve banking spread. Were these the causes of cycles? Were sunspots?Part five of seven from Introduction to Economics: A Private Seminar with Murray N. Rothbard.This informal seminar with Murray N. Rothbard was recorded in Toronto, Ontario, on 4 September 1983. Special thanks to Don Morrison for making these recordings available.
What causes business cycles? Keynesians say the cycles happen because the free market economy does not spend enough. Thus, pump spending in. Additionally, Keynesians say that animal spirits cause these cycles. Government must fix things. Nobody could understand Keynes' General Theory. What was simply obscure was wrongly considered deep.Keynes linked national income with employment, by assuming wage rates are fixed downward. Although Keynes wrote of balanced budgets, there were only deficits.Part six of seven from Introduction to Economics: A Private Seminar with Murray N. Rothbard.This informal seminar with Murray N. Rothbard was recorded in Toronto, Ontario, on 4 September 1983. Special thanks to Don Morrison for making these recordings available.
Deficits are equal to expenditures minus taxes. Reagan spoke of cutting government spending, but meant only cutting the rate of growth of government spending. Stagflation appeared in 1957-58. Inflation during a recession was not supposed to happen. It happened again in 1973-75. Part seven of seven from Introduction to Economics: A Private Seminar with Murray N. Rothbard.This informal seminar with Murray N. Rothbard was recorded in Toronto, Ontario, on 4 September 1983. Special thanks to Don Morrison for making these recordings available.
Presented to the Free Enterprise Society at Oklahoma State University on March 14, 2024. Ryan McMaken (https://mises.org/McMaken) is executive editor at the Mises Institute. He is a cohost of the Radio Rothbard podcast (https://mises.org/RothPod) and the War, Economy, and State podcast (https://mises.org/WES), and is the author of Breaking Away: The Case of Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities and Commie Cowboys: The Bourgeoisie and the Nation-State in the Western Genre.The Free Enterprise Society (FES) is sponsored by the Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise at Oklahoma State University: https://fe.okstate.edu/fes
Presented to the Free Enterprise Society at Oklahoma State University on March 13, 2024. Ryan McMaken (https://mises.org/McMaken) is executive editor at the Mises Institute. He is a cohost of the Radio Rothbard podcast (https://mises.org/RothPod) and the War, Economy, and State podcast (https://mises.org/WES), and is the author of Breaking Away: The Case of Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities and Commie Cowboys: The Bourgeoisie and the Nation-State in the Western Genre.The Free Enterprise Society (FES) is sponsored by the Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise at Oklahoma State University: https://fe.okstate.edu/fes
New York City’s government has imposed draconian rent controls. The natural outcome, as economists note, has been massive shortages, as apartment owners no longer have an incentive to rent empty apartments.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
While fears that AI will morph into something like the Terminator and try to destroy the world, the real threat from AI is that the authorities will use it to produce propaganda and public lies.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Artificial intelligence has much to contribute as a consumption good and a producer’s good. However, there also are limitations in what AI can do, given it susceptible to the GIGO rule: Garbage in, garbage out.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The right to be able to enter into contracts with others is fundamental to free markets and a free society. That means people should be able to engage in discrimination.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The “AI” in our present real-world hype is nothing like the sci-fi “creatures” of film; AI machines are nowhere near conscious beings.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The United States survived the first Great Depression, although it permanently changed the role of government. Will excessive government spending and money creation lead to Great Depression II?Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Open-borders advocates often point to the alleged openness of borders between the individual states in the USA. However, a closer look shows there are many restrictions most Americans are unaware of.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In his State of the Union speech Thursday, President Biden will claim the economy is growing—and that his administration will “crack down” on corporate greed. He will not address the damage his administration has done to the economy.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In this week's episode, Mark looks at the opportunities ahead of us for significant reforms and dismantling the State. Increasingly, more people realize that the government has been lying to them and working against their interests. Many also realize that Austrian economists, in contrast with Mainstream economists, have been presenting the true picture of the State. The political landscape has already shifted—and continues to shift—beneath the State, like an earthquake under a teetering third world building. The foundations of the World Economic Forum agenda are now in tatters.Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues.Get your free copy of Dr. Guido Hülsmann's How Inflation Destroys Civilization at https://Mises.org/IssuesFree.
Christian Sandström is a Swedish economist who joins Bob to discuss his new (co-edited) book, which makes the case that massive government funding projects aren't necessary to promote science or industrial growth.Dr. Sandströmm's Moonshots and the New Industrial Policy: https://Mises.org/HAP439a
On this week's Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop reflect on the fourth anniversary of the political response to covid and discuss if any meaningful lessons were learned, could something similar could happen again, and why it is right to still be furious with the tyranny American's experienced from a variety of fronts.Discussed on the Show "Covid Showed Us Who Really Rules America" by Ryan McMaken: https://Mises.org/RR_177_A"Modern Medicine’s Great Controversy" by Peter McCullough, MD: https://Mises.org/RR_177_B"The New Abnormal: The Rise of the Biomedical Security State" by Aaron Kheriaty, MD: https://Mises.org/RR_177_CClaim your free book: https://Mises.org/RothPodFreeBe sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMugPROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
As Murray Rothbard has noted, there is an important distinction between nation and state. The former is a voluntary association of people while the latter is coercive and predatory. Progressives, of course, claim the opposite.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Paul Krugman claims that the real factor determining inflation is the rate of unemployment, not increases in the supply of money. As usual, he is wrong.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
It is during "emergencies" when we learn who really holds political power, and how ineffective are constitutional measures designed to limit the regime.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Few economists—even the free-market advocates—understand what caused the Great Depression. No, the Fed didn’t cause the Depression by failing to inflate the currency. Instead, it was the Fed’s inflation that led to the disastrous early events.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Many of the high-flying businesses that received massive publicity turned out to be the creation of a bubble economy. Not all businesses are flashes in a pan; many of them continue to serve as the backbone of our economy.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Governments in the US subsidize immigration through a bevy of welfare programs. The effect of subsidization is predictable: you get more of what you subsidize. This is true for student loans, ethanol, immigrants, and more.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
When people say that “socialism doesn’t work,” what do they mean? To better examine and critique socialism, one should apply the socialists’ framework, which is alone worthy of condemnation.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Many economic think tanks espouse that national defense spending benefits Americans at large. It doesn’t. The notion that military spending "bolsters" the economy is yet another Keynesian fable.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In this week's episode, Mark examines Ludwig von Mises's important contributions to free trade theory. Free trade is more important than people think, and most government intervention is protectionist—or aids the promoters of protectionism.Trade causes civilization to come about. Protectionism is the greatest threat to our way of life, and a danger to human life, itself.Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues.Get your free copy of Dr. Guido Hülsmann's How Inflation Destroys Civilization at https://Mises.org/IssuesFree.
Tom DiLorenzo spent a long and productive career in academia before assuming his current position as president of the Mises Institute. He joins Bob to discuss his early days getting into economics, and some of his important work on antitrust policy. He also discusses his popular books on Abraham Lincoln. Though it all, Tom stresses the importance of the Austrian viewpoint.Tom's Paper on the Origins of Antitrust: https://Mises.org/HAP438aNullification: An Interview with a Zombie: https://Mises.org/HAP438b
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Mises Senior Fellow Mark Thornton to debunk political talking points confusing the stock market with the real economy, and the dangers lurking beyond the regime's economic propaganda.Discussed on the Show "Minor Issues: The Fed vs. the Real Economy" by Mark Thornton: https://Mises.org/RR_176_A"Minor Issues: Anti-Wild Cards" by Mark Thornton: https://Mises.org/RR_176_BClaim your free book: https://Mises.org/RothPodFreeBe sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMugPROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
As the federal government's debt approaches $35 trillion, default one way or another is inevitable. Many US states already have used that method to eliminate their debts.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Next month, the US Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether New York regulatory authorities can target the NRA simply because of the organization’s political viewpoints.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Activist pro-immigration groups in Great Britain, while being heavily funded by government money, are using that money to stop orderly immigration and replace it with chaos. Taxpayers are not only on the hook to fund these groups, but also bear the brunt of immigration failures.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
We may be governed by incompetent elites, but even they have not taken away our free will and ability to think for ourselves. We can look to Mises and Rothbard for inspiration.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Central banks have had the chutzpah to claim credit for slowing down the rise of consumer prices. The truth is they have taken advantage of the supply boost from fading pandemic dislocations to pursue continued monetary inflation.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Christianity Today and other Christian publications are touting a book that claims to be based upon “biblical critical theory.” It’s yet another version of Marxism that is neither critical nor biblical. It’s just more Marxism.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Princeton “historian” Allen C. Guelzo’s newest hagiography of Abraham Lincoln focuses on Lincoln’s supposed love affair with commerce, albeit “commerce” based upon protectionism and government tariffs. As David Gordon notes, Guelzo has a problem getting his economic history correct.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Progressives believe that restricting individual liberty permits better social outcomes. In truth, it is individual liberty that allows societies to function best.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
When governments go to war, the nation’s monetary system usually descends into the pit of inflation. The War of 1812 was no exception, and its monetary excesses led to the Panic of 1819.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In a recent interview with 60 Minutes, Fed chairman Jerome Powell gave assurances that the US banking system is sound. Ben Bernanke also claimed almost twenty years ago that real estate markets were not overextended. The hubris must be in the water at the Eccles Building.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
While term limits is a near-article of faith by many on the right, the concept is flawed at its inception and the results are worse than anticipated.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
As officials feign outrage over the death of Alexei Navalny and the jailing of Evan Gershkovich, the US government tries to imprison a journalist for breaking truly incriminating stories.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
While Thomas Paine might be one of the most obscure "Founding Fathers" of this country, he was a powerful intellectual who helped move people to choose liberty and independence.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Socialists never give up trying to prove that socialism can maintain a functioning economy. Some have dragged out a nearly forty year old study as their exhibit A.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
As the European Union becomes increasingly dominated by progressive elites, it becomes more authoritarian and contemptuous of the rights of those the Union purports to serve.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In this week's episode, Mark examines the increasing prospects of global warfare and the catastrophic results. Even if such a war can be averted, it might open an opportunity for the global elites to impose their agenda of enslaving humanity.Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues.Get your free copy of Dr. Guido Hülsmann's How Inflation Destroys Civilization at https://Mises.org/IssuesFree.
Brent Johnson of Santiago Capital created the "dollar milkshake" theory, which says that in a global sovereign debt crisis, the USD, gold, and US stock market will all rise. He joins Bob for a friendly disagreement over the dynamics of a decline in foreign demand to hold USD.The ZeroHedge Debate: https://Mises.org/HAP437aBob's Post-Game Analysis of the Debate: https://Mises.org/HAP437bBrent Johnson Explains The Dollar Milkshake Theory: https://Mises.org/HAP437cBob's Article, 'What Does "Debt-Based" Money Imply for Interest Payments?': https://Mises.org/HAP437d
Ryan McMaken, Tho Bishop, and Connor O'Keeffe talk about how the US government has punished Julian Assange for revealing American war crimes and corruption. Discussed on the Show "The Outrageous Persecution of Julian Assange" by Connor O'Keeffe: https://Mises.org/RR_175_AClaim your free book: https://Mises.org/RothPodFreeBe sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMugPROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
Ryan and Zach take a look at how the Pentagon is now lobbying for a "national defense industrial strategy." In a new report, the Pentagon calls for more central planning and socialism in the name of national defense. Recommended ReadingThe National Defense Industrial Strategy (PDF): https://Mises.org/WES_18_ABe sure to follow War, Economy, and State at https://Mises.org/WES.
Some economists believe that the balance of payments is what determines currency exchange rates. In fact, exchange rates are always about the purchasing power of some currencies relative to others.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
While South Africa’s political authorities pursue genocide accusations against other countries, those same leaders are destroying the nation’s economy and basic infrastructure. This is a failed state.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Javier Milei is trying to undo the damage created by nearly a century of socialism in Argentina. Mises, Rothbard, and Hayek were good teachers.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The “One-China” policy assumes Taiwan to be a runaway province. The people of Taiwan, however, see their country as sovereign, and their reasons have merit.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Another Pentagon audit, another massive failure. But the Pentagon's problems are not just simple accounting. They reflect the reality of an unaccountable rogue empire that tries to prop up the US empire.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
School choice would seem to have benefits, but as Thomas Sowell says: “There are no solutions. There are only trade-offs.” Enthusiastic “school choice” proponents forget that with government money comes government control.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
There will be life after Trump one way or another, but in the long run, it seems as though the ruling party always wins.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In 2022, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer used political favors and government grants to maneuver thousands of workers into jobs producing electric trucks. But consumers aren’t interested.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In this week's episode, Mark looks at the type information that investors need, but do not have. These anti-wild cards are going to appear in the economy, but no one really knows what, where, or when. Mark looks back at some historical examples.See also Surprised Again! The Covid Crisis and the New Market Bubble by Alex Pollock and Howard Adler: https://Mises.org/MI_59ABe sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues.Get your free copy of Dr. Guido Hülsmann's How Inflation Destroys Civilization at https://Mises.org/IssuesFree.
Dave Smith makes the Rothbardian/Hoppean case for government restriction on immigration, arguing that it's a second-best solution given the undeniable fact of government control of "public" property. Bob plays devil's advocate to raise possible objections to Dave's framework.Rothbard, "Nations by Consent": https://Mises.org/HAP436aHans-Hermann Hoppe, "On Free Immigration and Forced Integration": https://Mises.org/HAP436bBryan Caplan, "A Radical Case for Open Borders": https://Mises.org/HAP436c
Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop talk with Jane Johnson about why the feds will never pay down the debt. Instead, they have two choices: rampant inflation or default.Discussed on the Show "The Federal Mega-Debt is Here to Stay" by Jane L. Johnson: https://Mises.org/RR_174_AClaim your free book: https://Mises.org/RothPodFreeBe sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMugPROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
While US taxpayers pay billions for military missions around the world in the name of “keeping us safe,” the federal government fails to keep residents of the nation’s capital safe from violent crime.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Social Security is headed for reduced benefits, and no amount of political rhetoric or even tax increases will solve that problem. The numbers do not lie.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
When Adam Smith and the English classicals promoted division of labor as the most important ingredient in economic development, it took Carl Menger and his Austrian successors to point out that error and promote the proper economic theory of production.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Recorded in Tampa, Florida, on February 17, 2024.Special thanks to Liberty Villages and the Shrader family for sponsoring this event.
Recorded in Tampa, Florida, on February 17, 2024.Special thanks to Liberty Villages and the Shrader family for sponsoring this event.
Includes an introduction by Tho Bishop. Recorded in Tampa, Florida, on February 17, 2024.Special thanks to Liberty Villages and the Shrader family for sponsoring this event.
Block’s call for total war and the indiscriminate slaughter of innocent civilians in Gaza is the complete and uninhibited rejection and renunciation of the nonaggression principle that constitutes one of the very cornerstones of the Rothbardian system.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In the wake of the financial meltdown fifteen years ago, some countries placed strict limits on piling on public debt. Despite cries that this harms investment opportunities, the ”debt brakes” have worked well.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Progressives argue that free markets stand in the way of economic and racial equality. In fact, free markets are the only vehicle that can help make people more equal.Narrate by Millian Quinteros.
Political and economic elites predicted a doomsday scenario when Trump was elected in 2016, but the reality of his presidency didn’t come close to matching the apocalyptic rhetoric that accompanied it.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Recorded in Tampa, Florida, on February 17, 2024.Special thanks to Liberty Villages and the Shrader family for sponsoring this event.
On February 13, 2024, Bob participated (with Jim Rickards, Brent Johnson, and Michael Every) in a ZeroHedge debate on the fate of the USD. In this episode of the Human Action podcast, Bob highlights some of the key issues and explains why he thinks his side won.The ZeroHedge Debate: https://Mises.org/HAP435aBrent Johnson's Milkshake Theory: https://Mises.org/HAP435bEgert's Article on the Public Debt Threshold: https://Mises.org/HAP435cBob's Article on the Latest CBO Federal Debt Report: https://Mises.org/HAP435dHuman Action Podcast listeners can get a free copy of Dr. Guido Hülsmann's How Inflation Destroys Civilization: https://Mises.org/HAPodFree
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Doug French to discuss the health of US banks, the specific dangers of commercial real estate debt, and the risks of industry consolidation.Discussed on the Show "The Fed Claims the Banking System is "Sound and Resilient." The Banks' Balance Sheets Say Otherwise" by Douglas French: https://Mises.org/RR_173_A"The Fed Prepares for a Bank Crisis While Telling Americans the Economy is Strong" by Tho Bishop: https://Mises.org/RR_173_BClaim your free book: https://Mises.org/RothPodFreeBe sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMugPROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
Modern international law tends to grant a right to “remedial self-determination” only in extreme cases. Unfortunately, this position accepts that states ought to be free to violate human rights so long as the abuses fall short of war crimes and genocide.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Congressional Democrats are trying to intervene in a complex and varied market they know little about but that consumers navigate without need of help. This will not end well.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
So-called climate change is really an excuse for government to do what it does worst: intervene in our economic affairs. While government efforts will not cool the planet, they will make life more difficult for the planet’s inhabitants.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Whenever governing elites create a new crisis, they insist that “we're all in this together.” It’s time to ignore their lies altogether.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In this week's episode, Mark takes a quick look back at Fed wisdom in the year 2000, and then surveys today's stock market—and, in particular, the Magnificent Seven stocks, which represent very narrow leadership of the overall stock market.Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues.Get your free copy of Dr. Guido Hülsmann's How Inflation Destroys Civilization at https://Mises.org/IssuesFree.
Scott R. Sehon tries to be intellectually honest in his critique of capitalism and his endorsement of socialism, but David Gordon writes that Sehon needs to better know the arguments favoring capitalism.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Is the regulatory choice a tradeoff between safety or “breaking a few eggs” via free markets? The logic of allowing for free and unhampered markets is compelling.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Under Obama and Biden, the banking sector has been weaponized against industries American leftists don't like. The Obama administration acted as if its regulatory targets did not deserve due process, and the program ravaged far and wide.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The Biden administration’s Middle East policies are going to produce the same kind of blowback that led to the 9/11 attacks. The more reckless Biden becomes, the more American lives are placed at risk.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Bob goes solo to give a point-by-point rebuttal to James Lindsay's recent essay arguing that "national divorce means national suicide." Bob argues that James employs inconsistent claims and ignores the tremendous economic boon to an independent Texas.James Lindsay's Article "National Divorce is National Suicide": https://Mises.org/HAP434aBob's Book "Common Sense: The Case for an Independent Texas": https://Mises.org/HAP434bAntiWar.com Article on Gaza: https://Mises.org/HAP434cScott Horton's Interview with Arnon Soffer: https://Mises.org/HAP434d
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop do a recap of Ryan's debate at LibertyCon on the question of national divorce. Tho and Ryan address some of the libertarian arguments against secession, as well as the larger divide between libertarians like David Boaz and Rothbardians on matters of voluntary association.Discussed on the Show Ryan's debate — Will a National Divorce Lead to More Individual Liberty?: https://Mises.org/RR_172_A"Anarchism and Radical Decentralization Are the Same Thing" by Ryan McMaken: https://Mises.org/RR_172_BDavid Boaz speech clip: https://Mises.org/RR_172_CGrab a copy of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities by Ryan McMaken. Use Promo Code RothPod: https://Mises.org/RR_172_DClaim your free book: https://Mises.org/RothPodFreeBe sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMugPROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
Fact-checking has become a veritable industry in the media. However, the conclusions of “fact checkers” mysteriously seem to align with the opinions of elites. That’s their story, and political, educational, and social elites are sticking to it.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Social media tends to be blamed for the overall nastiness of public discourse. Instead of condemning this form of communication, condemn the fuel that feeds this conflagration: democracy.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have introduced legislation to create government-owned banks, ostensibly to “increase accountability.” In truth, the banks would exist to fund progressive causes.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
One doesn’t need to search modern economic literature to take on the MMT crowd. Just read Bastiat.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Intellectual property laws provide another example of how government stifles innovation and competition.
While the “Great Reset” involves an unholy alliance between governments and big businesses, implementing its policies is impossible without central banks suppressing interest rates. Now that rates are rising, people are finding firsthand the real costs of the “Great Reset.”Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In his review of Claes G. Ryn's The Failure of American Conservatism, David Gordon points out that Austrian economic methodology is not a value-laden Jacobin experiment, but rather a workable explanation of how a successful economy works.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Mark talks about the Fed's Reverse Repo Operations, which explain the conundrum of the Fed's "tight" monetary policy and new record highs in the stock market. It turns out that the Fed is not a bunch of "tightwads" after all, but has served up a nearly $2 trillion monetary injection since the bond market cratered last year.Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues.Get your free copy of Dr. Guido Hülsmann's How Inflation Destroys Civilization at https://Mises.org/IssuesFree.
Academic VP of the Mises Institute, Joe Salerno, joins Bob to discuss his talk at the Supporters Summit, centering on the mainstream's focus on "rules vs. discretion" in monetary policy. Salerno explains how President Eisenhower's administration marked a pivot away from the ideology of inflation.Dr. Salerno's Talk at the 2023 Supporters Summit: https://Mises.org/HAP433a
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop look at the growing tensions between the State of Texas and the Biden Administration. The two evaluate the situation today, what we should expect in the near future, and what its lasting ramifications could be for the regime. Discussed on the Show "It's Biden vs. Texas, and Texas Is Right" by Ryan McMaken: https://Mises.org/RR_171_A"The Establishment Is Unmasking Itself" by Connor O'Keeffe: https://Mises.org/RR_171_B"Reaping What You Sow: The American Regime in Chaos" by Tho Bishop: https://Mises.org/RR_171_CClaim your free book: https://Mises.org/RothPodFreeBe sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMugPROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
Government efforts to expand “aggregate demand” involve new spending and money creation. In reality, these activities destroy wealth in the name of expanding it.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
As the recent election of Javier Milei in Argentina shows us, there still is a place in the political world for libertarian thinking. Liberty is a goal still worth pursuing.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Since Adam Smith, economic thinkers have failed to understand that profits in a market economy are not extractions of wealth from laborers. In truth, profits lead to higher wages and higher living standards for those workers.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
By borrowing money and “creating” new jobs, the government is creating the illusion of a strong economy. This does not end well.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Javier Milei has begun his presidency by taking action against much of Argentina’s vast welfare state. One hopes it is the beginning to a successful term in office.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
There is a lack of buyers for US Treasury debt. Rating agencies have recently downgraded the US debt, and entitlement benefits’ “trust funds” will go into the red in a few years. The classical economists offer few answers to the depth of this problem.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The job market is still hanging on—but not nearly as well as the headline numbers and media pundits would have you believe.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In this week's episode, we replay Mark's recent appearance on the Rob Taylor Report. Mark and Rob take a deep look at the practical impact of socialist ideology in Oregon when mixed with the partial "decriminalization" of all hard drugs in the state. The main issues they discuss are the lack of respect for private property rights, and woke government causing social chaos in Oregon; but, it's a lesson for everyone, everywhere.The Rob Taylor Report is available online at https://RobTaylorReport.comBe sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssuesGet your free copy of Murray Rothbard's Anatomy of the State at https://Mises.org/IssuesFree.
Economist Peter St. Onge summarizes some of the major financial and government news stories of the day.Bob's Mises University Talk 'Price Inflation: Corona vs. QE': https://Mises.org/HAP432a
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Mises Institute Fellow Jonathan Newman to discuss economic fake news, featuring a cameo by Taylor Swift and Selina Gomez.Also, sign up today for our special Radio Rothbard raffle for a free entry into our 2024 Human Action Conference, celebrating the 75th anniversary of Ludwig von Mises's masterpiece. https://Mises.org/RRraffle.Discussed on the Show "Selena Gomez Explains To Taylor Swift How The Federal Reserve Creates Boom And Bust Cycles Through Manipulation Of Interest Rates And Fiat Currency" by The Babylon Bee: https://Mises.org/RR_170_A"Krugman's New Favorite Inflation Expectations Measure" by Jonathan Newman: https://Mises.org/RR_170_B"Taking Money Back (Part I)" by Murray Rothbard: https://Mises.org/RR_170_C"Fractional Reserve Banking (Part II)" by Murray Rothbard: https://Mises.org/RR_170_D"How to Free Ourselves from Government Money (Part III)" by Murray Rothbard: https://Mises.org/RR_170_EClaim your free https://Mises.org/RothPodFreeBe sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMugPROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
Ryan and Zach review a new book on the basics of the "classical liberal" theory of international relations. Drawing on the work of Mises and Hayek, Edwin van de Haar's new IR book provides a useful and insightful summary of how a pro-freedom foreign policy differs from the usual foreign policy in Washington. Additional Resources"Human Nature and World Affairs: An Introduction to Classical Liberalism and International Relations Theory" by Edwin van de Haar: https://Mises.org/WES_17_A"Mises on Nationalism, the Right of Self-Determination, and the Problem of Immigration" by Joseph Salerno: https://Mises.org/WES_17_Bhttps://EdwinvandeHaar.comBe sure to follow War, Economy, and State at https://Mises.org/WES.
The island nation of Jamaica has beautiful beaches but a problem with poverty. Jamaica needs capital and free markets, not more state control of the economy.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The arguments of open-borders advocates may be applicable in some corners of the developed world. However, for small countries next to larger ones, open borders bring serious geopolitical consequences.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Thomas Hill Green, an eighteenth-century English philosopher, didn't believe it was possible to have a good society without a powerful state. David Gordon explains why Green’s argument fails to impress.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
American political and economic elites insist that they should have authority over everyone else. As people rebel, the elites are only doubling down on their original demands.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
When an economy suffers a recession, some factors of production, such as labor, become unemployed. Keynesians believe that expanding credit and fiat money will bring back full employment. That's not how an economy works.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
While Western attention is on the Israel-Hamas conflict, war quietly rages in Yemen with predictable destruction. Not surprisingly, US interventionism is fueling this fight.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In this week's episode, Mark compares two definitions of inflation and what this means for policy makers and the productive population in 2024. The mainstream view creates nothing but confusion and smokescreens, while the Austrian definition shows that the true definition shows a much higher level of economic pain and uncertainty and more economic problems to come in 2024.Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues.Get your free copy of Murray Rothbard's Anatomy of the State at https://Mises.org/IssuesFree.
Bob goes solo to discuss a recent Twitter controversy, in which opponents of a proposed tax argued that unrealized capital gains couldn't possibly be a form of income. Bob cites both Austrian theory and corporate accounting practice to respond that all capital gains are income, which is not to say that they ought to be taxed. The dispute is important because understanding the definition of "income" sheds light on the role of market prices in guiding entrepreneurial action.Bob Talks to David Schizer on the Moore Ruling: https://Mises.org/HAP431aBob's Econlib Article on Capital and Income: https://Mises.org/HAP431b
The recent campus protests following the Hamas-Israel conflict have been framed as either antiapartheid or anti-Semitic. The conflict is much deeper, being rooted in toxic identity politics.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
While economics textbooks are weak on causes of the Great Depression, American history texts are even worse. It's time for some truth telling.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
For most of the past century, Argentina has seen the destruction wrought by collectivism. To reverse the damage, the nation must allow decentralization, beginning with free cities.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
When it comes to housing, the solution to the problem of affordability is rather straightforward: build more. Slapping price controls on housing in the form of “rent control” only makes things worse.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss the results of the Iowa Caucuses. What does Trump's overwhelming win mean for American politics, and what is the future for candidates like Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis? Also, did anyone know Asa Hutchinson was still around? Ryan and Tho discuss this and more.Claim your free book: https://Mises.org/RothPodFreeBe sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
The Rothbard Graduate Seminar (RGS) provides an opportunity to learn about Austrian economics at a high level.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
With the Houthis in Yemen firing on commercial ships in the Red Sea, the US is contemplating yet another Middle East conflict. As we see again, aggression leads to more aggression.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
All of us have experienced government road closures and the traffic and safety nightmares they create. Private roads may be the answer to solving the problem.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
On this week's episode, Mark opens the Congressional Political Playbook to examine the proposed Congressional compromise spending legislation—and what they might name it.Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues.Get your free copy of Murray Rothbard's Anatomy of the State at https://Mises.org/IssuesFree.
Economic giant Robert Solow died in December 2023. He was a Nobel laureate, and four of his PhD students went on to also receive the Nobel. He is known for the growth model named in his honor. Garett Jones of GMU joins Bob to discuss the work of Solow, focusing on the possible tension between the Solow model's conclusions about capital accumulation vis-à-vis the Austrian School.
While the creator of modern portfolio theory was awarded a Nobel Prize, that doesn't mean the theory isn’t flawed. In fact, it explains very little about investments.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The response to the covid-19 outbreak is better understood as a tool of the national security state rather than as a public health measure.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
As both progressives and conservatives turn authoritarian, libertarian populism inspired by Murray Rothbard provides an alternative to the statist nonsense that dominates political discourse.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss immigration. While many libertarians have adopted an absolutist open borders position on immigration, there are a number of other factors that should be considered. Ryan and Tho look at the case of small states and the issues raised by government"Why Open Borders Don't Work for Small Countries" by Ryan McMaken: https://Mises.org/RR_168_A"Mises on Nationalism, the Right of Self-Determination, and the Problem of Immigration" by Joseph T. Salerno: https://Mises.org/RR_168_BClaim your free book: https://Mises.org/RothPodFreeBe sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
Since government regulates nearly everything, it is not surprising that regulations often prohibit the sale and consumption of raw milk. Like many other regulations, these prohibitions reflect political favoritism, not health science.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Using the rhetoric of “protecting democracy,” American ruling elites have tried to censor the internet because they don’t like the results of democracy when information no longer is filtered by the political classes.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Economist Antony C. Sutton understood one of the most fundamental economic truths: gold is money. Thorsten Polleit reviews Sutton’s classic book, The War on Gold.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Jamaicans are willing to accept authoritarian behavior from the state in the name of rejecting colonialism.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
This week's episode begins 2024 by looking at the growing political divide among the American people—and how to solve it.Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues.Get your free copy of Murray Rothbard's Anatomy of the State at https://Mises.org/IssuesFree.
Murray Sabrin joins Bob to discuss his upcoming online course on the economics of the US healthcare system, including practical solutions. The course begins in mid-January 2024.Dr. Sabrin's New Online Course: https://Mises.org/HAP429aIPAK-EDU.org is offering the following discounts:50% off until Jan 6th with code: COUNTMEIN 25% off after January 6th with code: JACKSAYS75
Economist Daniel Lacalle joins Ryan and Tho to talk about how central banks are engineering more zombie companies, higher inflation, and a "private sector recession," all hiding behind misleading and bullish aggregate data.Claim your free book: https://Mises.org/RothPodFreeBe sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
President Joe Biden is promoting his “AI Bill of Rights,” which looks to be an attempt to censor political opposition. Naturally, political and media elites are enthusiastically endorsing it.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Many cities and states in this country have been tearing down or destroying monuments because they represent part of a past that progressives and leftists believe should not have existed. Each time we tear down something, we potentially lose part of an important heritage.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Progressives claim that state-sponsored healthcare systems are superior to market-based systems. Their arguments don’t add up.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Federal debt is soaring out of control, and perhaps it is not surprising that the CBO has not updated its forecasts with this debt uncertainty.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 1: Economic Thought Before Adam SmithIn volume one, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the Spanish Scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume 2: Classical EconomicsThe second volume contains an enlightening critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach
It seems U.S. government officials are entitled to blindfold and deceive the American people to avoid “intruding” on foreign leaders planning a military attack? This theory of democracy gets curiouser and curiouser.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The Bill of Rights turns 232 years old today. Adopted in 1791 as a consolation prize for the Anti-Federalists, it has been the most important part of American legal history since the 18th century.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
While zoning laws do not explain all homelessness in this country, they help make housing less affordable, putting more people on the streets who no longer can pay for a place to live.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
A coin collection can tell a lot about this nation's monetary history, and especially what happened nearly 60 years ago after the government debased U.S. coinage. This history is not having a happy ending.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In this episode, Mark looks back at 2023 as a great year for the goals and prospects of the Mises Institute moving forward, but a very bad year for the State.Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues.Get your free copy of Murray Rothbard's Anatomy of the State at https://Mises.org/IssuesFree.
Tyler Cowen is Holbert L. Harris Chair of Economics and chairman of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. With Alex Tabarrok, he runs the popular economics blog Marginal Revolution. Tyler joins Bob to discuss his latest book.Tyler's New Book for Free: https://Mises.org/HAP428aTyler's Blog: https://Mises.org/HAP428b
Like every other government program designed to make something “more affordable,” the student loan program has managed to drive college tuition to atmospheric levels and saddle students with massive levels of debt.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Nippon Steel's proposal to merge with US Steel is meeting opposition from the usual suspects in Washington, not to mention Tucker Carlson. Their hysteria is off the charts.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
America's famous Corn Belt should better be known as the nation's Subsidy Belt.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
On the final Radio Rothbard of 2023, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Patrick Newman. At a recent Mises event, Newman made some bold predictions about the Federal Reserve's actions in 2024, some of which already look to becoming true. The three talk about what may be on the table for the new year for the economy, politics, and foreign affairs."Are We Headed for a Recession in 2024?" by Patrick Newman: https://Mises.org/RR_166_AClaim your free book: https://Mises.org/RothPodFreeBe sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
With a doveish pivot, Jerome Powell is declaring victory over inflation. It would be extraordinarily naive to ignore the influence of next year’s presidential election on the Fed’s new outlook.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
World elites gathered in yet another attempt to remake the world in a different image, with so-called climate change invoked as the catalyst for the meeting. As one can imagine, their "good" society is not very good for those who are not elites.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In the name of dealing with a so-called public health crisis, U.S. political and medical elites created even more crises. David Gordon reviews Tom Woods' new book that deconstructs the disastrous decisions made by progressive politicians and medical authorities.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
As the delegates gather for COP28 to set an agenda to "fight climate change," we should remember what they are seeking to do: destroy the world's economy as we have known it.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Stock and bond markets are abuzz this week over Chairman Jay Powell's hints of a "Fed Pivot" in interest rate policy. Mark Thornton explains why this optimism is badly misplaced.Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues.Get your free copy of Murray Rothbard's Anatomy of the State at https://Mises.org/IssuesFree.
A century ago, the German reichsmark went into freefall as the most famous hyperinflation in history exploded the German economy. The repercussions still are with us.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In his latest defense of bloated military spending, President Joe Biden claims that the military budget creates real wealth. Instead, military spending is destroying it.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
One usually does not equate libertarian thinking with a US prison, but prison life does offer some surprises, especially when it comes to internal governance.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Africa, while being rich in natural resources, is hobbled by government corruption, socialistic policies, and a lack of economic freedom. One only can hope for change.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The behemoth known as the US government didn’t metastasize by accident. The process began as soon as the US Constitution was ratified.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Statists reveal their belief in the almighty state in many different ways, but they all want the same outcome: more government control over our lives.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Get ready to see George W. Bush, Michelle Obama, Mitch McConnell, and Hillary Clinton all mourn together at Kissinger's funeral as they hail one of the regime's most devoted apologists.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Protectionists are no better than any run-of-the-mill Progressive who wants more taxes on one group in order to subsidize some other group. There's no moral high ground here for the protectionists, just unfounded self-righteousness.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Mark Thornton to discuss Jerome Powell's most recent announcement. As the Fed signals its potential for a policy pivot, other members of the FOMC are sending other signals. What does this mean for monetary policy, the dollar, and the performance of the real economy? Thornton is here to answer these questions and more."Will Powell's Pivot Bail Out Biden?" by Tho Bishop: https://Mises.org/RR_165_A"The Money Supply Continues its Biggest Collapse Since the Great Depression" by Ryan McMaken: https://Mises.org/RR_165_B"The Fed Brings Christmas Early to Wall Street" by Peter St. Onge: https://Mises.org/RR_165_CClaim your free book: https://Mises.org/RothPodFreeBe sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
Thanks to Federal Reserve intervention, apartments and apartment buildings have turned into giant malinvestments. Once again, a federal entity intervenes in markets presumably to make them work better, but things end in a crisis.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
British conservative critics of industrialization invented new terms like "wage slavery," "factory slavery," and "white slavery." Much of the conservatives' terminology and their arguments would later be adopted by socialists.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Ryan and Zachary make some guesses about where things are headed in 2024 for both Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war. How long will the US try to keep the Ukraine war going, and what is Israel's plan for Gaza?Be sure to follow War, Economy, and State at https://Mises.org/WES.
Murray Rothbard and Milton Friedman didn’t only disagree on the subject of economics. They also sharply disagreed on the direction American conservatism needed to go.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Anarchocapitalism does not fall into the same category as socialism, whose establishment and maintenance require violence. Anarchocapitalism arises spontaneously from the removal of barriers that stand against the natural order of things.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The Malthusian fallacy created the common view that economics is cold, hardhearted, excessively rational, and opposed to the welfare of people, writes Murray N. Rothbard (1926–1995).This audio Mises Daily is narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
Those who voted for the omnibus to avoid a shutdown fail to grasp that the consequences of blindly expanding government are far worse than the consequences of a temporary government shutdown, writes Ron Paul.This audio Mises Daily is narrated by Dianna Keiler.
As the Biden administration doubles down in its determination to create a more progressive nation, it inadvertently is creating more opportunities to promote libertarian alternatives.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The accusations against capitalism that we read not only from progressives but also conservatives are based upon fallacious thinking. It’s time to deal with these fallacies head on.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
While Austria is not the free-market republic Ludwig von Mises hoped it would be, the country has made many steps in the right direction, freeing markets and protecting private property.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In this week's episode Mark explains the term "Greenwashing" and describes how Austrian economists might agree with the sentiment behind it. Are Austrian school economists against the environment? Mark thinks not and explains why. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues.Get your free copy of Murray Rothbard's Anatomy of the State at https://Mises.org/IssuesFree.
One of the biggest and most pervasive myths in modern-day economics is the myth of the omnipotence of the Federal Reserve.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Coal drove the development of a whole new way of cooking and a radically different diet. A menu based upon coal-fired food was the cuisine that accompanied industrialization. Food and fuel were intricately linked in a fossil fuel-burning age.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The student loan program is descending into chaos and the Biden administration is clueless about what to do. Furthermore, the value of a college education continues to fall while college costs increase.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Between war weariness and the inability of the US government to pay war bills, reality is going to come to the fore even if Washington doesn't like it.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss ideas for states to consider going into 2024. With faith in the federal government dropping across the country, Ryan and Tho identify meaningful steps states can pursue to help decentralize political power.
According to mainstream economists, the expectation of inflation leads to higher prices. That is impossible, however, because actual inflation involves real increases in the money supply.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
With US government debt skyrocketing past $33 trillion and possible recession looming, the Treasury faces the prospect of running out of suckers. Finding buyers for US debt will become much more difficult.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Henry Hazlitt, a great champion of liberty and Austrian economics, was born on November 28, 1894. His most famous book, Economics in One Lesson, remains a best seller thirty years after his death.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The concept of the state has more to do with the worldview of ancient Greek philosophers than with the Roman Empire. We could learn a few things about statelessness from the Romans.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
While China achieved strong economic growth in the post-Mao years by allowing free markets to work, the Communist leadership wants to return the economy to its old socialist ways. However, while the government can give fake growth numbers, it cannot reverse socialist failures.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
David Gordon reviews Only a Voice, by George Scialabba, dealing with the author's comments on antiwar progressives Randolph Bourne and Dwight Macdonald.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Today, the Fed takes a short break from robbing us via inflation and, instead, delivers huge amounts of cash to banks to service Black Friday purchases. The large cash infusions often make banks vulnerable to robberies.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
For those who value self-determination, free markets, peace, and freedom, Napoleon provides little to be admired. He was a despot, a warmonger, a centralist, and a hypocrite who claimed to spread freedom to justify his own lust for conquest and power.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
While the United States has not fallen as far economically as Argentina, the fact is that the present economic policies are ruinous. We need someone like Javier Milei to speak the truth about what is happening.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that the ballot initiative to decriminalize all drugs in the state of Oregon is failing, and that efforts are underway to recriminalize hard drugs. Mark points out that decriminalizing drug possession does nothing to improve black market production of drugs, which makes drugs much more dangerous to consume. More importantly, it is Oregon's socialist ideology that coddles homelessness and open hard drug use that is the real problem for the good citizens of the state—and is not helping the drug addicts either. The solution is for society—the nexus of private property owners—to reassert its will. See also "Welcome to Needle Park" by Mark Thornton: https://Mises.org/Minor48_ABe sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssuesGet your free copy of Murray Rothbard's Anatomy of the State at https://Mises.org/IssuesFree
One of the cliches of the New Deal was that businesses were entitled to a “fair” profit. Leonard Read astutely pointed out that profits (and losses) have nothing to do with “fairness.”Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The standard line from US political elites is that failure to aid Ukraine would mean Russia's destruction of what is left of the country. However, the likely result would be a negotiated peace.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Ivory Tower economists continue to tell us that the US economy is booming, but consumers disagree. Paul Krugman has a new explanation for the economic gloom: Republicans. In a recent New York Times article, Krugman touts that partisanship and media bias drive a wedge between consumer sentiment and economic reality. But is this actually what’s going on?Dr. Jonathan Newman is back with Bob to break down Krugman's shifting economic predictions and to consider the trajectory of the US economy.Krugman's NYT Article from 2021 on Inflation: https://Mises.org/HAP425aKrugman's NYT Article on Begin Wrong About Inflation: https://Mises.org/HAP425bJonathan and Bob's HAP Episode on The Fed's 'Soft Landing': https://Mises.org/HAP425c
The Biden administration claims it wants to get out in front of the development of artificial intelligence. However, the likely scenario is that AI will leave government regulators in its wake.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy and her friends had to worry about wild animals and wicked witches. Today, Americans face a much more formidable foe: their own free-spending government.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Dr. Gilbert Berdine, an associate professor of medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and an affiliate of the Free Market Institute at Texas Tech University. In 2020, Dr. Berdine was warning about efficacy and risks claims being made over covid vaccines, which are at the forefront of a recent lawsuit by the State of Texas against Pfizer. Ryan and Tho discuss the case with Dr. Berdine, as well as the lessons learned from the government's response to covid and what is fueling the authoritarian capture of the American medical industry."What the Covid Vaccine Hype Fails to Mention" by Gilbert Berdine: https://Mises.org/RR_163_A"United Kingdom Mortality Data by Age Group and Vaccination Status: Looking at Vaccine Effectiveness" by Gilbert Berdine: https://Mises.org/RR_163_B"Real Scientific Inquiry Requires Dissent. But That's Not What the CDC and JAMA Want." by Gilbert Berdine: https://Mises.org/RR_163_C"Can Austrian Economics Save Medicine?" by DR. MICHEL ACCAD: https://Mises.org/RR_163_DClaim your free book: https://Mises.org/RothPodFreeBe sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
A bedrock of Austrian economic thinking is the notion of causality. A libertarian worldview also requires the understanding of causality.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Econometric models are constructed with the idea that they can be substituted for authentic human action. Not surprisingly, they fail badly.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Since the original sugar tariff of 1789, US government policy has been to subsidize sugar, a policy that has led to serious consequences, including a health crisis of obesity.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Not only is Washington in political turmoil, but the policies emanating from the Beltway are more incoherent than ever.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren is at it again: demanding government intervention in the nation's healthcare system to deal with problems caused by earlier government intervention.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Critics of college legacy admissions claim that the practice is racist and admits undeserving students. The longer-term results of such admissions show why colleges continue to employ them.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Is cryptocurrency a scam or is it a legitimate alternative to state-corrupted money? Political elites want to eliminate it altogether, but that alone should tell us we need to better understand this alternative money source.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Philip Goff wants to solve the why of the universe, but his answers are not always logically coherent, as David Gordon explains.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In the past two decades, the TSA has proven it is ineffective in providing real security for airline passengers. However, its growing incompetence is matched only by its increasing intrusion into travelers' lives.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In this week's episode, Mark looks at "All Time Highs" in such things as stocks, real estate, and stock indexes. Housing prices hit an all time high this week, and gold is not far behind. While all time highs—or even "new highs"—are unambiguously good for owners of these assets, it is much more ambiguous as a signal about the future. Gold might be an exception to this rule, as Mark explains.Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues.Get your free copy of Murray Rothbard's Anatomy of the State at https://Mises.org/IssuesFree.
Mainstream economists turned climate warriors use cost-of-production methods to determine the “true” social cost of carbon. They appeal to a discredited methodology falsely attributed to medieval Scholastics.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Progressives claim that perhaps individual freedom might be appropriate for a simpler society but that as society grows more complex, the need for government grows. As Leonard Read pointed out, however, greater complexity requires greater freedom, not less.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
According to a Brown University professor, ExxonMobil threatens our democratic republic by purchasing another company. The totalitarian woke atmosphere in American higher education is the real threat.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
While the Fed tries to engineer the mythical “soft landing” for the economy, Austrian economists know that this is an exercise in futility. Once the credit-fueled boom occurs, the bust logically follows.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Ryan McMaken and Benjamin Seevers examine the reasoning behind efforts to destroy Americans' right to sell land to foreign nationals, especially the Chinese. It seems some think that Chinese nationals' ownership of 0.03% of American farmland is a big problem."Arkansas' Attack on Chinese-Owned Property Is Reckless and Crony-Driven" by Benjamin Seevers: https://Mises.org/RR_162_A"Should We Allow U.S. Land To Be Sold to the Chinese?" by Walter Block: https://Mises.org/RR_162_B"Foreign Investment in U.S. Ag Land – The Latest Numbers" by Daniel Munch: https://Mises.org/RR_162_CClaim your free book: https://Mises.org/RothPodFreeBe sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
Advocates of unbacked paper money claim that theirs is the “civilized” choice, as opposed to gold, or what Keynes called “that barbarous relic.” These inflationists, however, are the ones wrecking civilization as we have known it.
Ten years ago, I discovered the Mises Institute. This is the advice I wish I could send back to my younger self.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
As this author previously has noted, the ideology of statism is responsible for much of the violence that plagues the world. We see this played out in Israel's aggressive retaliatory attacks in Gaza in response to the October 7 killings by Hamas.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Forget the other mainstream explanations for interest. Time preference explains this phenomenon and gives a true picture of why interest exists in the first place.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The new problem we now face arises from the fact that huge deficits are only manageable so long as interest rates remain very, very low.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Data on employed persons, wages, and other measures point to trouble ahead in an economy already strained by growing bankruptcies, mounting debts, and disappearing savings.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The Federal Reserve is losing money, according to its official books. Does that matter, or does the Fed operate outside the bounds of the laws of economics?Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The eternal “climate emergency” is upon us. While doomsday is said to be around the corner, the reality is that the only thing rising is the level of government control.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
While Israel receives praise for being a "democracy" in the undemocratic Middle East, its surveillance policies mirror those of China, which is decidedly not democratic.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In this week's episode, Mark looks at the implications of famed investor Jim Chanos shutting down his hedge fund which specialized in shorting stocks. The closure comes as stock markets in the US hit all time record highs. Mark frames these two events in light of the Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssuesGet your free copy of Murray Rothbard's book Anatomy of the State at Mises.org/IssuesFreeAdditional Resources"The Social Function of Stock Speculators" by Robert P. Murphy: https://Mises.org/Minor46_A"Short Sellers Keep the Market Honest" (Wall Street Journal) by Jim Thanos: https://Mises.org/Minor46_B"Jim Chanos, Short Seller Who Took on Enron and Tesla, to Close Hedge Funds" (Wall Street Journal) by Gregory Zuckerman Follow and Peter Rudegeair: https://Mises.org/Minor46_C
An unfortunate consequence of increased wealth is the growth of the parasitic consumptive class of political and cultural elites. Labor migrations often follow in the wake of damage that elites do.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The newly-released movie "Killers of the Flower Moon" depicts what happens when politically-connected people can use the state to carry out nefarious deeds. Unfortunately, government failure is one lesson that is sure to be lost here.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss the aftermath of Javier Milei's election in Argentina. The two discuss the value Milei's victory has for libertarianism and Austrian economics, the challenges he immediately faces, and what steps are necessary for him to turn a winning campaign into an impactful presidency."The United States Needs Its Own Javier Milei" by Connor O'Keeffe: https://Mises.org/RR_161_A"An Anarchist’s Pragmatic Plan of Government for Argentina" by Manuel García Gojon: https://Mises.org/RR_161_B"A Statement on Javier Milei from Spanish Libertarians" by Jesús Huerta de Soto & Philipp Bagus: https://Mises.org/RR_161_C"Rothbard, Milei and the New Right in Argentina" by Fernando Chiocca: https://Mises.org/RR_161_DClaim your free book: https://Mises.org/RothPodFreeBe sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
As the federal government continues its Ponzi scheme of issuing debt to pay for past debts, interest rates will increase to the point where this no longer is a tenable strategy—if it ever was.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
A Cato Institute associate has declared the development of the covid-19 vaccines to be a free-market “triumph.” The only thing that has triumphed in this sorry episode has been the rapid growth of coercive government power.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Ryan and Zachary discuss the basics of Just War Theory and whether a "moral war" is possible. They also discuss the theory's origins in natural law, and how the theory relates to pacifism, wealth, and war crimes.Be sure to follow War, Economy, and State at https://Mises.org/WES.Additional Resources"Get the US Out of the Middle East" by Ryan McMaken: https://Mises.org/WES_15_A"American History Is a Preview of the Israel-Palestine End Game" by Ryan McMaken: https://Mises.org/WES_15_BWar, Economy, and State - Ethnic Interest Groups Fuel the American Warfare State: https://Mises.org/WES_15_CDouglas Murray on having a "proportionate response” in a conflict: https://Mises.org/WES_15_D
In the aftermath of Hamas's taking hostages in its conflict with Israel, the question arises: Who pays the ransom? State-financed payments lead to the worst outcomes and create moral hazards.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Governments regularly suppress freedom—yet few complain. One wonders if Stockholm syndrome is at work.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Nobel Prize winner Angus Deaton claims that the free market cannot provide adequate medical care. Of course, he goes on to describe government failure but calls it a free market.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Resettling Gazans in America—at taxpayer expense—will be sold as a "humanitarian" effort, but anyone who sees through the propaganda will see that it's really all a cynical effort to please Israeli politicians.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
How the Israel-Gaza war ends is easy to imagine because it's following a path that has been trod many times before. We've seen it many times during conflicts between settler populations and indigenous populations worldwideNarrated by Millian Quinteros.
After an earlier article by Zachary Yost on a call by military “experts” to reinstate the military draft, the authors of the original paper are trying to back off on their original recommendation. But there is no doubt as to what they want the government to do.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
This latest Middle East conflict is ultimately little more than gang warfare. We oppose it as a matter of principle.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Peter St. Onge, an economic fellow with the Heritage Foundation and frequent Mises Wire author. With the costs of financing the national debt now exceeding the costs of military spending and major social programs, Peter explains why government spending is now a crisis the regime can't ignore.
The German economic powerhouse is slowing, weighed down by its costly green energy policies and a bloated welfare state. Germany's economy needs market reforms, not more state intervention.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
China's so-called economic miracle is running into the ground as the reality of central planning becomes increasingly obvious and an economic reckoning looms.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Inflation in Turkey today is officially running close to 70 percent, but the Turkish economy seems to be booming. Inflationary booms, however, cannot be sustained.
While the White House claims that inflation is losing steam, the truth is that unless the government changes its reckless monetary course, hyperinflation could be in our economic future.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Under the guise of "modernizing" communications, the Canadian government is vastly expanding its power to regulate social media and threaten free speech.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
While Ibrahim Kendi's infamous antiracism center at Boston University implodes, the doctrines espoused by the center continue to present false social narratives.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
As war rages in the Middle East, we are reminded of what Mises wrote in 1949 on warfare and its awful effects.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Americans have been fed the myth that US foreign policy from 1919 to 1941 was isolationist. In reality, US policies destabilized already volatile international relations.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Federal flood insurance was created ostensibly to provide insurance to people who live in flood-prone areas. Not surprisingly, it subsidizes bad home-building decisions and wastes billions of dollars.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Naomi Wolf has taken on the American medical bureaucracy for its lies and malpractice in dealing with covid.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The field of behavior economics downplays the role of purposeful praxeology in economics. Austrian economics does not make that error.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
On this week's episode, Mark looks at the financial condition of the government and of American citizens on the cusp of the next recession. The financial condition of the United States Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and the American citizenry is weak; debt is high and rising, and this is very worrisome in an economic environment of rising interest rates and a weakening global economy. Please share this episode with a curmudgeon.The U.S. Debt Clock: https://USDebtClock.orgBe sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Modern prosperity is astonishing, but it can quickly disappear if our monetary unit fails. We need to keep up the fight for sound money.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The countries have changed, but the story remains the same. Wealthier countries try to “invest” by lending money to African regimes, where the money disappears. This time, China is the big lender.
Mises' work explains how laissez-faire economies have incentives to be peaceful with each other, and how, inversely, tariffs and protectionism create isolation, instability, and war. His words are especially prescient today as conflicts rage and tensions between superpowers continue to rise—mirroring the rise in state power across the globe.Dr. Jonathan Newman joins Bob to break down the history of warfare, how states fund war, and why war is more destructive in the modern era.Dr. Newman's Article on the History of Warfare: https://Mises.org/HAP421aDr. Murphy on Private Military Defense: https://Mises.org/HAP421b'Free Trade vs. Protectionism' MisesU 2023 Lecture: https://Mises.org/HAP421cBob and Jonathan's Talks from the Mises Circle in Fort Myers: https://Mises.org/HAP421d
As the Biden administration ramps up new government spending—and budget deficits—to unheard-of peacetime levels, reality sets in. No economy and no currency can withstand this explosive assault for very long.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
While the ruling elites and the Federal Reserve try to sell digital money as “modern” and “convenient,” it poses threats to financial privacy and civil liberties.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Mises Institute president Thomas DiLorenzo joins Ryan and Tho to discuss the moralistic claims behind American foreign policy. These claims intensified with the American Civil War and became a creed of American nationalists by the twentieth century. With the rise of the global dollar and dollar hegemony, America's foreign crusades became ever larger and more frequent."False Virtue: The Life and Death of 'American Exceptionalism'" by Thomas J. DiLorenzo: https://Mises.org/RR_159_ABe sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
The leviathan US state would not be possible without the Fed underwriting its growth. But the Fed is not all-powerful, nor can it continue to exist by only creating chaos.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The AI and robotics revolution continues. As entrepreneurs find new ways to use these things profitably, the overall wealth of nations increases.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Murray Rothbard asked this question and concluded that the current American regime, if the wisdom of Aquinas’ words is taken seriously, cannot wage a just war.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
David Gordon reviews Dan Moller's book Governing Least: A New England Libertarianism, in which the author examines the issue of a welfare state in a libertarian society.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Fed up with the state's surveillance regime? There are ways to use available technology to frustrate government efforts to spy on you.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Even something that seems as objective as software development falls under the Austrian view of subjective utility.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Oliver Anthony's popular song, "Rich Men North of Richmond," describes the parasitic world of the Beltway. One hopes people understand the damage the political classes have done.
Instead of the usual statist candidates, Argentine voters have to opportunity to elect a Rothbardian who is calling for radical free-market changes in the nation's economy.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Residential electricity sources are becoming yet another form of “virtue signaling.”Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
On this week's episode, Mark addresses how we the people can prevent the government and the Federal Reserve from grabbing more power and implementing their own preferred "solutions" to economic issues. This is the third round of monetary chaos the Fed has subjected us to in recent history—a history from which valuable lessons can be learned.Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues
Modern minds are so oriented toward state power that people often fail to understand there is a better way. Instead of “thinking outside the box,” we should think outside the state.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Leave it to government judges and politicians to turn constitutional protections of free speech into new ways to centralize and grow state power.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Joseph Solis-Mullen of the Libertarian Institute to discuss his new book, The Fake China Threat and Its Very Real Danger. Joseph debunks some of the most prominent myths about China, provides historical context for modern tensions, and outlines the real threats the "China myth" poses to Americans."So Much Hot Air: The (Fake) China Threat Strikes Again!" by Joseph Solis-Mullen: https://Mises.org/RR_158_A"Taking Notes out of Rothbard’s Taiwan Playbook" by Joseph Solis-Mullen: https://Mises.org/RR_158_BThe Fake China Threat and Its Very Real Danger by Joseph Solis-Mullen: https://libertarianinstitute.org/books/the-fake-china-threat-and-its-very-real-danger/Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
"Econ Bro" (who wishes to remain anonymous) is a Nigerian scholar who realized the limits of his conventional economics training and then discovered the work of Murray Rothbard and other Austrians. He now seeks to help his country and the world by spreading the truth.Econ Bro's Article on The State as a Rejection of God Part 1: https://Mises.org/HAP420aEcon Bro's Article on The State as a Rejection of God Part 2: https://Mises.org/HAP420b
President Biden claims that spending money to send weapons and ammunition around the world is good for the US economy.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Robert Murphy explains how traders make money in a world of uncertainty and diabolical risk.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Is a true populist US government on the horizon? Probably not.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Thanks to the exponential growth of government and regulation, the optimistic society of Back to the Future is fast becoming the dystopian world of Escape from New York or Death Wish.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Because Federal Reserve policies distort the economy and create perverse incentives, Disney also must deal with intellectual property issues. The combination of the two will ruin the Snow White story.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
While most economists admit that value is subjective, they still err by concentrating on scarcity and choice instead of purposeful action by individuals.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Most people will claim to be political and social “moderates” yet actually accept extreme socialist viewpoints.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
"Effective altruism" has become a buzzword with modern progressives who seek to combine state power and billionaire-funded nonprofits to redirect resources.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
David Gordon explains Murray Rothbard's famous assertion that laws against libel and slander should not be on the books.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Christianity Today magazine enthusiastically endorses government-enforced family leave, calling it “pro-family.” Government coercion, however, is still violence, not something to be championed.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Even when Congress tries to restrict government agencies from illegally gathering information on people, the agencies simply exploit legal loopholes or just break the law—without consequences.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
On this week's episode, Mark recaps Professor Guido Hülsmann's recent lecture on the cultural impact of the paper dollar. Hülsmann explains how an ever-inflationary monetary system and depreciating currency are leading to moral decay and divisiveness in America.Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssuesAdditional Resources"The Cultural Impact of the Dollar" by Guido Hülsmann: https://Mises.org/Minor_42A"Abundance, Generosity, and the State: An Inquiry into Economic Principles" by Guido Hülsmann: https://Mises.org/Minor_42B
The boom-and-bust cycles are not natural to a market economy, contra Keynes. Instead, government through monetary manipulation creates them—and then politicians blame markets themselves.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Popular economic thinking holds that consumer spending is the most important driver of the economy. Actually, demand can’t exist without something first being supplied.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Recently Yaron Brook and Bryan Caplan debated the merits of anarchism at the Soho Forum. Bob critiques Brook's opening statement.The Soho Forum Debate: https://Mises.org/HAP419aBob's Book on Market Anarchy, Chaos Theory: https://Mises.org/HAP419bRothbard's Book on Natural Rights and the State, For a New Liberty: https://Mises.org/HAP419cHans-Herman Hoppe's Book on Private Defense, The Private Production of Defense: https://Mises.org/HAP419dJoin us in Fort Myers on November 4 to cut through the campaign talking points and offer an uncompromising look at what is coming next. Use Code "FL2023" for $10 off admission: https://Mises.org/FL23Human Action Podcast listeners can get a free copy of Per Bylund's How to Think About the Economy: https://Mises.org/HAPodFree
It's about much more than just price inflation. Ryan and Jonathan Newman look at the many ways that America's central bank causes economic chaos while making us poorer and more unequal.Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
While Hillary Clinton’s call to have Trump supporters “deprogrammed” has been met with snickers, her attitude is in line with most of this country’s governing elites.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The US government doesn't just blow money in the US. Indeed, the reach of its wasteful spending spans the globe, and Congress seems incapable of stopping it.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Some small municipalities in Pennsylvania have disbanded their police departments, so others want to tax them for “depending” on state police. There is an even better course of action: allow private policing.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
American culture wars are not the product of religious fundamentalists or even activist groups. They exist because of state interference in the private lives of individuals.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
The affordability crisis is upon us. Housing, food, you name it, life is becoming expensive. The government blames business, but perhaps government officials should look in the mirror.
US government officials from President Biden to Secretary Yellen think the US can fund endless wars, but the American people are suffering in reality.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Recorded at the Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Auburn, Alabama, 12-14 October 2023.Sponsored by Scott and Cathy Ullery.Download the slides from this lecture at https://Mises.org/SS23_PPT_15
The indomitable Dr. Naomi Wolf discusses her exposé of the covid crime. Recorded at the Mises Institute's Supporters Summit in Auburn, Alabama, 12-14 October 2023. Includes an introduction by Sandra Klein. Sponsored by Gregory and Jane Gandee.
Recorded at the Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Auburn, Alabama, 12-14 October 2023. Sponsored by Wilfried and Barbara PuscherDownload the slides from this lecture at https://Mises.org/SS23_PPT_2
Recorded at the Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Auburn, Alabama, 12-14 October 2023. Sponsored by Mark Strategos.
Recorded at the Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Auburn, Alabama, 12-14 October 2023. Sponsored by Dan Johnson and Randee Laskewitz.
Recorded at the Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Auburn, Alabama, 12-14 October 2023. Sponsored by Thomas and Lisa Dierl.
Recorded at the Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Auburn, Alabama, 12-14 October 2023. Sponsored by Gregory and Jane Gandee.Download the slides from this lecture at https://Mises.org/SS23_PPT_6
Recorded at the Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Auburn, Alabama, 12-14 October 2023. Sponsored by Michael and Lisa Keller.Download the slides from this lecture at https://Mises.org/SS23_PPT_7
Recorded at the Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Auburn, Alabama, 12-14 October 2023. Sponsored by Bob Tancula.Includes awarding of the George F. Kother Free-Market Writing Award by Ben Koether.
Recorded at the Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Auburn, Alabama, 12-14 October 2023. Includes an introduction by Dr. Sandra Klein.Sponsored by William Haynes.
Recorded at the Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Auburn, Alabama, 12-14 October 2023.Download the slides from this lecture at https://Mises.org/SS23_PPT_10
Recorded at the Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Auburn, Alabama, 12-14 October 2023.
Recorded at the Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Auburn, Alabama, 12-14 October 2023.Download the slides from this lecture at https://Mises.org/SS23_PPT_12
Recorded at the Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Auburn, Alabama, 12-14 October 2023.Download the slides from this lecture at https://Mises.org/SS23_PPT_13
Recorded at the Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Auburn, Alabama, 12-14 October 2023.Sponsored by Brian and Shanna Tvenstrup.Download the slides from this lecture at https://Mises.org/SS23_PPT_14
Recorded at the Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Auburn, Alabama, 12-14 October 2023.Sponsored by Bob Tancula.
Recorded at the Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Auburn, Alabama, 12-14 October 2023.Sponsored by Paul Dietrich.Download the slides from this lecture at https://Mises.org/SS23_PPT_17
Recorded at the Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Auburn, Alabama, 12-14 October 2023.Sponsored by Jule and Lynne Herbert.
Recorded at the Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Auburn, Alabama, 14 October 2023. Includes an introduction by Dr. Sandra Klein and audience question and answer period.Sponsored by Gregory and Joy Morin.
Governments are fond of accusing private firms of “greed” when prices increase during periods of inflation. However, they fail to tell the public that government services also face price increases.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Rothbard warned against the assumption that because democracies are “better” than dictatorships, they are necessarily more peace loving.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Infamous hyperinflations like what hit Germany in 1923 did not begin as a flood. Instead, they started as smaller bouts of inflation initiated by governments that printed money to pay for deficit spending.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Forget Vegas sports betting for reckless speculation. When the Fed officials make projections, the markets assume they are accurate. However, as Jerome Powell himself admits, forecasts are speculative at best.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
While politicians like Bernie Sanders and AOC tout the Scandinavian welfare model for the USA, there are a few things to understand about these countries and the economies that support their welfare programs.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
On this week's episode, Mark takes a look back to where our dollar came from. Our nation started with silver as money: the Silver Dollar, and before that the Spanish Peso in colonial times. That type of large silver coin goes back to the early 1500s and the Early Modern Era when such coins expanded trade, improved the food supply, led to commercially produced clothing, and gradually changed housing from mud-and-grass construction to brick-and-lumber construction. Our modern paper dollar is worth less than 5% compared to silver.Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Bastiat reminded his readers that economic analysis involves not just what we see on the surface, but also the costs that are hidden from view.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Much of modern neoclassical economic theory depends upon assumptions that do not reflect real world conditions. Austrian economists, however, know that realistic assumptions matter.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Brian Albrecht joins Bob to discuss the work of this year's Nobel (Memorial) Prize Winner Claudia Goldin, with an emphasis on the male-female wage gap.Claudia Golden and Tyler Cowan Discuss The Gender Earnings Gap: https://Mises.org/HAP418aClaudia Golden's Paper on The Pill: https://Mises.org/HAP418bMore Content from Brian: https://Mises.org/HAP418c
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop look at the consequences of the Hamas-Israeli War may have on Americans. Looking at lessons from the War on Terror and other military conflicts, Ryan and Tho consider the economic costs, threats to personal liberty, and dangers of escalation that could lead to direct US involvement."Falling Military Recruitment Is Another Sign of Waning Faith in the Regime" by Ryan McMaken https://Mises.org/RR_156_A"The US Military Is Laying the Groundwork to Reinstitute the Draft" by Zachary Yost: https://Mises.org/RR_156_B"As the Pentagon Fails Another Audit, Congress Wants to Spend Even More on 'Defense'" by Ryan McMaken: https://Mises.org/RR_156_CBe sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard.New Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
From the various compromises pushed by "Beltway Libertarians" to the anti-free market rhetoric of conservative Sohrab Ahmari, government intervention has a lot of new friends. This will not end well.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
On yet another crusade, US authorities have sanctioned Chinese cotton imports. The sanctions won't change Chinese policies but they will create hardships for many.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Although there has been excitement and fanfare over the recent BRICS meetings and proclamations, it is doubtful that these economies’ performance can match their rhetoric.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Why do people become libertarians? What attracts them to Austrian economics?Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Hans Hoppe theorized that monarchs, as opposed to democratically-elected political authorities, would have lower time preferences and would be less likely to engage in reckless government spending. Unfortunately, at least one Medieval Danish king acted like a modern politician.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Keynesians claim that the source of economic growth is consumer spending. Austrians know that net savings are the key to a growing economy.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
Not satisfied with the futile and destructive wars it has fought in this century, leaders of the US Armed Forces now want reinstatement of the draft. Instead, perhaps our government should give peace a chance.Narrated by Millian Quinteros.
In the global Ponzi scheme, thin air and deceit substitute for sound money. As hedge-fund manager Mitch Feierstein wrote in Planet Ponzi, “You don’t solve a Ponzi scheme; you end it.”
Original Article: "The Coming Collapse of the Global Ponzi Scheme"
In a more reasonable world, people like Cheney, Rice, Bolton, et al., would all be forgotten, shamed, and disgraced for overseeing multiple disastrous wars abroad and the creation of a police state at home. Unfortunately, we don't live in a more reasonable world.
Original Article: "America Since 9/11: 22 Years of Lies and Despotism"
Being large doesn't make a country wealthy, nor does being small shrink a country's economy.
Original Article: "No, Small Countries Are Not at an Economic Disadvantage"
When Mises wrote that the fascists had "saved European civilization," he could have been describing Francisco Franco of Spain, who kept Spain from becoming a communist dictatorship.
Original Article: "What Mises Really Thought about Fascism"
Many people believe that the board game Monopoly, developed during the Great Depression, mimics a real-world capitalist economy. Monopoly is a game, not real life.
Original Article: "Is the Monopoly Board Game Like Real Markets?"
Can a government regulatory system be reformed? In a word, no. The free market is always the best regulator of quality and safety.
Original Article: "Regulation in the Free Market: It’s Not What Most People Believe"
Despite what many elites believe, AI can do many things, but it cannot successfully plan an economy. It lacks the intelligence of an entrepreneur.
Original Article: "AI Lacks the Entrepreneurial Intelligence to Plan an Economy"
While progressives blame climate change for the deadly Lahaina fire, government created the conditions for the blaze and then helped set it.
Original Article: "Thanks to Government, Maui's Lahaina Fire Became a Deadly Conflagration"
Contrary to the government's line that "inflation hurts everyone," inflation really is a wealth transfer from those without political power to the politically connected.
Original Article: "Inflation Is a Giant "Skim" on the American People"
In this week's episode, Mark looks at PPI—the Producer Price Index—which provides evidence of the costs for suppliers in various industries, macroeconomic instability, and the potential for economic recovery. Here, very low prices provide the potential for recovery; and rising prices can indicate both recovery in the economy, as well as inflationary pressures moving forward. The Covid Bubble and restrictions caused a 50% increase in producer prices, and since the peak in 2022, PPI has only corrected about 10%.
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
"Producer Price Index by Commodity: All Commodities" (PPIACO): Mises.org/Minor_PPI
As family life descends into crisis in the USA, many conservatives call for state intervention to "fix" things. It's state intervention that created the problems in the first place.
Original Article: "Family Flourishing and State Denigration"
Ryan McMaken joins Bob to discuss the surprisingly negative reaction (from a Reason writer and Tyler Cowen) to Oliver Anthony's hit song, "Rich Men North of Richmond." Ryan and Bob defend the lyrics, arguing that Anthony doesn't say anything objectionable from either a libertarian or economic perspective.
Listen to Oliver Anthony's "Rich Men North of Richmond": Mises.org/HAP412aChristian Britschgi's article in Reason on Oliver Anthony: Mises.org/HAP412bTyler Cowan's Bloomberg Editorial: Mises.org/HAP412cJoin us in Nashville on September 23rd for a no-holds-barred discussion against the regime. Use Code "HA23" for $45 off admission: Mises.org/Nashville23
If Staten Island is allowed to secede, our national technocrats fear that might open up countless similar demands for self-determination across the nation. For the elites, the current status quo works quite well and they want to keep it that way.
Original Article: "Let Staten Island Secede!"
Members of Congress claim to be "concerned" over the proposed merger between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour. They should be supporting it or, even better, backing off completely.
Original Article: "Golf Merger Is Opposed by Congress. This Is Misguided"
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop look at county and city-level secession movements and what it means for political self-determination. In a recent article, Ryan McMaken highlighted renewed calls for Staten Island to secede from New York City, but other recent examples include attempts by taxpayers in areas of Georgia and Alabama to break away from the control of mismanagement of local governments. Tho and Ryan look at the value these initiatives have, and the arguments used to try to stop them.
Recommended Reading"Let Staten Island Secede!" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_150_A
Download Anatomy of the State for free at Mises.org/Anatomy
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
New Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at Mises.org/RothMug
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We should not just be concerned about problems in the American banking system, but also about the proliferation of Eurodollars.
Original Article: "Eurodollars as a Fractional Reserve Market"
The possible bankruptcy of Thames Water Company in Great Britain brings to mind the heady days 40 years ago when Margaret Thatcher's government was privatizing state-owned enterprises, including TW. Not all privatization stories have happy endings.
Original Article: "Thatcher's New Style of Government"
The real effects of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima were hidden from Americans until the New Yorker published an exposé in 1946. Americans finally were confronted with the truth—even if they didn't want to believe it.
Original Article: "The Bombing of Hiroshima: The Crime and the Cover-Up"
Much of government-owned transportation destroys rather than adds to wealth. The lack of a sound system of economic calculation is to blame.
Original Article: "The Problem with Public Transit"
Many conservatives, in trying to steer the USA away from "wokeism," fail to understand that their “national greatness” schemes are just as harmful.
Original Article: ""National Greatness" Is Not the Appropriate Response to "Wokeism""
The rioting in France is not due to racism nor is it the logical end of immigration. Instead, it is rooted in France's minimum wage and other labor restrictions that lead to unemployment and resentment.
Original Article: "France's Unrest Has Deep Roots. Proposed Immigration Restrictions Will Make Things Worse"
While many economists claim that high overall debt levels can lead to economic recessions, irresponsible government spending and money expansion are the real culprits.
Original Article: "Easy Money Is a Much Bigger Economic Problem than Debt"
Modern American media has become so politicized that a once-venerable institution now cannot be trusted.
Original Article: "Politics Has Infected Everything in Our Society, Especially the Media"
The open protocols on the internet would seem to create chaos, but it turns out that they produce the opposite results, encouraging a digital spontaneous order.
Original Article: "Breaking Free: How Open Protocols Foster Entrepreneurship, Spontaneous Order, and Individual Sovereignty"
People migrate for many reasons, including moving to a better economy and escaping political persecution. But one thing is certain: people are going to vote with their feet.
Original Article: "Voting with Their Feet: The Lure of Migration"
In this episode, Mark examines Fed Chairman Jay Powell's recent confession that the Fed is "navigating by the stars on a cloudy night." This reveals the fundamental methodological weakness of the Fed's economic policy and mainstream economics in general ("data dependency"). In contrast, it also reveals the strengths of Austrian economics, economic theory, and the self regulation of the free market. Mark suggests that we all be prepared for big negative surprises in the economy and additional Federal Reserve and government power grabs.
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Recommended Reading "What the Central Bank Cartel has Planned for You" by Thorsten Polleit: Mises.org/Minor34A
"Transparency or Deception: What the Fed Was Saying in 2007" by Mark Thornton: Mises.org/Minor34B
While the government promotes CBDCs as tools for "inclusion," it is more likely that they will be another vehicle for federal intrusion.
Original Article: "CBDCs: The Ultimate Tool of Financial Intrusion"
Peter Lewin joins Bob to discuss his work with Nicolás Cachanosky on uniting Austrian capital theory with mainstream finance.
Peter's New Book on Capital and Finance: Mises.org/LewinBookJoin us in Nashville on September 23rd for a no-holds-barred discussion against the regime. Use Code "HA23" for $45 off admission: Mises.org/Nashville23
The covid restriction machinery is being ramped up in time for fall, despite the fact that covid poses little danger.
Original Article: "The Unwelcome Return of Covid Restrictions and Lockdowns"
Matthew Mohlman joins Good Money with Tho Bishop to discuss his work with Monument Ventures. Matthew and Tho discuss the need to build better alternatives to woke financial institutions, and the limit of political solutions to address the problem.
Join Bob Murphy, Patrick Newman, Jonathan Newman, and Murray Sabrin in November for a Mises Circle in Ft. Meyers, FL on The White House, the Fed, and the Economy. Use promo code Tampa23 for $10 off registration.
Matthew's Article on JPMorgan's Progressive, Anti-Faith Agenda: Mises.org/GM21aOn Politically-Motivated 'De-Banking': Mises.org/GM21bVivek Ramaswamy on ESG: Mises.org/GM21cMonument Ventures: Mises.org/GM21dGood Money listeners can order a special $5 book bundle that includes How To Think About the Economy and What Has Government Done to Our Money? with free shipping using promo code "GoodMoney" at Mises.org/Good
Receive a free subscription to The Austrian magazine at Mises.org/Magazine
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop talk about the Chinese economy. While some of the left see China as a model for governing, those on the right often assume their rise relative to the US is inevitable. Ryan and Tho look at the recent challenges to the Chinese economy.
Recommended Reading"The Chinese Economy: Market Socialism with Chinese Characteristics" by Antonio Graceffo: Mises.org/RR_149_A
"China Enters the Doom Loop" by Peter St. Onge: Mises.org/RR_149_B
Download Anatomy of the State for free at Mises.org/Anatomy
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
New Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at Mises.org/RothMug
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For the past fifty years, the US has not had a military draft. Unfortunately, the end of conscription did not mean US military interventions abroad ended.
Original Article: "How Conscription Ended Fifty Years Ago"
Economic calculation is not an either-or proposition. Even in so-called market economies like that of the USA, there is plenty of government intervention that distorts market processes.
Original Article: "Economic Calculation Is Nonbinary"
Ryan and Zachary rank the GOP candidates at the debate. They range from "least terrible" (Ramaswamy) to "utterly awful" (Haley and Pence).
Be sure to follow War, Economy, and State at Mises.org/WES.
The "2 percent" inflation target is purely arbitrary, and mainstream economists can't agree on the "right" level. It's all folly, and Austrian economics explains why.
Original Article: "What Is the Right Inflation Target for Central Banks?"
The DOJ claims that it has "protected" consumers by standing in the way of a partnership between JetBlue and American Airlines. The only thing the DOJ protected was higher-cost flying.
Original Article: "Flying into Foolishness: The DOJ "Saves" Consumers from Low-Cost Airlines"
Progressives have distinguished themselves in the past half century by being against progress. That trend is unlikely to change.
Original Article: "Real Progress versus the Progressives"
Too many economic commentators claim that monopolies are the cause of inflation. Austrian economic analysis shows that this is impossible.
Original Article: "Do Monopolies Cause Inflation?"
In a free society, political crimes like treason and "seditious libel" are few and far between. Under despotic regimes, on the other hand, political crimes multiply.
Original Article: "Why Governments Love Political "Crimes" Like Treason and Sedition"
In the Gulag, political prisoners were systematically terrorized by ordinary criminals with the encouragement of the authorities. It was hoped this would help the regime liquidate the state's ideological enemies.
Original Article: "How the Soviets Used Common Criminals to Destroy the Regime's Enemies"
Leonard Read's famous "I, Pencil" explained the workings of the market in terms of the creation of a simple pencil. However, we should not forget that the reviled fossil fuels are involved at every turn.
Original Article: "Not Even a Pencil Could Exist without Fossil Fuels"
Yellow Trucking Company has filed for bankruptcy and ceases to exist as a viable firm. Much of the blame is due to the Teamsters Union which has a long a violent history.
Original Article: "Yellow Trucking Goes Bankrupt, Thanks in Part to Onerous Labor Laws"
The seventy-fifth-anniversary celebration of the British National Health Service masked the real failures of this system, one that only can become worse over time.
Original Article: "The British NHS More Resembles a Statist Cult Than Advanced Healthcare"
In this episode, Mark explains why we need a Crash (or very Hard) Landing in the US economy and the world economy. Specifically, why is a crash landing better to resolve the malinvestments caused by the Fed? Why is a crash landing better in many ways for the productive class of workers and savers? And, how would a crash landing place much of the pain and the overall burden on the rich, politically-connected classes?
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Additional Resources "The Fed's Real Mandate": Mises.org/Minor33A
"Black Hole or Shock Absorber: How Does a Free-Market Economy Respond to Crises?": Mises.org/Minor33B
"The REAL Solution to the Coming Economic Crisis": Mises.org/Minor33C
"Eliminating Economic Crises": Mises.org/Minor33D
"Austerity: A Real Solution to Help Heal the US Economy": Mises.org/Minor33E
"US Labor Market: Help Wanted!": Mises.org/Minor33F
"After the Boom Must Come the Bust" (Radio Rothbard): Mises.org/Minor33G
"Here's What Mounting Corporate Layoffs Tell Us about the Economy" (Radio Rothbard): Mises.org/Minor33H
The Ukraine war brings death and destruction with no end in sight. Instead of encouraging more fighting, Western political leaders need to face reality and find a way to end this conflict.
Original Article: "The Killing and Destruction Must Stop: It Is Time to End the Ukraine War"
Peter St. Onge joins Bob to discuss his latest piece at Mises.org on "China's Doom Loop." They cover a wide range of topics, including the contrast in leadership between Xi Jinping and Deng Xiaoping, the dollar as global reserve currency, the Belt and Road Initiative, and Jim Rogers' prediction that the 21st century would belong to the Chinese empire.
Peter's Article on China: Mises.org/HAP410a
Join us in Nashville on September 23rd for a no-holds-barred discussion against the regime. Use Code "HA23" for $45 off admission: Mises.org/Nashville23
On this episode of Good Money with Tho Bishop, Connor O'Keeffe joins the show to talk about his recent work on the Mises Wire. Tho and Connor discuss the role government incompetency played in the horrific tragedy of the Maui wildfires, as well as the bankruptcy of one of America's largest trucking companies.
Join Bob Murphy, Patrick Newman, Jonathan Newman, and Murray Sabrin in November for a Mises Circle in Ft. Meyers, FL on The White House, the Fed, and the Economy. Use promo code Tampa23 for $10 off registration.
Connor's Article on the Maui Fires: Mises.org/GM20a Connor's Article on Trucking and Labor Laws: Mises.org/GM20b
Good Money listeners can order a special $5 book bundle that includes How To Think About the Economy and What Has Government Done to Our Money? with free shipping using promo code "GoodMoney" at Mises.org/Good
Receive a free subscription to The Austrian magazine at Mises.org/Magazine
The simplest action of economics—beneficially mutual voluntary exchange—is also its most profound. People serve each other while improving their own lot in life.
Original Article: "The Simplicity and Significance of Mutual Economic Exchange"
Ryan and Tho examine how the US regime is in the midst of its latest panic over public faith in the state's legitimacy. This is why we keep hearing about misinformation, insurrection and "threats to democracy."
Recommended Reading "'Antidemocratic' Just Means 'Something the Regime Doesn't Like.'" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_148_A
"Seditious Conspiracy Is Not a Real Crime" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_148_B
"The State Protects Itself While Crime against Ordinary People Surges" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_148_C
"Fewer than Half of Violent Crimes Are Solved in America" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_148_D
Download Anatomy of the State for free at Mises.org/Anatomy
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
New Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at Mises.org/RothMug
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Murray Rothbard wrote that egalitarianism was a war against nature. Statism has become a war against reality.
Original Article: "Statism and the Unmaking of Reality"
Recorded in Windham, New Hampshire, on August 20, 2023.
Special thanks to Joe and Tracy Matarese for making this event possible.
The activists went from "We want to be left alone to live our lives" to "we want to control your lives too." Now the movement has state power on its side and bullies all opponents.
Original Article: "2SLGBTQ+IA and the Law"
Recorded in Windham, New Hampshire, on August 20, 2023.
Special thanks to Joe and Tracy Matarese for making this event possible.
Recorded in Windham, New Hampshire, on August 20, 2023.
Special thanks to Joe and Tracy Matarese for making this event possible.
Recorded in Windham, New Hampshire, on August 20, 2023.
Special thanks to Joe and Tracy Matarese for making this event possible.
Some are claiming that AI can make socialism workable, but even AI cannot take the place of entrepreneurial economic calculation.
Original Article: "Socialism Cannot Work, Not Even in an AI-Driven Economy"
Federal prosecutors and other law enforcement agents are turning blockchain firms into government subsidiaries. The real goal is to criminalize what really are lawful, private exchanges.
Original Article: "The Government Wants to Turn Blockchain Firms into Servants of the State"
Mainstream economists are quick to claim that environmental problems are caused by "market failure" that can be "fixed" by government intervention. However, the intervention itself is the problem.
Original Article: "Why Government Pollution Control Fails"
The recent actions of the Federal Reserve are reminiscent of central bank activities in wartime.
Original Article: "Has World War III Already Begun?"
Following the collapse of the USSR, many socialists pinned their hopes upon the development of a "market socialism" that would be economically efficient and create equality. Marxist philosopher G.A. Cohen wisely dissented.
Original Article: "What Marxists Say about "Market Socialism""
Social democrats are so desperate to cast off limits on government that they'll embrace anything that justifies their ambitions. So they invent theories of money that are very, very wrong.
Original Article: "Progressives Have Corrupted Not Only Money, but Its History as Well"
Even under chattel slavery, inequality was still pervasive. Carpenters, sugar boilers, blacksmiths, cabinetmakers, and rum distillers constituted an elite core of slaves.
Original Article: "Even in Slave Economies, the Division of Labor Was Inescapable"
Speculators are reviled in the media and by politicians and academics. Yet the speculators are the ones taking risks to ensure the rest of us can have more economic certainty.
Original Article: "Hail the Speculators! They Take the Necessary Economic Risks in Our Economy"
Will we get a soft landing or a hard landing in the economy? Or, should we hope for a crash landing? Mark Thornton explains.
See also "Soft Landing? Not Likely" featuring Bob Murphy and Jonathan Newman on the Human Action Podcast: Mises.org/HAP407
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
In 1944, F.A. Hayek's best-selling book, The Road to Serfdom, warned the West that the "free" nations would lose their freedom as government expanded. He was right.
Original Article: "They Didn't Listen: The Reality of Hayek’s Bestseller"
On this episode of Good Money with Tho Bishop, Dr. Murray Sabrin joins the show. Dr. Sabrin shares his story of how he became an Austrian economist and discusses his analysis predicting a recession later in the year. Tho and Dr. Sabrin also talk about this week's anniversary of Nixon closing the gold window.
Join Dr. Sabrin in November for a Mises Circle in Ft. Meyers, FL on The White House, the Fed, and the Economy. Use promo code Tampa23 for $10 off registration.
Dr. Sabrin's Article on the Coming Recession: Mises.org/GM19a
Good Money listeners can order a special $5 book bundle that includes How To Think About the Economy and What Has Government Done to Our Money? with free shipping using promo code "GoodMoney" at Mises.org/Good
Receive a free subscription to The Austrian magazine at Mises.org/Magazine
Jonathan Newman joins Bob to discuss the argument being put forth by Alan Blinder, James Galbraith, and other progressive economists, who claim that the Federal Reserve's rate hikes couldn't possibly be responsible for the quelling of consumer price inflation.
Jonathan and Bob stress the important role of expectations as a "transmission mechanism" from Fed policy to impacts on prices.
Galbraith's Article on the Fed's 'Soft Landing': Mises.org/HAP409a The Paper on the Forward Guidance Paradox That Mentions Krugman: Mises.org/HAP409b
Join us in Nashville on September 23rd for a no-holds-barred discussion against the regime: Mises.org/Nashville23
Forcing the minimum wage above the real market wage causes more unemployment. Small businesses suffer from these mandates as do the least productive workers.
Original Article: "A Higher Minimum Wage Won't Improve Life in Pennsylvania"
Rothbard on the American Revolution: "There was no particular need for the formal trappings and permanent investing of a centralized government, even for victory in war."
Original Article: "The American Revolutionaries Didn't Need a Central Government. Neither Do We."
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Mises Summer Fellow Manuel Garcia Gojon to discuss the recent strong performance by Argentinian libertarian presidential candidate Javier Milei. The three discuss the economic conditions of Argentina fueling the self-proclaimed anarcho-capitalist's political rise, what separates him from other populist figures, and some of his proposed policies - such as abolishing the country's central bank.
Recommended Reading "Will Argentina's Next President Be a Rothbardian?" by Manuel García Gojon: Mises.org/RR_147_A
"An Anarchist’s Pragmatic Plan of Government for Argentina" by Manuel García Gojon: Mises.org/RR_147_B
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
New Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at Mises.org/RothMug
PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
While FedNow seems benign, there is the larger problem of the entire banking system itself being built on a foundation of sand. FedNow can only make that problem worse.
Original Article: "FedNow Isn't a CBDC, but It Is Dangerous"
Banker and financial expert Caitlin Long believes that fractional reserve banking is closer than ever to collapse, and she has a 100 percent reserve banking solution in progress.
Original Article: "Can Fractional Reserve Banking Survive the Twenty-First Century?"
The East German secret police, the Stasi, developed the art of mass surveillance using pre-digital methods. Modern tech now makes the job a lot easier.
Original Article: "How East Germany's Stasi Perfected Mass Surveillance"
The Trump administration doled out $700 million in CARES “loans” to trucking firm Yellow. Now Yellow has gone bankrupt, and the taxpayers may foot the bill.
Original Article: "The Taxpayers Bailed Out Yellow Trucking. It Went Bankrupt Anyway."
While Americans believe the First Amendment protects their speech, the US government and mainstream media have joined together to suppress speech that does not coincide with government policies.
Original Article: "Censorship through the Centuries: Free Speech Suppression by the Government and the Mainstream Media"
By corrupting the meaning of inflation, mainstream economists have given a false picture of what happens when monetary authorities expand the money supply. Mises and Rothbard understood.
Original Article: "Taking Back the Meaning of "Inflation""
The Christian nationalist state is one in which civil rulers—for a time—regard the Church as a convenient ally. Once this comes to an end, however, the "Christian" state transforms into a state hostile to those it was once designed to protect.
Original Article: "The Dead End of Catholic Nationalism"
The fall of the Pac-12 is an unfortunate end to a proud collegiate institution. But its death isn’t the fault of uncurable greed but of the conference’s own inability to be competitive in the game.
Original Article: ""Greed" Didn't Kill the Pac-12. Entrepreneurial Failure Did"
The usual answer is that secondhand smoke is bad. But if value is subjective, perhaps secondhand smoke also can be seen as a public good.
Original Article: "Is Secondhand Smoke Bad, or Is It a Public Good? It’s Complicated"
In contrast to the imaginary way that mainstream economists present value, Austrian economists properly use ordinal rankings to determine value.
Original Article: "How People Determine the Value of a Good"
Professor Quinn Slobodian believes that free markets must lead to tyrannical worker exploitation, and socialism is the only solution. In truth, market competition is the answer.
Original Article: "Cracked-Up Slobodian"
Ryan McMaken joins Bob to discuss the recent US Women's World Cup elimination, and to dispel the myth that markets are discriminatory. After defending Megan Rapinoe's failed penalty kick, they dismantle her outspoken views on "equal pay" in sports, and examine the left's claim that law is required to fix prejudice in the labor market.
Join us in Nashville on September 23rd for a no-holds-barred discussion against the regime: Mises.org/Nashville23
In order for nations to have capital development and market-based economies, they must have a cultural framework that accepts these developments. Too many nations do not, and they languish in poverty as a result.
Original Article: "Cultural Change Is Necessary for Capital Development"
When it comes to the debt ceiling, political parties are irrelevant, and the recent debt ceiling drama, was little more than a sham.
Original Article: "The Debt Ceiling Debate Was Pure Theater"
The Biden Administration is attempting to do a victory lap for "Bidenomics", but the public isn't buying it. On this episode of Good Money, Dr. Jonathan Newman joins the show to talk about his doubts of a "soft landing" for the economy, and the lies being told to sell Central Bank Digital Currencies.
Jonathan Newman's article on CBDCs: Mises.org/GM18a Jonathan Newman's article on "Soft Landing" headlines from 2007: Mises.org/GM18b
Good Money listeners can order a special $5 book bundle that includes How To Think About the Economy and What Has Government Done to Our Money? with free shipping using promo code "GoodMoney" at Mises.org/Good
Receive a free subscription to The Austrian magazine at Mises.org/Magazine
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Econ Bro, the founder of Nigerian Liberty, which offers seminars in Austrian economics in Nigeria. The three discuss the inflation crisis in Nigeria, the cultural consequences of rising prices in the country, and the costs of the state capture of its petrol industry.
To learn more about Nigerian Liberty, visit NigerianLiberty.com.
View Econ Bro's Substack at econbro.substack.com.
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
New Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at Mises.org/RothMug
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President Biden announced recently to much fanfare that his administration will transform the US economy through central planning. This does not end well.
Original Article: "Bidenomics Is Yet Another Version of Failed Industrial Policy"
Pennsylvania legislators don't claim to be putting people out of work or killing job opportunities. They claim they just want workers to earn more pay.
Original Article: "Pennsylvania Legislators Want Higher Unemployment, Government Dependency, and Crime"
Socialists and communists claim to support the rights of "indigenous" peoples. However, that support rings hollow given how the USSR abused the native peoples of Siberia, all while American socialists and communists uncritically supported the Soviet Union.
Original Article: "The Soviet Abuse of Indigenous Peoples"
The use of interstate compacts by US states shows that the states don't need the federal government to dictate or manage interstate relations.
Original Article: "States Can Curb Federal Power through "Soft Secession""
Recorded at the 2003 Supporters Summit: Prosperty, War, and Depression. Ralph Raico discusses how from Jefferson to Madison, and on to Bastiat, Molinari, and Spencer, the "classical" liberals routinely denounced war as the enemy of freedom, prudence, and natural rights. Instead, militarism and imperialism have long been the domain of the enemies of private property and other apologists for the state.
(32:19)
Some residents of St. Louis, fed up with the nonprotection from the city's police, have hired private security to deal with the problem. The egalitarian Left, of course, doesn't like that.
Original Article: "Egalitarianism as a Revolt against Safety"
Government statistics on inflation in the food sector have failed to account for skimpflation and shrinkflation.
Original Article: "Shrinkflation and Skimpflation Are Eating Our Lunch"
Trump is essentially being prosecuted for questioning the outcome of an election, and federal paranoia about protecting its own aura of legitimacy is entering a new highly aggressive phase.
Original Article: "The United States vs. Donald J. Trump"
David Gordon take a critical look at Markus Gabriel's Moral Progress in Dark Times, and although he finds parts that are disturbing, he also discovers important areas of agreement.
Original Article: "Outside the Universe?"
President Biden makes the false claim that wind- and solar-generated electricity are cheaper than power generated from coal and oil.
Original Article: "Wind and Solar Are NOT Cheaper than Coal and Oil"
According to progressive elites, it is terrorism if consumers boycott businesses because of their leftist policies.
Original Article: "Is Boycotting Target a Legitimate Protest or an Act of Terrorism?"
In this week's episode, Mark reviews what people have said about Fitch's downgrade of US government debt. Mark sees it as a good thing, but not good enough. The "minor issue" in the latest debt ceiling agreement is ignored by the mainstream media: politicians suspended the debt ceiling into 2025, rather than raising it to some arbitrary, higher figure.
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Adults tell young people to follow their dreams, but one cannot follow one's vision without realizing what it takes to get there.
Original Article: "Want to Follow Your Dreams? The First Step Involves Hard Work"
As Fed staffers no longer predict an impending recession, economists on social media are all assuring themselves that Americans are in store for a "soft landing." Mises Fellow Jonathan Newman joins Bob to explain why the data still support the case for recession and point out the eerie similarity to the calm before the storm in 2008.
Robert Lucas' Nobel Prize Winning Lecture: Mises.org/HAP407a Bob's Eerie Article from 2007 on the Recession: Mises.org/HAP407b 'Bernanke Was Wrong' Compilation: Mises.org/HAP407c 'Peter Schiff Was Right' Compilation: Mises.org/HAP407d
Join us in Nashville on September 23rd for a no-holds-barred discussion against the regime: Mises.org/Nashville23
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop look at the latest indictment of Donald Trump. While many are exhausted with the theater of modern politics, DC's escalating attacks reveal the state's true anatomy. Any challenge to the state's legitimacy — like questioning an election — must be crushed.
Recommended Reading "The United States vs. Donald J. Trump" by Tho Bishop: Mises.org/RR_145_A
"If Congress Were Genuinely Interested in Democracy, They Would Welcome an Election Commission" by Tho Bishop: Mises.org/RR_145_B
"Trump's Potential Legacy: 50 Million+ Enemies of the State" by Tho Bishop: Mises.org/RR_145_C
"America's Elites—Not Trump—Are Responsible for Undermining American Democracy" by Tho Bishop: Mises.org/RR_145_D
Download Anatomy of the State for free at Mises.org/Anatomy
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
New Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at Mises.org/RothMug
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The political passion for "social justice" is creating a larger free-rider problem and a problem of injustice.
Original Article: "Social Justice and the Free-Rider Problem"
On this episode of Good Money, Tho is joined by Tate Fegley of Montreat College. Dr. Fegley talks about his lectures from Mises University on policing, AI, and the deep state, and the important topic of economic calculation that connects the three. In the final segment, Tho looks at the economics of college football in the aftermath of FSU's threat of secession from their conference.
Good Money listeners can order a special $5 book bundle that includes How To Think About the Economy and What Has Government Done to Our Money? with free shipping using promo code "GoodMoney" at Mises.org/Good
Receive a free subscription to The Austrian magazine at Mises.org/Magazine
To seriously threaten the regime, one must attack it at its roots. This would require rejecting the modern civil rights legal regime, something modern Buckleyite conservatives and James Lindsay-style liberals are not interested in, and unites paleoconservatives and paleolibertarians.
Original Article: "Paleoconservatives Need Better Critics"
Like many colonial ventures, Belgium's involvement in the Congo had some successes—and many failures.
Original Article: "Belgian Colonialism of the Congo: Facts and Fiction"
Michael and guest co-host Ben Ahdoot talk with Ron Unz about RFK, Jr., Ron's American Prava series, the Unz Review, the Great Reset, censorship, the origins of SARS-CoV-2, and more.
In this new age of decentralized and democratized content creation, union members' demands may simply be based on wishful thinking for a bygone era.
Original Article: "Striking Hollywood Actors and Writers Might Have to Get Used to Stagnant Wages"
Although they professed to support "states' rights," many proslavery activists wanted a stronger federal government that could force slavery on the western territories and deny local sovereignty to territorial residents.
Original Article: "When Slave Owners Chose Federal Power over Local Sovereignty"
Ryan and Tho take a close look at Rothbard's timeless takedown of state violence, 'The Anatomy of the State' in this special live edition of Radio Rothbard, recorded at Mises University 2023.
New Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at Mises.org/RothMug
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In this week's episode, Mark discusses the record levels of credit card debt and how it is a major contributing factor to economic pain from the Fed's impact of causing higher prices for consumer goods. This is expected to intensify when the recession officially hits.
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Featuring Per Bylund, Lucas Engelhardt, Karl-Friedrich Israel, Tate Fegley, Shawn Ritenour, and Timothy Terrell.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 28, 2023.
Featuring Mark Thornton, David Gordon, Jeffrey Herbener, Peter Klein, Sandy Klein, Jonathan Newman, and Joseph Salerno.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 28, 2023.
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_38.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 28 July 2023.
David Brady Jr. discusses his recent article at Mises.org, in which he argues that the newly launched "FedNOW" system isn't a CBDC. Even so, there are dangers from FedNOW, such as exacerbating bank runs. David also explains the new Mises Apprenticeship program, of which he is a member.
David's Article on Mises.org: Mises.org/HAP406a George Selgin Cato Article on FedNow: Mises.org/HAP406b
Join us in Nashville on September 23rd for a no-holds-barred discussion against the regime: Mises.org/Nashville23
Some principles for understanding environmental issues. Can government steer energy use decisions to improve outcomes?
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_37.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 28 July 2023.
Inequality is a good thing in the free market. Economic equality is a disastrous government policy that leads to economic ruin for all—including the poor and workers.
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_36.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 28 July 2023.
Experienced entrepreneurs are Austrians.
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_35.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 28 July 2023.
Ineffective teaching, the enrollment cliff, stifled academic discourse, and government driving up tuition.
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_34.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 28 July 2023.
Modern socialism is based upon state interference in normal human relationships, economic and otherwise. It is as disastrous as the older state-planning model.
Original Article: "Modern Socialism Is Forced Socialization"
Dr. Terrell discusses the impacts of price controls, occupational licensure, the FDA, and more.
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_32.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 27, 2023.
Bureaucrats operate with de facto electoral unaccountability.
Download lecture slides at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_31.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 27 July 2023.
Game theory done the wrong way eliminates individual choice.
Download lecture slides at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_30.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 27 July 2023.
“Our civilization is inseparably linked with our methods of economic calculation. It would perish if we were to abandon this most precious intellectual tool of acting.”
Download lecture slides at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_28.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 27 July 2023.
Some problems with inflation measures, inequality and social mobility, and further implications.
Download lecture slides at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_27.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 27 July 2023.
Public health during the pandemic was anti-science and anti-health.
Download lecture slides at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_26.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 27 July 2023.
More than two thousand years ago, the ancient Chinese Tao presented ideas that are reflected in F.A. Hayek's concept of spontaneous order.
Original Article: "The Tao and the Synergy of the Spontaneous Order"
Download lecture slides at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_24.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 26 July 2023.
Few people understand how destructive regulations are.
Download lecture slides at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_23.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 26 July 2023.
Moving policing outside of the realm of economic calculation contributes to many of the problems we see.
Download lecture slides at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_22.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 26 July 2023.
Free trade allows for maximizing the total number of mutually beneficial exchangers and promotes economic progress.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 26 July 2023.
Michael talks with Gad Saad about evolutionary psychology and the market, the mind parasites, and his new book.
The differences between the Austrian school and the mainstream begin at the most fundamental level: method (logic vs. empiricism) and the goal of economic science (understanding vs. prediction).
Download lecture slides at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_19.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 26 July 2023.
In the Progressive Era (1897 to 1929) the American Medical Association made an effort to restrict the supply of doctors.
Download lecture slides at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_18.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 26 July 2023.
At a time when ethnic politics were tearing Europe apart, Ludwig von Mises believed that such ethnic devotion did more harm than good.
Original Article: "Mises and Nationalism"
Karl-Friedrich Israel discusses modern econometrics, utility and welfare economics, and econometrics as a set of descriptive tools.
Download lecture slides at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_17.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 25 July 2023.
There is no clear basis in economics, ethics, efficiency, or fairness for Minimum Wage Laws. The minimum wage works the way it was intended one hundred years ago.
Download lecture slides at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_16.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 25 July 2023.
Government attempts to limit “monopoly power” cannot improve well-being.
Download lecture slides at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_15.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 25 July 2023.
What is a business cycle?
Download lectures slides at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_14.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 25 July 2023.
Capital is the starting point of economic calculation.
Download lecture slides at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_13.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 25 July 2023.
In 1920, Ludwig von Mises destroyed the intellectual foundations of the case for socialist central planning.
Download lecture slides at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_12.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 25 July 2023.
Time is an irreversible flux. Each moment has a unique place in the sequence of moments of time with respect to action.
Download lecture slides at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_11.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 25 July 2023.
Postwar Germany was occupied, in ruins, with an economy in chaos. Germans were reduced to using cigarettes supplied by American GIs as money.
Original Article: "To Smoke or Not to Smoke: The Cigarette Economy in Postwar Germany, 1945–48"
Entrepreneurship is a general feature of the market economy.
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU22_PPT_09.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 24 July 2023.
"We would not expect money to be paper, national, or under the control of any entity."
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU22_PPT_07.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 24 July 2023.
Loan banking versus deposit banking, how deposit banking affects the money supply, how free banking limits credit expansion, the money multiplier process, and more.
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_08.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 24 July 2023.
"The free market and the division of labor does not promote hyper-atomized individuals. It creates social harmony and community."
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_06.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 24 July 2023.
Praxeology is the method of economics.
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_05.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 24 July 2023.
This concept of economic calculation is really the foundation of all economic theory, and price theory is the cornerstone of economic calculation.
Download lectures slides at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_04.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 24 July 2022.
Menger discovered much more than the principle of marginal utility—he created an entire system of economics based on subjective value and individual choice.
Download lecture slides at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_03.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 24 July 2022.
Includes an introduction by Joe Salerno. Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 23 July 2023.
This week Mark invites you to explore the Minor Issues archives. We have produced about a half a year's worth of short audio commentaries about the economy, and we are grateful to our listeners for their feedback. Topics range from the price of toilet paper to macro-business cycle topics, but our specialty is highlighting issues that the mainstream media ignores or misrepresents as insignificant. Thank you for listening.
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
George Gammon, host of the popular Rebel Capitalist show, warns that the Fed won't have to force the public to adopt a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Instead, the public might clamor for it, being promised safe, high-interest checking accounts at the Fed, just like Jamie Dimon.
The Rebel Capitalist show: Mises.org/HAP405a
Join us in Nashville on September 23rd for a no-holds-barred discussion against the regime: Mises.org/Nashville23
Ryan McMaken and Zachary Yost look at the many factors behind Ukraine's failure to defeat Russia or move closer to NATO membership. Ukraine is sadly caught between a cynical NATO and a Russia that is in it for the long haul.
Be sure to follow War, Economy, and State at Mises.org/WES.
Mark Thornton joins Ryan and Tho on Radio Rothbard to take a closer look at the state of the US dollar and how price inflation and economic crises are likely to play out in the months and years ahead.
New Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at Mises.org/RothMug
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Rational choice theory claims that people in the political realm act in their own self-interest. However, in today's political climate, many people act against their own interests to avoid being attacked by others.
Original Article: "Why Do We Act against Our Self-Interest?"
Whether political elites promote outright socialism or interventionism, thanks to the reality of economic calculation, they are advocating a failed economy.
Original Article: "Why Mises’s Theory of Economic Calculation Still Is Relevant Today"
Michael talks with Tom Woods about RFK, Jr., whether the elites are evil or just incompetent, and the secret of Tom's success.
The Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) is the latest "weapon" in the government's so-called arsenal to keep the banking system afloat. But the system needs much more than just "liquidity." It needs sound money and sound banking practices.
Original Article: "The Backstops for Banks Are Full of Holes"
The fiat US dollar, while still the world's "reserve" currency, is being imperiled by reckless actions by monetary authorities. Other countries are taking notice—and action.
Original Article: "How US States Could Pave the Way for Currency Competition"
Recorded by the Mises Institute in the mid-1980s, The Mises Report provided radio commentary from leading non-interventionists, economists, and political scientists. In this program, we present another part of "Ten Great Economic Myths". This material was prepared by Murray N. Rothbard.
The public memory is short. We forget that, from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the mid-18th century until the beginning of World War II, prices generally went down, year after year. That's because continually increasing productivity and output of goods generated by free markets caused prices to fall. There was no depression, however, because costs fell along with selling prices. Usually, wage rates remained constant while the cost of living fell, so that "real" wages, or everyone's standard of living, rose steadily.
Virtually the only time when prices rose over those two centuries were periods of war (War of 1812, Civil War, World War I), when the warring governments inflated the money supply so heavily to pay for the war as to more than offset continuing gains in productivity.
We can see how free market capitalism, unburdened by governmental or central bank inflation, works if we look at what has happened in the last few years to the prices of computers. A computer used to have to be enormous, costing millions of dollars. Now, in a remarkable surge of productivity brought about by the microchip revolution, computers are falling in price even as I write. Computer firms are successful despite the falling prices because their costs have been falling, and productivity rising. In fact, these falling costs and prices have enabled them to tap a mass market characteristic of the dynamic growth of free market capitalism. "Deflation" has brought no disaster to this industry.
The same is true of other high-growth industries, such as electronic calculators, plastics, TV sets, and VCRs. Deflation, far from bringing catastrophe, is the hallmark of sound and dynamic economic growth.
For more episodes, visit Mises.org/MisesReport
In this episode, Mark looks at the "minor issue" of the value of the dollar. While everything in the economy seems great—including stock markets, price inflation, unemployment, and consumer confidence—the value of the dollar index has fallen 12% during the rebound in stocks since last October.
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Robbie "The Fire" Bernstein is a co-host with Dave Smith of the popular podcast Part of the Problem, as well as his own podcast Run Your Mouth. He joins Bob to walk through the shocking and hilarious moves by Biden officials to downplay recent allegations of corruption.
Find More from Robbie Including His Tour Dates: Mises.org/HAP404a $5.1M Payment to Biden Businesses: Mises.org/HAP404b Biden Attorneys on The Hunter WhatAspp Message: Mises.org/HAP404c
Join us in Nashville on September 23rd for a no-holds-barred discussion against the regime: Mises.org/Nashville23
Do we have a right to sunlight? How do we assert those rights? Murray Rothbard provides some answers.
Original Article: "How Should We Regulate the Sun (Since Our Government Regulates Nearly Everything Else)?"
On this episode of Good Money with Tho Bishop, Dr. Jonathan Newman joins to look at recent headlines on inflation. Tho and Jonathan discuss the larger costs of Fed policy on the real economy and how official government measures can be gamed with techniques such as "shrinkflation."
Good Money listeners can order a special $5 book bundle that includes How To Think About the Economy and What Has Government Done to Our Money? with free shipping using promo code "GoodMoney" at Mises.org/Good
Receive a free subscription to The Austrian magazine at Mises.org/Magazine
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Tho Bishop is joined by Mises Research Fellow Connor Mortell to talk about Connor's research project on energy policy. Tho and Connor push back against common narratives—even some promoted by libertarians—of fossil fuels and green energy and the necessity of keeping a human focus on energy policy.
The Radio Rothbard mug is available in the Mises Store. Get yours at Mises.org/RothMug: PROMO CODE RothPod for 20% off
Recommended Resources "How Should We Regulate the Sun (Since Our Government Regulates Nearly Everything Else)?" by Connor Mortell: Mises.org/RR_142_A
"Fossil Fuels Enable Us to Better Fight Fires and Other Environmental Disasters" by Connor Mortell: Mises.org/RR_142_B
"Fossil Future with Alex Epstein" (Human Action Podcast): Mises.org/RR_142_C
Fueling a Freer Future (Mises Institute Primer Series): Mises.org/RR_142_D
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Michael and Walter Block discuss the Ukrainian conflict, reparations, immigration, and the Israel-Palestine conflict.
How can a bank “create money out of thin air”? We must enter the magical kingdom of “fractional-reserve banking,” where deposits are turned into loans, loans are turned into money, and so on, to find out.
Original Article: "Banks Create Money out of Thin Air. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?"
With each iteration of the banking crisis, the Federal Reserve System and federal regulators gain in power and authority. Maybe the banking crisis isn’t an accident.
Original Article: "Is the Banking Crisis Being Orchestrated?"
Patrick Deneen writes that the nonaggression principle promotes a liberalism that is harmful to society, as evidenced by John Stuart Mill's idea of the tyranny of public opinion.
Original Article: "Misreading Mill"
It's fitting that the G7 recently met in Hiroshima because the policies they are following are blowing up the world economy.
Original Article: "The G7 in Hiroshima: The Latest Attempt to Impose a Unipolar World"
Argentina is one of the world's poster children for hyperinflation. Unfortunately, monetary reforms aren't working because the authorities are not serious about having a sound currency.
Original Article: "The Argentinian Zombie Currency"
Recorded by the Mises Institute in the mid-1980s, The Mises Report provided radio commentary from leading non-interventionists, economists, and political scientists. In this program, we present another part of "Ten Great Economic Myths". This material was prepared by Murray N. Rothbard.
Every time someone calls for the government to abandon its inflationary policies, Establishment economists and politicians warn that the result can only be severe unemployment. We are trapped, therefore, into playing off inflation against high unemployment, and become persuaded that we must therefore accept some of both.
This doctrine is the fallback position for Keynesians. Originally, the Keynesians promised us that by manipulating and fine-tuning deficits and government spending, they could and would bring us permanent prosperity and full employment without inflation. Then, when inflation became chronic and ever-greater, they changed their tune to warn of the alleged tradeoff, so as to weaken any possible pressure upon the government to stop its inflationary creation of new money.
The tradeoff doctrine is based on the alleged "Phillips curve," a curve invented many years ago by the British economist A. W. Phillips. Phillips correlated wage rate increases with unemployment, and claimed that the two move inversely: the higher the increases in wage rates, the lower the unemployment. On its face, this is a peculiar doctrine, since it flies in the face of logical, commonsense theory. Theory tells us that the higher the wage rates, the greater the unemployment, and vice versa. If everyone went to their employer tomorrow and insisted on double or triple the wage rate, many of us would be promptly out of a job. Yet this bizarre finding was accepted as gospel by the Keynesian economic establishment.
By now, it should be clear that this statistical finding violates the facts as well as logical theory. For during the 1950s, inflation was only about one to two percent per year, and unemployment hovered around three or four percent, whereas nowadays unemployment ranges between eight and 11 percent, and inflation between five and 13 percent. In the last two or three decades, in short, both inflation and unemployment have increased sharply and severely. If anything, we have had a reverse Phillips curve. There has been anything but an inflation-unemployment tradeoff.
But ideologues seldom give way to the facts, even as they continually claim to "test" their theories by facts. To save the concept, they have simply concluded that the Phillips curve still remains as an inflation-unemployment tradeoff, except that the curve has unaccountably "shifted" to a new set of alleged tradeoffs. On this sort of mind-set, of course, no one could ever refute any theory.
In fact, inflation now, even if it reduces unemployment in the short-run by inducing prices to spurt ahead of wage rates (thereby reducing real wage rates), will only create more unemployment in the long run. Eventually, wage rates catch up with inflation, and inflation brings recession and unemployment inevitably in its wake. After more than two decades of inflation, we are all now living in that "long run."
For more episodes, visit Mises.org/MisesReport
The problem here not that the central bank is "setting" the "wrong" interest rate. The problem is the Fed has long been relentlessly forcing down interest rates to satisfy various politically determined "needs."
Original Article: "Wall Street to the Fed: Inflation Is Over. Give Us More Easy Money!"
Rent control is all the rage with progressives, with several states and localities trying to impose it. However, when people have their property effectively—and legally—stolen, there are long-term consequences.
Original Article: "Call Rent Control What It Really Is: Theft"
After 1820, growing numbers of propertyless squatters were voters, and this was an opportunity for politicians to offer cheap land in exchange for loyalty to the Democratic Party.
Original Article: "How "Squatter Democracy" Created America's First Welfare Program"
Bob walks through a recent interview of MMT champion Warren Mosler, in which he claims that Fed rate hikes lead to larger government interest expenses and hence support economic growth and inflation. Bob presents both theoretical and empirical evidence against Mosler's claims.
Bob's Debate with Warren Mosler: Mises.org/HAP403a Bob's Review of Stephanie Kelton: Mises.org/HAP403b Bob's EconLib Article on Austerity: Mises.org/HAP403c Technical Article on Why the Treasury Can't Overdraft: Mises.org/HAP403d
Join us in Nashville on September 23rd for a no-holds-barred discussion against the regime: Mises.org/Nashville23
The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation supposedly protects people from government data abuse. In reality, it empowers governments.
Original Article: "The GDPR Paradox: Empowering Government in the Name of Data Protection"
Socialists like Bernie Sanders and the editors of Jacobin have decried the possible US government debt default. Marx and Lenin would have vociferously disagreed.
Original Article: "Current Socialists Should Support Government Default: Their Forebears Certainly Did"
On this episode of Good Money with Tho Bishop, Ryan McMaken joins the show to talk about America's debt crisis. Tho and Ryan discuss both the damage done to the economy by runaway government spending, as well as how Federal Reserve policy has incentivized consumption and punished savings, which has resulted in record-high credit card debt.
Good Money listeners can order a special $5 book bundle that includes How To Think About the Economy and What Has Government Done to Our Money? with free shipping using promo code "GoodMoney" at Mises.org/Good
Receive a free subscription to The Austrian magazine at Mises.org/Magazine
Ryan, Tho, and Kerry Baldwin take a look at why some politicians say they're "nationalists." Is nationalism a good thing or is it just another way to justify more government meddling in our lives?
New Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at Mises.org/RothMug
PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
South Africa is suffering from rolling blackouts and other power outages. These could be avoided if the government would permit competition in electricity markets.
Original Article: "Licensing Laws Deepen South Africa's Electricity Crisis"
In today's progressive climate, sexual assault charges are easy to make and hard to refute, even when they are demonstrably false.
Original Article: "Demonizing Men with False Data on Sexual Abuse"
Some conservatives are upset because the new best-selling beer is owned by the same company that owns the beleaguered Bud Lite. Actually, they should have no problem with that.
Original Article: "Do Boycotts Really Work? Another Look at the Bud Light Situation"
While the faux debt ceiling drama rages in Washington, DC, governments worldwide are defaulting on their debt via inflation.
Original Article: "Default by Inflation Is the Real Drama in the Global Debt Market"
Recorded by the Mises Institute in the mid-1980s, The Mises Report provided radio commentary from leading non-interventionists, economists, and political scientists. In this program, we present another part of "Ten Great Economic Myths". This material was prepared by Murray N. Rothbard.
The problem of forecasting interest rates illustrates the pitfalls of forecasting in general. People are contrary cusses whose behavior, thank goodness, cannot be forecast precisely in advance. Their values, ideas, expectations, and knowledge change all the time, and change in an unpredictable manner. What economist, for example, could have forecast (or did forecast) the Cabbage Patch Kid craze of the Christmas season of 1983? Every economic quantity, every price, purchase, or income figure is the embodiment of thousands, even millions, of unpredictable choices by individuals.
Many studies, formal and informal, have been made of the record of forecasting by economists, and it has been consistently abysmal. Forecasters often complain that they can do well enough as long as current trends continue; what they have difficulty in doing is catching changes in trend. But of course there is no trick in extrapolating current trends into the near future. You don't need sophisticated computer models for that; you can do it better and far more cheaply by using a ruler. The real trick is precisely to forecast when and how trends will change, and forecasters have been notoriously bad at that. No economist forecast the depth of the 1981–82 depression, and none predicted the strength of the 1983 boom.
The next time you are swayed by the jargon or seeming expertise of the economic forecaster, ask yourself this question: If he can really predict the future so well, why is he wasting his time putting out newsletters or doing consulting when he himself could be making trillions of dollars in the stock and commodity markets?
For more episodes, visit Mises.org/MisesReport
In this week's episode, Mark looks back at the history of the Inverted Yield Curve. While many observers have now dismissed the significance of the yield curve inversion in 2022—and no recession, yet—Mark shows that the history of the IYC may back a completely opposite interpretation.
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
The Mises Institute's Executive Editor Ryan McMaken joins Bob to discuss his latest article, in which Ryan spells out the state of the M2 money supply and possible implications for consumer prices and an impending recession.
Ryan's Mises.org article on M2: Mises.org/HAP402a Ryan's QJAE article on the inverted yield curve: Mises.org/HAP402b
The latest round of wildfires in Canada has brought out the usual statist demands that we ban fossil fuels, but in the real world fossil fuels protect people from climate-related disasters.
Original Article: "Fossil Fuels Enable Us to Better Fight Fires and Other Environmental Disasters"
The State of California, unable to unionize fast food workers, now is trying to create workers councils that will set labor policies for fast food restaurants.
This will not end well.Original Article: "Leviathan Is on the Menu"
The Federal Trade Commission is heavily scrutinizing the proposed merger between Microsoft and Activism. Why? Sony is against it, demonstrating that antitrust law is about protecting favored producers, not consumers.
Original Article: "The FTC Should Answer Its Call of Duty to Gamers"
On this episode of Good Money, Tho Bishop is joined by Wesley Schlemmer, president and co-founder of Bitcoin Bay. Wesley discusses the benefits of creating local professional networks around common values and how Bitcoin Bay is helping Tampa residents convert Bitcoin into real goods and services, including locally raised beef.
Learn more about Bitcoin Bay at Bitcoinbay.live.
Good Money listeners can order a special $5 book bundle that includes How To Think About the Economy and What Has Government Done to Our Money? with free shipping using promo code "GoodMoney" at Mises.org/Good
Receive a free subscription to The Austrian magazine at Mises.org/Magazine
While rain at an outdoor concert is a nuisance for most attendees, a few entrepreneurs saw not "pennies from heaven," but dollars.
Original Article: "It’s Raining Entrepreneurship at a Taylor Swift Concert"
New York Times columnist David French likes to think of himself as an honest broker. In reality, his "Never Trump" mentality leads him to overlook government lawbreaking.
Original Article: "David French Gets to Sit with the Cool Kids at the NYT Lunch Table"
As we enter the dog days of summer, I have heard several media conversations and a few private ones that express exasperation over languishing capital markets. Why do things take so long to unravel? What will happen next? When will X, Y, or Z happen? Why are tech stocks so bullish now? The market takes time to process the information that it already has — or is in "process" — and everyday brings new data.
The Austrian perspective highlights the role of reality in the market process. This is especially important in this period of unprecedented government intervention and the chaos it has generated in markets.
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Crime is increasing in American cities, but don't count on police to protect you. The Defund the Police movement has less to do with that than most people think.
Original Article: "You Can’t Depend on the State to Maintain Public Order"
Einstein might have been one of history's most brilliant men, but even his great mind could not have made socialism work. Unfortunately, he wasn't smart enough to see that.
Original Article: "A Great Man Cannot Salvage a Bad Idea"
In 2023, self-employment has collapsed again with year-over-year self-employment growth dropping by 6.5 percent. That's the largest drop since December 2007, when the Great Recession officially began.
Original Article: "Yet Another Month of Questionable Federal Jobs Data as 310,000 Fewer People Report Having Jobs"
Recorded by the Mises Institute in the mid-1980s, The Mises Report provided radio commentary from leading non-interventionists, economists, and political scientists. In this program, we present another part of "Ten Great Economic Myths". This material was prepared by Murray N. Rothbard.
The financial press now knows enough economics to watch weekly money supply figures like hawks; but they inevitably interpret these figures in a chaotic fashion. If the money supply rises, this is interpreted as lowering interest rates and inflationary; it is also interpreted, often in the very same article, as raising interest rates. And vice versa. If the Fed tightens the growth of money, it is interpreted as both raising interest rates and lowering them. Sometimes it seems that all Fed actions, no matter how contradictory, must result in raising interest rates. Clearly something is very wrong here.
The problem here is that, as in the case of price levels, there are several causal factors operating on interest rates and in different directions. If the Fed expands the money supply, it does so by generating more bank reserves and thereby expanding the supply of bank credit and bank deposits. The expansion of credit necessarily means an increased supply in the credit market and hence a lowering of the price of credit, or the rate of interest. On the other hand, if the Fed restricts the supply of credit and the growth of the money supply, this means that the supply in the credit market declines, and this should mean a rise in interest rates.
And this is precisely what happens in the first decade or two of chronic inflation. Fed expansion lowers interest rates; Fed tightening raises them. But after this period, the public and the market begin to catch on to what is happening. They begin to realize that inflation is chronic because of the systemic expansion of the money supply. When they realize this fact of life, they will also realize that inflation wipes out the creditor for the benefit of the debtor. Thus, if someone grants a loan at 5% for one year, and there is 7% inflation for that year, the creditor loses, not gains. He loses 2%, since he gets paid back in dollars that are now worth 7% less in purchasing power. Correspondingly, the debtor gains by inflation. As creditors begin to catch on, they place an inflation premium on the interest rate, and debtors will be willing to pay. Hence, in the long-run anything which fuels the expectations of inflation will raise inflation premiums on interest rates; and anything which dampens those expectations will lower those premiums. Therefore, a Fed tightening will now tend to dampen inflationary expectations and lower interest rates; a Fed expansion will whip up those expectations again and raise them. There are two, opposite causal chains at work. And so Fed expansion or contraction can either raise or lower interest rates, depending on which causal chain is stronger.
Which will be stronger? There is no way to know for sure. In the early decades of inflation, there is no inflation premium; in the later decades, such as we are now in, there is. The relative strength and reaction times depend on the subjective expectations of the public, and these cannot be forecast with certainty. And this is one reason why economic forecasts can never be made with certainty.
For more episodes, visit Mises.org/MisesReport
Mises Institute Fellow Patrick Newman joins Bob to discuss a recent tweet from Stephanie Kelton, which argued that the government's "red ink makes our black ink possible." Patrick and Bob point out that these MMT tautologies are very misleading at best. Patrick also lays out the argument in his journal article, saying that MMT's debt monetization won't cause a boom-bust cycle, but will still reduce living standards.
Even though Barbados and Jamaica had more similarities than differences when they became independent of Great Britain, Barbados developed its economy much more quickly.
Original Article: "Why Barbados Advanced Economically While Jamaica's Growth Lagged"
Ryan and Tho take a look at the legacy of Daniel Ellsberg's heroic leak of the Pentagon Papers and the evils of government secrecy. Modern leakers like Snowden, Manning, and Assange do important work educating voters and making the state more accountable.
New Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at Mises.org/RothMug
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On this episode of Good Money with Tho Bishop, David Gornoski of A Neighbor's Choice joins to discuss how government policies have impacted American diets. From the subsidization of certain crops to anti-science propaganda campaigns about diet, to the consolidation of the agricultural industry, the politicization of the economy still shapes not only their wallet but their plates.
Good Money listeners can order a special $5 book bundle that includes How To Think About the Economy and What Has Government Done to Our Money? with free shipping using promo code "GoodMoney" at Mises.org/Good
Receive a free subscription to The Austrian magazine at Mises.org/Magazine
What many people call government generosity Leonard Read called avarice.
Original Article: "To Avarice No Sanction"
Ryan and Robert Aro take a look at the Fed's unconvincing explanation of why it has chickened out on interest rate hikes. This only makes sense if the economy is much weaker than the Fed claims.
Be sure to follow the Fed Watch Podcast at Mises.org/FedPod.
As geopolitical tensions rise, the Chinese political leadership tells the US government to desist pushing its "color revolutions."
Original Article: "China Calls Out the USA for Instigating the Infamous Color Revolutions"
John Klyczek joins Michael on the first episode of REKT. John (jakE) is the author of School World Order: The Technocratic Globalization of Corporatized Education. Topics include the behaviorist, collectivist, and eugenicist roots of public (and state-sanctioned private) education, the globalist organizations behind the stakeholder capitalism regime, and the making of "global citizens" through indoctrination and technocratic surveillance and control systems.
Get School World Order: Mises.org/Rekt1a
Find more work from John: Mises.org/Rekt1b
The usual suspects are "relieved" that Congress gave President Biden what he wanted on the so-called budget deal. Without sound money, however, the borrowing and spending regime will collapse sooner or later.
Original Article: "Sound Money Is Required for Real Budget Discipline"
In the pre-industrial world, aggression and physical domination were often labeled as "masculine" virtues because they were useful for survival. The rise of the cooperative market economy changed all that.
Original Article: "How Capitalism Redefined Masculine Virtue"
While many believe that technology is key to a growing economy, technology is useless without entrepreneurship, which develops uses for technology.
Original Article: "Technology Is Meaningless without Entrepreneurship"
US trade deficits seem to be expanding, placing pressure on the dollar. However, central banks around the world are just as irresponsible as the Fed, masking the relative devaluation of US money.
Original Article: "US Trade Deficits Are Growing Larger. Or Are They?"
While F.A. Hayek's famous 1945 essay effectively critiques the "perfect information" hypothesis, it is an inadequate explanation of the issue of economic calculation.
Original Article: "The Market Process Is Not a Knowledge Problem"
Political leaders of the so-called liberal Western regimes are engaging in authoritarian tactics to quell legitimate dissent. But leftists who riot and burn get a free pass.
Original Article: "Rise of the Effete Authoritarians"
Recorded by the Mises Institute in the mid-1980s, The Mises Report provided radio commentary from leading non-interventionists, economists, and political scientists. In this program, we present another part of "Ten Great Economic Myths". This material was prepared by Murray N. Rothbard.
Those people who are properly worried about the deficit unfortunately offer an unacceptable solution: increasing taxes. Curing deficits by raising taxes is equivalent to curing someone's bronchitis by shooting him. The "cure" is far worse than the disease.
For one reason, as many critics have pointed out, raising taxes simply gives the government more money, and so the politicians and bureaucrats are likely to react by raising expenditures still further. Parkinson said it all in his famous "Law": "Expenditures rise to meet income." If the government is willing to have, say, a 20 percent deficit, it will handle high revenues by raising spending still more to maintain the same proportion of deficit.
But even apart from this shrewd judgment in political psychology, why should anyone believe that a tax is better than a higher price? It is true that inflation is a form of taxation, in which the government and other early receivers of new money are able to expropriate the members of the public whose income rises later in the process of inflation. But, at least' with inflation, people are still reaping some of the benefits of exchange. If bread rises to $10 a loaf, this is unfortunate, but at least you can still eat the bread. But if taxes go up, your money is expropriated for the benefit of politicians and bureaucrats, and you are left with no service or benefit. The only result is that the producers' money is confiscated for the benefit of a bureaucracy that adds insult to injury by using part of that confiscated money to push the public around.
No, the only sound cure for deficits is a simple but virtually unmentioned one: cut the federal budget. How and where? Anywhere and everywhere.
For more episodes, visit Mises.org/MisesReport
For more episodes, visit Mises.org/MisesReport.
Just in case you wrongly thought sanctions had anything to do with national security: Biden wants to sanction the people of a small African country over anti-LGBT laws.
Original Article: "Biden Wants Sanctions for Uganda Because Its Government Passed Anti-LGBT Laws"
Much of critical race theory and “antiracism” is aimed at pulling people apart, not bringing them together. To oppose such theories and practices is not racist in itself.
Original Article: "Opposing Critical Race Theory Doesn't Make You a 'White Supremacist'"
People commonly believe that a society without central political authority will dissolve into chaos. But a small kingdom within Spain existed peacefully for seven hundred years under what we would call anarchy.
Original Article: "Coto Mixto: Anarchy in Galicia"
University of Rochester economist Steve Landsburg joins Bob to discuss the abysmal performance of ChatGPT on his undergraduate exam. They also discuss the importance of market prices in guiding behavior and the unexpected problems with the government handing out "free" goodies.
Bob's article "Superman Needs an Agent:" Mises.org/HAP400a Steven's Book The Armchair Economist: Mises.org/HAP400b More Economic brainteasers: Mises.org/HAP400c
Leonard Read asked how we preserve liberty in a culture that doesn't appreciate it. Liberty cannot come through force and organization. It comes from within oneself.
Original Article: "Smarter Talk Is Smarter Action"
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Mises Senior Editor Bill Anderson to discuss his recent article, "David French Gets to Sit with the Cool Kids at the NYT Lunch Table." Bill explains the transformation of French from a "cultural conservative" commentator to the preferred "classical liberal" of the elite.
New Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at Mises.org/RothMug
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Recommended Reading "David French Gets to Sit with the Cool Kids at the NYT Lunch Table" by William L. Anderson: Mises.org/RR_138_A
"Review: Sohrab Ahmari's New Attack on Laissez-Faire Liberalism" by Zachary Yost: Mises.org/RR_138_B
""Libertarian" Is Just Another Word for (Classical) Liberal" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_138_C
"To Stop the Left, America Needs a Rothbardian Right" by Tho Bishop: Mises.org/RR_138_D
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
All too often, when we see a new technology we don't understand, our natural inclination is to condemn it. Artificial intelligence is no exception.
Original Article: "Can We Understand AI? A Response to Jordan Peterson’s Podcast"
On this episode of Good Money with Tho Bishop, Peter St Onge joins the show to discuss this week's Fed announcement and what it means to normal Americans. Tho and Peter also discuss the political battles in DC over the future of CBDCs and the dangerous trojan horse some Republicans may be creating on the issue.
Find more from Peter St Onge on Substack at StOnge.Substack.com. You can also find him on Twitter @ProfStOnge.
Good Money listeners can order a special $5 book bundle that includes How To Think About the Economy and What Has Government Done to Our Money? with free shipping using promo code "GoodMoney" at Mises.org/Good
Receive a free subscription to The Austrian magazine at Mises.org/Magazine
During a debate on capitalism with James Otteson, Michael Anton opined that free markets are harmful to a nation's economy. Perhaps he needs to learn economics.
Original Article: "The Economic Nationalists Are Wrong: Free Trade Means Freedom and Prosperity"
Despite "concerns" about increasing federal debt, in the end Republican legislators have gone along with whatever the ruling elites want. The Limit, Save and Grow Act of 2023 is more of the same.
Original Article: "Republicans Fail on the Debt Ceiling in 2023"
The classical liberal economist Edmund Phelps wants government to aid poor people, but he clearly is not an egalitarian. His philosophy would be unacceptable to today's "woke" egalitarians.
Original Article: "Edmund Phelps on Egalitarianism"
Contrary to the still-enduring myth about Republican budget cutting, there is no correlation whatsoever between Republican control of DC and the trajectory of federal spending.
Original Article: "The Republican Debt-Ceiling "Deal" Is Exactly What We Expected"
Like so many others in the "national greatness" movement, Christopher Buskirk understands some of the problems the country faces but fails to grasp the solutions.
Original Article: "Don’t Get on the Nationalist Bus"
The current regime wants to use taxation not simply as a means to collect revenue for the government, but as a weapon against economic prosperity itself.
Original Article: "Taxation as a Weapon against Prosperity"
As the Fed increases interest rates to reverse the inflation it has caused, firms that depended on easy money will face the bankruptcy judge. Stay tuned; there's more to come.
Original Article: "The Bankruptcy Caravan Is Now Arriving: Time to Pay for the Easy Money"
While George Orwell wrote magnificently against totalitarianism, his attempt to defend socialism in The Road to Wigan Pier stumbled badly.
Original Article: "Review: Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier"
Recorded by the Mises Institute in the mid-1980s, The Mises Report provided radio commentary from leading non-interventionists, economists, and political scientists. In this program, we present another part of "Ten Great Economic Myths". This material was prepared by Murray N. Rothbard.
In recent years there has been an understandable worry over the low rate of saving and investment in the United States. One worry is that the enormous federal deficits will divert savings to unproductive government spending and thereby crowd out productive investment, generating ever, greater long-run problems in advancing or even maintaining the living standards of the public.
Some policymakers have once again attempted to rebut this charge by statistics. In 1982–83, they declare, deficits were high and increasing, while interest rates fell, thereby indicating that deficits have no crowding-out effect.
This argument once again shows the fallacy of trying to refute logic with statistics. Interest rates fell because of the drop of business borrowing in a recession. "Real" interest rates (interest rates minus the inflation rate) stayed unprecedentedly high, however — partly because most of us expect renewed heavy inflation, partly because of the crowding-out effect. In any case, statistics cannot refute logic; and logic tells us that if savings go into government bonds, there will necessarily be less savings available for productive investment than there would have been, and interest rates will be higher than they would have been without the deficits. If deficits are financed by the public, then this diversion of savings into government projects is direct and palpable. If the deficits are financed by bank inflation, then the diversion is indirect, the crowding-out now taking place by the new money "printed" by the government competing for resources with old money saved by the public.
Milton Friedman tries to rebut the crowding-out effect of deficits by claiming that all government spending, not just deficits, equally crowds out private savings and investment. It is true that money siphoned off by taxes could also have gone into private savings and investment. But deficits have a far greater crowding-out effect than overall spending, since deficits financed by the public obviously tap savings and savings alone, whereas taxes reduce the public's consumption as well as savings.
Thus, deficits, whichever way you look at them, cause grave economic problems. If they are financed by the banking system, they are inflationary. But even if they are financed by the public, they will still cause severe crowding-out effects, diverting much-needed savings from productive private investment to wasteful government projects. And, furthermore, the greater the deficits the greater the permanent income tax burden on the American people to pay for the mounting interest payments, a problem aggravated by the high interest rates brought about by inflationary deficits.
For more episodes, visit Mises.org/MisesReport.
Individualism, while condemned in some cultures, has helped make this country economically successful. Will the influx of immigrants from cultures that devalue individualism reverse that success?
Original Article: "Individualism in the US Has Helped Make It an Economic Success"
The usual suspects such as Robert Reich claim that corporate profits are causing inflation. Actually, increases in corporate profits are tied to increases in inflation.
Original Article: "Higher Corporate Profit Margins Aren't Causing Inflation"
The trans rights movement has quickly moved into government coercion and outright violence. There is nothing libertarian about what is happening in this movement today.
Original Article: "“Trans Rights” Means Trans Entitlements and the End of Civil Society"
Despite all of the inflation-fighting talk from the Fed, the truth is that the government benefits from inflating the currency. We need to know how to defend ourselves.
Original Article: "Can We Protect Ourselves from Inflation?"
Jonathan Newman joins The Human Action Podcast to discuss his recent Twitter controversy over the claim that market prices can be "wrong" (i.e. in disequilibrium) if they are "sticky."
Jonathan Newman's Twitter controversy on sticky prices: Mises.org/HAP399a Joe Salerno on Mises's Monetary Theory: Mises.org/HAP399b Bagus and Howden on market disequilibrium and sticky prices: Mises.org/HAP399c
Recorded by the Mises Institute in the mid-1980s, The Mises Report provided radio commentary from leading non-interventionists, economists, and political scientists. In this program, we present another part of "Ten Great Economic Myths". This material was prepared by Murray N. Rothbard.
In recent decades we always have had federal deficits. The invariable response of the party out of power, whichever it may be, is to denounce those deficits as being the cause of our chronic inflation. And the invariable response of whatever party is in power has been to claim that deficits have nothing to do with inflation. Both opposing statements are myths.
Deficits mean that the federal government is spending more than it is taking in in taxes. Those deficits can be financed in two ways. If they are financed by selling Treasury bonds to the public, then the deficits are not inflationary. No new money is created; people and institutions simply draw down their bank deposits to pay for the bonds, and the Treasury spends that money. Money has simply been transferred from the public to the Treasury, and then the money is spent on other members of the public.
On the other hand, the deficit may be financed by selling bonds to the banking system. If that occurs, the banks create new money by creating new bank deposits and using them to buy the bonds. The new money, in the form of bank deposits, is then spent by the Treasury, and thereby enters permanently into the spending stream of the economy, raising prices and causing inflation. By a complex process, the Federal Reserve enables the banks to create the new money by generating bank reserves of one-tenth that amount. Thus, if banks are to buy $100 billion of new bonds to finance the deficit, the Fed buys approximately $10 billion of old treasury bonds. This purchase increases bank reserves by $10 billion, allowing the banks to pyramid the creation of new bank deposits or money by ten times that amount. In short, the government and the banking system it controls in effect "print" new money to pay for the federal deficit.
Thus, deficits are inflationary to the extent that they are financed by the banking system; they are not inflationary to the extent they are underwritten by the public.
Some policymakers point to the 1982–83 period, when deficits were accelerating and inflation was abating, as a statistical "proof" that deficits and inflation have no relation to each other. This is no proof at all. General price changes are determined by two factors: the supply of, and the demand for, money. During 1982–83 the Fed created new money at a very high rate, approximately at 15 percent per annum. Much of this went to finance the expanding deficit. But on the other hand, the severe depression of those two years increased the demand for money (i.e., lowered the desire to spend money on goods), in response to the severe business losses. This temporarily compensating increase in the demand for money does not make deficits any the less inflationary. In fact, as recovery proceeds, spending will pick up and the demand for money will fall, and the spending of the new money will accelerate inflation.
For more episodes, visit Mises.org/MisesReport.
Recorded by the Mises Institute in the mid-1980s, The Mises Report provided radio commentary from leading non-interventionists, economists, and political scientists.
For more episodes, visit Mises.org/MisesReport.
Modern progressives don't like to refer to their long-held support of eugenics. In fact, American progressives influenced the Nazis, who launched their own murderous eugenics schemes.
Original Article: "The Boston Brahmins, WASPs, and Nazis: The Pursuit of Eugenics"
American law protects what is called the "right to strike." However, Leonard Read found no moral code that permits such action.
Original Article: "There Is No Moral Right to Strike"
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss the role statistics play in promoting the regime. Topics include some interesting differences in recently reported unemployment data, changes to inflation reporting over time, government withholding of various reports — including crime and money supply measures — as well as alternative measures Austrians use to better cut through state propaganda.
New Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at Mises.org/RothMug
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Recommended Reading "Yet Another Month of Questionable Federal Jobs Data as 310,000 Fewer People Report Having Jobs" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_137_A
"The "True" Money Supply: A Measure of the Supply of the Medium of Exchange in the U.S. Economy" by Joseph Salerno: Mises.org/RR_137_B
"Does GDP Present an Accurate Picture of the Economy? Not Likely" by Frank Shostak: Mises.org/RR_137_C
"World War I as Fulfillment: Power and the Intellectuals" by Murray Rothbard: Mises.org/RR_137_D
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
On this episode of Good Money with Tho Bishop, Jeffrey Kauffman joins the show to discuss recent attacks from the SEC on major crypto exchanges. Kauffman, CEO of LBRY and content platform Odysee, shares his own company's battle with the SEC, the impossible burdens regulators have placed on legal compliance, and why DC's Operation Chokepoint 2.0 could be a positive for the industry in the long run.
Good Money listeners can order a special $5 book bundle that includes How To Think About the Economy and What Has Government Done to Our Money? with free shipping using promo code "GoodMoney" at Mises.org/Good
Receive a free subscription to The Austrian magazine at Mises.org/Magazine
With the appointment of Linda Yaccarino as Twitter's new CEO, Elon Musk is trying to appease woke advertisers to bring up his company's revenues. This will not end well.
Original Article: "The Woke Cartel and Twitter's New CEO"
The drug war of the last half century has incarcerated millions and created havoc. What it hasn't done is eliminate people using drugs without government permission.
Original Article: "The Drug War: An Irrational Crusade"
Domestic violence is a stain on society, but it is worse if we only care about violence committed against people of one sex.
Original Article: "Committing Domestic Violence against Men . . . Just for a Giggle"
Ryan and Zack look at how China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia are reshaping the Middle East into a region where the United States no longer dominates. This is a good thing for ordinary Americans.
Additional Resources "Thanks to Sanctions, the US Is Losing Its Grip on the Middle East" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/WES_11_A
"The Petrodollar-Saudi Axis Is Why Washington Hates Iran" by Gary Richied: Mises.org/WES_11_B
"Peace is Breaking Out in the Middle East… and Washington is Not Happy!" by Ron Paul: Mises.org/WES_11_C
"Why the End of the Petrodollar Spells Trouble for the US Regime" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/WES_11_D
"Washington Miffed as China Makes Peace" by Joseph Solis-Mullen: Mises.org/WES_11_E
Be sure to follow War, Economy, and State at Mises.org/WES.
While the US ratchets up efforts to isolate its many enemies, the Chinese, the Saudis, the Arab League, and OPEC all shrug and look to increasing international communication and trade.
Original Article: "Thanks to Sanctions, the US Is Losing Its Grip on the Middle East"
More than forty years ago, Leonard Read urged graduates of Hillsdale College to find a premise, a belief in a universal idea of liberty.
Original Article: "Living by a Premise"
The Durham report reminds us it is well past time for a more realistic assessment of the FBI for what it is: a costly, unnecessary, unconstitutional, and incompetent agency.
Original Article: "End the FBI"
Radical environmentalists have convinced people that we are doomed if we continue to use fossil fuels. We are doomed if we stop using them.
Original Article: "Energy and Economic Efficiency: The Market versus the Politicization of Our Energy Futures"
We are familiar with the five stages of grief. However, it is not a stretch to apply those stages to what is happening to the banking system. Right now, we are in the second stage: anger.
Original Article: "The Five Stages of Bank Failure Grief"
A "soft landing" is impossible unless the government cuts both taxes and government spending at the same time interest rates are rising. This won't happen, so get ready for a hard landing.
Original Article: "Crowding Out: The Fed May Be Killing the Private Sector to Save the Government"
Although the Bank of England is largely responsible for inflation in the UK, its leaders blame British consumers and workers for the price increases.
Original Article: "Bank of England Economist: Britons Need to Accept That They’re Poorer"
While talk of high gas prices is no longer a headline issue, energy economics is still a vitally important aspect of understanding the economy, including the business cycle. Mark explains the basics, tells us where we now stand, and what the major implications are for the near future.
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Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Noam Chomsky's latest offering—a series of interviews—presents the best (and worst) of one of America's premier public intellectuals.
Original Article: "There's No Place like Noam"
Per Bylund joins Bob to discuss his new paper at the QJAE, which points out several flaws in the MMT claim that money is valued in order to pay taxes.
Per's QJAE article: Mises.org/HAP398a
A new Fed survey shows that banks are cutting back on lending big time. Over the past thirty-five years, this almost always predicts recession. Our economy can't survive without endless new infusions of easy money.
Original Article: "Banks Are Lending Less Money, and That's a Formula for Recession"
On this first episode of the Fed Watch Podcast, Ryan McMaken and Senior Fellow Alex Pollock talk about how the Federal Reserve has negative cash flow. The Fed will print money to "solve" the problem.
Be sure to follow the Fed Watch Podcast at Mises.org/FedPod.
Recommended Reading"The Fed’s Capital Goes Negative" by Alex J. Pollock: Mises.org/FW_01_A
"Who Owns Federal Reserve Losses and How Will They Impact Monetary Policy?" by Alex J. Pollock and Paul H. Kupiec: Mises.org/FW_01_B
"Why the Fed Is Bankrupt and Why That Means More Inflation" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/FW_01_C
President Biden recently claimed that "trickle-down economics" doesn't work but transferring wealth from taxpayers to politically connected people is the real trickle-down economics.
Original Article: "Government Redistribution Is the REAL Trickle-Down Economics"
In this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop take a revisionist Rothbardian lens to American history. Was the American revolution a good thing? Was Andrew Jackson better than Thomas Jefferson? Does a historical narrative really matter? Tune in for this and more!
New Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at Mises.org/RothMug
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In this episode of Good Money, Tho Bishop is joined by Dr. Jonathan Newman to discuss the real costs of government spending. The end of the debt ceiling battle has resulted in the predictable outcome of normalizing the fiscal insanity of covid-era spending. Tho and Jonathan discuss how this was predictable to those familiar with the work of Dr. Robert Higgs, how mainstream GDP measures miss the true costs of government, and alternative approaches Austrian economists use to provide a clearer understanding of what is really going on in the economy.
Good Money listeners can order a special $5 book bundle that includes How To Think About the Economy and What Has Government Done to Our Money? with free shipping using promo code "GoodMoney" at Mises.org/Good
Receive a free subscription to The Austrian magazine at Mises.org/Magazine
Calls for black consumers to "Buy Black" can be interpreted as socially divisive, but they are also a way to encourage black entrepreneurs in a free market.
Original Article: "The "Buy Black" Movement: Divisive or a Boon to Black Entrepreneurs?"
Can the injection of new money into the economic system enhance economic growth? Not really. Increasing (or decreasing) the money supply affects the demand for money but doesn't make us wealthier.
Original Article: "Understanding Relationships between Money Supply and Liquidity"
American corporations are lavishing billions of dollars on leftist groups in the name of "equity." But many of them also are donating to even more questionable people and causes.
Original Article: "The Putrid Underbelly of Woke Capitalism"
Shoddy service, regular breakdowns, and overbudget to boot. There is a reason why government-funded projects always waste resources.
Original Article: "The Failure of Public Works and Public Funding"
The Biden administration has decided that the REAL problem with housing is that the wrong people are saving money and making timely mortgage payments. They must be punished.
Original Article: "Biden’s New Intersectionality: Where Equity Policies Meet Bad Economics"
Economically speaking, the US government is bankrupt even if the government won’t admit what is obvious. But how would an actual bankruptcy proceeding go?
Original Article: "In the Event of an Official US Bankruptcy"
Progressive governments in the name of equity are calling for taxation of capital gains. They really are demanding destruction of capital through capital consumption.
Original Article: "Taxing Capital Leads to Capital Consumption"
With negative growth now falling to near –10 percent, money-supply contraction is now the largest we've seen since the Great Depression.
Original Article: "The Money Supply Has Plummeted in the Biggest Drop Since the Great Depression"
Despite the soothing hot air from the White House and Fed officials, the financial system is becoming increasingly fragile and unstable. Maybe all of that intervention the past decade was not wise.
Original Article: "Finance Discovers Sting: "How Fragile We Are""
Modern culture is biased against those that are rich even while depending upon the wealth that successful entrepreneurs have created.
Original Article: "Progressives Want to Eliminate Wealthy Entrepreneurs but Need the Wealth They Create"
Mark takes a look at all the wrong predictions of recession in recent years, including those of Austrian School economists. While the MSM and Fed officials try to downplay the coming of a recession, many of the statistics and facts that Austrian consider important are indicating a looming recession, if not a full-blown economic crisis.
Check out Anatomy of the Crash: The Financial Crisis of 2020, edited by Tho Bishop: Mises.org/AnatomyOfTheCrash
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
In 1948, Ludwig Erhardt rescued a German economy that was in shambles simply by invoking free markets and currency reform. Our economy needs its Rothbard moment.
Original Article: "Rothbard’s Button Doesn’t Exist, but It Needs to Be Invented"
Heritage Fellow Peter St. Onge joins Bob to set the record straight on several popular talking points about the debt ceiling.
Bob on selling Gov't resources to reduce the National Debt: Mises.org/HAP397a
This episode of Good Money with Tho Bishop features guest Ryan Griggs of Griggs Capital Strategies. During the show, Ryan discusses his work with Bob Murphy on an Austrian understanding of inverted yield curves as a signal for recessions and how it differs from the mainstream analysis. He also discusses Nelson Nash's infinite banking strategy as a means for capital accumulation, in contrast to traditional investment approaches.
Ryan and Bob Murphy on the Austrian understanding of inverted yield curves: Mises.org/GM7aGriggs Capital Strategies: Mises.org/GM7b
Monetarists believe there is an optimum growth rate of money. However, a fiat money system itself is unstable, so there is no optimum growth rate.
Original Article: "Is There an Optimum Growth Rate of Money?"
People from socially and economically marginized groups in the USA tend to support socialism. Yet socialists have a long and bloody history of suppressing these very groups.
Original Article: "Socialism, Minority Groups, and Personal Liberties"
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop tackle the debt ceiling debate. As negotiations continue in Washington, the corporate financial press is hard at work warning about the potential for disaster. Ryan and Tho cut through the nonsense to look at the real state of America's finances, potential ramifications in the short term, and US defaults of the past and the inevitable future.
New Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at Mises.org/RothMug
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Recommended Reading"Three Lies They're Telling You about the Debt Ceiling" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_135_A
"Yes, the US Government Has Defaulted Before" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_135_B
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Should political reform be the result of a much-discussed comprehensive plan? Or should it come about through decentralized decision-making that deals with the situations at hand?
Original Article: "Comprehensive Reform versus Piecemeal Reform"
Tucker Carlson has rankled the ruling elites for many years. But was his interview with Robert Kennedy Jr. a bridge too far?
Original Article: "Did Tucker's Last Major Guest Lead to His Firing?"
By any conventional measures of finance, the Federal Reserve has negative equity. In the long run, cooking the books only puts off the day of reckoning.
Original Article: "The Fed Is Overindebted, Isn’t It?"
While Japan made some technological transfers to these places, prosperity came to them later, with the advent of free-market economies.
Original Article: "Was Japanese Colonialism the Engine of Later Prosperity for Korea and Taiwan? Probably Not"
Every day, more and more Americans are awakening to the reality that the institutions in control of this nation are failing them. From violence in the streets, inflation in our stores, increasing tyranny and censorship, and absolute buffoonery on public display in halls of political power. The ruling class is getting richer while most of us suffer, and new generations are becoming increasingly warped by the dangerous ideologies of the left.
Recorded at The Depot Craft Brewery & Distillery in Reno, Nevada on May 20th, 2023.
Every day, more and more Americans are awakening to the reality that the institutions in control of this nation are failing them. From violence in the streets, inflation in our stores, increasing tyranny and censorship, and absolute buffoonery on public display in halls of political power. The ruling class is getting richer while most of us suffer, and new generations are becoming increasingly warped by the dangerous ideologies of the left.
Recorded at The Depot Craft Brewery & Distillery in Reno, Nevada on May 20th, 2023.
Every day, more and more Americans are awakening to the reality that the institutions in control of this nation are failing them. From violence in the streets, inflation in our stores, increasing tyranny and censorship, and absolute buffoonery on public display in halls of political power. The ruling class is getting richer while most of us suffer, and new generations are becoming increasingly warped by the dangerous ideologies of the left.
Recorded at The Depot Craft Brewery & Distillery in Reno, Nevada on May 20th, 2023.
Every day, more and more Americans are awakening to the reality that the institutions in control of this nation are failing them. From violence in the streets, inflation in our stores, increasing tyranny and censorship, and absolute buffoonery on public display in halls of political power. The ruling class is getting richer while most of us suffer, and new generations are becoming increasingly warped by the dangerous ideologies of the left.
Recorded at The Depot Craft Brewery & Distillery in Reno, Nevada on May 20th, 2023.
A century ago, Argentina was one of the world's wealthiest nations and the Argentine peso rivaled the dollar. Today, Argentina is famous for periodic hyperinflation.
Original Article: "Argentina Sleepwalks into Hyperinflation (Yet Again)"
Another mass shooting, another call for gun control. However, when it comes to mass killings, Washington sets the sorry example.
Original Article: "Washington Has No Moral Authority to Ban Guns"
It is the right of the consumer, not the regime, to determine what lighting sources work best for them.
Original Article: "Shedding Light on the Law of Unintended Consequences"
Modern Western culture is dominated by demands for "social justice." But how does one even define this term, and does social justice even produce justice in the end?
Original Article: "Is Social Justice Just? A Review"
Taxpayer-funded company Dominion is suing private parties for saying things the company doesn't like. These lawsuits illustrate how defamation laws can be used to destroy free speech.
Original Article: "The Dominion Lawsuit against Fox News Is Part of the War against Free Speech"
As the US government debases the dollar, other nations take notice and possibilities increase that another currency based on sound principles might emerge.
Original Article: "Will a New BRICS Currency Change Anything? Maybe"
In this week's episode, Mark explains why the market for existing homes has been diverging from the market for new houses. The Fed ZIRP, QE and Covid bailouts have locked Americans into their mortgages and low payments, reducing the supply of existing homes. This keeps them off the market and home prices high in an economy that is headed for a recession or crisis. Buyers have been diverted to newly constructed homes where builders have more flexibility to sell and there are no existing homeowners locked into mortgages.
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Contrary to the worldview of progressives, taxation and the coercion it brings are not part of a "social contract." Instead, they are implemented by force.
Original Article: "You Don’t Like It? Leave! The Telling Sophistry of Tax Apologists"
Veteran investigative journalist James Bovard joins Ryan and Tho to talk about the Durham Report and what it tells us about the media and the FBI.
New Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at Mises.org/RothMug
PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
Recommended Reading"Durham proves that Hillary and the FBI tried to rig the 2016 election" by Jim Bovard (New York Post): Mises.org/RR_134_A
"Democrats attack FBI whistleblowers — giving cover to the agency’s abuses" by Jim Bovard (New York Post): Mises.org/RR_134_A2
"The FBI Vetoed the 2016 Presidential Election" by Jim Bovard: Mises.org/RR_134_B
"End the FBI" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_134_C
"Yes, the FBI is America’s secret police" by Jim Bovard (The Hill): Mises.org/RR_134_D
"The FBI’s Forgotten Criminal Record" by Jim Bovard: Mises.org/RR_134_E
"Why the Worst Get on Top" by F. A. Hayek: Mises.org/RR_134_F
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Bob originally invited Brian Albrecht (Chief Economist of the International Center for Law & Economics) to discuss the work of Armen Alchian, but on the day of recording, Robert Lucas happened to die.
Bob and Brian discuss rational expectations, real business cycle theory, and how Alchian cracked the military's top secrets.
Brian on Alchian's famous "Costs and Outputs" paper: Mises.org/HAP396a
Mises had hoped that democracy would lead to free societies after World War II ended. He did not foresee the illiberal turn in the West in the last decade.
Original Article: "Libertarian Law by Democratic Means: The Power of Ideologies and Public Opinion"
The dollar became the dominant global currency not so much because of its own merits, but because of the self-destruction of the pound sterling caused by the British state and central bank.
Original Article: "How the Dollar Became the World's Top Global Currency"
We’re supposed to go along with Green Energy schemes—as we did with masks, school lockdowns, and vaccinations to stop covid—because our government, media, and “public interest” groups insist that we “follow the science.”
Original Article: "How Greening the Economy Will Destroy America"
The most popular measure of economic growth is GDP. However, GDP movement is driven by changes in the money supply, not real economic factors.
Original Article: "Does GDP Present an Accurate Picture of the Economy? Not Likely"
Austrian business cycle theory points out that easy money leads to malinvestments. Once easy money disappears, the crash begins. Time to clean up malinvested assets.
Original Article: "Paying the Piper: Time to Clean Up the Latest Malinvestments"
Austrian economics is not dry theory. It helps us make sense of our world and shows that exchange and production have a place in our moral universe.
Original Article: "How to Teach Austrian Economics to the Neighbor Kids"
While the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade have been well documented, people other than slave traders and slaveholders benefitted from it, with some surprising results.
Original Article: "Historical Effects of the Transatlantic Slave Trade"
While the Fed and the Biden administration try to assure Americans that their banks are safe and secure, the numbers tell a different story.
Original Article: "Charles Schwab and Other Big Banks May Be Secretly Insolvent"
President Biden's executive order to promote transgenderism on college campuses eviscerates long-held due process protections for accused students. This will not end well.
Original Article: "Due Process or Transgender Protection on Campus?"
Like the USA, Canada has had a central bank–fueled housing boom. Like all other booms, it also has an inevitable ending.
Original Article: "Canada’s Housing Boom Was a Bubble. Now Comes the Bust"
The real issue we face is not whether we should be in the red tribe or the blue tribe, but rather what will be the constituency for freedom.
Original Article: "Neither Red nor Blue, but Free"
We hear ad nauseum from political and media elites that the war in Ukraine is about preserving "our freedoms." Murray Rothbard had something to say about this sophistry.
Original Article: "Rothbard Was Right: Wars Don't Enhance Freedom. They Destroy Liberty."
After a long series of rate hikes, Fed officials and asset markets are expecting a long series of interest rate cuts. This is based on the tried and hue Phillips Curve analysis. In color theory, "hue" is the technical appearance of color that can be described mechanically as a number. Let's hope interest rate expectations are not being distorted by other factors of reality, and that current Phillips Curve model perceptions of hue are also true.
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
In their attempts to remake the economy, progressive elites are pushing ESG. What they forget is that the economy runs on real things, not ideology.
Original Article: "ESG: Another Fraudulent Hustle That Progressive Elites Have Foisted on the Economy"
Dr. Paul Cwik joins Bob to discuss the inverted yield curve's "signal" of an impending recession.
Dr. Cwik's dissertation on inverted yield curves and economic downturns: Mises.org/HAP395a
Bob on the link between inverted yield curves and recessions: Mises.org/HAP395b
Bob's Understanding Money Mechanics: Mises.org/Mechanics
While politicians, media mavens, and the academic elite spread fear about artificial intelligence, AI is helping make life better for ordinary consumers.
Original Article: "Prices, Food, Employment: AI and Robotics Are for Regular Folks, Not Just the Elite"
While most free market advocates are fixated on the national debt, they also should be looking at municipal debt over which taxpayers have no say. Maybe default is the answer.
Original Article: "Should Local Municipalities Default on Their Debts? Seems Like a Good Idea"
The fight between Russia and NATO is not about "democracy versus authoritarianism." Rather both the US and Russian states are doubling down because they are doing what states do: seeking power.
Original Article: "The Ukraine War Isn't about Democracy. It's about States Seeking More Power."
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop talk about recent court cases involving defamation claims, justifying libertarian skepticism of the entire concept. As Ryan noted in a recent Wire article, the Dominion lawsuit in particular, is a particularly chilling case for free speech, with a taxpayer-funded company effectively silencing public critics. This, along with the recent Trump verdict, are an illustration of the continuing escalating weaponization of the court system for political ends.
New Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at Mises.org/RothMug
PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
Recommended Reading"The Dominion Lawsuit against Fox News is Part of the War against Free Speech" by Ryan McMaken.: Mises.org/RR_133_A
"The Alex Jones Verdict Shows the Danger of Defamation Laws" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_133_B
"Lawsuits Are the Hitman of the State" by Brian Caplan Mises.org/RR_133_C
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
A central tenet of Keynesian economics is that governments must run budget deficits to stimulate economic growth. But government spending actually shrinks the economy.
Original Article: "Government Budget Deficits Cannot Stimulate True Economic Growth"
Canada created its central bank during the Great Depression, ostensibly to stabilize the currency and protect the banking system. Today, that system is falling apart, thanks to inflationary central bank policies.
Original Article: "Canada’s Legal Counterfeiting Ring Is a Product of Progressive Democracy"
A bedrock of Austrian economics and libertarianism has been free trade. Unfortunately, some people who claim to value liberty no longer value unhampered exchange.
Original Article: "Are Libertarians Abandoning Free Trade?"
Even after two years of "transitory" inflation, America's ruling classes insist that prices are falling and that all of this is temporary. We don't believe them.
Original Article: "The Ruling Classes Are Inflation Deniers and the Ship of Fools Sails On"
The passage of an income tax in the early twentieth century was an enormous shift toward a far more centralized and powerful US state.
Original Article: "The Income Tax: Lessons from the Sixteenth Amendment"
To prevent rail accidents like the one in East Palestine, dial back government regulation and allow the tort system to work.
Original Article: "Prevent Future Losses Like East Palestine by Reducing Regulation and Empowering Torts"
Federal laws with acronyms are usually bad news. (Think the USA PATRIOT Act.) The RESTRICT Act is yet another Orwellian proposal in which the federal government assumes ignorance is strength.
Original Article: "Disinformation and the State: The Aptly Named RESTRICT Act"
Once the Southern states accepted the Thirteenth Amendment, Lincoln was entirely content for the old Southern elites to resume their positions of power and for many blacks to continue in a condition little better than bondage.
Original Article: "Lincoln's Main Target Was "Anarchy" and Secession, Not Slavery"
The current banking crises have deep roots in US financial history. Monetary authorities have engaged in inflationary behavior for more than a hundred years.
Original Article: "A Pyrrhic End to 130 Years of Vicious Bad Money and Banking Crises"
Bank reserves are seldom mentioned except in cases of bank runs. The other possible mention is all the interest money the Fed pays to banks simply for holding reserves. Mark explains the role of bank reserves in the current "system" and gives a brief explanation of why the Austrian view is better and actually gets the job done.
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Austrian economics is defined by its adherence to the a priori methodology, not empiricism. That places it at odds with mainstream economics, which stresses the methodology of positivism.
Original Article: "Austrian Economists and Empiricism"
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
These short columns—usually no more than two typewritten pages each—appeared in the Freedom Newspapers. Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968, addressing the campus revolt; the massive antiwar demonstrations; the Six-Day War between Israel and the Arab powers; the Newark riots; the Vietnam war; the persecution of H. Rap Brown, the assassination of Martin Luther King, the abdication of Lyndon Baines Johnson, the rise of Richard Nixon — in those two crucial years there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Read the text version here. Narrated by Jim Vann.
Download the complete audiobook (63 MP3 files) in one ZIP file here. This audiobook is also available via RSS.Purchase the Audiobook on iTunes/Audible/Amazon, or paperback at the Mises Store.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Starting in January of 1967, Rothbard churned out fifty-eight columns, the last one written in the summer of 1968. In those two crucial years, there was, as they say, never a dull moment.
Narrated by Jim Vann.
Ryan and Zack talk about some of the details from the recently leaked Pentagon documents. They reveal dysfunctional American foreign policy and just how much contempt the US regime has for its own allies.
Additional Resources"What the leaked Pentagon documents reveal — 8 key takeaways" by Paul Adams, Jean Mackenzie, and Antoinette Radford (BBC News): Mises.org/WES_10_A
"Fact Sheet on U.S. Security Assistance to Ukraine" (U.S. Department of Defense, 19 April 2023): Mises.org/WES_10_B
"U.S. doubts Ukraine counteroffensive will yield big gains, leaked document says" by Alex Horton, John Hudson, Isabelle Khurshudyan, and Samuel Oakford (Washington Post): Mises.org/WES_10_C
"Arbitrary Use of Power: Punishing Those Who Expose Not-So-Secret Government Secrets" by Bill Anderson: Mises.org/WES_10_D
Be sure to follow War, Economy, and State at Mises.org/WES.
Walter Bagehot, as Jim Grant writes, believed that bankers and central bankers should exhibit financial discipline. He would not recognize today's banking world.
Original Article: "From Discipline to No Discipline: The Sorry Evolution of Modern Banking"
Mark discusses something bigger than the Disney layoffs: the Wall Street Journal's April 25 frontpage article on investing in gold. It would seem that the recent rise of the price of gold is the result of tired, dumb, and disillusioned crypto currency investors throwing in the towel to "chase shiny new object—gold." Mark explains that the rational reasons for investing in gold loom larger than the entire Magic Kingdom!
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Are NASA contracts propping up the private space industry? Or are Government regulations stifling the private space race?
Dr. Eli Dourado, Senior Research Fellow with the Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University, joins Bob to discuss the recent "successful failure" of the exploded SpaceX launch and the differences between government and privately funded space travel.
Dr. Dourado on NASA contracting private companies to build their shuttles: Mises.org/HAP393a
Dr. Dourado on the Artemis moon program: Mises.org/HAP393b
Ryan McMaken and Dr. Mark Thornton cover the state of the dollar as global reserve currency, and why employers are laying off more and more of their highest paid workers.
PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
Subscribe to Mark's weekly Minor Issues podcast at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Recorded in Birmingham, Alabama on April 22, 2023.
From the Mises Institute's recent event in Birmingham, Alabama dedicated to the global threat of "The Great Reset".
Recorded in Birmingham, Alabama on April 22, 2023.
From the Mises Institute's recent event in Birmingham, Alabama dedicated to the global threat of "The Great Reset".
Featuring Will Blakely, Bryan Dawson, Allen Mendenhall, and Michael Rectenwald. Recorded in Birmingham, Alabama on April 22, 2023.
From the Mises Institute's recent event in Birmingham, Alabama dedicated to the global threat of "The Great Reset".
Low rates of military reenlistment in the USA are spun as a near crisis. Perhaps this situation should make us more optimistic about our future.
Original Article: "Low Rates of Military Enlistment May Portend Prosperity Ahead"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The government wants to make gas cars a lot more expensive. But electric vehicles are so expensive in the longer term that gas cars still look like a better deal.
Original Article: "Peak EV: Electric Vehicles Will Fade as Their True Costs Become Clear"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Mark looks at the price of Apple stock—one of the best performing stocks over the last quarter century, and one of the largest holdings in stock indexes, mutual funds, and Berkshire Hathaway portfolio. Market watchers have kept a keen eye on Apple as it heads for a new all-time high; but, Mark is concerned that a downturn would have a huge ripple effect on the overall market—possibly equivalent to a tsunami.
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Professor Per Bylund joins Bob to debunk the worries over AI and to question whether the latest version of chatbots should even be called "intelligent."
Per on Robots Taking your Jobs: Mises.org/HAP392a
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop look at common American history myths baked into government school curriculums. While Republican governors have begun to prioritize removing "critical race theory" and other forms of modern "leftwing indoctrination" from textbooks, there are a number of historical episodes left unchallenged that all lead to a deification of state power and a celebration of progressive politics.
PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off
Recommended Reading"The Meat Packing Myth" by Murray Rothbard: Mises.org/RR_130_A
"Krugman's Hoover History" by Robert Murphy: Mises.org/RR_130_B
"Why the 1787 Constitution Did Not Bring Republican Government to America" Mises.org/RR_130_C
The Progressive Era by Murray Rothbard Mises.org/RR_130_D
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Ryan and Zachary talk about how wars are not nearly as cheap or economically harmless as many Americans seem to think. Rather, taxpayers must give up enormous amounts of resources to fund wars halfway across the globe that have little to do with actual defense. Americans are still paying interest on the trillions spent on Washington's many lost wars of recent decades.
Additional Resources"On Paying for the Costs of War and War Loans" by Ludwig von Mises (1918): Mises.org/WES_09_A
"The Cross of Iron" by Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953): Mises.org/WES_09_B
"Fact Sheet on U.S. Security Assistance to Ukraine" (U.S. Department of Defense, 4 April 2023): Mises.org/WES_09_C
"How the Fed Is Enabling Congress's Trillion-Dollar Deficits" by Ryan McMaken (2021): Mises.org/WES_09_D
"War and the Money Machine: Concealing the Costs of War beneath the Veil of Inflation" by Joseph T. Salerno (2021): Mises.org/WES_09_E
"As the Pentagon Fails Another Audit, Congress Wants to Spend Even More on 'Defense'" by Ryan McMaken (2022): Mises.org/WES_09_F
"Russia and Ukraine named as Europe’s most corrupt countries" by William Nattrass (3 February 2023): Mises.org/WES_09_G
Be sure to follow War, Economy, and State at Mises.org/WES.
Like Bentham's panopticon, modern cancel culture is built upon fear and online bullying, making people police their own thoughts.
Original Article: "Cancel Culture: The Digital Panopticon"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Democratic politicians and supporters are cheering the Trump indictment, but the entire process has been so politicized that its legitimacy is easily called into question.
Original Article: "With the Trump Indictment, America Is a Step Closer to Being a Banana Republic"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Mark takes a look at the good news on price inflation and why it is better than reported, but probably short-lived. Other statistics are worsening and, amazingly, even landlords are starting to feel the pain!
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss recent reveals about new lows for the FBI. Ryan discusses new reports about the targeting of traditional Catholic churches and the history of the American Stasi, while Tho highlights new evidence about the role of federal agents in escalating January 6.
Recommended Reading"The FBI’s Forgotten Criminal Record" by Jim Bovard: Mises.org/RR_129_A
"Abolish the FBI" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_129_B
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Entrepreneurship is well-defined in economics, and well-recognized as the engine that drives economic growth. That means people enjoying greater well-being, including but not limited to material prosperity. But economic growth can be uneven. Some countries, some regions, and even some firms do not generate the same levels of economic growth as others. How do we understand this variability? We look for what holds entrepreneurship back.
Knowledge CapsuleEconomic development can be a self-reinforcing cycle of continuous improvement in people’s circumstances.Greater material prosperity is a valid and worthwhile goal for economic development. But, says Shawn Ritenour, economic development goes beyond that goal: it delivers a greater variety of goods and services that individuals and businesses can use as means to achieve their own diverse ends. The production of this greater variety requires entrepreneurship in the creation of new ideas and the pursuit of new value, and it generates new entrepreneurship by supplying a greater variety of resources to work with in those pursuits.
To generate this cycle, an enabling environment is required — one that acts as a catalyst for entrepreneurship.Economic development is a multifaceted process in which several forms of human action combine in a system for economic prosperity. It’s not instructive to try to isolate financial capital or capital goods or technology or even human capital, and culture and social institutions can’t be ignored. These sources of prosperity must work together in an orderly fashion to generate the necessary synthesis.
The vital role is that of the entrepreneur.The entrepreneur is the one who undertakes production, the one who combines resources to produce a product that meets customers’ needs and enables those customers in their own economic pursuits. Entrepreneurs kick off the cycle. Firms and organizations can act entrepreneurially, but it’s fundamental to understand that individuals — sometimes working in teams or committees — are the ones behind entrepreneurial decision-making. The entrepreneur is not necessarily a single person, but entrepreneurship is always a human action.
How do we get entrepreneurship started?Entrepreneurship requires customer knowledge, technical knowledge and financial capital. Customer knowledge includes the empathic understanding of what’s needed for customers to be able to better meet their own needs. In the context of economic development, this knowledge is probably widely available to private entrepreneurs, but it may not be available to governments, whose understanding is distorted by predispositions to develop specific industries or subsidize specific economic sectors, or towards a particular technology. For these reasons, there can be no “entrepreneurial state”. Individuals with their own ideas and their own private property will provide the energy o break economic inertia.
Technical knowledge defines a sufficient understanding of the technology and technological resources to deliver the desired new value to the customer. In under-developed economies, this technical knowledge may be thin, so reinforcing the technical knowledge of entrepreneurs is appropriate, through education, injections of new technology, training, mentoring, or other forms of knowledge transfer.
With the right understanding of customer needs and the command of the right technology, the entrepreneurs involved in the development state will always need financial capital, because production takes time to organize before cash flows in to the firm from customers. In development contexts, entrepreneurs often will not have savings of their own, and there may not be an appropriate institutional infrastructure of local banks and lenders and investors.
Therefore, customer knowledge, technical knowledge and financial capital combine to provide the foundation for entrepreneurial leadership and growth. They’re integrated: it’s important for the sources of financial capital to understand and appreciate the nature of the customer and technical knowledge that is being deployed. Typically, this takes the form of venture capital or private equity.
Education is another important element in the institutional environment for entrepreneurship.Entrepreneurship as a skill or capability can not be taught — it requires a special orientation that’s more developed in some individuals and firms than others. But principles, process and tools can be taught, and experienced entrepreneurs and businesspeople who have developed market savvy can share knowledge that they have acquired. Communicating the entrepreneurial mindset and methods in all stages of education will help to create and promote an entrepreneurial community that’s supportive of economic development.
One aspect of learning is to understand the entrepreneurial ethic of sacrifice, that it takes a lot of time and effort and expenditures and extended commitment before business success can be achieved. There’s more hard work than there is magic.
Institutional elements such as property rights and sound money are important components of entrepreneurial development.Property rights and sound money may sound like abstract concepts, but they are extremely influential in economic development processes. Property rights mean that entrepreneurs can assemble and go to market with their own resources in whatever way they prefer. Sound money means that entrepreneurs can anticipate a return from their productive activities that’s not eroded away by inflation, and they’re not led into miscalculation by monetary manipulation (e.g., unanticipated escalation of future borrowing costs).
Removing obstacles to entrepreneurship is the best economic development policy.Traditional approaches to economic development favor centrally planned initiatives, government spending, and policies in the form of subsidies or special incentives. They’re not typically market-based approaches. But the right approach is the opposite of policy-making. Instead of trying to design and add new structures, development should be focused on the removal of barriers — on identifying what’s getting in the way of nurturing a rich and robust entrepreneurial culture, and focusing on the removal of those obstacles. Leave the entrepreneurs to identify the specific products and services and businesses that can flourish, and to attract the investment capital that will support those businesses, without the need for “policy”.
Additional ResourcesThe Economics of Prosperity: Rethinking Economic Growth And Development by Shawn Ritenour: Mises.org/E4B_214_Book1
The Economics Of Prosperity (Edward Elgar): Mises.org/E4B_214_Book2
Shawn Ritenour at Mises.org/Ritenour
Shawn Ritenour at Grove City College: Mises.org/E4B_214_Profile
This episode explores precious metals. Gold (Au) is the main precious metal, followed by Silver (Ag), Platinum (Pt), and Palladium (Pd). These are distinct from valuable industrial metals such as copper (which served as money historically), nickel, and zinc, which have served as token coins in modern times. There are many different ways and forms you can own precious metals.
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Ryan and Tho talk about why Trump is the only former president to be prosecuted for crimes. The ruling class has agreed to not prosecute their own, but since they see Trump as an outsider, he is fair game. In truth, we'd be better off if more presidents and former presidents faced prosecution.
Recommended Reading"With the Trump Indictment, America Is a Step Closer to Being a Banana Republic" by Bill Anderson: Mises.org/RR_128_A
"Politics Is Turning Us into Idiots" by Lipton Matthews: Mises.org/RR_128_B
Anatomy of the State by Murray N. Rothbard: Mises.org/RR_128_C
"Yes, Virginia, There IS a Deep State—and It Is Worse than You Think" by Bill Anderson: Mises.org/RR_128_D
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Market research is a tool for gathering data about customers and consumers that businesses hope will lead to insights about their behaviors and preferences that can be translated into innovation, better service and better business performance. As with any dynamic system, it has changed over time, and the effects of entropy have begun to show themselves in invalid techniques, invalid data, and invalid conclusions. And as with virtually all business systems, the coming of the digital age provides businesses with the opportunity to review, revise and improve exiting practice and existing thinking.
Knowledge CapsuleTraditional models of market research are losing validity.The Economics For Business approach to market research leans to the qualitative, such as one-on-one conversations with customers and detailed ethnography whereby businesses can observe customer behavior directly. The market research industry grew up favoring quantitative research at scale for its own reasons: that’s where the money is. Sharekh Shaikh points out that a $USD 70 billion industry was built largely on large scale panels — recruited audiences adding up to hundreds or thousands of individuals, to whom the market research industry could launch survey questions (“data gathering instruments”), generating large amounts of response data for quantitative analysis and numerical reporting.
Customers of these research reports use the output for decision support. Consideration of launching, or of purchasing and installing, a software suite or platform costing millions of dollars can be justified with the results of a survey costs tens of thousands of dollars or low six-figures.
One of the planks supporting the value proposition of market research panels is the difficulty of recruiting qualified respondents, such as CIO’s or CTO’s for an enterprise software survey. Panel operators’ revenues reflect their claims to solve this problem, but Sharekh Shaikh tells us that the reliability of their claim has eroded. Panels now may include inaccurately identified respondents (wrong title or role, for example, because the respondent has changed jobs or roles), or even fraud (responses provided by others than the supposed respondent, including bots). The data from the panels is no longer as valid as it once was, and its decision-support quality no longer as high.
This general decline in the quality and reliability of traditional research is taking place in many categories, not just tech — consumer package goods, entertainment, fashion, and any industry that uses these methods.
The digital revolution brings new opportunities for change, including in traditional market research.It’s unusual to think of digitization as increasing human contact, but in research it’s the case. Sharekh’s research platform, CleverX, has effectively removed the intermediary, the market research panel operator and market research respondent recruitment agency, from the equation, so that the firm requiring research can be connected directly with the respondent with the desired experience and user perspective.
Respondents sign up to a place on the platform by supplying their personal data, career profiles, qualifications, credentials and experience. Their incentives include their desire to participate in and contribute to industry developments, as well as the compensation offered. By learning the questions that are being asked, the professionals who sign up to be respondents can gain insight into the developments that are being pursued in their industry. Being a panel member is career and professional advancement.
The firm seeking to gather data can identify their respondents and assemble their own panel, using their own criteria and specified profiles, and building a direct relationship with their respondents and customers. Moreover, they can use any data collection tool they prefer, whether that is a technical tool such as Survey Monkey, or direct one-one-one conversations on Zoom or Microsoft Teams, digital focus groups, or any other format. By integrating with calendar software, research interviews with CXO’s can be organized and calendarized. These powerful toolsets result in higher quality research being completed up to 10X faster.
Digital technology also facilitates video interviewing, so that researchers can talk directly with respondents, and develop a relationship with them. The video interviewing can be asynchronous: given a query, respondents can video-record their responses whenever convenient, TikTok-style. AI can add enhancements such as sentiment analysis, body language and facial expression interpretation.
The distinction between quantitative and qualitative research disappears and we realize qualitative data at scale.
Market research can become continuous monitoring in the adaptive entrepreneurial system.The reality of markets today is high-speed continuous change. Market research as a tool has always been at a disadvantage in delivering snapshot that take time to process, by which time the market has moved on. Now, with digital techniques, continuous monitoring is possible. Sharekh mentioned several applications:
Customer understanding of digital developments: as platforms and systems evolve, customers may not be able to keep up with the technology, or may not be taking advantage of new feature. Digital research techniques can monitor and measure customer understanding dynamically, and point to gaps in their comprehension.Dynamic product development: as developers move a product towards market, digital research techniques can expose potential customers to the development path, and help developers to integrate real-time findings.Monitoring changing lifestyles and mental models: since digital research technologies can provide a continuing connection with customers, it can measure not only their responses to queries, but also their behaviors, attitudes and thinking in general. It’s possible to develop profiles and personas and segmentations into which innovative ideas can be inserted to simulate reactions and acceptance.CleverX represents exactly the kind of knowledge recombination that can result in revolutionary change across an entire industry.A core concept in entrepreneurship is the combining of existing knowledge in new ways for new solutions. Sharekh Shaikh combines his software engineering knowledge with knowledge of the market research space and knowledge of the dissatisfaction of end users with the available research tools. His newly-launched company, CleverX, is a fast-growing new entrant in the research space as a result of providing a totally new service: the facilitation of a direct connection between researcher and respondent with digital intermediation in place of previous-generation tools. The experience for the customer is better data, at faster speeds, gathered more conveniently and faster, and, consequently, of greater use in development and innovation processes.
Additional ResourcesCleverX.com
Sharekh Shaikh on LinkedIn: Mises.org/E4B_213_LinkedIn
From race to gender to nearly everything else, decisions about what is correct or incorrect are made according to politics. This is a recipe for social destruction.
Original Article: "Politics Is Turning Us into Idiots"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Politicians tout "bipartisanship"—that often just means one's pocket will be picked even more cleanly.
Original Article: "Bipartisanship Is Not a Substitute for Voluntary Exchange"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Mark is not fooling around today. He looks back at the history of gold and its price, which some believe is too erratic and too unstable (like Bitcoin) to serve as a basis of a monetary system. Mark shows that it is not gold that destabilizes events in the real world, but rather real world events related to political decision-making that has made the price of gold unstable. The price of gold is a "minor" indicator of what governments are really up to.
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop talk about global moves being made against the US dollar. The regime's decade long weaponization of money and banking has both global rivals and historical allies looking for alternatives. Ryan and Tho discuss what that means for Americans, and what may come next.
Recommended Reading"World needs to end risky reliance on U.S. dollar: BoE's Carney" (Reuters, 2019): Mises.org/RR_127_A
"Governments Can't Blame Inflation on Energy and Putin Anymore" by Daniel Lacalle: Mises.org/RR_127_B
"Is the Fed Trying to Bail Out the World? Sure Looks Like It" by Kristoffer Hansen: Mises.org/RR_127_C
"Why Fractional Reserve Banking Is behind Bank Failures" by Jonathan Newman: Mises.org/RR_127_D
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
The Ralph Raico Memorial Commencement Lecture.
Recorded at the 2023 Austrian Economics Research Conference hosted at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, March 16–18, 2023.
The Austrian Economics Research Conference is the international, interdisciplinary meeting of the Austrian School, bringing together leading scholars doing research in this vibrant and influential intellectual tradition. The conference is hosted by the Mises Institute at its campus in Auburn, Alabama, and is directed by Joseph Salerno, professor of economics at Pace University and academic vice president of the Mises Institute.
Peter Drucker famously identified the only two value-generating functions of the firm as innovation and marketing. We propose to differentiate brand building (or branding) from marketing, especially in this digital age. Brands are the vehicle for framing, establishing, nurturing and enhancing relationships with customers. In the digital age, marketing has become mechanized and mathematicised; it’s about numbers more than about human values and emotional bonding. Graceann Bennett is a branding expert who has devoted her career and her research agenda to furthering the science of brand building.
Knowledge CapsuleBrands are assets that drive customer value and business revenue, and they’re more valuable than ever in the digital age.Our Economics For Business entrepreneurial method emphasizes the facilitation of value for customers — it is customers who create value through their experiences, and the role of entrepreneurship is to facilitate those valuable experiences. Brands are platforms for value facilitation and conduits for value delivery. In the economic system where assets are value drivers, brands are high-capacity intangible assets. They can be developed and nurtured through various types of economic investment, with a high return on that investment because of the closeness to the customer that they can embody. The investment can be creative and intellectual and is not necessarily limited by budgets and financial resources.
Brands hold emotional and relational value, often communicated through symbols and codes.Brands have meaning for customers, and the meaning is differentiated — customers prefer one brand over another. Brands fit into their lives and connect to them emotionally - they can trust brands, rely on brands, and even love brands. Brands express the essential humanism of economics - the entrepreneurial ethic of improving others’ lives. They represent an understanding of human yearnings. They help people who are striving to be the best version of themselves. They’re a great tool for entrepreneurs.
Brands often communicate via symbols and codes: advertising, logos, package design, social media, and sales presentations. These are important, but they’re not the essence of branding. That role is reserved for the emotional connections that brands make with customers, engendering trusted relationships.
In the digital age, marketing has lost the art of branding.Brand building is an art, an engagement with customers on a psychological and philosophical plane, enhanced by creativity, design, expressive language and visualization. In the digital age, marketing is headed in a different direction. Marketing has become mathematicised. Digital marketing is all about the numbers: audience reach and likes and engagement metrics defined as clicks and views. It’s the mechanics of the engagement funnel, of clicks leading to conversions. Graceann Bennett called this approach “the attention economy rather than the emotional economy”.
Even worse, marketers are antagonizing customers with an interrupt-and-annoy approach of increasingly invasive pop-ups and intrusions and uninvited invitations in e-mail and text. Annoyingly intrusive marketing can further decay into creepiness as consumers receive offers for goods and services algorithmically triggered by their search history and e-mail conversations or voice requests to Siri or Alexa that they might not have realized were quite as available to marketers as they are.
Branding creates customer relationships through emotion and psychology.The mathematical, mechanical approach is exactly the opposite of the human approach of brand building. Branding aspires to a relationship with customers, a creative relationship of innovation and renewal that continuously improve customers’ expectations of what’s possible and their anticipation of satisfactions to come from brand usage and branded services. Entrepreneurial brand owners seek to understand the needs and wants of customers, and what they find disappointing in current experiences, with a view to making their experiences and their lives better. A lot of this initiative takes place in the realm of psychology, getting inside customers’ minds to understand their preferences and why they hold them, and their choices and why they make them.
Brandowning firms examine themselves critically to ensure that they are authentic in serving customers’ emotional and psychic needs.Graceann Bennett employs Jungian archetype analysis to clarify and channel brand approaches to customer relationships, emphasizing what’s authentic in the brand’s character and orientation that aligns best with customer psychology. While the first stage of the entrepreneurial method is a deep understanding of the customer and their needs so as to define and scale a potential market, it’s also appropriate in the solutions design stage for the brand owner to look inward to define the persona for the brand. To establish trust and build a relationship, a brand must inspire confidence on the customer’s part, and to do so must establish authenticity: when claiming to deliver a benefit and facilitate a valuable experience, the brand claims must be consistent with the brand character, the brand heritage and the brand history. A brand can’t claim to be something it’s never been before, or claim a meaning and a purpose that it has never before exhibited. It can add features and polish and update its attributes, but it can’t depart entirely from its historical, observed orientation. Brand relaunches and repositionings risk losing connection with the customer if they are not credible.
Brands should search not for novelty in presenting themselves, but depth, clarity and simplicity in establishing brand character.Ethnography is the best research technique to develop empathic engagement between brands and customers.
Ethnography is mingling with customers, talking to them, listening intently, and observing their actions and behaviors. This kind of interactive contact with customers should be primary - the analysis of digital clicks and views and followers and even purchase behavior can’t deliver the same rich emotional and psychic consumer understanding and insight. In the digital age, we’ve abandoned the art of mingling, and that’s a difference between branding and marketing.
Additional ResourcesGraceannBennett.com
Playbook Studio: Playbook.Studio
Graceann Bennett on LinkedIn: Mises.org/E4B_212_LinkedIn
The Murray N. Rothbard Memorial Lecture, sponsored by Steven and Cassandra Torello.
Recorded at the 2023 Austrian Economics Research Conference hosted at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, March 16–18, 2023.
The Austrian Economics Research Conference is the international, interdisciplinary meeting of the Austrian School, bringing together leading scholars doing research in this vibrant and influential intellectual tradition. The conference is hosted by the Mises Institute at its campus in Auburn, Alabama, and is directed by Joseph Salerno, professor of economics at Pace University and academic vice president of the Mises Institute.
Central banks usually don't admit their guilt in the destruction of money, but the Bank of England unwittingly comes clean.
Original Article: "The Bank of England: Money Creation in Their Own Words"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
With commercial banks exposed by the recent bailouts, Americans question whether “their money” is truly safe despite the promises of FDIC insurance.
Jeff and Bob walk through the mechanics of how a full reserve bank could work in a truly free market based on the concepts and taxonomy of Mises’s Theory of Money and Credit.
Mises's A Theory of Money and Credit: Mises.org/TMC
Bob's study guide to A Theory of Money and Credit: Mises.org/HAP388a
John Cochran, 'The Safest Bank the Fed Won't Sanction': Mises.org/HAP388b
In this episode, Mark looks at the far away minor issue of the impact of hyperinflation in Zimbabwe. Even though they have switched from Zim dollars to US dollars, ordinary people are still suffering. Their government and its inflationary monetary policy is manifesting itself in some interesting ways.
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
This week on Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Peter St. Onge, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation and a regular contributor to the Mises Wire. This episode looks at the political response to the recent turmoil in the banking system and how the Austrian position looks today relative to 2008. St. Onge makes a case for optimism.
Recommended Reading"It Turns Out That Hundreds of Banks Are at Risk" by Peter St. Onge: Mises.org/RR_126_A
"The Fed Backtracks on Future Rate Hikes as Bank Failures Loom Large" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_126_B
"Looming Bank Failures Point to More Price Inflation as Real Wages Fall Again" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_126_C
Peter St. Onge's Substack: StOnge.substack.com
2023 Libertarian Scholars Conference: Mises.org/LSC23
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
The Ludwig von Mises Memorial Lecture, sponsored by Yousif Almoayyed.
Recorded at the 2023 Austrian Economics Research Conference hosted at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, March 16–18, 2023.
The Austrian Economics Research Conference is the international, interdisciplinary meeting of the Austrian School, bringing together leading scholars doing research in this vibrant and influential intellectual tradition. The conference is hosted by the Mises Institute at its campus in Auburn, Alabama, and is directed by Joseph Salerno, professor of economics at Pace University and academic vice president of the Mises Institute.
The F.A. Hayek Memorial Lecture, sponsored by Greg and Joy Morin.
Recorded at the 2023 Austrian Economics Research Conference hosted at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, March 16–18, 2023.
The Austrian Economics Research Conference is the international, interdisciplinary meeting of the Austrian School, bringing together leading scholars doing research in this vibrant and influential intellectual tradition. The conference is hosted by the Mises Institute at its campus in Auburn, Alabama, and is directed by Joseph Salerno, professor of economics at Pace University and academic vice president of the Mises Institute.
Collusion was a way of life with state-chartered enterprises. Little has changed, as firms with political connections still gain profits from their collusion with the state.
Original Article: "The Theory and Practice of Conspiracy"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Even if Powell is sincere in this stated desire to slay inflation with more rate hikes, recent bank failures will put the Fed under enormous pressure to end its rate hikes and to once again embrace easy money to save the banks and Wall Street.
Original Article: "Looming Bank Failures Point to More Price Inflation as Real Wages Fall Again"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Keynesians and fellow travelers hold the Phillips curve to be sacrosanct. But because the Phillips curve cannot establish causality, it is useless as economic theory.
Original Article: "The Phillips Curve Is an Economic Fable"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
SVB Bank and Signature Bank failed this week and were bailed out. Mark explains why the banks failed and why it was bound to happen. The minor issue is that the total FDIC bailout fund is actually smaller than either one of the banks.
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Ryan and Tho talk about how last week's banking panic led to new ways for bankers and politicians to exploit regular people through inflation, regulations, and corrupt loans.
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Those adhering to Austrian Economic thinking see the beauty in concepts coming together and providing a way to truthfully assess human action.
Original Article: "Yearning for Beauty in the Truth of Economic Thinking"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Get beyond the PhDs running the Federal Reserve or the way people treat the Fed with deference. In the end, it is nothing but a legal counterfeiting ring.
Original Article: "We Are All Counterfeiters Now"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Mark discusses how the Federal Reserve and Covid restrictions greatly increased the price of cardboard boxes; but, with online sales softening, we should expect suppliers to shift the raw materials used to make boxes (wood pulp) into the production of other paper goods, such as toilet paper. Because our demand for toilet paper is relatively inelastic, we should see a decline in the price of toilet paper and better availability.
The market will reallocate toward consumer wants and lower prices.
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Progressives view all aspects of human life as a struggle against forces of oppression. Earlier this week on BBC, Professor Mariana Mazzucato suggested governments across the West should simply print money not only to help Ukraine, but also to finance other "wars" against climate change, inequality, and more. Should national treasuries essentially adopt a permanent wartime footing and print far more money, as Mazzucato and Warren Mosler recommend? Hint: Jeff and Bob say "No."
Jeff's article "A Permanent Wartime Economy": Mises.org/HAP386a
Bob's debate with Warren Mosler: Mises.org/HAP386b
Bob's article in The American Conservative on the Greenbacker movement: Mises.org/386c
Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop look at how the regime's narrative on foreign policy is failing, and how some in Congress are finally standing up to the warfare state. Yet, the regime wants more US wars in Syria, Ukraine, and now even Mexico. And you will pay for it all. Will the voters demand a more sane foreign policy in 2024?
Recommended Reading"The Costs of War in Syria" by Ryan McMaken (2013): Mises.org/RR_124_A
"A Permanent Wartime Economy" by Jeff Deist: Mises.org/RR_124_B
The War, Economy, and State Podcast with Ryan McMaken and Zachary Yost: Mises.org/WES
"Mission Accomplished: Seymour Hersh, Nordstream, and What’s Left on the Cutting Room Floor" by Tom Luongo (LewRockwell.com): Mises.org/RR_124_C
"Meanwhile in Yemen, the US Government Supplies Weapons to Continue the Carnage" by Trenton Hale: Mises.org/RR_124_D
"House Votes Down Resolution to Withdraw Troops from Syria" by Dave DeCamp (AntiWar.com): Mises.org/RR_124_E
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
The answer lies not in doubling down on political unity, maintained through endless violence or threats of violence. Rather, the answer lies in peaceful separation.
Original Article: "Secession Is Inevitable. War to Prevent It Is Optional."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Canadian political, academic, and media elites "worry" that democracy in that country may be under attack. Actually, democracy works all too well there.
Original Article: "Is Democracy under Attack in Canada? No, but It Should Be"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Mark talks about the recent price inflation reports, as well as reports of job openings from private sector job placement companies. Inflation was higher than expected and job openings declined. What will the Fed do? People are making painful adjustments—Domino's reported disappointing sales, because their customers are "eating in".
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
With global worldwide debt now over $300 trillion and interest rates rising, the US dollar is once again a relative safe haven in a slowing economy. Currencies competing with the Dollar face a deadly race to stave off a sovereign debt crisis. Is the dollar now unbound, as the dominant political tool of the dominant nation?
The Dollar Milkshake Theory: Mises.org/HAP385a
Thorsten Polleit, The Global Currency Plot: Mises.org/HAP385b
Bob's book, Understanding Money Mechanics: Mises.org/Mechanics
This episode of Radio Rothbard revisits a point in our previous episode about the popular claim on leftwing Twitter that red-state America would be a "third world country" without support from the federal government. Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss Ryan's recent article on the topic, as well as the legacy of populist politics, and the unseen consequences of uniparty addiction to DC money.
Recommended Reading"No, Red State Economies Don't Depend on a "Gravy Train" from Blue States" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_123_A
"Selling Our Sovereignty: Alabama’s Federal Dependency" by Katherine Green Robertson: Mises.org/RR_123_B
"Why MTG Is Right About National Divorce" (Radio Rothbard with Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop): Mises.org/RR_123_C
"How to Think about the Economy" (Mises Seminar in Tampa) featuring Jeff Deist, Dr. Joe Salerno, Dr. Per Bylund, Tho Bishop, and Brett Lindell: Mises.org/RR_123_D
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
At the heart of Keynesian business cycle theory is the so-called liquidity trap. Contra Keynes, however, economies don't falter because a sudden increase in the demand for money.
Original Article: "Forget the Liquidity Trap—Loose Monetary Policies Cause Recessions"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Three years after the covid virus hit the world, we are just starting to take a hard look at the damage caused by the covid restrictions. The "experts" not only were wrong; they were scandalously wrong.
Original Article: "Covid-19: Will the Political and Health Scandals Erupt into the Public Light?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Mark uses Intel Corporation, the computer chip manufacturer, as a barometer of the business cycle. He looks at the stock price in recent years, its production capacity expansion in recent years, and the company's very recent cost- and dividend-cutting moves.
Check out Mark Thornton's free book, The Skyscraper Curse: And How Austrian Economists Predicted Every Major Economic Crisis of the Last Century: Mises.org/Curse
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Tom Woods joins the show for a look at the hottest political topic of the day, namely national divorce. This is a spirited discussion of the politics, economics, and mechanics of how America might break up.
Watch 'The Economics of National Divorce Part I' with Ryan McMaken": Mises.org/HAP352
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss this week's Twitter and media campaign by Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene promoting the idea of national divorce. Ryan and Tho read through some of the tweets that the Representative from Georgia made about the practical advantages of a soft secession, as well as comments made by "Very Serious People" deeply offended at the suggestion.
Is Marjorie Taylor Greene guilty of unforgivable high treason? Tune in to find out.
Recommended Reading"January 6 Trials Remind Us Why We Must Abolish Seditious Conspiracy Laws" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_122_A
"Secession: Should the American Revolutionaries Have Quit to Appease the Loyalists?" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_122_B
"The Economics of American Gerontocracy" (Human Action Podcast with Jeff Deist and Bob Murphy): Mises.org/RR_122_C
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Entrepreneurship and innovation are the keys to economic growth and higher standards of living. The USA has long enjoyed leadership status on these dimensions — people see the USA as the land of entrepreneurs and the source of new ideas and advances in business. Is the reputation still deserved? Or is it being eclipsed as part of the general decline in standards and capabilities that we observe? Lipton Matthews is a global economic and geo-political analyst who brings deep knowledge and expertise to address our concerns.
Knowledge CapsuleBorrowing a framework from the Global Innovation Index published by the World Intellectual Property Organization, we can examine the state of entrepreneurship and innovation in the US relative to both other countries and its own history, under the headings of institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication and business sophistication.
Institutions: The private sector institutions of the USA continue to excel for entrepreneurship and innovation.When we think of American institutions for the encouragement of entrepreneurship and innovation, we must examine private sector institutions, not those of government. Ordinary people in civil society build the institutions that promote innovation. Private scientific research is robust in responding to market signals of consumer and business needs. Financial institutions such as venture capital and angel investors support innovative development. Policymakers mistakenly believe they can conjure up a creative economy by fiat, but they’re wrong. It’s private institutions that support and cultivate innovation. Even if the public sector tries to encroach, the private sector maintains its innovative edge.
Professor Sam Gregg warned us recently that the United States of today more closely resembles a European social democracy than many Americans are willing to admit, but Lipton Matthews is confident that America is still winning the entrepreneurship contests because the forces of democratic socialism can’t overpower the higher-energy force of the private sector drive for creative innovation in return for market reward.
Human capital and research: The ability to execute overcomes any shortcomings in education.If we look through the declinist lens, it’s easy to become gravely concerned about the state of education at all levels in the US, which directly impacts the development and deployment of what economists refer to as human capital. Do we under-allocate resources to teaching schoolkids business and entrepreneurship skills and tools, and at the college level, do we turn out too many English and philosophy grads compared to market needs, and not enough engineers and STEM grads?
Lipton Matthews cautions us against worrying about the wrong things. The educational qualifications of the products of American schools and universities matters less than their executional and implementational capabilities. America is a nation of do-ers, and that type of expertise is embedded and innate, from the time of the founding fathers and early immigrants who built the America economy. We prize innovators more than inventors — the ones who successfully turn ideas into marketable products and services. Entrepreneurship is action, and American business capitalizes the talent for execution, combining scientific learning with creative action to generate innovation. Executional capacity comes more from a market orientation than from formal learning.
A concern about the research component of the Global Innovation Index’s “human capital and research” classification is, perhaps, more justified. Government-directed research dominates formal research budgets — directed to fields such as climate change — for universities in the US, and the historical evidence is clear that this pool of research is inappropriate for the support of entrepreneurship, despite European aspirations to an entrepreneurial state. Brilliant scholars and researchers who could be entrepreneurs and innovators are diverted into unproductive activities.
It’s difficult to quantify private sector R&D we must hope that it is sufficient to counter-balance the state’s diversion of research funds. In fact, Lipton Matthews points out, we must expect the state and innovators to be in competition. The former prefers control and stability versus the latter’s pursuit of disruption and change.
Infrastructure: Think local and regional, not national.We are frequently presented with stories about the crumbling of US infrastructure. That’s the wrong level of focus, according to Lipton Matthews. First we should compare US infrastructure to other countries, where the quality of engineers and engineering may be lower, and so roads, bridges and communications networks are inherently superior in the US. Second, we should focus on infrastructure in our localities and regions. Local communities can manage infrastructure well in support of local businesses. Some towns and cities will have better-managed and better-maintained infrastructure than other parts of their state, and businesses will be attracted there.
Market sophistication: capital flowing to best entrepreneurial uses.Lipton Matthews interprets the Global Innovation Index’s category of market sophistication to refer to the financing of startups, scale-ups and innovative entrepreneurial businesses. American deployment of venture capital and the widespread networked access to investment funds are examples of market sophistication in practice. Ordinary people can invest in startups and innovation, and entrepreneurs at every stage of their journey can arrange access to investors.
While these investment funding networks may not be perfect, and while we may encounter some challenges in moving capital to the bottom of the pyramid, nevertheless, the private financial sector in the US is effective in directing funds towards innovation. While there may be some erosion of purpose, from long term funding of innovation to making money via short term trading in-and-out of markets, this does not detract from America’s lead in market sophistication.
Business sophistication: The ability of business to absorb new knowledge and use it to innovate.Bart Madden called knowledge-building proficiency the central differentiating function of the successful firm. Our businesses are learning machines, continuously generating new knowledge via R&D, marketplace experiments, interactions with customers and feedback from all business activities. While it’s possible that Americans might be eclipsed by some other countries in the race to produce patents, this is not a relevant measure. Marketplace innovation is the test of business sophistication, not patent registration. Knowledge accumulation must be accompanied by knowledge application.
America’s entrepreneurial nation of doers not only engages in eternal learning but in the adaptive entrepreneurial method of act-learn-improve. The rest of the world has not fully caught up.
SummaryIn Lipton’s eyes, America was oriented for entrepreneurial success by the founding fathers and early immigrants, and will continue to innovate and grow as a result of entrepreneurship. Only if we get in our own way through excessive statism, regulation and government intervention that misdirects our energy and resources will we break the well-established historical track record.
Additional ResourcesGlobal Innovation Index: Mises.org/E4B_209_Index
"For Now, Entrepreneurship And Innovation Still Hold A High Place In The USA" by Lipton Matthews: Mises.org/E4B_209_Article
Can private markets only be regulated by government? Hindenburg Research's successes against corporate corruption suggest otherwise.
Original Article: "How Markets Are Better than Government Regulators at Fighting Corporate Corruption"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Mark Thornton explains the target as another smokescreen that was originally intended to stabilize monetary policy, currencies, and exchange rates, but has become a justification for inflation and central bank manipulation.
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
With Yale economics professor Yusuke Narita suggesting mass suicide—seppuku—as the answer to Japan's rapidly aging demographics, Jeff and Bob take a hard look at the economics and humanity of greying America.
Richard Hanania, "Gerontocracy Versus Western Civilization": Mises.org/HAP383a
Bob on opting out of Social Security: Mises.org/HAP383b
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop address whether the Ohio train disaster is an example of "capitalism gone amuck". They discuss Murray Rothbard's views on pollution, the secondary consequences of the regulatory state, and the decaying qualities of modern financialization.
Also, join the Mises Institute in Tampa this month for a special event featuring Per Bylund, Jeff Deist, Tho Bishop, and Brett Lindell, on February 25. Learn more at Mises.org/Tampa.
Recommended Reading"Are Libertarians Too Anti-Pollution?" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_121_A
"Financialization: Why the Financial Sector Now Rules the Global Economy" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_121_B
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
On the heels of rising stock markets, record low unemployment rates, and even the plunge in the price of gasoline, Mark discusses the latest government economic reports including the hot retail sales numbers, recent increases in the CPI, and the increases in business inventories. What can be made of these confusing numbers?
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
The constitution has not protected our natural rights, nor did it prevent the US from becoming a blood-soaked failed state a mere 73 years after the constitution was ratified.
Original Article: "The Constitution Failed. It Secured Neither Peace nor Freedom."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
What can economics tell us about designing fulfilling jobs and productive workplaces? Quite a lot if we apply the economics of subjective value and empathy. Melissa Swift is the author of Work Here Now: Think Like A Human And Build A Powerhouse Workplace. She discusses her research on the Economics For Business podcast.
Knowledge CapsulePoorly designed jobs and workplaces are dangerous, dull, annoying, frustrating and/or confusing.The results of academic research have confirmed how alienated many workers are from their jobs, and the trends in these findings are worsening, not improving. During the pandemic, many of us had the opportunity to stand back and survey this situation, and realize that it’s a problem that we need to address.
We can do better by applying Austrian economics principles of subjective value and empathy.The economics of subjective value should point employers in the direction of asking how employees feel about their jobs and the sense of purpose and meaning they derive from them. Why do these considerations not arise, or why are they insufficiently acknowledged? Melissa Swift sees what she calls a wall between how human beings operate and how the world of work operates. We think in discrete terms about “work” on one hand, and “people” on another, and don’t integrate them well.
Managers have demonstrated a penchant for intensifying work (doing more in less time and with fewer resources) and for pressing for over-collaboration (too many reports, checkpoints, meetings and interactions and exchanges, and belonging to too many teams) with the ultimate result of detracting from an individual’s capacity to get things done. Managers don’t necessarily tie the design of work to impact delivered or value created.
In fact, much work is performative, putting on a display of work that is not necessarily productive (writing impeccable but essentially useless reports, for example).
Managers should be actively looking for and rooting out problems of bad jobs and poor work environments.Melissa Swift’s formula is to be humble and curious in asking how work feels to those who are doing it. Employees know their work better than managers do (an observation which, of course, turns management science on its head).
There are a couple of “monsters” that can be identified and tamed. One is the anxiety monster - we all feel anxiety about whether we are productive enough, or doing good enough work, or being viewed in a favorable light. Anxious managers stand over people, telling them to work harder and faster. We must shut down all the anxious stories that are in our heads.
Employees can be over-anxious about customers, too. We may tend to over-deliver on customer care and customer expectations, to the point where we train them to be so demanding that they go beyond the point where the corporation is capable of fulfilling its own promises.
Once “monster” jobs — those that generate excess anxiety — are established, there’s a tendency for the HR “copy machine” to copy-paste them throughout the company, so that more employees become stressed.
Listening for job stress and devising better ways of working is an entrepreneurial task.The entrepreneurial mindset is to listen to customers (in this case, job incumbents), to identify unmet needs, which are aways based on emotion and can never be articulated perfectly clearly, to creatively design new solutions to the customer’s felt problem, and to institute positive change using the new solution. This implies continuous adaptive change in job descriptions, performance expectations, structures, team and tasks.
The entrepreneurial approach is often hard to apply in the corporation. One reason is that incentives are lined up to favor what Melissa Swift calls “smooth”. Management incentive schemes are often designed to encourage “smooth” — no drastic changes or turns, steady progress. Yet the adaptive entrepreneurial system does not promise smooth, and can’t delver it. Innovation in response to changes in customer preferences or competition can be bumpy. And many organizations suffer from autoimmune disease — the defenses go up as soon as something unknown or unprecedented is encountered.
Good leadership can counter the auto-immune response — but it’s leadership that does less rather than more, relaxing constraints and letting those closest to customers and markets to make any needed adjustments and to respond at the rate of change that the market demands. Business school concepts of leadership have goaded executives into over-managing and over-controlling, and reversing the over-active concept of leadership is one of Melissa Swifts core prescriptions.
The HR Department is a big part of the problem.The deep history of HR is dark. The function was founded to quell violence between labor and management. HR was to stand in the middle and to keep a lid on a boiling pot, as Melissa picturesquely expressed it. Performance management — mechanically measuring humans’ output in these toxic adversarial environments — was never a warm or supportive concept. As big business became more centralized, HR simply became more empowered and widened its scope. There was never much humanism in HR.
HR departments are not typically thinking about work and how work is changing and how to make it a better experience for people. If they were, they’d be thinking differently about matching talent to jobs, thinking more deeply about how alienating and constraining automation technology can be to those who have to use it. They know they are being monitored and measured and assessed.
Melissa recommends couples therapy for technology and those who work with it — to stop each party from driving the other crazy.
Asynchronous work, deconstructed work, transparent work.Melissa’s book has 90 strategies for organizational level and team level problem solving actions and adjustments. We discussed three directions for better work.
Asynchronous work: fewer meetings, which provides greater flexibility for workers, it naturally de-intensifies (you don’t have to have the report ready for the regularly scheduled Thursday meeting), and it makes for more relaxed collaboration across time zones. Asynchronous work tends to be better documented and more permanent.
Deconstructed work: start with tasks to be done rather than job descriptions; assemble the optimum combination of humans and technology to get the tasks done; let talent flow to the work, i.e., it doesn’t matter if it is full time employees, part-timers, project specialists or gig workers or agencies or consultants doing the work, so long as the tasks get done by the best-qualified talent.
Transparent work: make all information available to all employees at all times, nothing hidden or out-of-bounds. As a result, employees and teams have all the information they need to do their jobs, with no need for hierarchical or administrative intervention. Accountability and empowerment are enhanced, and new talent may emerge when you don’t hire for information but for skill in using it.
Additional ResourcesWork Here Now: Think Like A Human And Build A Powerhouse Workplace by Melissa Swift: Mises.org/E4B_208_Book1
Bullshit Jobs: A Theory by David Graeber: Mises.org/E4B_208_Book2
Mark Thornton takes a look back at US stock markets, the national debt, and Fed policy (ZIRP, money supply, and its balance sheet).
"After the Boom Must Come the Bust" (Radio Rothbard): Mises.org/MI_06_A
Austrian Economic Research Conference: AustrianEconomics.org
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Mark Thornton looks at how much money Americans will spend on the Super Bowl this year and discusses the accuracy of the Super Bowl Stock Market Indicator.
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Mises Institute scholar and Troy University business school Dean Allen Mendenhall is among the leading critics of woke capital. He leads a new initiative against the perverse investment practices demanded by ESG/DEI commissars, and joins Jeff Deist to discuss both the origins of "stakeholder" capitalism and what we can do to push back against ideological purity tests in capital markets and corporate America.
AllenMendenhall.com
"Troy University tackles 'woke' business practices head-on with new program": Mises.org/HAP382a
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop feel obligated to discuss the State of the Union address. Was anything of value learned? Tune in to find out.
Also, join the Mises Institute in Tampa this month for a special event featuring Per Bylund, Jeff Deist, Tho Bishop, and Brett Lindell, on February 25. Learn more at Mises.org/Tampa.
Recommended Reading"Raise the Social Security Age to (at Least) 75" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_120_A
"Another Recession Sign: Part-Time Work Is Growing Faster than Full-Time Work" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_120_B
"Yes, the US Government Has Defaulted Before" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_120_C
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Americans often have defended the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as regrettable but necessary for ending World War II. The actual record tells us a much different story.
Original Article: "Questioning the Military Necessity of Dropping Atomic Bombs on Japanese Cities"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Mark Thornton discusses the history of record low unemployment rates and the business cycle.
See "Unemployment Rate" (UNRATE) from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: Mises.org/MI_04_Chart
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
The imposition of minimum wages harms the economy, although there are nuances in how much harm they cause. It is better not to impose minimum wages at all.
Original Article: "Yes, the Minimum Wage Harms the Economy"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Back in January Jeff Deist joined the Austrian Economics Discord Server for a live event concerning trends in 2023. Jeff makes the case for viewing today's economy as quite unlike that of 2007—due to steady increases in CPI, more fiscal stimulus relative to monetary stimulus, and ongoing supply shock issues from COVID.
This is a far-ranging discussion of the landscape for the Fed, persistent inflation, and a looming recession. Includes Q and A from the audience.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss Jay Powell's exercise in Fed-speak this week. While political pressure mounts at home for the Fed to turn dovish, growing international challenges to the dollar's dominance mount. Ryan and Tho also examine the Saudi's willingness to question the petrodollar and recent rumblings down south of a South American monetary union.
Also, join the Mises Institute in Tampa this month for a special event featuring Per Bylund, Jeff Deist, Tho Bishop, and Brett Lindell, on February 25. Learn more at Mises.org/Tampa.
Recommended Reading"The Fed Is Already Flashing Signs It's Done Raising Rates" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_119_A
"How FedGov Destroyed the Housing Market" (Human Action Podcast): Mises.org/RR_119_B
"Why the End of the Petrodollar Spells Trouble for the US Regime" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_119_C
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Entrepreneurship is by no means exclusively American. But this country has led the way in unleashing, encouraging and elevating entrepreneurship as the creative and virtuous pathway to the creation of new value for all. As a republic, we’ve established the institutional framework in which entrepreneurship can flourish, and entrepreneurs who are successful in creating value reap — and keep — the rewards. Dr. Samuel Gregg, in his book The Next American Economy, examines how this framework was designed at the founding, and discusses what we must all do to preserve it and re-animate it despite the attacks on it from the left.
Knowledge CapsuleEntrepreneurship and the founding of America are intertwined.America remains the most entrepreneurial country in the world, even if the degree is declining. Our nation has many people willing to pursue the uncertain path of creating new economic value for customers through new products, services and businesses; and, equally importantly, people who will try and buy the new offerings.
Alexis de Tocqueville captured the entrepreneurial character in Democracy In America. He thought everyone in America was entrepreneurial. He noted that those immigrants who arrived would quickly start a business, then move on to another one. He observed the tremendous creative energy of the United States. Immigrants have already embraced change in the act of leaving one country to establish themselves in another, and business entrepreneurship is a direct expression of this same love of change.
In fact, says Dr. Gregg, America was designed by its Founding Fathers — as they plainly expressed in the Constitution, Declaration Of Independence, the Federalist papers and documents like Washington’s Farewell Address - as a commercial republic based on entrepreneurship, and not a political or military or top-down republic or mass democracy. Commerce — or what we would call business — was not viewed with disdain, as it was in aristocratic Britain, but as republican virtue. Washington’s Farewell Address refers to the importance of expanding, of national and international navigation and trading, and about the development of strong markets to give Americans an outlet for their production. Business was viewed as the height of civilizational activity. There was a commercial ethic in the vision of a commercial republic which would grow wealth for all. Economic expectations were high and political institutions were designed to be compatible with these economic expectations.
There is an increasing trend towards government and the administrative state strangling the creative energy of American entrepreneurship.The erosion of institutional integrity shift and suppresses the creative energy of entrepreneurs. A strong tradition of property rights, in which entrepreneurs can feel confident that they will not only be able to earn but also keep the reward that come from satisfying customers and meeting demand, is an important element of the incentive structure for entrepreneurship. Similarly, entrepreneurs need to feel confidence that commercial disputes will be fairly adjudicated in courts. And they also need to feel confidence that government regulation will not act as an unreversible ratchet of restrictions on their value-creation activities.
The trends in the business environment in the US are currently running in the opposite direction: the property rights of successful entrepreneurs are being increasingly questioned and squeezed, commercial interests are viewed unfavorably in courts, and the regulation ratchet is running in the direction of more, not less, restriction on commerce.
Dr. Gregg sees the anti-entrepreneurship trend beginning in the Progressive Era and gathering pace since the days of Woodrow Wilson. Progressives seek forms of control that will suppress economic uncertainty and social turbulence. The entrepreneurial embrace of change and pursuit of new value must be suppressed. If society and the economy is to conform to their design, unpredictable creativity must be excluded. The progressive control urge took expanded form in the New Deal and the Great Society and all the successive opportunistically explosive expansions of government power.
The anti-entrepreneurial tool is regulation and the administrative state.Dr. Gregg employs the term corporatism to mean legislators and elected politicians, government departments and their administrative bureaucracies working together with big corporations and NGO’s to impose control through regulation — “attempting to manage everything for everyone else”. Corporatism is very uncomfortable with freedom, and is more than willing to trade off liberty, and the capacity of markets for entrepreneurial competition, in favor of stagnation and the vision of engineering a specific economic outcome. Their preference is for a form of regulatory state capitalism that exerts control over free enterprise.
Recently developed constraints such as ESG and DEI are a manifestation of state capitalism with a particular ideological edge that emanates from left-leaning politics. Companies can no longer have a free choice in the assembly and orchestration of their human capital, which will seriously impair the capacity of the economy to deliver what consumers expect of it.
Most of the government’s regulation is not aimed at any “public good” (e.g., overall workplace safety) but at special protections for specific interest groups. Often, the businesses who are protecting their interests are the ones who, first, initiate the regulation, and second, write it, through their lobbying firms. If citizens were more habituated to asking who is the group behind any specific regulation, there’d be a greater understanding of this problem and a developing distaste for regulation.
Dr. Gregg sees the expansion of state capitalism and the regulatory state as cyclical and capable of reversal.The trends are in the wrong direction, but are not irreversible. Dr. Gregg expressed great confidence in the ability of Americans to work their way around the regulatory barriers to creative entrepreneurship. He highlighted two of the optimistic themes in his book:
Capital, capital, capital: Regulation has made it increasingly difficult to match up small entrepreneurial businesses with the capital they need. It takes lots of expensive lawyers to navigate the regulatory jungle that exists for capital acquisition in the us. Yet, American entrepreneurs are proving to be just as creative in capital acquisition as in other fields. They can find their way around the regulatory system. Inventions such as crowdsourcing are a good example of new ways to access capital. The fintech industry is entirely dedicated to freer access to capital. Angel funds, regional and local venture capital funds, new entrepreneurial communities (such as Brandjectory) and new two-sided investment platforms provide more impetus.
Deregulate, deregulate, deregulate: If we want to retain the American edge in entrepreneurship, we should focus on reducing the size and scope of the regulation at the local, state and federal level. One of Dr. Gregg’s fears is that individuals become political entrepreneurs, and their efforts are directed towards finding ways to thrive in an expanding administrative state and insufficiently on creating new and improved products. Let’s find creative ways to reduce regulations, rather than creative ways to survive.
Additional ResourcesThe Next American Economy: Nation, State And Markets In An Uncertain World by Samuel Gregg: Mises.org/E4B_206_Book
Government interference into money creation and production harms the economy in a number of ways, including skewing the organization of division of labor.
Original Article: "Fiat Money Inflation Not Only Raises Prices but Also Undermines Division of Labor"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
No one will read For a New Liberty and not see the world with very different eyes afterward.
Original Article: "Hans-Hermann Hoppe on For a New Liberty at 50"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Professor Per Bylund of Oklahoma State University, author of How to Think About the Economy joins Jeff and Bob to dissect how economics went so badly wrong. A discipline rooted in theory, axioms, and deduction has devolved into statistics, models, and hard science envy. Is the economics profession doing any good, or active harm?
Per's new book How to Think About the Economy: Mises.org/Primer
Gary North and Walter Block debate "Is it Smart to Get a PhD in Economics": Mises.org/HAP380a
The Federal Reserve has created a huge boom full of bubbles. But after the boom must eventually come a bust. Ryan and Tho talk to Mises Institute Senior Fellow Mark Thornton about what to expect from the next recession and how we got ourselves into our current inflationary mess.
Recommended Reading"Eliminating Economic Crises" by Mark Thornton: Mises.org/RR_118_A
"The REAL Solution to the Coming Economic Crisis" by Mark Thornton: Mises.org/RR_118_B
"Wholesale Price Inflation Is Slowing as Economy Worsens" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_118_C
The Skyscraper Curse: And How Austrian Economists Predicted Every Major Economic Crisis of the Last Century by Mark Thornton: Mises.org/RR_118_D
"Will the Fed Pop the Everything Bubble?" by Daniel Lacalle: Mises.org/RR_118_E
"The Trillion-Dollar Coin Idea Is Just Another Way to Rip Us Off" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_118_F
"The Fed's Real Mandate" by Mark Thornton: Mises.org/RR_118_G
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Ryan McMaken and Zachary Yost discuss new estimates of just how costly a US-China war over Taiwan would be. Things are made even worse by the fact the US is already shopping most of its weapon stockpiles to Ukraine. The US government simply refuses to acknowledge that scarcity exists.
Additional Resources"The First Battle of the Next War: Wargaming a Chinese Invasion of Taiwan" by Mark F. Cancian, Matthew Cancian, and Eric Heginbotham: Mises.org/WES_07_A
"Taiwan Is Not Ukraine" by Zachary Yost: Mises.org/WES_07_B
"Victory Without Battle: A Smarter Vision for US-Taiwan Policy" by Zachary Yost: Mises.org/WES_07_C
"Rebuilding U.S. Inventories: Six Critical Systems" by Mark F. Cancian: Mises.org/WES_07_D
"Taiwan has nearly US$19 billion in arms sales backlogged in US" by Eric Chang: Mises.org/WES_07_E
"Costs of War" (The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs): Mises.org/WES_07_F
Be sure to follow War, Economy, and State at Mises.org/WES.
No matter the historical era, governments have excelled at one thing: debasing their own currency. Rome was no exception, as Roman government excesses required inflation—lots of inflation.
Original Article: "Rome's Runaway Inflation: Currency Devaluation in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Jeff and Bob break down this week's Davos WEF conference and consider whether global elites really have the mechanisms to impose their plans.
Johnny Vedmore's analysis of Schwab's origins: Mises.org/HAP379a
Scott Greer says America's right-want needs to stop dwelling on Schwab: Mises.org/HAP379b
Schwab bragging about penetrating Cabinets: Mises.org/HAP379c
On this week's Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop celebrate World Economic Forum week by discussing the Managerial Revolution. While James Burnham's disinterest in economics made his criticism of capitalism cringey, modern financialization has manipulated the profit and loss mechanisms that any fan of his work can appreciate. Also, what is the lasting impact of the political capture of corporate power? Will the next crisis allow for a needed re-evaluation of insidious neoliberalism, or will "hypercapitalism" get the blame? Tune in for this and more on the latest episode.
Recommended Reading"The Fed Is a Purely Political Institution, and It's Definitely Not a Bank" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_117_A
"Financialization: Why the Financial Sector Now Rules the Global Economy" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_117_B
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
In economics, production and marketing are not separate concepts. Production responds to customers’ needs and marketing is the expression of those needs inside the firm. The entire customer-facing activity of the firm is marketing. Like any other business activity, there is constant flux brought to bear by changing customer preferences, competitive innovation and market evolution. Marketing must be adaptive to change, and a major shift is occurring right now. Mark Schaefer writes about it in Belonging To The Brand: Why Community Is The Last Great Marketing Strategy.
Knowledge CapsuleEstablished strategies and tactics of marketing are no longer effective.Marketing thought-leader Mark Schaefer puts it this way: marketing doesn’t work like it used to. The established techniques were biased towards outbound communication, such as advertising, PR and events. Mark classifies these techniques as “interrupt and annoy” to try to get customers to give their attention to feature and benefit of the company’s offerings. The communications environment shifted from analog to digital and from outbound to interactive, but interrupt and annoy remained the primary technique.
Finally, there’s an alternative marketing strategy.The new strategy goes by the term “community” or “community building”. As economics advises, it’s a product of customer sovereignty. People want to belong to communities that share values and interests. And in the digital age, where work-from-home and glued-to-a-screen are life conditions that can lead to profound loneliness, the need for belonging is amplified. The covid lockdown experience exacerbated the problem.
Community is an experience that is highly valued by customer, distinguished via three features:
Connection with each other. There’s a group feeling of difference that’s not shared with others who don’t belong to the community.Purpose: community members gather because they have a shared reason to do so, whether it is software development or wine appreciation or the development of technical skills. There are shared rituals and traditions and common behaviors that generate a sense of group identity and bonding through common values.Relevance: A thriving community adapt and adjusts as times and members’ needs change. Adaptability strengthens group cohesion and assures continuity and resilience.There’s a business case for community building.Community-building may replace brand-building as a primary pathway to facilitating value for customers and thereby generating strong cash flows. The technique has a viable business model.
Differentiation: when customers bond in community, they’re differentiating themselves and the brand(s) they prefer and support. It’s a lasting advantage.Market monitoring: a community is a continuing conversation, a source of insight and signals of change.High speed information: the flow of information from customers and markets to firms is another source of advantage. The behaviors and preferences of community members can be continuously polled, with the opportunity for fast response.Trust. Businesses are recognizing the importance of trust in relationships with ever-greater clarity. Brand communities are trusted by their members; trust is inherent.Advocacy. Community members become the marketer. They communicate benefits and positive experiences. User-generated content both reduces marketing costs and adds authenticity and belief.Loyalty: The most profitable customers are the most loyal customers. Community members are loyal, and, in fact, go beyond loyalty to “attachment”.Co-creation. Value is created by customers in their own experience, or it can be viewed as co-created through interactions with the firm and its products and services. In brand communities, there is community co-creation, such as in LEGO Ideas groups and the IKEA user community.Membership as a product: Some communities become the business modem as members pay both to join and maintain membership and purchase the products and services of the community.Cultural alignment: community is a trend, especially for younger people experiencing social and digital isolation.Customer data: when members freely express their values and preferences, they create a rich new first-hand data source.Purpose is the critical driver.There’s a case to be made that a brand is its purpose. A clear and compelling purpose provides inner direction for the entrepreneur and the management team throughout the entrepreneurial journey. Shared purpose can bind customers to the brand. The same is true for a brand community; Mark Schaefer talks of bold, piercing purpose that aligns every resource of the company towards the community goal. Harley-Davidson is one (well-used) example: fulfilling dreams through the experience of motorcycling. The purpose is a customer experience, aligned with their values and open to their expansive and creative interpretation.
Corporate purpose, when genuinely felt and well-expressed, Mark writes, can be existential (this is why we exist?), differentiating (how do we make a difference?), values-based (how are our founding values relevant to the world?), distinctive (what headlines will be written about us), adaptive (how is the world changing in a way that unites us with our community?) and fulfilling (how can we fulfill customers’ dreams?)
Additional ResourcesMark’s Books:
Belonging To The Brand: Why Community Is The Last Great Marketing Strategy: Mises.org/E4B_204_Book1
Marketing Rebellion: The Most Human Company Wins: Mises.org/E4B_204_Book2
The Marketing Companion podcast: Mises.org/E4B_204_Pod
Mark Schaefer website: BusinessesGrow.com
Relatively free trade and capital mobilization have greatly raised living standards in recent years. Yet those that call themselves globalists are less interested in trade than in unipolar political power, pushing violent, disastrous schemes.
Original Article: "Globalization, Not Globalism: Free Trade versus Destructive Statist Ideology"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Dr. Peter Klein, professor of entrepreneurship at Baylor University and co-author of the new book Why Managers Matter, joins Jeff and Bob to explain the huge disconnect between supply and demand for labor in post-COVID America.
Dr. Klein's new book Why Managers Matter: Mises.org/HAP378a
Despite worries that foreign "competitors" will surpass economic production in the United States, innovation and entrepreneurship are still important here. For now.
Original Article: "For Now, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Still Holds a High Place in the USA"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop call for breaking up the US into smaller states. While this idea sounds radical to some, there has been growing conversation about shifting state borders, including proposals to break up California and a recent vote on the Greater Idaho project. Ryan and Tho discuss what lessons the Swiss model of federalism, as well as consider the cynical political considerations of this humble proposal.
Recommended Reading"If American Federalism Were like Swiss Federalism, There Would be 1,300 States" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_116_A
"The Borders Between US States Are Obsolete" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_116_B
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
The concept of risk provides us with an excellent opportunity to bridge between formal economic theory and personal business experience. Economics provides us with rigorous understanding of risk and uncertainty and the distinctions between them and their various types. But risk — the word that we use in everyday conversation — bring with it subjective feelings that affect how we approach it.
Knowledge CapsuleIt’s appropriate for entrepreneurs to reframe the concept of risk so that they can embrace it wholeheartedly.Risk has traditionally been framed as the downside of a choice. It’s the potential negative outcome for anything we try. But we just have to look at our own lives to see that a lot of risks we’ve taken have generated upside, whether that’s choosing a college, getting married, or taking a particular job. If we feel good about the outcome, then risk is a path to reward.
Part of the reframing of risk is to see it as a process rather than a single choice.Risk can sound like it comes at us as a single choice, or an event, or a once-and-for-all decision. It’s much better to think of risk as a process — a behavioral process rather than a decision-making threshold. The risk process is one of experimentation —taking small steps, trying different things, getting feedback from the market, making adjustments, then trying some more things.
Instead of “starting a business”, we can think of setting out on the pathway to entrepreneurship. Instead of “committing to a future new product launch”, we can think initiating an exploration with low resource commitment until we have better feedback knowledge in order to take the next step and commit more resources. We can think of a new initiative as an experience gap that we look to fill with knowledge from experts and experience from mentors or advisors who’ve done something similar.
The key to this reframed risk process is a courageous commitment to perpetual learning.Through learning, we can all redefine our understanding of risk and re-establish our relationship with it. A part of risk is the ego-bruising realization that we don’t know everything and can therefore make mistakes, or take actions that have unintended consequences.
By embracing learning, we establish a social reward for not knowing — learning is viewed positively, as a reward. Developing new knowledge is one of the primary roles of the entrepreneur. While it may take intellectual courage to own up to not knowing, the courage is rewarded with new understanding and new advantages. There’s always opportunity to learn more.
Imagination is an antidote to risk.Imagination can overcome risk. We all have the capability of imagining future achievements — “future wins”, as Angie Morgan Witkowski put it. Imagination can be an exercise in creativity, and it’s OK to let it run wild, releasing our minds from the restraints that risk can impose. Taking the time for free-thinking can be very beneficial.
The pathway to the imagined future is to marry possibility with probability. In our exercise in imagination, it’s easy to eliminate the impossible. But we shouldn’t limit the possible. We can start from the imagined possible future and then work back through probabilities about whether we can accomplish it. Angie stimulated her business imagination vi a sidewalk margarita bar in Florida and ultimately opened a successful coffee shop in Traverse City, Michigan. It was a process of working backwards from what was possible to what was more probably, given her circumstances.
Similarly, her consulting business started by imagining writing a book about a better style of leadership than is taught in business school. She contacted literary agents, who encouraged her not only to write the book but to also start a speaking business. The audience for her speaking engagements sought consulting help, and she developed a series of workshops as part of the delivery system. Her consulting business is now cross-industry, from startups to the oil-and-gas majors, and worldwide. It started with imagination.
Imagination is complemented by hard work and realistic capacity assessment.It would be wrong to think that the reframing of risk to action and perpetual learning comes additional without costs. Angie mentioned two. One is hard work. All learning pathways must be undertaken with the commitment to working as hard as it takes to advance. It requires time, effort, and continuous review. The intellectual courage that Angie highlighted is hard work in itself — the cognitive work of thinking about how to think, exercising cognitive discipline, exploring flexible options such as design thinking, that require the effort of looking at problems from many different perspectives.
The second cost Angie mentioned is the honest assessment of our capacity. We can imagine future wins and assess the probability of achieving them, but we must be honest about our capacity. Do we have the resources, do we have the skills, can we assemble the right team, are we willing to undertake the hard work?
Putting hard work and capacity together means we don’t risk an inadequate attempt to solve the target problem. As Angie put it, using Marines language, don’t be “half-assed”.
Action is more important than planning.Angie’s prescription in her book, Bet On You, is for one-third of time to be allocated to planning and two-thirds making things happen. The make-things-happen part is what generates the feedback loop and learning that is so important. Here are Economics For Business, we’d probably relegate planning to 10% or less of resource allocation, but the point is the same. Action is the more important.
There is one aspect of planning that can deliver extra value, and that’s planning for failure, or contingency planning. Our imagination should be partially applied to imagining what could go wrong. How would the contingency transpire? What would we do next if it did? We should prepare for resilience in the aftermath of a setback.
A plan, in Angie’s words (which, in turn, come from the Marines), is a reference point for change.
Ultimately, risk must feel good.If the antidote to the downside of risk is imagining future wins, then we can also benefit from a focus on the wins we experience every day. Choose the path that feels good both tomorrow and today, and that makes all efforts worthwhile.
Additional ResourcesBet On You: How To Win With Risk by Angie Morgan and Courtney Lynch: Mises.org/E4B_203_Book
Bet On You Podcast: Mises.org/E4B_203_Podcast
Angie Morgan Witkowski on LinkedIn: Mises.org/E4B_203_LinkedIn
Yuval Noah Harari, who teaches history at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, denies that free will exists. However, to deny free will is to deny human action itself.
Original Article: "Objection, Professor Harari! Logic Proves the Existence of Free Will"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
There is no real housing market in the US. Instead, an unholy trinity of Fannie/Freddie, the US Treasury, and the Federal Reserve Bank operate to distort the market at every turn and drive home prices up dramatically. Mises Institute Senior Fellow Alex Pollock, an economist and former mortgage banker, joins Jeff to describe the reality few Americans know.
Alex Pollock's new book Surprised Again: The Covid Crisis and the New Market Bubble : Mises.org/HAP377a
Alex Pollock on how the Fed became the world's biggest S&L: Mises.org/HAP377b
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are back for 2023, savoring the chaos in Congress. As the House Republican rebellion threatens to keep Kevin McCarthy from gaining the speaker's gavel, Ryan and Tho look at other potential targets for a Republican-held Congress.
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
We know that "bring the troops home" is too much for America's foreign policy establishment. But if they can't handle that, a good first step would be to at least "bring the troops home" to the western hemisphere and the Americas. A new Monroe doctrine would be a less bad foreign policy paradigm than what we have now.
Additional Resources"Wall Street, Banks, and American Foreign Policy" by Murray N. Rothbard: Mises.org/WES_06_A
Be sure to follow War, Economy, and State at Mises.org/WES.
University of Chicago professor Martha C. Nussbaum wants to save the world by preventing animals from eating each other in the wild. David Gordon (after pulling himself off the floor) comments on her proposal.
Original Article: "You've Got to Be Kidding: Professor Demands Animals Stop Eating Each Other"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Self-determination means the ability to make laws for one's own community free from intervention by Washington, DC. Most of the world can do this. Why can't Americans?
Original Article: "Secession: Why the Regime Tolerates Self-Determination for Foreigners but Not for Americans"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Bob and Jeff make their provocative 2023 predictions for the economy, the Fed, politics, world events, and cultural issues.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop look ahead to 2023 with a handful of predictions for the new year. They even manage to find one reason for optimism!
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Twenty-six years ago, the debate was over whether or not the target inflation rate should be raised from zero to 2 percent. Now we're being told it should be 4 or 6 percent.
Original Article: "No Surprise: Wall Street Wants to Raise the Target Inflation Rate above 2 Percent"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The Pilgrims tried socialism at Plymouth. After two years, they returned to private enterprise. Likewise, Israel was founded as a socialist state but has back turned toward free markets.
Original Article: "A (True) Thanksgiving Tale of Socialism in America and Israel"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
This week's show features a bare-knuckle discussion between Jeff and José Niño of "El Niño Speaks" on the biggest political, economic, and cultural events of 2022—and what they portend for 2023.
You don't want to miss Jeff's unvarnished thoughts on the Left, the Right, the economy, and what is sure to be a turbulent New Year.
Read José's Substack: josbcf.substack.com
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop look back at 2022 and touch on some of the worst and underappreciated trends of the year. For those interested in a more holiday-themed episode, check out last year's debate on the virtues of Ebenezer Scrooge (Mises.org/RR_45).
Looking for Christmas gifts? Use promo code ROTHPOD for a 20% discount on select books featured on Radio Rothbard. Or, use code MURRAYCHRISTMAS for a special 10% discount on select new Mises apparel: Mises.org/RR_113_Store
Recommended Reading"Why Are So Many Men Leaving the Workforce?" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_113_A
"The Jobs "Boom" Isn't So Hot When We Remember Nearly Six Million Men Are Missing from the Workforce" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_113_B
"The Pandemic Is 'Over,' but the Feds Aren't Giving Up Their Emergency Powers" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_113_C
"Ebenezer Scrooge: Hero or Villain?" (Radio Rothbard): Mises.org/RR_113_D
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Critics of capitalism claim that it is responsible for creating inequality in society. Yet the precapitalist societies enforced inequality in a rigid social structure.
Original Article: "Capitalism Does Not Create Social Inequality"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Both the title and the substance of "Vices are not Crimes" highlight the unique role that morality and moral principle had for Spooner among the anarchists and libertarians of his day. For Spooner was the last of the great natural-rights theorists among anarchists, classical liberals, or moral theorists generally; the doughty old heir of the natural law-natural rights tradition of the 17th and 18th centuries was fighting a rearguard battle against the collapse of the idea of a scientific or rational morality, or of the science of justice or of individual right.
Narrated by Michael Stack.
"The object aimed at in the punishment of vices is to deprive every man of his natural right and liberty to pursue his own happiness under the guidance of his own judgment and by the use of his own property."
Narrated by Michael Stack.
Does 2022 America still have legitimate intellectuals? Professor Paul Gottfried joins Jeff and Bob to consider the state of real and pseudo-intellectualism.
Progressives seem to believe that we improve healthcare outcomes by spending more. This is a recipe for failure.
Original Article: "Spending More Government Money on Healthcare Does Not Improve Health Outcomes"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
It has been a hundred years since Mises published Socialism. It is more relevant than ever.
Original Article: "Reflections upon the Centennial of Mises's Socialism"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
There appears to be a six-million-man gap between the number of men in the prime age group—age 25–54—and the number of those men actually in the workforce.
Original Article: "The Jobs "Boom" Isn't So Hot When We Remember Nearly Six Million Men Are Missing from the Workforce"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Like the police in similar communities, the Moscow, Idaho Police have long focused on petty drug offenses while more serious violent crime and property crime receives far less attention.
Original Article: "The Student Murders in Idaho Highlight the Unimpressive Police Record on Violent Crime"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
High time preferences also mean high times in a party atmosphere. When Jamaica embraced socialism many decades ago, it wasn't supposed to come to this.
Original Article: "In Jamaica, the Tourists Party On behind High Walls and Locked Gates"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
While high-quality automobiles and other manufactured goods are being produced in the Southeast, northeastern states like New York are falling behind, thanks to progressive governance.
Original Article: "Economic Progress and Economic Decay: North versus South"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Hunter Hastings of Economics for Business joins Jeff for a thoroughgoing discussion of how monetary and fiscal policy distort capital markets and create perverse incentives for financialization rather than real production.
Jeff Deist, "Does M&A benefit the economy?": Mises.org/HAP373-ARothbard's America's Great Depression: Mises.org/AGDThe Economics for Business Podcast: Mises.org/E4Bpod
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Tho Bishop and Ryan McMaken discuss the recent report that the Pentagon has failed its fifth straight audit and why no one seems to care. Why has the public lost interest in basic fiscal sanity? How recent is this problem? What might force Americans to care?
Looking for Christmas gifts? Use promo code ROTHPOD for a 20% discount on select books featured on Radio Rothbard. Or, use code MURRAYCHRISTMAS for a special 10% discount on select new Mises apparel: Mises.org/RR_111_Store
Recommended Reading"As the Pentagon Fails Another Audit, Congress Wants to Spend Even More on 'Defense'" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_111_A
"Can a Deeply Unserious America Fix Its Economy?" by Jeff Deist: Mises.org/RR_111_B
"Biden's Defense Plan: Limitless Global Meddling" (War, Economy, and State podcast): Mises.org/RR_111_C
America: From Republic to Empire (video series): Mises.org/RR_111_D
The Betrayal of the American Right by Murray N. Rothbard: Mises.org/RR_111_E
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
On this episode of War, Economy, and State, Ryan McMaken and Zachary Yost take a look at the Biden Administration's new National Security Strategy. The Biden plan is to intervene everywhere and always across the entire globe. In fact, the plan absurdly says "nothing is beyond" the US's capacity to remake the global order.
Additional Resources"National Security Strategy, October 2022" (PDF): Mises.org/WES_05_A
Be sure to follow War, Economy, and State at Mises.org/WES.
Value for customers is the purpose of all entrepreneurial business. Firms big and small must know, follow, and adhere to the principles of value creation. This is pragmatic not theoretical — the consequence of a failure to do so is that the firm cannot survive.
Bartley J. Madden studied value creating firms as a co-founder of a successful investment research firm and then managing director of Credit Suisse HOLT. He is now an independent researcher and founder of the Madden Center For Value Creation in the College of Business at Florida Atlantic University.
He joins the Economics For Business podcast and shared a summary of a lifetime of research.
Knowledge CapsuleA systems thinking approach provides the best route to understanding value creation.The business firm is a sub-system within a bigger system, that of society. The effectiveness of the firm is tied to organizational learning and the evolution of dynamic capabilities. Bart Madden’s pragmatic theory of the firm treats it as a holistic system with a well-defined purpose. If it is successful in achieving its purpose, it will benefit the larger societal system.
The purpose of the firm is a four-fold composition of mutually reinforcing goals.Sometimes, the business literature is guilty of treating purpose as a PR statement, a catchphrase that can be communicated without it necessarily governing the firm’s behavior. Bart Madden’s view of purpose demonstrates much greater depth, appropriate for complex systems management. Purpose is 4-fold:
A vision of the value that can be realized by customers, and that can inspire and motivate employees to work for a firm committed to ethical behavior and making the world a better place through customer value. [[{"fid":"137418","view_mode":"image_no_caption","fields":{"format":"image_no_caption","alignment":"center","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Example 1","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_caption_text[und][0][value]":"","field_image_file_link[und][0][value]":""},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"image_no_caption","alignment":"center","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Example 1","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_caption_text[und][0][value]":"","field_image_file_link[und][0][value]":""}},"attributes":{"alt":"Example 1","class":"media-element file-image-no-caption media-wysiwyg-align-center","data-delta":"1"}}]] Customers consume value by experiencing it in their interactions and relationships with the firm. The customer’s experience is dynamic within their own system of competitive offerings and alternative choices.Survive and prosper through continual gains in efficiency and sustained innovation. These are long term performance variables that depend directly on a firm’s knowledge-building proficiency. A firm must generate a return that is greater than the cost of capital, and as it matures, this return can be eroded away by competitors who offer lower prices or different features to customers. Building knowledge and translating it into new business capabilities is critical for long-term survival. [[{"fid":"137419","view_mode":"image_no_caption","fields":{"format":"image_no_caption","alignment":"center","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Example 2","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_caption_text[und][0][value]":"","field_image_file_link[und][0][value]":""},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"2":{"format":"image_no_caption","alignment":"center","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Example 2","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_caption_text[und][0][value]":"","field_image_file_link[und][0][value]":""}},"attributes":{"alt":"Example 2","class":"media-element file-image-no-caption media-wysiwyg-align-center","data-delta":"2"}}]]Work continuously to sustain win-win relationships in every direction. Relationships with customers are primary for value creation, and relationships with employees and managers must generate the understanding, motivation and commitment to delivering customer value, while relationships with suppliers, collaborating firms and other partners must result in their best support for value creation. It’s a way of living and doing business that engenders trust all around. Shareholders are also rewarded as a consequence of these relationships.Take care of future generations. The long-term view of the pragmatic theory of the firm as a system within the bigger system of society emphasizes thoughtful concern for the future, so that return on capital can be sustained. Paying attention to minimizing waste in the earliest product and service design stages can serve the future, and this includes minimizing pollution (a form of waste) and reducing harm to the environment.[[{"fid":"137421","view_mode":"image_no_caption","fields":{"format":"image_no_caption","alignment":"center","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Example 3","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_caption_text[und][0][value]":"","field_image_file_link[und][0][value]":""},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"4":{"format":"image_no_caption","alignment":"center","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Example 3","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_caption_text[und][0][value]":"","field_image_file_link[und][0][value]":""}},"attributes":{"alt":"Example 3","class":"media-element file-image-no-caption media-wysiwyg-align-center","data-delta":"4"}}]]A firm that is successful in achieving its four-part purpose benefits customers, employees, partners, suppliers and shareholders, as well as society at large.
Nurturing and sustaining a knowledge-building culture is the most critical driver of long-term performance.Knowledge-building is a continuous loop:
Knowledge base, purposes and worldview: Every firm has a knowledge base that determines current perceptions or current worldview, which includes ideas and beliefs and assumptions about interacting with the world.
Perceptions: We see the world through our perceptions and construct our reality that way. We may be self-assured about some favorite ideas about the obvious way to proceed, but we may be proven wrong via future learning.
Purposeful actions and consequences: With its purpose in mind, the firm takes actions, and each action has consequences, which may or may not have been anticipated.
Feedback: Learning from actions and their consequences is consumed as feedback, a critical component of the knowledge-building loop. The knowledge base changes as a result of this learning. An existing assumption may be replaced. Humility is important when traversing the knowledge-building loop.
New understanding and new perceptions: As a result of feedback and learning we may be able to evaluate our assumptions differently and perceive the world in a new and more accurate way.
It’s hard to be skeptical about our own strongly held beliefs, and therefore a cultural commitment to experimentation — the kind that’s capable of revealing obsolete assumptions — is necessary.
Knowledge-building stems from firm culture.Knowledge-building proficiency is a culture which views everyone in the firm as a value creator and a knowledge worker who can continuously improve their own problem-solving skills. This, in turn, motivates all employees since they can take great satisfaction from their jobs.
One of the errors of the traditional command-and-control management structure is that it assumes the smartest people are “higher up”, and it takes decision-making away from those closest to the customer and to the most relevant knowledge. The higher-ups set short-term targets for the employees, which is inconsistent with treating individuals as learners and value creators.
Knowledge-building occurs, and must be nurtured, at every layer of the firm.
The correct view — and the correct measurement — of firm performance is the life cycle.All firms traverse an inevitable life cycle. Bartley J. Madden’s books and research picture it this way.
[[{"fid":"137423","view_mode":"image_no_caption","fields":{"format":"image_no_caption","alignment":"center","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"The Competitive Life Cycle View of the Firm","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_caption_text[und][0][value]":"","field_image_file_link[und][0][value]":""},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"6":{"format":"image_no_caption","alignment":"center","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"The Competitive Life Cycle View of the Firm","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_caption_text[und][0][value]":"","field_image_file_link[und][0][value]":""}},"attributes":{"alt":"The Competitive Life Cycle View of the Firm","class":"media-element file-image-no-caption media-wysiwyg-align-center","data-delta":"6"}}]]
During a period of high innovation, economic returns are high, and firms can reinvest at a high rate. This inevitably fades as competitors erode the advantage. In maturity the returns approach the cost of capital, and the business model may fade to the point where it fails to make the long-term cost of capital. That’s why firms must always be investing in long term new innovation projects for continuous refreshment and to repeat the high return stage. They must demonstrate to investors a skill in making these high return long term investments. The stock price is an appraisal of this skill.
[[{"fid":"137422","view_mode":"image_no_caption","fields":{"format":"image_no_caption","alignment":"center","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Example 4","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_caption_text[und][0][value]":"","field_image_file_link[und][0][value]":""},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"5":{"format":"image_no_caption","alignment":"center","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Example 4","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_caption_text[und][0][value]":"","field_image_file_link[und][0][value]":""}},"attributes":{"alt":"Example 4","class":"media-element file-image-no-caption media-wysiwyg-align-center","data-delta":"5"}}]]
The life cycle components are the long-term cost of capital, the return on capital that results from knowledge-building proficiency, the fade rate and the reinvestment rate. The metrics of firm performance are those related to the life cycle.
Additional ResourcesThe Pragmatic Theory of The Firm and The Knowledge-Building Loop (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_199_PDF
Books by Bartley J. Madden:
Value Creation Principles: The Pragmatic Theory of the Firm Begins with Purpose and Ends with Sustainable Capitalism: Mises.org/E4B_199_Book1Value Creation Thinking: Mises.org/E4B_199_Book2CFROI Valuation: Mises.org/E4B_199_Book3Reconstructing Your Worldview: The Four Core Beliefs You Need to Solve Complex Business Problems: Mises.org/E4B_199_Book4Paper: "Bet on innovation, not Environmental, Social and Governance metrics, to lead the Net Zero transition" by Bartley J. Madden (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_199_Paper
Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters by Richard Rumelt: Mises.org/E4B_199_Book5
Plain Talk: Lessons From A Business Maverick by Ken Iverson: Mises.org/E4B_199_Book6
For families and friends gathering for Thanksgiving this year, many will assemble in a room called the "dining room." This is a modern luxury made possible by the bourgeois merchants of old.
Original Article: "How the Middle-Class Dining Room Revolutionized Domestic Life"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
As inflation ravages the economy, easy money is disappearing, with political and legal consequences to follow.
Original Article: "As Easy Money Crashes, the Political and Legal Effects Appear"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Jeff and Bob break down the good, bad, and ugly behind Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter.
Federal Reserve officials, for all of their alleged wisdom and education, have a knowledge problem. Hayek and other Austrians could have told them their grandiose plans will fail.
Original Article: "The Federal Reserve's (Permanent) Knowledge Problem"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Brands are prized by corporations as significant value-driving economic assets. Brands help customers enjoy more valuable experiences, raising willingness-to-pay levels and thus improving cash flows — higher cash flows as a result of higher prices, faster cash flows because branded products tend to turn faster than their non-branded counterparts, longer lasting cash flows because brands have longevity in customers’ perceptions, and less volatile cash flows because brand loyalty can smooth out the effects of economic booms and busts.
For these reasons, corporations invest in brands and brand building. Catherine Kaputa makes the case that individuals should invest in themselves as brands, and makes the tools of brand-building available to individuals for personal brand-building: the brand of you.
Knowledge Capsule You are a brand, assessed subjectively by your customers. Think of yourself as a brand. Think of your customers - your boss, other leaders and decision-makers in your firm, your colleagues, your clients, your suppliers. They all have a subjective perception of you and the value to which you can contribute in any business situation. Is it the perception you want? Do people see you as the problem solver and solution designer for their problems? Like any brand owner, you can work to actively shape that perception. As Catherine Kaputa puts it: If you don’t brand yourself, others will, and they may not brand you the way you want to be branded.
The first tool in the branding toolbox is positioning. The branding community has developed the idea of brand positioning. In the perception space in which your brand operates, you seek to identify a unique, highly differentiated position. You want to be perceived as different and better. Positioning is the identification and selection of that unique space in the minds of customers and the basis of the of credibility, reputation and trust to be able to make the claim.
Importantly, positioning requires outside-in thinking. Think of your customers first, their needs, their mindset, and their perception of the other brands in the space. Your positioning must be in their minds, not yours.
Differentiation is a most important element of positioning. Typically, perception spaces are competitive. Customers looking for solutions to problems and better experiences scan the space for alternatives and make comparisons between them. Know your competitors, assess them through the eyes of your customers, and find a positioning that is both different from and better than alternatives for your customer, using their mental model and assessment criteria. Aim to “own” that unique space - meaning that the customer identifies you as the only one or the best one of their alternatives to meet a particular need.
Attach an idea to yourself. A way to pin down a perception in a customer’s mind is to attach an idea to a brand, in this case yourself as a brand, in a way that the connection is immediate and becomes automatic. The idea should be singular and highly focused. Catherine Kaputa recommends a process of subtraction to reach a singular idea — you’ll start with a multi-layered and possibly complicated idea, but if you keep subtracting the least relevant, least important and least differentiated elements, you’ll arrive at the pared-down singularity. You should be able to express it in a phrase or a sentence, one that you can keep repeating to embed it.
Her own example in her marketing career was to brand herself as “good with difficult clients”. Every marketing services company has clients or accounts or marketing challenges that are deemed to be difficult and not everyone wants to be exposed to that risk. Someone who steps up and enjoys performing well on such a stage is both differentiated and highly sought after.
Personal brand positioning strategy templates provide another tool for self-branding.
In her book The New Brand You, Catherine Kaputa provides 10 brand positioning templates as examples of how an individual might approach the process of self-branding and build their own brand.
Download "Ten Personal Brand Positioning Strategies" in PDF: Mises.org/E4B_198_PDF
These are complete templates for rigorous use and application, appropriate for individual interpretation, embellishment and nuance.
One example is the Innovator strategy. Let’s use this template as an example of the self-brand positioning process.
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What’s the customer need that the Innovator addresses? Identify your target audience and the problem they want solved. Innovators are needed to create something new, when existing strategies are failing or sales are declining or new market entrants are redefining the terms of competition. New solutions are sought, and Innovators are the ones people turn to. Innovators are recognized as the creative resource that’s required.
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What are the attributes to point to in order to claim the Innovator positioning? Catherine Kaputa lists 5:
Visionary with clear objectives: not just creative, but capable of identifying business objectives for creativity and of seizing opportunities.
Brilliant at problem-solving: full of ideas, but always directed towards solving important problems.
Bold risk-taking: when others hold back, Innovators are eager to design and run experiments from which to learn, knowing there’s no such thing as failure, just new knowledge.
Fresh thinking: not following the crowd but diverging from the norm.
Inventive: Innovators demonstrate the capacity to be first in new designs, new thinking and new ideas.
The point is to evaluate yourself against the attributes of the positioning type: is this you?
- The next step is a positioning statement. Catherine provides examples:
Sample Positioning Statement: An innovative professional in an industry beset by mergers and dynamic change positioned herself in the following way.
Draft Sentence: For senior managers, boss, clients, industry who need new products and services I stand for innovative problem solver in industries undergoing massive change.
The format to use is: For (target audience) who needs (problem you solve) I stand for (value proposition).
- Add reasons to believe. Pick three reasons and 3 keywords or phrases as to why customers should invest in your positioning statement by hiring you or giving you the project.
Innovator is just one of multiple possible strategies. Yours may be one of these or a combination of several. There’s a personal test you can take at Mises.org/E4B_198_Test for initial input to start your positioning process.
Positioning is a means not an end: there is more work to do. Catherine Kaputa follows the logic of brand positioning all the way to implementation. It’s not a theory, it’s a practice. There are actions that brand marketers take to communicate and embed their positioning. She cites three major ones: visual identity, verbal identity and brand marketing.
Commercial brands spend a lot of time, effort and resources on a brand’s look: logo design, package design, website colors and typefaces, video style, and so on. The goal is to communicate a style and an engaging and brand-appropriate visual personality. The same principles apply to personal branding - choose your look, your dress-style and fashion carefully and thoughtfully.
Verbal identity comes from the words you use, the story you tell, and how you communicate in presentations, e-mails, tweets, speeches and conversations, whether in the conference room, the auditorium or on zoom. Work on it.
Marketing your brand should be guided by your goals for your personal brand. Once you have them defined, choose your media, your message, your content, your campaign tactics and your metrics.
Additional Resources The New Brand You: How to Wow in the New World of Work by Catherine Kaputa: Mises.org/E4B_198_Book
Find your own brand positioning (Mises.org/E4B_198_Test) on SelfBrand.com
"Ten Personal Brand Positioning Strategies" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_198_PDF
Many investors forget that when the easy money is flowing, financial mediocrities and even outright frauds can be made to look like legitimate geniuses.
Original Article: "How Easy Money Fueled the FTX Crypto Collapse"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
One might assume that new rounds of monetary stimulus will bring new peaks in housing construction, reversing the ongoing housing shortage. That hasn't happened.
Original Article: "The Housing Boom Is Already Over. The Housing Shortage Will Continue."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The Federal Reserve has not only mismanaged the US economy; even its own "portfolio" is underwater.
Original Article: "In the Red: The Federal Reserve’s Portfolio Joins the Rest of the Market"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Ours is an age of the progressive expert who nearly always is wrong but still is embraced by progressive politicians, the media, and academe.
Original Article: "Are Progressive "Experts" Fallible? Yes, But Don't Tell Them That"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Cheap money in the last decade has meant good times for companies that barely make money and hire employees who barely work. But those times are now ending.
Original Article: "Without Easy Money, the Tech Sector Faces Layoffs and Losses"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Jeff and Bob record a special Thanksgiving episode for Money Talk 1010 AM on what it really takes to fix the US economy.
Mark Thornton on the coming economic crisis: Mises.org/HAP371A
Listen to Jeff on Money Talk 1010 every Thursday at 9:00am ET: Mises.org/MoneyTalk
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop look at conman Sam Bankman-Fried, the scam of FTX, and how regime legitimacy has fueled several fraudulent companies with unprofitable business practices.
Did post-2008 monetary policy fuel a bubble in "effective altruism?" Do examples like Elon Musk's restructuring of Twitter offer an illustration of what Big Tech firms will have to do to survive in a time of less-than-easy money, or will the regime bailout out the corporate extensions of techno-managerialism? What killed Silicon Valley's once-promising techno-libertarian style? Ryan and Tho look at this and more on this episode of Radio Rothbard.
Looking for Christmas gifts? Use promo code ROTHPOD for a 20% discount on select books featured on Radio Rothbard. Or, use code MURRAYCHRISTMAS for a special 10% discount on select new Mises apparel: Mises.org/RR_109_Store
Recommended Reading "How Easy Money Fueled the FTX Crypto Collapse" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_109_A
"Sound Money Is Our Best Hope Against the Monopolists' Threat" by Brendan Brown: Mises.org/RR_109_B
"How Fiat Money Enriches the Unproductive" by George Ford Smith: Mises.org/RR_109_C
"Without Easy Money, the Tech Sector Faces Layoffs and Losses" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_109_D
"The Housing Boom Is Already Over. The Housing Shortage Will Continue." by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_109_E
"Will the FTX Scandal Bring Down 'Crypto'?" by Jeff Deist and Bob Murphy (video): Mises.org/RR_109_F
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Business success goes beyond numbers and planning and finance acumen. There’s an emotional component to it, ranging from the courage to make decisions without knowing the outcomes in an uncertain future, to the resilience of weathering storms and coping with unanticipated crises. There is also, of course, the joy of achievement and goal-attainment. There’s a concept identified as emotional intelligence that individuals and teams can cultivate as an element of a mental model that’s well-aligned with business performance and positive business outcomes.
Knowledge Capsule The entrepreneurial method is to pursue change, but people’s natural attitude is to resist change. We have an inbuilt, biological resistance to change. It triggers fear and anxiety that get in the way of moving towards the change that we seek. In addition to this emotional resistance, we develop habits that keep us in the status quo, and present another barrier to behavioral change. We all must fight an internal battle between our old habits and desired new habits.
Entrepreneurs develop a special emotional intelligence that motivates action. Entrepreneurs are in the business of making change. They can overcome the natural emotional and behavioral barriers because they have a highly developed emotional intelligence. They have such an emotional relationship with their vision of a successful outcome for their efforts that they can overcome fearful restraints and resistance to change. They are especially highly motivated to take action. It’s their emotion that drives action, not intellect.
Emotional intelligence is much more influential in business success than IQ. A 40-year study at UC Berkeley found that EQ (emotional intelligence) is 400% more powerful than IQ in predicting which individuals would have success in their field. Private companies like PepsiCo and Apple have uncovered similar findings in their internal studies.
High emotional intelligence not only releases personal energy and creativity, but it also results in higher levels of interpersonal trust and shared engagement with others. With high emotional intelligence, we are driven to help others to enjoy better experiences as well as to advance out of our own comfort zones to access new areas of achievement.
The consequence of achieving high levels of emotional intelligence is higher levels of trust and engagement in business, and, thereby, better business results.
Everyone can improve their emotional intelligence and benefit from its compounding effect. We are pretty much born with our IQ — we can’t increase it. But everyone can raise their level of emotional intelligence. Not only that, but emotional intelligence is a compounding asset — we can raise it and raise it again and keep on raising, so long as we work at it.
Part of the equation is personal energy management. Phil Johnson identifies personal energy as the core element at the heart of the power of emotional intelligence. We “give our energy away” when we permit others to disrupt our emotional flow — make us annoyed or angry or resentful or frustrated. As a consequence, we feel the need to “steal energy from others” by getting the better of them or by exercising a command-and-control management style. The net result is strife, dissension, and misalignment — where team or corporate energy is wasted. We can avoid this waste by cultivating emotional intelligence.
There are high-ROI habits, practices and skills that help to build emotional intelligence. Happily, we can practice some of the habits and skills that develop and demonstrate emotional intelligence.
One such habit is authentic listening: when we take criticism personally, we give away energy. So, if we eliminate all personal inner-directed emotion from our reception of comments and suggestions from others, we can utilize all the experience and knowledge that’s shared with us for betterment and improvement. Don’t resist, don’t judge. Don’t let attachment to our own preferences get in the way of receiving input. Don’t raise walls. We have no personal interest in what others think of us, only in the information they can impart, which might be useful
The other side of the coin is authentic communication: be sure that all the content of our communication is factual and positively motivating and designed to be helpful to others, strengthening trust and engagement. If we develop a consistent reputation for authentic communication, we’ll raise engagement (and Gallup reports that employee engagement is at a very low level today, which is a great cost to economic productivity).
In addition to habits and practices, Phil Johnson urges us to commit to the emotional labor of recognizing our own fears, biases, and status quo preferences, and to establish an emotional distance between our motivations to action and our ego-based fear. It’s emotional labor that pays interest — it has a high ROI.
Emotional intelligence releases the power of intuition, and creates a state of flow. When we fear making decisions, we try to rationalize those decisions, to seek objectivity and lower uncertainty. When we distance ourselves from fear, we can unleash intuition — that decision-making capability that is beyond our understanding and comes from our unconscious brain. Intuition takes over more and more as we master emotional intelligence. We make choices that are not intellectual — we go beyond our intellectual ability.
Emotional intelligence takes us to a flow state. We get away from thinking and move towards intuitive doing, beyond our comfort zone beyond our fear and anxiety.
Additional Resources Phil Johnson on LinkedIn: Mises.org/E4B_197_LinkedIn
Phil Johnson’s Zoom Calendar: Mises.org/E4B_197_Zoom
Videos from alumni of Phil Johnson’s MBL (Master Of Business Leadership) Program: Mises.org/E4B_197_MBL
UC Berkeley Study, EQ>IQ: Mises.org/E4B_197_Paper
Lutheran theologian Reinhold Niebuhr attracted numerous followers in postwar America in part because of his attacks on the free market. Perhaps he should have read Mises.
Original Article: "Niebuhr, My God, to Thee"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Historian Jon Meacham urges Joe Biden to be a "transformational" president in the way of FDR, but he forgets that Roosevelt put the "Great" in "Great Depression."
Original Article: "Joe Biden and the "Transformational" Presidency"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The common view of inflation is that it is defined as a general increase in prices. Actually, inflation is expansion of the money supply that results in price increases.
Original Article: "Inflation Is Not Price Increases. Inflation Causes Price Increases."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Jeff and Bob discuss whether the FTX scandal will be used to justify new "crypto" regulations or even the creation of a central bank digital currency.
Caitlin Long and Sam Bankman-Fried debating leveraging Bitcoin: Mises.org/HAP370A
Mises on circulation credit vs. commodity credit: Mises.org/HAP370B
President of the Minneapolis Fed Neel Kashkari on CBDCs: Mises.org/HAP370C
Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop talk with economic anthropologist Jovana Diković about how a focus on "solving" global warming endangers the food supply for much of the globe, especially in the developing world. Even rich nations face a world of less food at higher prices.
Use promo code ROTHPOD for a 20% discount on Ryan McMaken's new book Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities: Mises.org/RR_108_Book
Recommended Reading "Environmental and Political Elites Are Destroying Food Production for Climate Goals" by Diković: Mises.org/RR_108_A
"Eat or Heat: Europeans Already Are Facing Previously Unthinkable Dilemmas" by Claudio Grass: Mises.org/RR_108_B
"Regime Pseudoscientists Enforce Climate Change Narrative" by Michael Rectenwald: Mises.org/RR_108_C
"Germany's (and Europe's) Self-Inflicted Upcoming Energy Crunch" by Weimin Chen: Mises.org/RR_108_D
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Success in business — serving customers well, and achieving growth in revenues and assets with a return on capital greater than its cost over the long term — is tied to knowledge-building, whereby everyone in the company learns more and more about specialized and advantaged methods of generating value for customers. Customer value fueled by knowledge-building flows back to the company as cash flow as a result of customers’ willingness to pay (which, itself, is a piece of knowledge to be discovered through testing and experimentation).
The uncertainty of the future means that a lot of knowledge-building must be achieved through experimentation — testing ideas to find out if they work or not. The earliest stage of this testing is bound up in the concept of criticism. Bart Vanderhaegen, a philosopher, epistemologist, and business consultant, explains the role of criticism to Economics For Business.
Knowledge Capsule There is broad agreement on the need for adaptiveness in business. It is becoming more and more accepted to view firms as operating within a complex adaptive system in which the interactions of millions of agents, and the resultant emergence of new outcomes and new system properties, require an acute sensibility regarding change — and speed of change — in the business environment and an ability to make adjustments in response or, if possible, in anticipation.
This adjustment process often goes by the name of adaptiveness.
What, exactly, is being adapted? Bart Vanderhaegen’s analysis is that it is ideas that are being adapted and adjusted. He defines idea in this business context as a goal and a plan to achieve that goal — a desired end and the associated means. It is ideas that ultimately result in changing people’s behavior, changing product and service offerings, and changing markets.
If the idea is wrong, it will fail in achieving any desired change. To establish why or how an idea is wrong requires criticism.
Criticism is an artifact of the science of knowledge. Critical rationalism views knowledge as useful information we use to solve problems we face. It can never be viewed as final — it’s conjecture about possible solutions that we are continuously challenging and criticizing to expose any error that we can subsequently correct to improve upon the solution, and to get closer to economic reality. That’s adaptation.
Firms actively seek the criticism of the market. Once ideas have been activated as products and services, firms are comfortable with the criticism of the market. As Mises observed, the customer, by buying or not buying, returns a verdict on every business’s offering. And business welcomes the criticism, in the form of sales report, or market share analysis, or market research. The market is full of feedback, and in the case of non-buying, the feedback is criticism and triggers improvements or an adaptation of the plan.
In business, there tends to be less comfort with criticism in the pre-market stage, but it’s a necessary tool for refining options and making decisions. In Bart’s way of saying it, the word criticism, when used in business, has “kind of a weird smell around it”. There’s a culture of what he calls justificationism. We are taught to project confidence bout business plans. Executives claim expertise in the domains for which they were hired. The boss is correct.
This is all misplaced. What we should be confident about is capacity to solve problems, and not be scared of making mistakes, but rather to be eager to adapt our knowledge to observed reality when it changes.
By utilizing criticism methodically, businesses can unleash its power. The proper use of criticism is to criticize ideas and not persons. We always want to celebrate the owner of an idea, and grant them autonomy to accept or reject criticism. Bart’s three step method for business criticism is:
Start with the presentation of the idea by the idea owner. There should be the opportunity for a full and reasoned presentation. Questions of clarification can be asked, but no criticism at this step.Then follows the offering of criticism. It should be high quality, constructive and specific as to what elements are in doubt and why, and what can be improved. General opposition such as “That will never be accepted here” (which could be said of any idea) is not acceptable.The criticism session is completed with a consent stage, in which the idea owner indicates which criticisms he or she finds relevant and will act on to improve the idea, whether in ends or means or both. Consent is in the discretion of the idea owner and should not be the result of any pressure by critics, whatever their rank or status. There is no “softness” in this: there is a shared and passionate commitment to improve. Successful adaptive businesses develop a positive culture of criticism. It’s important to analyze and classify the prevailing firm culture. Some cultures will discourage or reject criticism as a method for improvement, especially those that are hierarchically organized and have a tradition of authoritarianism.
The appropriate culture values truth and values adaptiveness, and celebrates the identification of error as a successful step towards improvement. Bart called this culture a “tradition of criticism”, which sounds contradictory since the word tradition is usually associated with preserving the status quo; but a tradition of criticism implies a kind of stability around the practice of criticizing. People become comfortable with it, and try to become better at it, and are proud to be part of the path to betterment through criticism.
The Amazon 6-page memo system is a good example of the tradition of criticism. Idea owners are required to prepare a detailed memo describing the idea and the business case and this is submitted to a committee of reviewers in a dedicated meeting, escalating in rank towards the most senior management as the idea is vetted, improved, and increasingly strengthened. It’s a tradition and a part of the Amazon culture.
Such a culture is not initiated with an announcement or a campaign, but emerges organically as a universal tool for everyone in the firm to utilize.
Additional Resources Pactify Management: PactifyManagement.com
Bart on Twitter: @B_Vanderhaegen
Bart’s podcast: Fallible Management (Anchor.fm/FallibleManagement)
Bart’s email: bart.vanderhaegen@pactifysoftware.com
Roman keynesianism that ruined the empire and destroyed the Roman economy.
Original Article: "It Didn't Begin with FDR: Currency Devaluation in the Third Century Roman Empire"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The jobs data is worse than the latest headlines suggest, and workers are staring at falling real wages, declining savings, and mounting debt. We can thank the Fed.
Original Article: "The Number of Employed Workers Fell in October and Price Inflation Continues to Outpace Wages"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
While both the Left and Right celebrate the government's new drive to subsidize American microchip manufacturing, we should remember that political "investments" always result in crony capitalist disasters.
Original Article: "American Chip "Independence": Protectionism by Another Name"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The 2004 Nobel Prize in economics was awarded to two economists for their claim that "technology shocks" cause boom-bust cycles. They have it wrong.
Original Article: "Do "Technology Shocks" Create the Boom-Bust Cycles?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The dollar's petrodollar status has led the Federal Reserve to irresponsibly inflate the currency. The rest of the world has noticed and is looking for alternatives.
Original Article: "World Dollar Hegemony Is Ending (and That May Be a Good Thing)"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
It will be nearly impossible to make any real changes in Washington for the next two years. The real battles are now in the states.
Original Article: "The Election Won't Change Much in DC. The Real Battle Is Now in the States."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Daniel McCarthy joins Jeff and Bob to consider the deep unseriousness of American politics and electorate.
Willmoore Kendall's The Conservative Affirmation: Mises.org/Kendall
Modern warfare is a product of the state, which engages in violence at home and abroad. Peace is possible, but only when the state loses power.
Original Article: "Clausewitz, the UN Charter, and a Libertarian View on War"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
While personal autonomy is a major topic of conversation, for Rothbard the most important thing is liberty, and liberty and automony are not always the same.
Original Article: "You Don’t Know What’s Good for You"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Tho Bishop and Ryan McMaken break down the results of this year's midterms. American anxiety over inflation and crime failed to create the red wave many expected. While Republicans took back the House, and maybe the Senate, this year's midterms underperformed traditional midterm elections. Tho and Ryan discuss why this is, as well as what a DeSantis victory might mean for a potential civil war with Trump.
Use promo code ROTHPOD for a 20% discount on Ryan McMaken's new book Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities: Mises.org/RR_107_Book
Recommended Reading "Antidemocratic Just Means Something the Regime Doesn't Like" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_107_A
"The Realistic Market for Private Governance" by Jeff Deist: Mises.org/RR_107_B
"Murray Rothbard versus the Progressives" by Joseph T. Salerno: Mises.org/RR_107_C
"Breaking Away: The Case for Smaller Polities" by Ryan McMaken (video): Mises.org/RR_107_D
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Government programs like Medicare are called insurance, yet they are anything but. There is a difference between public and private plans.
Original Article: "Private versus Government Health Insurance: They Are Not the Same"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
After praising Mises for his work on socialism, Tyler Cowen goes on to claim Human Action is "cranky and dogmatic." "Brilliant and insightful" would have been more truthful.
Original Article: "Misunderstanding Mises, Again"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The US Supreme Court has heard arguments for and against affirmative action in higher education admissions. Government needs to get out of the racial discrimination business altogether.
Original Article: "The Government, Race, and an Upcoming SCOTUS Decision"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
As fear that robots and artificial intelligence will take over whole lines of work, it is time to examine the real relationship between capital and the rest of us.
Original Article: "Are Robots and AI Really Going to Displace All Workers? Probably Not"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
A great benefit of the internet age is the capacity to accumulate, accelerate, and intensify connections between entrepreneurs, knowledge sources, investors, mentors, collaborators, and service providers. Businesses with a valid value proposition who are in the launch and early expansion phases can interconnect a network of powerful and qualified resources to support their growth. A good way to do so is to utilize a platform (another product of the internet age) designed for the purpose. Tom Malengo established a platform called Brandjectory to serve just this purpose for consumer packaged goods (CPG) startups.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights. Brandjectory’s value proposition is to solve the problem of how to build an investor-ready business. The purpose of a B2B business is to help customers achieve their own purpose. Brandjectory helps with the purpose of becoming investor-ready, the condition of qualifying for funding in the eyes of investors. The problem is multi-faceted, from having an investable value proposition, to having the systems and structure in place to qualify for investment, to overcoming the functional obstacles of expansion, to having access to investors, to having the capability to pitch effectively and persuasively. Brandjectory helps with all phases, for all stages of investable business from pre-market seed stage to post-market Series A where a proven business model and revenue stream represents the bar.
All knowledge is specialized: select and know your sector. Brandjectory focuses on consumer packaged goods businesses, often identified by the acronym CPG. It’s a sector with open-ended innovation opportunities — e.g., how to make foods and beverages and cleaning products and pet products healthier — along with an identifiable set of obstacles to overcome, such as the cost and difficulty of securing and maintaining distribution in supermarkets and other retail channels. An investable business knows the available innovation gaps and has a practical knowledge of barriers and how to overcome them.
Define value in your sector with reachable target customers. The Brandjectory system stresses the understanding of subjective value — that it’s an experience of the customer, and is defined by what they feel is important to them and how they feel a new brand will satisfy their need in that area of their life. Value demands an emotional connection, sustained over time. Too many founders, says Tom Malengo, CEO of Brandjectory, do not exhibit a full understanding of value. They are more focused on what’s new or different about their product, or on their recipe or ingredients. This is a functional perspective, and misses the emotional component. Tom’s technique in assessing a founder’s understanding of subjective value is a careful but intense questioning, driving towards a true focus on what’s important to consumers.
Value understanding must be translated into a value proposition. A value proposition is a structured template for the communication of proposed value to the consumer, enabling them to recognize it. The value proposition must capture the emotional element of value — how consumers will feel better. It’s not just about good taste, for example, but the joy of consumption, the family sharing, the feeling of contributing to health rather than undermining health.
On econ4business.com, you can read about value propositions (Mises.org/E4B_195_Value), and watch the E4B value proposition design video (Mises.org/E4B_195_Video).
Potential investors will probe for the founder’s true understanding of value propositions — it’s a qualitative rather than quantitative assessment. A founder must be skilled and effective at communicating this understanding.
Investor-readiness also implies an identification of all the challenges to growth and how to overcome them. Investor-readiness will vary by business stage. The state of readiness might encompass the capacity of the sales network, or of production processes, or the scalability, sustainability and security of the supply chain, or the strength of processes and systems, or the innovation pipeline, or the quality of the advisor group. Tom’s guidance to founders ensure that they know all the questions investors will ask, and leave nothing to chance in framing their answers.
The required knowledge-building is achieved through networking and connecting. A major benefit of the Brandjectory platform is its network of advisors, industry experts, mentors, and investors. Founders can connect to them and meet them, and not just listen but also gather knowledge through questioning and discussion. Plugging in to a powerful knowledge network is less stressful than pitching and more conducive to learning.
The members of the network have a wide range of incentives. Investors can pick up information about trends and new ideas even if they don’t invest directly. Industry experts can sense the response to their information and knowledge sharing and get market feedback. Many mentors enjoy the sense of giving back to their industry and community after years of working. All entrepreneurs can, and should, assemble a network like this. Brandjectory is a convenient way to do it for CPG entrepreneurs.
It's important to understand the role of knowledge in firm performance.
Tom Malengo says knowledge is power for entrepreneurs — the power to solve problems, address challenges and overcome obstacles. It can be a competitive advantage to gather more specialized knowledge than competitors and incumbents.
Professor Per Bylund sees specialized knowledge as solving the production problem (see Mises.org/E4B_195_Book) — the difficulty of initiating new economic production that no-one else has ever attempted, i.e., innovation.
Brandjectory takes the problem-solution approach to knowledge building. Entrepreneurs who confront a problem or issue or knowledge gap can ask the appropriate question of the appropriate expert or tap the experience of a more seasoned businessperson and benefit from the exchange, a kind of accelerated learning.
Brandjectory is a celebration of the all-American practice of entrepreneurship. Tom Malengo views entrepreneurship as the fabric of civilized society, a tradition that is especially strong in America. Our first settlers and many of our founders were entrepreneurs, and the encouragement of new ideas from any and all sources, giving everyone the chance to pursue their commercial development and experience economic success is woven into our way of life.
An entrepreneur, as Tom sees it, is someone who refuse to tolerate the existing status quo and demands better and is willing to exert their own effort and expend their own resources to bring it about — a very Misesian view. Through Brandjectory, he intends to help and support all those in pursuit of betterment in CPG. His platform concept — where the business model is to invite entrepreneurs to join for a fee, with unlimited free access to the knowledge platform and expert network, no commissions, middleman dealmaker cuts, brokerage charges, retail markups, affiliate costs or any other “bite” — is pure support for aspirational growth companies.
Additional Resources Brandjectory website: brandjectorynow.com
Tom Malengo on LinkedIn: Mises.org/E4B_195_LinkedIn
Mainstream economists claim that data alone can explain economic actions. Austrians know that without theory, data explains nothing.
Original Article: "Facts and Data Have No Meaning without a Theory to Explain Them"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
As "decarbonize agriculture" becomes the watchword, powerful multinational agriculture firms have embraced the 2030 UN agenda. Their actions will result in widespread hunger.
Original Article: "Multinational Agrichemical Corporations and the Great Food Transformation"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The Soviet regime relentlessly expanded the money supply. To prevent inflation, the regime then created shortages through price controls and economic stagnation.
Original Article: "How the Soviets "Fixed" Inflation, but Ruined the Economy"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Pakistan, like so many other countries, is seeing inflation close to spiraling out of control. As for finding causes, monetary authorities should look in the mirror.
Original Article: "Inflation in Pakistan: Follow the Money"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
As inflation advances and the economy slowly implodes, we also learn valuable lessons.
Original Article: "The Economy Is a Mess: What Lessons Will We Learn?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Among Mises's contributions was his doctrine of consumer sovereignty in a free market.
Original Article: "Consumers, Workers, and Monopolies: Free Markets Serve All"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Progressives are quick to blame escalating healthcare costs on free markets, yet it's government rules and policies that are responsible.
Original Article: "In Government-Regulated Healthcare, There Is No Competition Like No Competition"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Jeff joins Chris Casey of WindRock Wealth Management for a deep analysis of next week's punishing midterm elections.
While Elon Musk says he will bring free speech back to Twitter, the forces of statism will not be still. The jury is out on how successful Musk's experiment will be.
Original Article: "Changing of the Guard: Can Musk Deliver on His Promises for Free Speech and Information?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
At a time when inflation once again ravages the dollar, we recall Murray Rothbard's wisdom in his article "The Case for a Genuine Gold Dollar."
Original Article: "Rothbard on Gold"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The Ponzi game known as selling US government debt is nearing its end. The seller is running out of suckers.
Original Article: "The Petrodollar-Saudi Axis Is Why Washington Hates Iran"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Government economists "seasonally adjust" data in order to better respond with policy recommendations to deal with business cycles. The problem is that government causes the cycles.
Original Article: "Are Seasonally Adjusted Economic Data Useful?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
While we speak of a desire for honest money, the larger problem is that the Federal Reserve System cannot coexist with an honest money regime.
Original Article: "Honest Money in Dishonest Hands"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
More than forty years ago, California voters enthusiastically passed Proposition 13, which limited property tax hikes. Politicians have been lying about it ever since.
Original Article: "Why Proposition 13 and Attacking It Are Both Popular"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Florida's government promotes a "shared adversity" plan in which individuals and organizations have distant environmental problems imposed upon them.
Original Article: "Critiquing Florida's Public Policy of "Shared Adversity""
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Tho Bishop and Ryan McMaken preview next week's midterms. How big of a red wave is on the horizon, and how much does it really matter? Should the real focus be on governor races? Can a Republican actually win in New York? And, what about Blake Masters? Ryan and Tho consider these questions and more in this week's episode.
Use promo code ROTHPOD for a 20% discount on Ryan McMaken's new book Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities: Mises.org/RR_106_Book
Recommended Reading "Can National Conservatism Threaten the Regime?" by Tho Bishop: Mises.org/RR_106_A
"The Realistic Market for Private Governance" by Jeff Deist: Mises.org/RR_106_B
"Practicing Politics as Self-Defense" by L. W. Blakely: Mises.org/RR_106_C
"Breaking Away: The Case for Smaller Polities" by Ryan McMaken (video): Mises.org/RR_106_D
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Breakthrough theory becomes effective practice when it is successful applied by real-life entrepreneurs. The E4B entrepreneurial method is actualized by Hermann and Elizabeth Morris in the very distinctive business model for their brand, The Nail Hub.
Knowledge Capsule The true purpose of a B2B business is to help your customers succeed. While outside observers focus on transactions — how much does this business sell, what are its revenues? — entrepreneurial business owners and operators focus on customers and customer relationships. Revenues follow from relationships. This insight is critical, since it guides business model development.
Business-to-business models are especially responsive to relationship strategies. When a customer feels that the relationship with a supplier makes their business performance better, they can become a customer for life. That’s a recipe for strong and sustainable growth.
First, observe the ecosystem in which you operate, and identify gap opportunities. Systems thinking is an important component of the entrepreneurial method. A firm is a component or a node in a network of interconnected services we can call an ecosystem. Hermann’s and Elizabeth’s ecosystem is the Nail Fashion industry. Nodes include salons and salon owners, the nail technicians (sometimes employees, sometimes independent contractors) who provide service to consumers in the salons, equipment manufacturers and suppliers, product manufacturers and suppliers (for nail gel, etc.), and product distributors.
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Hermann and Elizabeth were able to identify a number of gaps in the ecosystem. Many salon owners were enthusiastic about their industry but not well-trained or experienced in the basic economics of business. Many of the technicians were passionate about their trade, but not highly trained in the latest techniques and technologies and in product selection. There were aspects of marketing that were underdeveloped, such as audience segmentation. And there were inconsistencies between products in both quality and safety.
In the mind of the entrepreneur, these gaps are opportunities. The entrepreneurial question is: how best to fit in and contribute to the ecosystem. The business model response is determined by individual entrepreneurial orientation.
The beginning orientation was that of an operator. Given their knowledge of both the high potential of the industry and the gaps to be addressed / problems to solve, the Morrises’ entry point was as an operator. They embarked upon the journey to design a differentiated salon experience with superior nail technique, better products, better trained technicians. They ran the salon with better business acumen (they both came from high-level corporate positions and were able to bring sophisticated operating and financial experience). They segmented with an unusual and especially comfortable in-salon appeal, and via location.
They were successful. There was a lot of learning, which Hermann identifies as overcoming pain points.
The next growth step comes from re-orientation to larger scale. How could the Morrises scale their salon business? They thought through multiple openings (e.g., open and operate 20 salons), acquisition (acquire 20 salons), and franchising (sell franchises to multiple independent owners).
All of these alternatives would require new capability development: establishing standards and a repeatable business model, including a reliable financial model, designing a multi-unit system of supply chains, capital deployment, décor, training and location scouting, and a new kind of marketing to salon managers or franchisees.
The Morrises were reorienting to thinking as proprietors of a new kind of multi-division business. It’s a different orientation, seeing the same ecosystem from a different perspective.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth had the idea for a podcast to share her expertise and knowledge and passion for the industry. It was free business advice, free guidance, free technical training, teaching different aspects of running a salon and technical aspects for nail technicians. Its purpose was a service to consumers (better salon experiences), to technicians (better craftsmanship) and owners (better business operations). The podcast was called The Nail Hub. It generated a great positive reputation in the ecosystem and a lot of positive feedback. The knowledge that The Nail Hub podcast shared was enthusiastically welcomed.
The Nail Hub podcast feedback resulted in a further re-orientation. The Nail Hub podcast was helping salon owners and those technicians who were independent contractors renting positions in salons to improve the way they ran their businesses: better management, better understanding of customer needs and segmentation, better approaches to pricing, revenue and profits, better techniques, and better products.
What if a podcast can become a business model? Hermann and Elizabeth developed an entirely new B2B services business model which could be summarized as “educate the industry on how to operate a business, and supply them with the highest quality products to fit their business”.
Importantly, the education is free to consume. The Nail Hub YouTube channel is free to access, and offers over 140 videos on every aspect of business operations, finances, equipment, products, and techniques. The videos are expensive to produce. The model is that the investment in education will be repaid through loyal customers buying the products that The Nail Hub offers for purchase.
The curation of products itself is a service. The Nail Hub has identified a distinctive set of criteria for product selection (health, safety, non-toxic ingredients, cruelty-free) and does the research and validation so that purchasers can be confident in their choices and tin he integrity of their promises to the end-consumer.
The products are not the lowest price, they are the highest quality. Salon owners who have not fully absorbed The Nail Hub’s education on consumer segmentation, pricing, and customer experience will not be a good fit within The Nail Hub’s customer set. The Nail Hub business model has a high internal consistency and integrity.
The Nail Hub has re-oriented to B2B service provider educating an entire industry to provide superior consumer experiences, better product quality and profitable operations — i.e., re-orienting from facing those challenges to helping others to face and overcome them.
One of the cornerstones of the B2B services model is authentic subject matter expertise. The Nail Hub can help salon owners and nail technicians thrive through their independent action because Hermann and Elizabeth developed a deep subject matter expertise. They’ve been salon owners and faced all the developmental issues that owners face. They’ve trained nail technicians. They’ve evaluated salon equipment and they’ve committed their resources and time to researching high quality, innovative products that meet their highest standards. Hermann stresses that the arduous development of subject matter expertise is the necessary foundation for a trusted service business.
Another is to choose customers carefully. The Nail Hub is making a substantial investment in their customers via their free training and education. The business model that they enable is specific: the highest standards, with the best trained operators, providing a reliably superior consumer experience. The pricing model is premium, which supports the use of the highest quality products and the provision of the highest quality salon environment. Race-to-the-bottom operators who pursue the lowest prices as a competitive edge are not a good fit in The Nail Hub ecosystem, and Hermann makes this a clear element of The Nail Hub’s B2B communications. Choose your customers to match your positioning.
The evaluation of the business model does not lie in conventional metrics. When the business model is to invest in the success of customers, the conventional metrics of revenue, margins and annual profits are not the primary measures of success (although, of course, they must be acknowledged). The evaluation of the model comes via the feedback loops. Is the educational service welcomed? Does it result in better operations on the part of salon owners? Do salon owners and independent technicians become customers for life? Do product manufacturers clamor for entry into The Nail Hub’s curated product set? Are product trends — safe, non-toxic, healthy, etc. — moving in the desired direction?
This is the entrepreneurial ethic: make customers more successful, make the world a better place.
Additional Resources "Evolving The Nail Hub Business Model" E4B Graphic (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_194_PDF
The Nail Hub YouTube Channel: YouTube.com/TheNailHub
The Nail Hub Website: TheNailHub.com
Breakthrough theory becomes effective practice when it is successful applied by real-life entrepreneurs. The E4B entrepreneurial method is actualized by Hermann and Elizabeth Morris in the very distinctive business model for their brand, The Nail Hub.
Knowledge Capsule The true purpose of a B2B business is to help your customers succeed. While outside observers focus on transactions — how much does this business sell, what are its revenues? — entrepreneurial business owners and operators focus on customers and customer relationships. Revenues follow from relationships. This insight is critical, since it guides business model development.
Business-to-business models are especially responsive to relationship strategies. When a customer feels that the relationship with a supplier makes their business performance better, they can become a customer for life. That’s a recipe for strong and sustainable growth.
First, observe the ecosystem in which you operate, and identify gap opportunities. Systems thinking is an important component of the entrepreneurial method. A firm is a component or a node in a network of interconnected services we can call an ecosystem. Hermann’s and Elizabeth’s ecosystem is the Nail Fashion industry. Nodes include salons and salon owners, the nail technicians (sometimes employees, sometimes independent contractors) who provide service to consumers in the salons, equipment manufacturers and suppliers, product manufacturers and suppliers (for nail gel, etc.), and product distributors.
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Hermann and Elizabeth were able to identify a number of gaps in the ecosystem. Many salon owners were enthusiastic about their industry but not well-trained or experienced in the basic economics of business. Many of the technicians were passionate about their trade, but not highly trained in the latest techniques and technologies and in product selection. There were aspects of marketing that were underdeveloped, such as audience segmentation. And there were inconsistencies between products in both quality and safety.
In the mind of the entrepreneur, these gaps are opportunities. The entrepreneurial question is: how best to fit in and contribute to the ecosystem. The business model response is determined by individual entrepreneurial orientation.
The beginning orientation was that of an operator. Given their knowledge of both the high potential of the industry and the gaps to be addressed / problems to solve, the Morrises’ entry point was as an operator. They embarked upon the journey to design a differentiated salon experience with superior nail technique, better products, better trained technicians. They ran the salon with better business acumen (they both came from high-level corporate positions and were able to bring sophisticated operating and financial experience). They segmented with an unusual and especially comfortable in-salon appeal, and via location.
They were successful. There was a lot of learning, which Hermann identifies as overcoming pain points.
The next growth step comes from re-orientation to larger scale. How could the Morrises scale their salon business? They thought through multiple openings (e.g., open and operate 20 salons), acquisition (acquire 20 salons), and franchising (sell franchises to multiple independent owners).
All of these alternatives would require new capability development: establishing standards and a repeatable business model, including a reliable financial model, designing a multi-unit system of supply chains, capital deployment, décor, training and location scouting, and a new kind of marketing to salon managers or franchisees.
The Morrises were reorienting to thinking as proprietors of a new kind of multi-division business. It’s a different orientation, seeing the same ecosystem from a different perspective.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth had the idea for a podcast to share her expertise and knowledge and passion for the industry. It was free business advice, free guidance, free technical training, teaching different aspects of running a salon and technical aspects for nail technicians. Its purpose was a service to consumers (better salon experiences), to technicians (better craftsmanship) and owners (better business operations). The podcast was called The Nail Hub. It generated a great positive reputation in the ecosystem and a lot of positive feedback. The knowledge that The Nail Hub podcast shared was enthusiastically welcomed.
The Nail Hub podcast feedback resulted in a further re-orientation. The Nail Hub podcast was helping salon owners and those technicians who were independent contractors renting positions in salons to improve the way they ran their businesses: better management, better understanding of customer needs and segmentation, better approaches to pricing, revenue and profits, better techniques, and better products.
What if a podcast can become a business model? Hermann and Elizabeth developed an entirely new B2B services business model which could be summarized as “educate the industry on how to operate a business, and supply them with the highest quality products to fit their business”.
Importantly, the education is free to consume. The Nail Hub YouTube channel is free to access, and offers over 140 videos on every aspect of business operations, finances, equipment, products, and techniques. The videos are expensive to produce. The model is that the investment in education will be repaid through loyal customers buying the products that The Nail Hub offers for purchase.
The curation of products itself is a service. The Nail Hub has identified a distinctive set of criteria for product selection (health, safety, non-toxic ingredients, cruelty-free) and does the research and validation so that purchasers can be confident in their choices and tin he integrity of their promises to the end-consumer.
The products are not the lowest price, they are the highest quality. Salon owners who have not fully absorbed The Nail Hub’s education on consumer segmentation, pricing, and customer experience will not be a good fit within The Nail Hub’s customer set. The Nail Hub business model has a high internal consistency and integrity.
The Nail Hub has re-oriented to B2B service provider educating an entire industry to provide superior consumer experiences, better product quality and profitable operations — i.e., re-orienting from facing those challenges to helping others to face and overcome them.
One of the cornerstones of the B2B services model is authentic subject matter expertise. The Nail Hub can help salon owners and nail technicians thrive through their independent action because Hermann and Elizabeth developed a deep subject matter expertise. They’ve been salon owners and faced all the developmental issues that owners face. They’ve trained nail technicians. They’ve evaluated salon equipment and they’ve committed their resources and time to researching high quality, innovative products that meet their highest standards. Hermann stresses that the arduous development of subject matter expertise is the necessary foundation for a trusted service business.
Another is to choose customers carefully. The Nail Hub is making a substantial investment in their customers via their free training and education. The business model that they enable is specific: the highest standards, with the best trained operators, providing a reliably superior consumer experience. The pricing model is premium, which supports the use of the highest quality products and the provision of the highest quality salon environment. Race-to-the-bottom operators who pursue the lowest prices as a competitive edge are not a good fit in The Nail Hub ecosystem, and Hermann makes this a clear element of The Nail Hub’s B2B communications. Choose your customers to match your positioning.
The evaluation of the business model does not lie in conventional metrics. When the business model is to invest in the success of customers, the conventional metrics of revenue, margins and annual profits are not the primary measures of success (although, of course, they must be acknowledged). The evaluation of the model comes via the feedback loops. Is the educational service welcomed? Does it result in better operations on the part of salon owners? Do salon owners and independent technicians become customers for life? Do product manufacturers clamor for entry into The Nail Hub’s curated product set? Are product trends — safe, non-toxic, healthy, etc. — moving in the desired direction?
This is the entrepreneurial ethic: make customers more successful, make the world a better place.
Additional Resources "Evolving The Nail Hub Business Model" E4B Graphic (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_194_PDF
The Nail Hub YouTube Channel: YouTube.com/TheNailHub
The Nail Hub Website: TheNailHub.com
Breakthrough theory becomes effective practice when it is successful applied by real-life entrepreneurs. The E4B entrepreneurial method is actualized by Hermann and Elizabeth Morris in the very distinctive business model for their brand, The Nail Hub.
Knowledge Capsule The true purpose of a B2B business is to help your customers succeed. While outside observers focus on transactions — how much does this business sell, what are its revenues? — entrepreneurial business owners and operators focus on customers and customer relationships. Revenues follow from relationships. This insight is critical, since it guides business model development.
Business-to-business models are especially responsive to relationship strategies. When a customer feels that the relationship with a supplier makes their business performance better, they can become a customer for life. That’s a recipe for strong and sustainable growth.
First, observe the ecosystem in which you operate, and identify gap opportunities. Systems thinking is an important component of the entrepreneurial method. A firm is a component or a node in a network of interconnected services we can call an ecosystem. Hermann’s and Elizabeth’s ecosystem is the Nail Fashion industry. Nodes include salons and salon owners, the nail technicians (sometimes employees, sometimes independent contractors) who provide service to consumers in the salons, equipment manufacturers and suppliers, product manufacturers and suppliers (for nail gel, etc.), and product distributors.
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Hermann and Elizabeth were able to identify a number of gaps in the ecosystem. Many salon owners were enthusiastic about their industry but not well-trained or experienced in the basic economics of business. Many of the technicians were passionate about their trade, but not highly trained in the latest techniques and technologies and in product selection. There were aspects of marketing that were underdeveloped, such as audience segmentation. And there were inconsistencies between products in both quality and safety.
In the mind of the entrepreneur, these gaps are opportunities. The entrepreneurial question is: how best to fit in and contribute to the ecosystem. The business model response is determined by individual entrepreneurial orientation.
The beginning orientation was that of an operator. Given their knowledge of both the high potential of the industry and the gaps to be addressed / problems to solve, the Morrises’ entry point was as an operator. They embarked upon the journey to design a differentiated salon experience with superior nail technique, better products, better trained technicians. They ran the salon with better business acumen (they both came from high-level corporate positions and were able to bring sophisticated operating and financial experience). They segmented with an unusual and especially comfortable in-salon appeal, and via location.
They were successful. There was a lot of learning, which Hermann identifies as overcoming pain points.
The next growth step comes from re-orientation to larger scale. How could the Morrises scale their salon business? They thought through multiple openings (e.g., open and operate 20 salons), acquisition (acquire 20 salons), and franchising (sell franchises to multiple independent owners).
All of these alternatives would require new capability development: establishing standards and a repeatable business model, including a reliable financial model, designing a multi-unit system of supply chains, capital deployment, décor, training and location scouting, and a new kind of marketing to salon managers or franchisees.
The Morrises were reorienting to thinking as proprietors of a new kind of multi-division business. It’s a different orientation, seeing the same ecosystem from a different perspective.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth had the idea for a podcast to share her expertise and knowledge and passion for the industry. It was free business advice, free guidance, free technical training, teaching different aspects of running a salon and technical aspects for nail technicians. Its purpose was a service to consumers (better salon experiences), to technicians (better craftsmanship) and owners (better business operations). The podcast was called The Nail Hub. It generated a great positive reputation in the ecosystem and a lot of positive feedback. The knowledge that The Nail Hub podcast shared was enthusiastically welcomed.
The Nail Hub podcast feedback resulted in a further re-orientation. The Nail Hub podcast was helping salon owners and those technicians who were independent contractors renting positions in salons to improve the way they ran their businesses: better management, better understanding of customer needs and segmentation, better approaches to pricing, revenue and profits, better techniques, and better products.
What if a podcast can become a business model? Hermann and Elizabeth developed an entirely new B2B services business model which could be summarized as “educate the industry on how to operate a business, and supply them with the highest quality products to fit their business”.
Importantly, the education is free to consume. The Nail Hub YouTube channel is free to access, and offers over 140 videos on every aspect of business operations, finances, equipment, products, and techniques. The videos are expensive to produce. The model is that the investment in education will be repaid through loyal customers buying the products that The Nail Hub offers for purchase.
The curation of products itself is a service. The Nail Hub has identified a distinctive set of criteria for product selection (health, safety, non-toxic ingredients, cruelty-free) and does the research and validation so that purchasers can be confident in their choices and tin he integrity of their promises to the end-consumer.
The products are not the lowest price, they are the highest quality. Salon owners who have not fully absorbed The Nail Hub’s education on consumer segmentation, pricing, and customer experience will not be a good fit within The Nail Hub’s customer set. The Nail Hub business model has a high internal consistency and integrity.
The Nail Hub has re-oriented to B2B service provider educating an entire industry to provide superior consumer experiences, better product quality and profitable operations — i.e., re-orienting from facing those challenges to helping others to face and overcome them.
One of the cornerstones of the B2B services model is authentic subject matter expertise. The Nail Hub can help salon owners and nail technicians thrive through their independent action because Hermann and Elizabeth developed a deep subject matter expertise. They’ve been salon owners and faced all the developmental issues that owners face. They’ve trained nail technicians. They’ve evaluated salon equipment and they’ve committed their resources and time to researching high quality, innovative products that meet their highest standards. Hermann stresses that the arduous development of subject matter expertise is the necessary foundation for a trusted service business.
Another is to choose customers carefully. The Nail Hub is making a substantial investment in their customers via their free training and education. The business model that they enable is specific: the highest standards, with the best trained operators, providing a reliably superior consumer experience. The pricing model is premium, which supports the use of the highest quality products and the provision of the highest quality salon environment. Race-to-the-bottom operators who pursue the lowest prices as a competitive edge are not a good fit in The Nail Hub ecosystem, and Hermann makes this a clear element of The Nail Hub’s B2B communications. Choose your customers to match your positioning.
The evaluation of the business model does not lie in conventional metrics. When the business model is to invest in the success of customers, the conventional metrics of revenue, margins and annual profits are not the primary measures of success (although, of course, they must be acknowledged). The evaluation of the model comes via the feedback loops. Is the educational service welcomed? Does it result in better operations on the part of salon owners? Do salon owners and independent technicians become customers for life? Do product manufacturers clamor for entry into The Nail Hub’s curated product set? Are product trends — safe, non-toxic, healthy, etc. — moving in the desired direction?
This is the entrepreneurial ethic: make customers more successful, make the world a better place.
Additional Resources "Evolving The Nail Hub Business Model" E4B Graphic (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_194_PDF
The Nail Hub YouTube Channel: YouTube.com/TheNailHub
The Nail Hub Website: TheNailHub.com
In a free market, short-term and long-term rates would move toward convergence. Fed interference with interest rates ensures that won't happen.
Original Article: "Federal Reserve Tampering with Interest Rates Distorts the Shape of the Yield Curve"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Progressives like Robert Reich now claim that there is no inflation, just businesses arbitrarily raising prices so they can increase profits. Such claims do not pass the test of economic logic.
Original Article: "Profits Do Not Cause Inflation (No Matter What Progressives Claim)"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
In a free market, short-term and long-term rates would move toward convergence. Fed interference with interest rates ensures that won't happen.
Original Article: "Federal Reserve Tampering with Interest Rates Distorts the Shape of the Yield Curve"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Progressives like Robert Reich now claim that there is no inflation, just businesses arbitrarily raising prices so they can increase profits. Such claims do not pass the test of economic logic.
Original Article: "Profits Do Not Cause Inflation (No Matter What Progressives Claim)"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Even with near-record inflation, the US dollar still has gained strength relative to other currencies. This does not mean that the Fed has been acting responsibly.
Original Article: "The Dollar's Global Wake of Destruction"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
President Biden's nonsolution of partial "debt forgiveness" is in limbo, but the slow financial destruction that massive student loan debt is unleashing continues.
Original Article: "Student Loan Debt: The Financial Time Bomb Politicians Want to Ignore"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
President Biden's nonsolution of partial "debt forgiveness" is in limbo, but the slow financial destruction that massive student loan debt is unleashing continues.
Original Article: "Student Loan Debt: The Financial Time Bomb Politicians Want to Ignore"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Progressives like Robert Reich now claim that there is no inflation, just businesses arbitrarily raising prices so they can increase profits. Such claims do not pass the test of economic logic.
Original Article: "Profits Do Not Cause Inflation (No Matter What Progressives Claim)"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Even with near-record inflation, the US dollar still has gained strength relative to other currencies. This does not mean that the Fed has been acting responsibly.
Original Article: "The Dollar's Global Wake of Destruction"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
President Biden's nonsolution of partial "debt forgiveness" is in limbo, but the slow financial destruction that massive student loan debt is unleashing continues.
Original Article: "Student Loan Debt: The Financial Time Bomb Politicians Want to Ignore"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Even with near-record inflation, the US dollar still has gained strength relative to other currencies. This does not mean that the Fed has been acting responsibly.
Original Article: "The Dollar's Global Wake of Destruction"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
In a free market, short-term and long-term rates would move toward convergence. Fed interference with interest rates ensures that won't happen.
Original Article: "Federal Reserve Tampering with Interest Rates Distorts the Shape of the Yield Curve"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Criticisms of hapless Senate candidate John Fetterman are labeled "ableist," while Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter is deemed fascist. Jeff and Bob take a hard look at the linguistic battlefield and the corruption of language as an institution.
Jeff's paper on language, "Evolution or Corruption?": Mises.org/HAP367-1 George Orwell's essay "Politics and the English Language": Mises.org/HAP367-2 Ken Smith's Junk English: Mises.org/HAP367-3 Bryan Caplan on "Privilege": Mises.org/HAP367-4
Criticisms of hapless Senate candidate John Fetterman are labeled "ableist," while Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter is deemed fascist. Jeff and Bob take a hard look at the linguistic battlefield and the corruption of language as an institution.
Jeff's paper on language, "Evolution or Corruption?": Mises.org/HAP367-1 George Orwell's essay "Politics and the English Language": Mises.org/HAP367-2 Ken Smith's Junk English: Mises.org/HAP367-3 Bryan Caplan on "Privilege": Mises.org/HAP367-4
Criticisms of hapless Senate candidate John Fetterman are labeled "ableist," while Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter is deemed fascist. Jeff and Bob take a hard look at the linguistic battlefield and the corruption of language as an institution.
Jeff's paper on language, "Evolution or Corruption?": Mises.org/HAP367-1 George Orwell's essay "Politics and the English Language": Mises.org/HAP367-2 Ken Smith's Junk English: Mises.org/HAP367-3 Bryan Caplan on "Privilege": Mises.org/HAP367-4
War dissenters are branded "Putinists" by the foreign policy elites who casually flirt with nuclear war. But preferring negotiations to World War III hardly makes one a Putin sympathizer.
Original Article: "It's Time to Abandon America's Fetish for "Unconditional Surrender""
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Law Professor David Bernstein looks at the system of racial classifications in the USA and explains why they have been harmful.
Original Article: "Review of Classified: The Untold Story of Racial Classification in America"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Home price growth of the sort we've seen in recent years simply cannot be sustained without a continued commitment to easy money from the central bank, and it shows.
Original Article: "Without Easy Money from the Fed, Home Prices Will Keep Falling"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
War dissenters are branded "Putinists" by the foreign policy elites who casually flirt with nuclear war. But preferring negotiations to World War III hardly makes one a Putin sympathizer.
Original Article: "It's Time to Abandon America's Fetish for "Unconditional Surrender""
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop look at the Alex Jones verdict and the weaponization of defamation law. Now that Twitter is under Elon Musk's control, will the regime increasingly turn to the court system to crack down on the "dangers" posed by "misinformation"?
Use promo code ROTHPOD for a 20% discount on Ryan McMaken's new book Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities: Mises.org/RR_105_Book
Recommended Reading "The Alex Jones Verdict Shows the Danger of Defamation Laws" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_105_A
"Modern Information Control: State Intervention and Mistakes to Avoid by Kelly Offield: Mises.org/RR_105_B
"Florida's Social Media Anticensorship Law and the Court's Tortured Legal Logic" by Tate Fegley: Mises.org/RR_105_C
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
After following hyper-Keynesian policies for more than two decades, the Fed is about to create the conditions that Keynesians claimed were impossible: an inflationary recession.
Original Article: "The Fed's Current Monetary Stance Will Lead to Stagflation, Not Deflation"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
After following hyper-Keynesian policies for more than two decades, the Fed is about to create the conditions that Keynesians claimed were impossible: an inflationary recession.
Original Article: "The Fed's Current Monetary Stance Will Lead to Stagflation, Not Deflation"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
People still come to America, but it is because of the foundation created by private enterprise, not because of progressive politics.
Original Article: "To Many, America Still Is a Place of Opportunity (Unless Progressives Destroy That, Too)"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Law Professor David Bernstein looks at the system of racial classifications in the USA and explains why they have been harmful.
Original Article: "Review of Classified: The Untold Story of Racial Classification in America"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
War dissenters are branded "Putinists" by the foreign policy elites who casually flirt with nuclear war. But preferring negotiations to World War III hardly makes one a Putin sympathizer.
Original Article: "It's Time to Abandon America's Fetish for "Unconditional Surrender""
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Home price growth of the sort we've seen in recent years simply cannot be sustained without a continued commitment to easy money from the central bank, and it shows.
Original Article: "Without Easy Money from the Fed, Home Prices Will Keep Falling"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop look at the Alex Jones verdict and the weaponization of defamation law. Now that Twitter is under Elon Musk's control, will the regime increasingly turn to the court system to crack down on the "dangers" posed by "misinformation"?
Use promo code ROTHPOD for a 20% discount on Ryan McMaken's new book Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities: Mises.org/RR_105_Book
Recommended Reading "The Alex Jones Verdict Shows the Danger of Defamation Laws" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_105_A
"Modern Information Control: State Intervention and Mistakes to Avoid by Kelly Offield: Mises.org/RR_105_B
"Florida's Social Media Anticensorship Law and the Court's Tortured Legal Logic" by Tate Fegley: Mises.org/RR_105_C
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Home price growth of the sort we've seen in recent years simply cannot be sustained without a continued commitment to easy money from the central bank, and it shows.
Original Article: "Without Easy Money from the Fed, Home Prices Will Keep Falling"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Law Professor David Bernstein looks at the system of racial classifications in the USA and explains why they have been harmful.
Original Article: "Review of Classified: The Untold Story of Racial Classification in America"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
After following hyper-Keynesian policies for more than two decades, the Fed is about to create the conditions that Keynesians claimed were impossible: an inflationary recession.
Original Article: "The Fed's Current Monetary Stance Will Lead to Stagflation, Not Deflation"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
People still come to America, but it is because of the foundation created by private enterprise, not because of progressive politics.
Original Article: "To Many, America Still Is a Place of Opportunity (Unless Progressives Destroy That, Too)"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
People still come to America, but it is because of the foundation created by private enterprise, not because of progressive politics.
Original Article: "To Many, America Still Is a Place of Opportunity (Unless Progressives Destroy That, Too)"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop look at the Alex Jones verdict and the weaponization of defamation law. Now that Twitter is under Elon Musk's control, will the regime increasingly turn to the court system to crack down on the "dangers" posed by "misinformation"?
Use promo code ROTHPOD for a 20% discount on Ryan McMaken's new book Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities: Mises.org/RR_105_Book
Recommended Reading "The Alex Jones Verdict Shows the Danger of Defamation Laws" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_105_A
"Modern Information Control: State Intervention and Mistakes to Avoid by Kelly Offield: Mises.org/RR_105_B
"Florida's Social Media Anticensorship Law and the Court's Tortured Legal Logic" by Tate Fegley: Mises.org/RR_105_C
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Sponsored by James McMahon.
Recorded at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona on October 7th, 2022.
Sponsored by James McMahon.
Recorded at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona on October 7th, 2022.
Sponsored by James McMahon.
Recorded at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona on October 7th, 2022.
Insurance protects individuals from events that cannot be foreseen. As Murray Rothbard noted, however, deposit insurance exists to "protect" a system that is inherently bankrupt.
Original Article: "Murray Rothbard Was Right: Deposit "Insurance" Is Not Insurance at All"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
There is a threshold of diversity below which no organization can operate with complete effectiveness. Diversity in this sense does not only include the “Big 3” DEI elements of race gender and sexual orientation, but also education, experiential background, business partner diversity, learning capabilities — all of the organizational resources that Austrian economists refer to when they talk about the creative combination and recombination of heterogeneous assets. Dr. Ella F. Washington, author of the book The Necessary Journey, joins Economics For Business to make the business case for diversity.
Knowledge Capsule The business case for diversity is built on the sustainable competitive advantage in productivity that it can bring. Dr. Washington’s book is a global, multi-variable survey of the effect of diversity orchestration on business results. She describes a wide variety of business cases, in large, medium-sized and small firms, in businesses ranging from global hospitality services to IT to alcoholic beverages production and marketing, and many more. She looks at diversity not just through the “big 3” lenses of race, gender, and sexual orientation, but also educational achievement, cultural background, learning capability and interpersonal communications variables. In all cases, well-orchestrated diversity made a demonstrable and positive difference in business outcomes. Diversity is a tool for competitive advantage.
The business case is globally applicable. Dr. Washington has studied and provided consulting services to global firms and to local and regional firms in many countries. She sees diversity not as a provincial political issue but as a business tool for elevating human performance. There is a lot of hard work involved in identifying and understanding local differences, and some challenging decision-making and communications issues. Getting diversity right is not always comfortable, and many perspectives must be balanced. But it pays off in results.
Value and empathy are at the core of diversity management. Subjective value lies at the core of Austrian entrepreneurship. Subjective value is in the mind of the customer, it’s a feeling that’s experienced. When businesses deliver a valuable experience, customers engage enthusiastically. The same is true for a group of employees. An organization that can empathically feel the experiences of all its employees, and can orchestrate the environment and the culture that recognizes, caters to and enhances their felt experiences, can achieve the exciting collaborative energy of alignment and harmony. Austrian principles of subjectivism and empathy apply in all areas of business thinking.
People want to feel valued, and the feeling is personal and individual. No matter the size of the corporation, each individual counts in their own way.
Diversity policies always benefit from the free incorporation of multiple perspectives as compared to centralized mandates. Dr. Washington’s case studies consistently demonstrate that decentralization and localized management is a better tool for productive diversity that central mandates. One of her case studies concerns Sodexo, a French company specializing in food services and facilities management, employing over 420,000 people in 80 countries all over the globe.
Through the processes described by Dr. Washington, Sodexo came to realize that thinking and acting locally was the key to achieving the diversity target of collaborative productivity AND elevated human performance through valued experiences. Diversity solutions could not be formulated in the central HQ, or even country-level HQ’s, and even regional and local offices. It was the individual sites where people work together in small teams that should be the focus. A general goal was established — it was termed “Spirit Of Inclusion” — and then specific programs were resourced and implemented at the local level in ways that comported with local needs.
To quote from one of the Sodexo executives, “engagement across the organization very soon became an enabler of business growth and business success”.
Diversity has a future orientation — influencing future performance. In the US, diversity policies are often pitched as addressing past wrongs. In another case study, the President of Infosys, an India-based technology company, stressed his focus on building the services of the future. A diverse work force is, in his words, the most viable business model. Since the company would be engaged in building new services for a new future and a more diverse audience (i.e., in new countries, new situations, new circumstances), then it’s smart to try to imagine the needs of that future workforce, and how to maximize its capability for future success. A diverse workforce is better able to develop superior understanding of a diverse customer base.
One of Infosys’s diversity tactics was to extend hiring in the US to community colleges. Many tech firms focus on 4-year university graduates exclusively. Infosys felt that (a) they might not be competitive in hiring those candidates, and (b) such a focus excluded a lot of bright, trainable people from two-year community college programs. They also found out that the two-year students often exhibited greater “learnability” — they could be trained and coached in the Infosys way with outstanding results in achievement and productivity.
Another source of diverse talent is the individual making a mid-career switch. Infosys opened up its thinking and its recruitment to include this type of diversity too. Career-switchers tend to excel at learnability.
As is always the case in entrepreneurial economics, imagining a better future opens the pathway to better implementation. At the close of her case studies, Dr. Washington tells us her respondents’ answer to a question about the workplace utopia of the future. All the answers are different, but the principle is the same: conceptualizing the most productive workplace in terms of how employees feel and how the feeling can be translated into effective and consistent contribution, collaboration, and business results. How do firms awaken and stimulate the best capabilities of all their employees? That’s the business case for diversity.
Additional Resources The Necessary Journey: Making Real Progress on Equity and Inclusion by Ella F. Washington: Mises.org/E4B_193_Book
TheNecessaryJourney.com
Dr. Ella F. Washington on LinkedIn: Mises.org/E4B_193_LinkedIn
There is a threshold of diversity below which no organization can operate with complete effectiveness. Diversity in this sense does not only include the “Big 3” DEI elements of race gender and sexual orientation, but also education, experiential background, business partner diversity, learning capabilities — all of the organizational resources that Austrian economists refer to when they talk about the creative combination and recombination of heterogeneous assets. Dr. Ella F. Washington, author of the book The Necessary Journey, joins Economics For Business to make the business case for diversity.
Knowledge Capsule The business case for diversity is built on the sustainable competitive advantage in productivity that it can bring. Dr. Washington’s book is a global, multi-variable survey of the effect of diversity orchestration on business results. She describes a wide variety of business cases, in large, medium-sized and small firms, in businesses ranging from global hospitality services to IT to alcoholic beverages production and marketing, and many more. She looks at diversity not just through the “big 3” lenses of race, gender, and sexual orientation, but also educational achievement, cultural background, learning capability and interpersonal communications variables. In all cases, well-orchestrated diversity made a demonstrable and positive difference in business outcomes. Diversity is a tool for competitive advantage.
The business case is globally applicable. Dr. Washington has studied and provided consulting services to global firms and to local and regional firms in many countries. She sees diversity not as a provincial political issue but as a business tool for elevating human performance. There is a lot of hard work involved in identifying and understanding local differences, and some challenging decision-making and communications issues. Getting diversity right is not always comfortable, and many perspectives must be balanced. But it pays off in results.
Value and empathy are at the core of diversity management. Subjective value lies at the core of Austrian entrepreneurship. Subjective value is in the mind of the customer, it’s a feeling that’s experienced. When businesses deliver a valuable experience, customers engage enthusiastically. The same is true for a group of employees. An organization that can empathically feel the experiences of all its employees, and can orchestrate the environment and the culture that recognizes, caters to and enhances their felt experiences, can achieve the exciting collaborative energy of alignment and harmony. Austrian principles of subjectivism and empathy apply in all areas of business thinking.
People want to feel valued, and the feeling is personal and individual. No matter the size of the corporation, each individual counts in their own way.
Diversity policies always benefit from the free incorporation of multiple perspectives as compared to centralized mandates. Dr. Washington’s case studies consistently demonstrate that decentralization and localized management is a better tool for productive diversity that central mandates. One of her case studies concerns Sodexo, a French company specializing in food services and facilities management, employing over 420,000 people in 80 countries all over the globe.
Through the processes described by Dr. Washington, Sodexo came to realize that thinking and acting locally was the key to achieving the diversity target of collaborative productivity AND elevated human performance through valued experiences. Diversity solutions could not be formulated in the central HQ, or even country-level HQ’s, and even regional and local offices. It was the individual sites where people work together in small teams that should be the focus. A general goal was established — it was termed “Spirit Of Inclusion” — and then specific programs were resourced and implemented at the local level in ways that comported with local needs.
To quote from one of the Sodexo executives, “engagement across the organization very soon became an enabler of business growth and business success”.
Diversity has a future orientation — influencing future performance. In the US, diversity policies are often pitched as addressing past wrongs. In another case study, the President of Infosys, an India-based technology company, stressed his focus on building the services of the future. A diverse work force is, in his words, the most viable business model. Since the company would be engaged in building new services for a new future and a more diverse audience (i.e., in new countries, new situations, new circumstances), then it’s smart to try to imagine the needs of that future workforce, and how to maximize its capability for future success. A diverse workforce is better able to develop superior understanding of a diverse customer base.
One of Infosys’s diversity tactics was to extend hiring in the US to community colleges. Many tech firms focus on 4-year university graduates exclusively. Infosys felt that (a) they might not be competitive in hiring those candidates, and (b) such a focus excluded a lot of bright, trainable people from two-year community college programs. They also found out that the two-year students often exhibited greater “learnability” — they could be trained and coached in the Infosys way with outstanding results in achievement and productivity.
Another source of diverse talent is the individual making a mid-career switch. Infosys opened up its thinking and its recruitment to include this type of diversity too. Career-switchers tend to excel at learnability.
As is always the case in entrepreneurial economics, imagining a better future opens the pathway to better implementation. At the close of her case studies, Dr. Washington tells us her respondents’ answer to a question about the workplace utopia of the future. All the answers are different, but the principle is the same: conceptualizing the most productive workplace in terms of how employees feel and how the feeling can be translated into effective and consistent contribution, collaboration, and business results. How do firms awaken and stimulate the best capabilities of all their employees? That’s the business case for diversity.
Additional Resources The Necessary Journey: Making Real Progress on Equity and Inclusion by Ella F. Washington: Mises.org/E4B_193_Book
TheNecessaryJourney.com
Dr. Ella F. Washington on LinkedIn: Mises.org/E4B_193_LinkedIn
There is a threshold of diversity below which no organization can operate with complete effectiveness. Diversity in this sense does not only include the “Big 3” DEI elements of race gender and sexual orientation, but also education, experiential background, business partner diversity, learning capabilities — all of the organizational resources that Austrian economists refer to when they talk about the creative combination and recombination of heterogeneous assets. Dr. Ella F. Washington, author of the book The Necessary Journey, joins Economics For Business to make the business case for diversity.
Knowledge Capsule The business case for diversity is built on the sustainable competitive advantage in productivity that it can bring. Dr. Washington’s book is a global, multi-variable survey of the effect of diversity orchestration on business results. She describes a wide variety of business cases, in large, medium-sized and small firms, in businesses ranging from global hospitality services to IT to alcoholic beverages production and marketing, and many more. She looks at diversity not just through the “big 3” lenses of race, gender, and sexual orientation, but also educational achievement, cultural background, learning capability and interpersonal communications variables. In all cases, well-orchestrated diversity made a demonstrable and positive difference in business outcomes. Diversity is a tool for competitive advantage.
The business case is globally applicable. Dr. Washington has studied and provided consulting services to global firms and to local and regional firms in many countries. She sees diversity not as a provincial political issue but as a business tool for elevating human performance. There is a lot of hard work involved in identifying and understanding local differences, and some challenging decision-making and communications issues. Getting diversity right is not always comfortable, and many perspectives must be balanced. But it pays off in results.
Value and empathy are at the core of diversity management. Subjective value lies at the core of Austrian entrepreneurship. Subjective value is in the mind of the customer, it’s a feeling that’s experienced. When businesses deliver a valuable experience, customers engage enthusiastically. The same is true for a group of employees. An organization that can empathically feel the experiences of all its employees, and can orchestrate the environment and the culture that recognizes, caters to and enhances their felt experiences, can achieve the exciting collaborative energy of alignment and harmony. Austrian principles of subjectivism and empathy apply in all areas of business thinking.
People want to feel valued, and the feeling is personal and individual. No matter the size of the corporation, each individual counts in their own way.
Diversity policies always benefit from the free incorporation of multiple perspectives as compared to centralized mandates. Dr. Washington’s case studies consistently demonstrate that decentralization and localized management is a better tool for productive diversity that central mandates. One of her case studies concerns Sodexo, a French company specializing in food services and facilities management, employing over 420,000 people in 80 countries all over the globe.
Through the processes described by Dr. Washington, Sodexo came to realize that thinking and acting locally was the key to achieving the diversity target of collaborative productivity AND elevated human performance through valued experiences. Diversity solutions could not be formulated in the central HQ, or even country-level HQ’s, and even regional and local offices. It was the individual sites where people work together in small teams that should be the focus. A general goal was established — it was termed “Spirit Of Inclusion” — and then specific programs were resourced and implemented at the local level in ways that comported with local needs.
To quote from one of the Sodexo executives, “engagement across the organization very soon became an enabler of business growth and business success”.
Diversity has a future orientation — influencing future performance. In the US, diversity policies are often pitched as addressing past wrongs. In another case study, the President of Infosys, an India-based technology company, stressed his focus on building the services of the future. A diverse work force is, in his words, the most viable business model. Since the company would be engaged in building new services for a new future and a more diverse audience (i.e., in new countries, new situations, new circumstances), then it’s smart to try to imagine the needs of that future workforce, and how to maximize its capability for future success. A diverse workforce is better able to develop superior understanding of a diverse customer base.
One of Infosys’s diversity tactics was to extend hiring in the US to community colleges. Many tech firms focus on 4-year university graduates exclusively. Infosys felt that (a) they might not be competitive in hiring those candidates, and (b) such a focus excluded a lot of bright, trainable people from two-year community college programs. They also found out that the two-year students often exhibited greater “learnability” — they could be trained and coached in the Infosys way with outstanding results in achievement and productivity.
Another source of diverse talent is the individual making a mid-career switch. Infosys opened up its thinking and its recruitment to include this type of diversity too. Career-switchers tend to excel at learnability.
As is always the case in entrepreneurial economics, imagining a better future opens the pathway to better implementation. At the close of her case studies, Dr. Washington tells us her respondents’ answer to a question about the workplace utopia of the future. All the answers are different, but the principle is the same: conceptualizing the most productive workplace in terms of how employees feel and how the feeling can be translated into effective and consistent contribution, collaboration, and business results. How do firms awaken and stimulate the best capabilities of all their employees? That’s the business case for diversity.
Additional Resources The Necessary Journey: Making Real Progress on Equity and Inclusion by Ella F. Washington: Mises.org/E4B_193_Book
TheNecessaryJourney.com
Dr. Ella F. Washington on LinkedIn: Mises.org/E4B_193_LinkedIn
Featuring Tho Bishop, Liam Metzger, Connor Mortell, Mitchell Robson, and Annika Wahlstedt.
Recorded at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona on October 7th, 2022.
Sponsored by Diane Johnson and Andy Hord.
Recorded at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona on October 7th, 2022.
Featuring Tho Bishop, Liam Metzger, Connor Mortell, Mitchell Robson, and Annika Wahlstedt.
Recorded at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona on October 7th, 2022.
Sponsored by Diane Johnson and Andy Hord.
Recorded at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona on October 7th, 2022.
Featuring Tho Bishop, Liam Metzger, Connor Mortell, Mitchell Robson, and Annika Wahlstedt.
Recorded at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona on October 7th, 2022.
Sponsored by Diane Johnson and Andy Hord.
Recorded at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona on October 7th, 2022.
Insurance protects individuals from events that cannot be foreseen. As Murray Rothbard noted, however, deposit insurance exists to "protect" a system that is inherently bankrupt.
Original Article: "Murray Rothbard Was Right: Deposit "Insurance" Is Not Insurance at All"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Government inflation makes people’s responses much more delayed, leaving people’s value adding greatly degraded.
Original Article: "Fed Socialist Money Manipulation Cancels Individuals' Better Judgment"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Insurance protects individuals from events that cannot be foreseen. As Murray Rothbard noted, however, deposit insurance exists to "protect" a system that is inherently bankrupt.
Original Article: "Housing Is Getting Less Affordable. Governments Are Making It Worse."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Our current deficit policy amounts to "Give me your wallet, and you will deal with the credit card balance later."
Original Article: ""Spend Now, and Deal with the Consequences Later" Is the Worst Policy"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Government inflation makes people’s responses much more delayed, leaving people’s value adding greatly degraded.
Original Article: "Fed Socialist Money Manipulation Cancels Individuals' Better Judgment"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Our current deficit policy amounts to "Give me your wallet, and you will deal with the credit card balance later."
Original Article: ""Spend Now, and Deal with the Consequences Later" Is the Worst Policy"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Insurance protects individuals from events that cannot be foreseen. As Murray Rothbard noted, however, deposit insurance exists to "protect" a system that is inherently bankrupt.
Original Article: "Housing Is Getting Less Affordable. Governments Are Making It Worse."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Insurance protects individuals from events that cannot be foreseen. As Murray Rothbard noted, however, deposit insurance exists to "protect" a system that is inherently bankrupt.
Original Article: "Murray Rothbard Was Right: Deposit "Insurance" Is Not Insurance at All"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Government inflation makes people’s responses much more delayed, leaving people’s value adding greatly degraded.
Original Article: "Fed Socialist Money Manipulation Cancels Individuals' Better Judgment"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Insurance protects individuals from events that cannot be foreseen. As Murray Rothbard noted, however, deposit insurance exists to "protect" a system that is inherently bankrupt.
Original Article: "Housing Is Getting Less Affordable. Governments Are Making It Worse."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Our current deficit policy amounts to "Give me your wallet, and you will deal with the credit card balance later."
Original Article: ""Spend Now, and Deal with the Consequences Later" Is the Worst Policy"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The only lesson for the United Kingdom is to remember that if you follow Greece’s economic policies, you get Greek debt, unemployment, and growth.
Original Article: "The Bank of England Made Liz Truss a Scapegoat"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Gold historically has not been money by government fiat. Instead, gold has been the natural choice of people for money, something governments cannot undo (despite its best efforts).
Original Article: "Gold as Natural Money"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The only lesson for the United Kingdom is to remember that if you follow Greece’s economic policies, you get Greek debt, unemployment, and growth.
Original Article: "The Bank of England Made Liz Truss a Scapegoat"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Gold historically has not been money by government fiat. Instead, gold has been the natural choice of people for money, something governments cannot undo (despite its best efforts).
Original Article: "Gold as Natural Money"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The only lesson for the United Kingdom is to remember that if you follow Greece’s economic policies, you get Greek debt, unemployment, and growth.
Original Article: "The Bank of England Made Liz Truss a Scapegoat"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Gold historically has not been money by government fiat. Instead, gold has been the natural choice of people for money, something governments cannot undo (despite its best efforts).
Original Article: "Gold as Natural Money"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Featuring David Gordon, Paul Gottfried, Peter Klein, and Joseph Salerno.
Sponsored by Happy Baily and Charlie Martin.
Featuring David Gordon, Paul Gottfried, Peter Klein, and Joseph Salerno.
Sponsored by Happy Baily and Charlie Martin.
Featuring David Gordon, Paul Gottfried, Peter Klein, and Joseph Salerno.
Sponsored by Happy Baily and Charlie Martin.
Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop talk with historian Chris Calton about student loans, "the college experience," and the lack of ideological diversity on college campuses today.
Use promo code ROTHPOD for a 20% discount on Ryan McMaken's new book Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities: Mises.org/RR_104_Book
Recommended Reading "College as an Economic and Social Problem: Dealing with the Culture" by Chris Calton: Mises.org/RR_104_A
"Higher Education Woes: Student Loans Help Fuel Higher College Costs" by Chris Calton: Mises.org/RR_104_B
"Higher Education in Crisis: The Problem of Ideological Homogeneity" by Chris Calton: Mises.org/RR_104_C
"The Perils of Higher Education: Institutional Failure" by Chris Calton: Mises.org/RR_104_D
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Free Markets are often criticized for producing ugly, dystopian, consumer-driven landscapes, but is this true? Jeff explains how we need more than intellectual appeal to advance the cause of liberty—we need an appeal to beauty.
Watch other talks from our 40th Anniversary Celebration: Mises.org/SS2022
Free Markets are often criticized for producing ugly, dystopian, consumer-driven landscapes, but is this true? Jeff explains how we need more than intellectual appeal to advance the cause of liberty—we need an appeal to beauty.
Watch other talks from our 40th Anniversary Celebration: Mises.org/SS2022
Free Markets are often criticized for producing ugly, dystopian, consumer-driven landscapes, but is this true? Jeff explains how we need more than intellectual appeal to advance the cause of liberty—we need an appeal to beauty.
Watch other talks from our 40th Anniversary Celebration: Mises.org/SS2022
Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop talk with historian Chris Calton about student loans, "the college experience," and the lack of ideological diversity on college campuses today.
Use promo code ROTHPOD for a 20% discount on Ryan McMaken's new book Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities: Mises.org/RR_104_Book
Recommended Reading "College as an Economic and Social Problem: Dealing with the Culture" by Chris Calton: Mises.org/RR_104_A
"Higher Education Woes: Student Loans Help Fuel Higher College Costs" by Chris Calton: Mises.org/RR_104_B
"Higher Education in Crisis: The Problem of Ideological Homogeneity" by Chris Calton: Mises.org/RR_104_C
"The Perils of Higher Education: Institutional Failure" by Chris Calton: Mises.org/RR_104_D
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop talk with historian Chris Calton about student loans, "the college experience," and the lack of ideological diversity on college campuses today.
Use promo code ROTHPOD for a 20% discount on Ryan McMaken's new book Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities: Mises.org/RR_104_Book
Recommended Reading "College as an Economic and Social Problem: Dealing with the Culture" by Chris Calton: Mises.org/RR_104_A
"Higher Education Woes: Student Loans Help Fuel Higher College Costs" by Chris Calton: Mises.org/RR_104_B
"Higher Education in Crisis: The Problem of Ideological Homogeneity" by Chris Calton: Mises.org/RR_104_C
"The Perils of Higher Education: Institutional Failure" by Chris Calton: Mises.org/RR_104_D
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Even while Americans deal with skyrocketing higher education costs, few would challenge the worth of college and fewer still question the campus culture. Yet, that is precisely where the problems lie, even if people don't recognize it.
Original Article: "College as an Economic and Social Problem: Dealing with the Culture"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
It is easy to think of supply and demand curves as being key to economic analysis. In reality, they can't tell us much, and emphasizing them actually stands in the way of better understanding economic processes.
Original Article: "What Do Supply and Demand Curves Really Tell Us? Not Very Much"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
College faculties historically have leaned left-of-center, but today, a rigid progressive ideology is enforced not only by faculty, but also by higher education administrations.
Original Article: "Higher Education in Crisis: The Problem of Ideological Homogeneity"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
While Bitcoin's S2F Model has come under some criticism, the best analysis of its flaws comes from perspective of Austrian Economics.
Original Article: "A Critique of the Bitcoin Stock-to-Flow Model"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
While Bitcoin's S2F Model has come under some criticism, the best analysis of its flaws comes from perspective of Austrian Economics.
Original Article: "A Critique of the Bitcoin Stock-to-Flow Model"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
College faculties historically have leaned left-of-center, but today, a rigid progressive ideology is enforced not only by faculty, but also by higher education administrations.
Original Article: "Higher Education in Crisis: The Problem of Ideological Homogeneity"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Even while Americans deal with skyrocketing higher education costs, few would challenge the worth of college and fewer still question the campus culture. Yet, that is precisely where the problems lie, even if people don't recognize it.
Original Article: "College as an Economic and Social Problem: Dealing with the Culture"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
It is easy to think of supply and demand curves as being key to economic analysis. In reality, they can't tell us much, and emphasizing them actually stands in the way of better understanding economic processes.
Original Article: "What Do Supply and Demand Curves Really Tell Us? Not Very Much"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
College faculties historically have leaned left-of-center, but today, a rigid progressive ideology is enforced not only by faculty, but also by higher education administrations.
Original Article: "Higher Education in Crisis: The Problem of Ideological Homogeneity"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
As we watch the once proud edifice of higher education in the USA crumble, we realize that we are looking at institutional failure itself.
Original Article: "The Perils of Higher Education: Institutional Failure"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
As we watch the once proud edifice of higher education in the USA crumble, we realize that we are looking at institutional failure itself.
Original Article: "The Perils of Higher Education: Institutional Failure"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
As we watch the once proud edifice of higher education in the USA crumble, we realize that we are looking at institutional failure itself.
Original Article: "The Perils of Higher Education: Institutional Failure"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
It is easy to think of supply and demand curves as being key to economic analysis. In reality, they can't tell us much, and emphasizing them actually stands in the way of better understanding economic processes.
Original Article: "What Do Supply and Demand Curves Really Tell Us? Not Very Much"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
While Bitcoin's S2F Model has come under some criticism, the best analysis of its flaws comes from perspective of Austrian Economics.
Original Article: "A Critique of the Bitcoin Stock-to-Flow Model"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Even while Americans deal with skyrocketing higher education costs, few would challenge the worth of college and fewer still question the campus culture. Yet, that is precisely where the problems lie, even if people don't recognize it.
Original Article: "College as an Economic and Social Problem: Dealing with the Culture"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The modern progressive narratives claim that the wealth of the West and especially of the USA was built upon the backs of slaves. In fact, slavery retarded economic growth.
Original Article: "The West Didn't Become Rich Because of Slavery But in Spite of It"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Recorded at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona on October 7th, 2022.
The 1989 Rockford Institute meeting picture: Mises.org/1989-Rockford
Sponsored by Angela and Roger Box.
The modern progressive narratives claim that the wealth of the West and especially of the USA was built upon the backs of slaves. In fact, slavery retarded economic growth.
Original Article: "The West Didn't Become Rich Because of Slavery But in Spite of It"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
There are only painful options for bringing price inflation under control at this point, and that's all thanks to the Fed's creation of countless bubbles and malinvestments over the past decade.
Original Article: "We're Getting Poorer: Price Inflation Grew Faster than Wages Again in September"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
There are only painful options for bringing price inflation under control at this point, and that's all thanks to the Fed's creation of countless bubbles and malinvestments over the past decade.
Original Article: "We're Getting Poorer: Price Inflation Grew Faster than Wages Again in September"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
There are only painful options for bringing price inflation under control at this point, and that's all thanks to the Fed's creation of countless bubbles and malinvestments over the past decade.
Original Article: "We're Getting Poorer: Price Inflation Grew Faster than Wages Again in September"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Recorded at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona on October 7th, 2022.
The 1989 Rockford Institute meeting picture: Mises.org/1989-Rockford
Sponsored by Angela and Roger Box.
Recorded at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona on October 7th, 2022.
The 1989 Rockford Institute meeting picture: Mises.org/1989-Rockford
Sponsored by Angela and Roger Box.
The modern progressive narratives claim that the wealth of the West and especially of the USA was built upon the backs of slaves. In fact, slavery retarded economic growth.
Original Article: "The West Didn't Become Rich Because of Slavery But in Spite of It"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
When firms apply the principles of Austrian economics to business management, we call the result the Adaptive Entrepreneurial Method. It’s adaptive in that it is a continuous learning process, and it’s entrepreneurial in elevating customer value realization as the most important business purpose.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights. [[{"fid":"136508","view_mode":"image_no_caption","fields":{"format":"image_no_caption","alignment":"center","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"The Adaptive Entrepreneurial Business Method","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_caption_text[und][0][value]":"","field_image_file_link[und][0][value]":""},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"image_no_caption","alignment":"center","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"The Adaptive Entrepreneurial Business Method","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_caption_text[und][0][value]":"","field_image_file_link[und][0][value]":""}},"attributes":{"alt":"The Adaptive Entrepreneurial Business Method","class":"media-element file-image-no-caption media-wysiwyg-align-center","data-delta":"1"}}]]
Businesses that follow the adaptive entrepreneurial method put customer value first. Value in Austrian economics is customer value: contributing to customers’ feelings of being better off as a result of the interaction with an entrepreneurial business or service provider. A useful way to think about value is in terms of alignment and order. A value exchange is a harmonious alignment between customer and entrepreneur, in which both parties benefit and both parties’ interests are served. Order is represented by the customer’s decision, a point of clarity in a world of multiple choices, overlapping preferences and broad-based uncertainty.
Entrepreneurial businesses make value their purpose and identify it in alignment and harmony with customers. Everything else — cash flow, profits, growth — follows.
Entrepreneurial orientation enables the right interpretation of data and information for customer value realization. Mark McGrath emphasizes the powerful role of entrepreneurial orientation in business success. Orientation is a mindset — a kind of internal operating system — that guides firms to translate information from customers, partners, competitors and the market into an effective, winning vision and mission.
The essence of orientation is learning. Uncertainty is assumed, and orientation is the unique set of filters through which entrepreneurs and management teams process the quantitative and qualitative data that customers and markets present. Mises called it economic calculation: the entrepreneurial capacity for combining a constantly changing stream of information into a business decision. The decisions are always reviewable and revisable; a learning mindset makes entrepreneurs comfortable with frequent decision changes in response to changing information and feedback. Principles — such as the primacy of customer value — remain the same; it’s actions that are adjusted.
Businesses that don’t learn can get locked into models that no longer reflect the realities of the marketplace, and lose their effectiveness.
People, ideas, and things. Learning, adapting, and changing are difficult capabilities to master. Continuous change can feel disorienting absent the right mindset. How do companies achieve this mastery? Mark McGrath quotes Joh Boyd on the eternal verity of people, ideas, and things — always in that order.
The first critical component are the people engaged in and operating the business. They must be good at change, comfortable with constant flux. They must accept VUCA — volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity — as the normal condition. At the same time, management must be conscious of how each new change or wave of change impacts people, and anticipates the effect it will have on them.
In this change-accepting environment, unlimited new ideas can emerge via the creative process. They can be tested, and marketplace results become the yardstick. When new ideas look promising in terms of the results they potentially enable, then things can be changed: capital can be redeployed in new combinations, marketing campaigns can be revised. When people are pre-prepared, smooth transitions are achievable.
Continuous Reorientation And Entrepreneurial Intent. While entrepreneurial orientation is the firm’s operating system for processing information, it is not fixed. Adaptive firms are continuously reorienting, Active reorientation supports learning, recognizing that all perceptual models are only as good as the moment they were developed. They must be renewed to stay relevant. Challenging assumptions and reframing problems must be continuous in order for firms to thrive and use change to advantage. Effective orientation looks to the future rather than the present, emphasizing agility and avoiding clinging to outdated models.
Reorientation precedes intent and reshapes it. Entrepreneurial intent can be equated to what systems thinkers call vision. A vision is shared and provides a North Star for everyone in the firm, but that doesn’t preclude adjustment in continuous alignment with customers. The vision is to serve customers, and customers are also changing and adjusting. Thinking in terms of intent (rather than, say, implementing a rigid plan) permits greater flexibility in pursuit of the vision.
Entrepreneurial judgment is decision and action. The theory of entrepreneurship emphasizes judgment — that mysterious-sounding capability of entrepreneurs to make economic calculations from a mix of data and intuition. That can sound like a kind of mulling over of options. But it’s much more active than that. The entrepreneurial method emphasizes deciding and acting. Decisions are recognized as hypotheses; it’s impossible to know exactly what to do, so action-oriented develop hypotheses about what actions could have the effect they desire. The hypotheses are carefully aligned with their intent in order to double-check the logic as far as possible. But the purpose is not to be “right” but to generate feedback information so that alignment can be better informed by reality.
Action — the implementation of decisions — is an experiment, a test of the hypothesis. Action produces interaction (with customers, with retailers, with competitors, with the changing market environment) and thereby provides new information in the form of feedback, which might indicate the need to change actions next time.
The number of hypotheses and tests can be narrowed; what’s important is that they reflect as wide a range of perspectives as possible — from those at the front line interacting with customers, whether in person or at the call center or online, from engineers and operatives, from finance and HR, and from all relevant points of view. The more diverse the range of perspectives, the more likely it is that different angles of view will provide new insights and illuminate blind spots. Make sure that internal communications are organized so as to make it possible for all perspectives — including dissenting Cassandras - to be recognized and acknowledged.
Candid self-assessment of people in business leadership roles is a good place to start the adaptive entrepreneurial journey. Some elements of the adaptive entrepreneurial model require the discarding of standard ways of managing. For example, many businesses spend considerable time and effort developing plans that lock in budgets and resource allocations, and don’t make allowance for constant adjustment and change. It’s useful to take inventory of these practices and question whether they can be abandoned or reformed in pursuit of agility.
Additional Resources The "Adaptive Entrepreneurial Method" Graphic (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_192_PDF1
"Destruction and Creation" by John Boyd (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_192_PDF2
Mark J. McGrath on LinkedIn: Mises.org/E4B_192_LinkedIn
"Orientation: Bridging The Gap In The Austrian Theory of Entrepreneurship" (AERC 2022) by Mark J. McGrath and Hunter Hastings (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_192_PDF3
Recorded at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona on October 7th, 2022.
Sponsored by Sheri and Thomas Yengst.
When firms apply the principles of Austrian economics to business management, we call the result the Adaptive Entrepreneurial Method. It’s adaptive in that it is a continuous learning process, and it’s entrepreneurial in elevating customer value realization as the most important business purpose.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights. [[{"fid":"136508","view_mode":"image_no_caption","fields":{"format":"image_no_caption","alignment":"center","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"The Adaptive Entrepreneurial Business Method","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_caption_text[und][0][value]":"","field_image_file_link[und][0][value]":""},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"image_no_caption","alignment":"center","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"The Adaptive Entrepreneurial Business Method","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_caption_text[und][0][value]":"","field_image_file_link[und][0][value]":""}},"attributes":{"alt":"The Adaptive Entrepreneurial Business Method","class":"media-element file-image-no-caption media-wysiwyg-align-center","data-delta":"1"}}]]
Businesses that follow the adaptive entrepreneurial method put customer value first. Value in Austrian economics is customer value: contributing to customers’ feelings of being better off as a result of the interaction with an entrepreneurial business or service provider. A useful way to think about value is in terms of alignment and order. A value exchange is a harmonious alignment between customer and entrepreneur, in which both parties benefit and both parties’ interests are served. Order is represented by the customer’s decision, a point of clarity in a world of multiple choices, overlapping preferences and broad-based uncertainty.
Entrepreneurial businesses make value their purpose and identify it in alignment and harmony with customers. Everything else — cash flow, profits, growth — follows.
Entrepreneurial orientation enables the right interpretation of data and information for customer value realization. Mark McGrath emphasizes the powerful role of entrepreneurial orientation in business success. Orientation is a mindset — a kind of internal operating system — that guides firms to translate information from customers, partners, competitors and the market into an effective, winning vision and mission.
The essence of orientation is learning. Uncertainty is assumed, and orientation is the unique set of filters through which entrepreneurs and management teams process the quantitative and qualitative data that customers and markets present. Mises called it economic calculation: the entrepreneurial capacity for combining a constantly changing stream of information into a business decision. The decisions are always reviewable and revisable; a learning mindset makes entrepreneurs comfortable with frequent decision changes in response to changing information and feedback. Principles — such as the primacy of customer value — remain the same; it’s actions that are adjusted.
Businesses that don’t learn can get locked into models that no longer reflect the realities of the marketplace, and lose their effectiveness.
People, ideas, and things. Learning, adapting, and changing are difficult capabilities to master. Continuous change can feel disorienting absent the right mindset. How do companies achieve this mastery? Mark McGrath quotes Joh Boyd on the eternal verity of people, ideas, and things — always in that order.
The first critical component are the people engaged in and operating the business. They must be good at change, comfortable with constant flux. They must accept VUCA — volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity — as the normal condition. At the same time, management must be conscious of how each new change or wave of change impacts people, and anticipates the effect it will have on them.
In this change-accepting environment, unlimited new ideas can emerge via the creative process. They can be tested, and marketplace results become the yardstick. When new ideas look promising in terms of the results they potentially enable, then things can be changed: capital can be redeployed in new combinations, marketing campaigns can be revised. When people are pre-prepared, smooth transitions are achievable.
Continuous Reorientation And Entrepreneurial Intent. While entrepreneurial orientation is the firm’s operating system for processing information, it is not fixed. Adaptive firms are continuously reorienting, Active reorientation supports learning, recognizing that all perceptual models are only as good as the moment they were developed. They must be renewed to stay relevant. Challenging assumptions and reframing problems must be continuous in order for firms to thrive and use change to advantage. Effective orientation looks to the future rather than the present, emphasizing agility and avoiding clinging to outdated models.
Reorientation precedes intent and reshapes it. Entrepreneurial intent can be equated to what systems thinkers call vision. A vision is shared and provides a North Star for everyone in the firm, but that doesn’t preclude adjustment in continuous alignment with customers. The vision is to serve customers, and customers are also changing and adjusting. Thinking in terms of intent (rather than, say, implementing a rigid plan) permits greater flexibility in pursuit of the vision.
Entrepreneurial judgment is decision and action. The theory of entrepreneurship emphasizes judgment — that mysterious-sounding capability of entrepreneurs to make economic calculations from a mix of data and intuition. That can sound like a kind of mulling over of options. But it’s much more active than that. The entrepreneurial method emphasizes deciding and acting. Decisions are recognized as hypotheses; it’s impossible to know exactly what to do, so action-oriented develop hypotheses about what actions could have the effect they desire. The hypotheses are carefully aligned with their intent in order to double-check the logic as far as possible. But the purpose is not to be “right” but to generate feedback information so that alignment can be better informed by reality.
Action — the implementation of decisions — is an experiment, a test of the hypothesis. Action produces interaction (with customers, with retailers, with competitors, with the changing market environment) and thereby provides new information in the form of feedback, which might indicate the need to change actions next time.
The number of hypotheses and tests can be narrowed; what’s important is that they reflect as wide a range of perspectives as possible — from those at the front line interacting with customers, whether in person or at the call center or online, from engineers and operatives, from finance and HR, and from all relevant points of view. The more diverse the range of perspectives, the more likely it is that different angles of view will provide new insights and illuminate blind spots. Make sure that internal communications are organized so as to make it possible for all perspectives — including dissenting Cassandras - to be recognized and acknowledged.
Candid self-assessment of people in business leadership roles is a good place to start the adaptive entrepreneurial journey. Some elements of the adaptive entrepreneurial model require the discarding of standard ways of managing. For example, many businesses spend considerable time and effort developing plans that lock in budgets and resource allocations, and don’t make allowance for constant adjustment and change. It’s useful to take inventory of these practices and question whether they can be abandoned or reformed in pursuit of agility.
Additional Resources The "Adaptive Entrepreneurial Method" Graphic (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_192_PDF1
"Destruction and Creation" by John Boyd (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_192_PDF2
Mark J. McGrath on LinkedIn: Mises.org/E4B_192_LinkedIn
"Orientation: Bridging The Gap In The Austrian Theory of Entrepreneurship" (AERC 2022) by Mark J. McGrath and Hunter Hastings (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_192_PDF3
Recorded at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona on October 7th, 2022.
Sponsored by Sheri and Thomas Yengst.
When firms apply the principles of Austrian economics to business management, we call the result the Adaptive Entrepreneurial Method. It’s adaptive in that it is a continuous learning process, and it’s entrepreneurial in elevating customer value realization as the most important business purpose.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights. [[{"fid":"136508","view_mode":"image_no_caption","fields":{"format":"image_no_caption","alignment":"center","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"The Adaptive Entrepreneurial Business Method","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_caption_text[und][0][value]":"","field_image_file_link[und][0][value]":""},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"image_no_caption","alignment":"center","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"The Adaptive Entrepreneurial Business Method","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_caption_text[und][0][value]":"","field_image_file_link[und][0][value]":""}},"attributes":{"alt":"The Adaptive Entrepreneurial Business Method","class":"media-element file-image-no-caption media-wysiwyg-align-center","data-delta":"1"}}]]
Businesses that follow the adaptive entrepreneurial method put customer value first. Value in Austrian economics is customer value: contributing to customers’ feelings of being better off as a result of the interaction with an entrepreneurial business or service provider. A useful way to think about value is in terms of alignment and order. A value exchange is a harmonious alignment between customer and entrepreneur, in which both parties benefit and both parties’ interests are served. Order is represented by the customer’s decision, a point of clarity in a world of multiple choices, overlapping preferences and broad-based uncertainty.
Entrepreneurial businesses make value their purpose and identify it in alignment and harmony with customers. Everything else — cash flow, profits, growth — follows.
Entrepreneurial orientation enables the right interpretation of data and information for customer value realization. Mark McGrath emphasizes the powerful role of entrepreneurial orientation in business success. Orientation is a mindset — a kind of internal operating system — that guides firms to translate information from customers, partners, competitors and the market into an effective, winning vision and mission.
The essence of orientation is learning. Uncertainty is assumed, and orientation is the unique set of filters through which entrepreneurs and management teams process the quantitative and qualitative data that customers and markets present. Mises called it economic calculation: the entrepreneurial capacity for combining a constantly changing stream of information into a business decision. The decisions are always reviewable and revisable; a learning mindset makes entrepreneurs comfortable with frequent decision changes in response to changing information and feedback. Principles — such as the primacy of customer value — remain the same; it’s actions that are adjusted.
Businesses that don’t learn can get locked into models that no longer reflect the realities of the marketplace, and lose their effectiveness.
People, ideas, and things. Learning, adapting, and changing are difficult capabilities to master. Continuous change can feel disorienting absent the right mindset. How do companies achieve this mastery? Mark McGrath quotes Joh Boyd on the eternal verity of people, ideas, and things — always in that order.
The first critical component are the people engaged in and operating the business. They must be good at change, comfortable with constant flux. They must accept VUCA — volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity — as the normal condition. At the same time, management must be conscious of how each new change or wave of change impacts people, and anticipates the effect it will have on them.
In this change-accepting environment, unlimited new ideas can emerge via the creative process. They can be tested, and marketplace results become the yardstick. When new ideas look promising in terms of the results they potentially enable, then things can be changed: capital can be redeployed in new combinations, marketing campaigns can be revised. When people are pre-prepared, smooth transitions are achievable.
Continuous Reorientation And Entrepreneurial Intent. While entrepreneurial orientation is the firm’s operating system for processing information, it is not fixed. Adaptive firms are continuously reorienting, Active reorientation supports learning, recognizing that all perceptual models are only as good as the moment they were developed. They must be renewed to stay relevant. Challenging assumptions and reframing problems must be continuous in order for firms to thrive and use change to advantage. Effective orientation looks to the future rather than the present, emphasizing agility and avoiding clinging to outdated models.
Reorientation precedes intent and reshapes it. Entrepreneurial intent can be equated to what systems thinkers call vision. A vision is shared and provides a North Star for everyone in the firm, but that doesn’t preclude adjustment in continuous alignment with customers. The vision is to serve customers, and customers are also changing and adjusting. Thinking in terms of intent (rather than, say, implementing a rigid plan) permits greater flexibility in pursuit of the vision.
Entrepreneurial judgment is decision and action. The theory of entrepreneurship emphasizes judgment — that mysterious-sounding capability of entrepreneurs to make economic calculations from a mix of data and intuition. That can sound like a kind of mulling over of options. But it’s much more active than that. The entrepreneurial method emphasizes deciding and acting. Decisions are recognized as hypotheses; it’s impossible to know exactly what to do, so action-oriented develop hypotheses about what actions could have the effect they desire. The hypotheses are carefully aligned with their intent in order to double-check the logic as far as possible. But the purpose is not to be “right” but to generate feedback information so that alignment can be better informed by reality.
Action — the implementation of decisions — is an experiment, a test of the hypothesis. Action produces interaction (with customers, with retailers, with competitors, with the changing market environment) and thereby provides new information in the form of feedback, which might indicate the need to change actions next time.
The number of hypotheses and tests can be narrowed; what’s important is that they reflect as wide a range of perspectives as possible — from those at the front line interacting with customers, whether in person or at the call center or online, from engineers and operatives, from finance and HR, and from all relevant points of view. The more diverse the range of perspectives, the more likely it is that different angles of view will provide new insights and illuminate blind spots. Make sure that internal communications are organized so as to make it possible for all perspectives — including dissenting Cassandras - to be recognized and acknowledged.
Candid self-assessment of people in business leadership roles is a good place to start the adaptive entrepreneurial journey. Some elements of the adaptive entrepreneurial model require the discarding of standard ways of managing. For example, many businesses spend considerable time and effort developing plans that lock in budgets and resource allocations, and don’t make allowance for constant adjustment and change. It’s useful to take inventory of these practices and question whether they can be abandoned or reformed in pursuit of agility.
Additional Resources The "Adaptive Entrepreneurial Method" Graphic (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_192_PDF1
"Destruction and Creation" by John Boyd (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_192_PDF2
Mark J. McGrath on LinkedIn: Mises.org/E4B_192_LinkedIn
"Orientation: Bridging The Gap In The Austrian Theory of Entrepreneurship" (AERC 2022) by Mark J. McGrath and Hunter Hastings (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_192_PDF3
Recorded at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona on October 7th, 2022.
Sponsored by Sheri and Thomas Yengst.
The idea of defamation as a punishable legal matter is based on the notion that people do not have free will and are not responsible for their own actions.
Original Article: "The Alex Jones Verdict Shows the Danger of Defamation Laws"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The world seems to be on fire, and much of the trouble comes from the efforts of central banks to suppress interest rates. No one understands that problem better than British historian Edward Chancellor.
Original Article: "Edward Chancellor's Much-Needed (But Not Heeded) Wisdom on Interest Rates"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
This is the "American dream" the Fed has given us: work more jobs and longer hours to keep paying those bills that are now growing at 8 percent per year.
Original Article: "Thanks to the Fed, You'll Work More This Year to Keep Last Year's Standard of Living"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Hyperinflation? Yes, it can happen here, and the more officials deny hyperinflation is possible, the more they create the conditions that causes it.
Original Article: "Inflation, High Inflation, Hyperinflation"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The idea of defamation as a punishable legal matter is based on the notion that people do not have free will and are not responsible for their own actions.
Original Article: "The Alex Jones Verdict Shows the Danger of Defamation Laws"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The world seems to be on fire, and much of the trouble comes from the efforts of central banks to suppress interest rates. No one understands that problem better than British historian Edward Chancellor.
Original Article: "Edward Chancellor's Much-Needed (But Not Heeded) Wisdom on Interest Rates"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
This is the "American dream" the Fed has given us: work more jobs and longer hours to keep paying those bills that are now growing at 8 percent per year.
Original Article: "Thanks to the Fed, You'll Work More This Year to Keep Last Year's Standard of Living"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Hyperinflation? Yes, it can happen here, and the more officials deny hyperinflation is possible, the more they create the conditions that causes it.
Original Article: "Inflation, High Inflation, Hyperinflation"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The world seems to be on fire, and much of the trouble comes from the efforts of central banks to suppress interest rates. No one understands that problem better than British historian Edward Chancellor.
Original Article: "Edward Chancellor's Much-Needed (But Not Heeded) Wisdom on Interest Rates"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Hyperinflation? Yes, it can happen here, and the more officials deny hyperinflation is possible, the more they create the conditions that causes it.
Original Article: "Inflation, High Inflation, Hyperinflation"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
This is the "American dream" the Fed has given us: work more jobs and longer hours to keep paying those bills that are now growing at 8 percent per year.
Original Article: "Thanks to the Fed, You'll Work More This Year to Keep Last Year's Standard of Living"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The idea of defamation as a punishable legal matter is based on the notion that people do not have free will and are not responsible for their own actions.
Original Article: "The Alex Jones Verdict Shows the Danger of Defamation Laws"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The FBI operates as an agency whose players know they are untouchable in the current regime. Vacating FISA rulings is one way to fight back.
Original Article: "To Limit the Reach of America's Stasi, the FBI, Vacate All FISA Rulings"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
While President Biden claims that forgiving student loans helps reduce college costs, it is the loan program itself that is responsible for much of the explosive growth of higher education spending.
Original Article: "Higher Education Woes: Student Loans Help Fuel Higher College Costs"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Language is at the front lines of the battle over institutions.
Original Article: "The Front Lines of the Language Wars"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Language is at the front lines of the battle over institutions.
Original Article: "The Front Lines of the Language Wars"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
While President Biden claims that forgiving student loans helps reduce college costs, it is the loan program itself that is responsible for much of the explosive growth of higher education spending.
Original Article: "Higher Education Woes: Student Loans Help Fuel Higher College Costs"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The FBI operates as an agency whose players know they are untouchable in the current regime. Vacating FISA rulings is one way to fight back.
Original Article: "To Limit the Reach of America's Stasi, the FBI, Vacate All FISA Rulings"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Mainstream economists claim that Austrian economics is "discredited" because Austrians use deductive reasoning instead of employing complicated calculus and statistics. The irony is that Austrian analysis is better at explaining real-world economic phenomena.
Original Article: "A Commonsense Approach to the Austrian-Mainstream Methodenstreit"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The FBI operates as an agency whose players know they are untouchable in the current regime. Vacating FISA rulings is one way to fight back.
Original Article: "To Limit the Reach of America's Stasi, the FBI, Vacate All FISA Rulings"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Mainstream economists claim that Austrian economics is "discredited" because Austrians use deductive reasoning instead of employing complicated calculus and statistics. The irony is that Austrian analysis is better at explaining real-world economic phenomena.
Original Article: "A Commonsense Approach to the Austrian-Mainstream Methodenstreit"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
While President Biden claims that forgiving student loans helps reduce college costs, it is the loan program itself that is responsible for much of the explosive growth of higher education spending.
Original Article: "Higher Education Woes: Student Loans Help Fuel Higher College Costs"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Mainstream economists claim that Austrian economics is "discredited" because Austrians use deductive reasoning instead of employing complicated calculus and statistics. The irony is that Austrian analysis is better at explaining real-world economic phenomena.
Original Article: "A Commonsense Approach to the Austrian-Mainstream Methodenstreit"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Language is at the front lines of the battle over institutions.
Original Article: "The Front Lines of the Language Wars"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Dr. Bob Murphy and Jeff Deist discuss the nauseating elevation of former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke to Nobel Prize winner.
Dr. Bob Murphy and Jeff Deist discuss the nauseating elevation of former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke to Nobel Prize winner.
Dr. Bob Murphy and Jeff Deist discuss the nauseating elevation of former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke to Nobel Prize winner.
Recorded at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona on October 7th, 2022.
Sponsored by Remy Demarest.
Connor Mortell joins Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop to discuss his recent article entitled "We Are Not the Government, but America Is No Longer Anything More than the Government" and to consider what it means to be an American in the current era. As Americans become increasingly divided politically and culturally, and as those divides fuel a great migration within the country, what truly unites Americans—beyond sharing a common oppressive regime? How modern is this development? What can be done to further build on these trends, to undermine the control of that regime further? These questions and more are considered in this episode of Radio Rothbard.
Recommended Reading "We Are Not the Government, but America Is No Longer Anything More than the Government" by Connor Mortell: Mises.org/RR_103_A
"College Conference Switching as Secession? A Case Study in 'Nations by Consent'" by Connor Mortell: Mises.org/RR_103_B
"Nations by Consent" by Murray N. Rothbard: Mises.org/RR_103_C
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Connor Mortell joins Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop to discuss his recent article entitled "We Are Not the Government, but America Is No Longer Anything More than the Government" and to consider what it means to be an American in the current era. As Americans become increasingly divided politically and culturally, and as those divides fuel a great migration within the country, what truly unites Americans—beyond sharing a common oppressive regime? How modern is this development? What can be done to further build on these trends, to undermine the control of that regime further? These questions and more are considered in this episode of Radio Rothbard.
Recommended Reading "We Are Not the Government, but America Is No Longer Anything More than the Government" by Connor Mortell: Mises.org/RR_103_A
"College Conference Switching as Secession? A Case Study in 'Nations by Consent'" by Connor Mortell: Mises.org/RR_103_B
"Nations by Consent" by Murray N. Rothbard: Mises.org/RR_103_C
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Recorded at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona on October 7th, 2022.
Sponsored by Dr. Michael and Lisa Keller
Recorded at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona on October 7th, 2022.
Sponsored by Dr. Michael and Lisa Keller
Recorded at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona on October 7th, 2022.
Sponsored by Remy Demarest.
Recorded at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona on October 7th, 2022.
Sponsored by Dr. Michael and Lisa Keller
Recorded at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona on October 7th, 2022.
Sponsored by Remy Demarest.
Connor Mortell joins Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop to discuss his recent article entitled "We Are Not the Government, but America Is No Longer Anything More than the Government" and to consider what it means to be an American in the current era. As Americans become increasingly divided politically and culturally, and as those divides fuel a great migration within the country, what truly unites Americans—beyond sharing a common oppressive regime? How modern is this development? What can be done to further build on these trends, to undermine the control of that regime further? These questions and more are considered in this episode of Radio Rothbard.
Recommended Reading "We Are Not the Government, but America Is No Longer Anything More than the Government" by Connor Mortell: Mises.org/RR_103_A
"College Conference Switching as Secession? A Case Study in 'Nations by Consent'" by Connor Mortell: Mises.org/RR_103_B
"Nations by Consent" by Murray N. Rothbard: Mises.org/RR_103_C
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
A winning political strategy, especially among Democrats, is to accuse their political opponents of racism, or at least "closet" racism. Yet simple economic analysis shows such accusations are illogical.
Original Article: "An Economic Perspective on Accusing Political Opponents of Racism"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
A winning political strategy, especially among Democrats, is to accuse their political opponents of racism, or at least "closet" racism. Yet simple economic analysis shows such accusations are illogical.
Original Article: "An Economic Perspective on Accusing Political Opponents of Racism"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Recorded at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona on October 6th, 2022.
Sponsored by Tracy and Joe Matarese.
Turkey's economy is reeling under inflation rates likely reaching 170 percent. Not surprisingly, the worst of it is felt by regular people just trying to make a living.
Original Article: "The Turkish Way"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The standard line is that the Federal Reserve System has two mandates, keep unemployment low and create price stability. Mark Thornton notes that the real agenda is found elsewhere.
Original Article: "The Fed's Real Mandate"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Recorded at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona on October 6th, 2022.
Sponsored by Tracy and Joe Matarese.
Turkey's economy is reeling under inflation rates likely reaching 170 percent. Not surprisingly, the worst of it is felt by regular people just trying to make a living.
Original Article: "The Turkish Way"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
What happens when banks lend money? It depends the lending process itself. If lending comes about because of an expansion of credit, then it creates problems.
Original Article: "Does Bank Lending by Itself Set Off Boom and Bust Cycles?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Recorded at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona on October 6th, 2022.
Sponsored by Tracy and Joe Matarese.
The standard line is that the Federal Reserve System has two mandates, keep unemployment low and create price stability. Mark Thornton notes that the real agenda is found elsewhere.
Original Article: "The Fed's Real Mandate"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Turkey's economy is reeling under inflation rates likely reaching 170 percent. Not surprisingly, the worst of it is felt by regular people just trying to make a living.
Original Article: "The Turkish Way"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The standard line is that the Federal Reserve System has two mandates, keep unemployment low and create price stability. Mark Thornton notes that the real agenda is found elsewhere.
Original Article: "The Fed's Real Mandate"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
What happens when banks lend money? It depends the lending process itself. If lending comes about because of an expansion of credit, then it creates problems.
Original Article: "Does Bank Lending by Itself Set Off Boom and Bust Cycles?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
What happens when banks lend money? It depends the lending process itself. If lending comes about because of an expansion of credit, then it creates problems.
Original Article: "Does Bank Lending by Itself Set Off Boom and Bust Cycles?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
A winning political strategy, especially among Democrats, is to accuse their political opponents of racism, or at least "closet" racism. Yet simple economic analysis shows such accusations are illogical.
Original Article: "An Economic Perspective on Accusing Political Opponents of Racism"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Some claim that slavery was the main reason for the success of the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain, but the answer lies elsewhere.
Original Article: "What Drove the Industrial Revolution in Britain? It Wasn't Slavery"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
We are living through a particularly bad moment in history for free markets and capitalism. Government, not business, is promoted as the solution to all problems. Young people have never known any other environment, and one of the consequences is the skepticism about capitalism that they learn in school, college, and university. One solution to this problem lies in better business education — shaping how young minds think about business by shedding light on the social and individual benefits of capitalism that might otherwise be deliberately shadowed by misinformation and misdirection.
Allen Mendenhall is leading the way with a new business curriculum at Troy University.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights There are unmerited concerns among young people today about the ethics of capitalism and business. Business is too often cast as the “bad guy” in the movie of life. Business is portrayed as exploitative and greedy, and businesspeople as self-serving. Historical scandals like Enron and WorldCom are cited as case studies. But this presentation is a caricature; there’s no evidence to support it. Business is the essential component of the capitalist system that has raised standards of living and quality of life all over the globe and especially in the West, where markets are somewhat freer.
Business didn’t have the same bad rap in the past. In the nineteenth century, there was a great celebration of the civilization-advancing commercial republic powered by the protestant work ethic. The image of the businessperson was a positive trope — it was a good role to be a businessperson creating value for others. Businesspeople were the good guys. They innovated, collaborated and served. We’ve lost that imagery.
A lot of the unmerited concern emanates from educational institutions, especially universities. Who is teaching young Americans to be skeptical about capitalism and business? A large portion of the blame goes to educational institutions, and especially universities. There’s an anti-business and anti-capitalism bias among the teaching profession in higher education that is communicated to students.
In this academic anti-business campaign, there’s a special role for economists, who have dehumanized economics by trying to make it a mathematical science. All their equations and computer models have the effect of taking humanness — the role of subjectivism, individual preference, and individualized emotion — out of economics. They try to reduce human behavior to a predictive data-driven algorithm.
The heritage of economics is humanizing. The mathematical approach to economics is not the tradition of the Austrian school approach, which embraces a humanizing perspective. Commerce cultivates virtue; the pursuit of honorable profit leads businesses to act with good faith and integrity in joining with partners to produce products and services that are valued and welcomed by customers because they serve their ends in their search for betterment in their lives.
The concept of honorable profit is often alien to students, and requires new learning: that profit is an emergent result of all the detailed interactions of individuals in a market, sending price signals to producers to indicate what society wants them to produce. Profit is a result of these signals indicating that society wants the producers to continue offering their goods and services.
Understanding value is central to understanding the ethics of capitalism. The emergence of profit is an outcome of the generation of value for customers. Value is central to the ethics of business, and Professor Mendenhall’s new course at Troy University places it squarely in the center. Value is subjectively determined by the customer, and the purpose of business is to help them realize the value they seek with the right products and services responsive to their wants, preferences and goals.
But here’s where the plot twists. The big corporate business community — representing less than 1% of businesses by count but the biggest proportion of GDP by dollar revenues - has been incentivized by Wall Street to pursue shareholder value (goosing stock prices) and stakeholder value (the diversion of value away from customers in favor of non-customer interest groups). Value for customers and even profit now takes a back seat to supposedly serving constituencies such as climate activists, victim groups, and, of course, government. Stakeholder value can act as cover for the CEO who fails to generate profit: they can claim to be focused on socially more important things.
The generation of value for customers, guided by the confirmation signal of profit, is no longer primary — except in Professor Mendenhall’s Troy University curriculum.
The perspective of entrepreneurship can help students appreciate ethical business. While young people express disdain and distrust for capitalism, they often have a more positive attitude about the concept of entrepreneurship. They realize that entrepreneurs are problem solvers, and that they add value to people’s lives. People benefit from the risks entrepreneurs take and the personal sacrifice they make. Entrepreneurial innovation makes lives better.
Students appreciate this, and can even identify some corporate CEO’s to whom they are willing to grant ethical approval — individuals such as John Mackey or Richard Branson. And many young people see entrepreneurship as aspirational — they want to start their own businesses and make a lot of money (i.e., profit!). Looking at business from an entrepreneurial perspective generates more positive attitudes, and we can show that all businesses started entrepreneurially, and are sustained by their continuing entrepreneurial performance, i.e., profitably delivering value for customers. If there are questions about corporate ethics, they relate to their non-entrepreneurial functions — such as HR (whence a lot of corporate wokeness emanates), legal (the people who write the opaque and deceptive terms and conditions that justify surveillance), finance (directing activities like stock buybacks that divert value from customers), and compliance (keeping corporations closer to government and more distant from markets).
Part of Allen’s approach to his students is to teach the entrepreneurial mindset — not just for business, but for life in general. He calls it “unleashing the inner entrepreneur” and includes what he calls “the economics of your dreams”, the secret of win-win, the creativity of the market, the entrepreneurial principles of career building, starting a profitable business, and character and leadership.
He also covers personal finance skills — developing knowledge of stocks and bonds and mutual funds and other financial instruments, insurance, retirement planning (even at age 18!), investing, spending, and, of course, personal management of student loans. It’s the entrepreneurial approach to life.
We should develop a new value proposition for business schools as humanness schools. Business schools today are part of the problem. They don’t focus enough on how business can be the catalyst for positive change. They should be committed to solving problems affecting not just business, but humanity as a whole. But reading business school leaders’ and graduates’ speeches and their books demonstrates that they’re not trying to help humanity as a whole but a few selected businesses and a few particular industries. They’re not dedicated to helping ordinary people, as they should be.
Allen’s new curriculum aims to redress that imbalance.
Additional Resources AllenMendenhall.com
"Corporate Wokeness Hurts The Groups It Purports To Help" (AEIR) by Allen Mendhall: Mises.org/E4B_191_Article1
"Troy professor: Students ‘very enthusiastic’ over anti-woke business scholars program" (Yellowhammer News) by Dylan Smith: Mises.org/E4B_191_Article2
Allen Mendenhall on Fox Business—"Ending Wokeism in the Corporate World": Mises.org/E4B_191_TV
We are living through a particularly bad moment in history for free markets and capitalism. Government, not business, is promoted as the solution to all problems. Young people have never known any other environment, and one of the consequences is the skepticism about capitalism that they learn in school, college, and university. One solution to this problem lies in better business education — shaping how young minds think about business by shedding light on the social and individual benefits of capitalism that might otherwise be deliberately shadowed by misinformation and misdirection.
Allen Mendenhall is leading the way with a new business curriculum at Troy University.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights There are unmerited concerns among young people today about the ethics of capitalism and business. Business is too often cast as the “bad guy” in the movie of life. Business is portrayed as exploitative and greedy, and businesspeople as self-serving. Historical scandals like Enron and WorldCom are cited as case studies. But this presentation is a caricature; there’s no evidence to support it. Business is the essential component of the capitalist system that has raised standards of living and quality of life all over the globe and especially in the West, where markets are somewhat freer.
Business didn’t have the same bad rap in the past. In the nineteenth century, there was a great celebration of the civilization-advancing commercial republic powered by the protestant work ethic. The image of the businessperson was a positive trope — it was a good role to be a businessperson creating value for others. Businesspeople were the good guys. They innovated, collaborated and served. We’ve lost that imagery.
A lot of the unmerited concern emanates from educational institutions, especially universities. Who is teaching young Americans to be skeptical about capitalism and business? A large portion of the blame goes to educational institutions, and especially universities. There’s an anti-business and anti-capitalism bias among the teaching profession in higher education that is communicated to students.
In this academic anti-business campaign, there’s a special role for economists, who have dehumanized economics by trying to make it a mathematical science. All their equations and computer models have the effect of taking humanness — the role of subjectivism, individual preference, and individualized emotion — out of economics. They try to reduce human behavior to a predictive data-driven algorithm.
The heritage of economics is humanizing. The mathematical approach to economics is not the tradition of the Austrian school approach, which embraces a humanizing perspective. Commerce cultivates virtue; the pursuit of honorable profit leads businesses to act with good faith and integrity in joining with partners to produce products and services that are valued and welcomed by customers because they serve their ends in their search for betterment in their lives.
The concept of honorable profit is often alien to students, and requires new learning: that profit is an emergent result of all the detailed interactions of individuals in a market, sending price signals to producers to indicate what society wants them to produce. Profit is a result of these signals indicating that society wants the producers to continue offering their goods and services.
Understanding value is central to understanding the ethics of capitalism. The emergence of profit is an outcome of the generation of value for customers. Value is central to the ethics of business, and Professor Mendenhall’s new course at Troy University places it squarely in the center. Value is subjectively determined by the customer, and the purpose of business is to help them realize the value they seek with the right products and services responsive to their wants, preferences and goals.
But here’s where the plot twists. The big corporate business community — representing less than 1% of businesses by count but the biggest proportion of GDP by dollar revenues - has been incentivized by Wall Street to pursue shareholder value (goosing stock prices) and stakeholder value (the diversion of value away from customers in favor of non-customer interest groups). Value for customers and even profit now takes a back seat to supposedly serving constituencies such as climate activists, victim groups, and, of course, government. Stakeholder value can act as cover for the CEO who fails to generate profit: they can claim to be focused on socially more important things.
The generation of value for customers, guided by the confirmation signal of profit, is no longer primary — except in Professor Mendenhall’s Troy University curriculum.
The perspective of entrepreneurship can help students appreciate ethical business. While young people express disdain and distrust for capitalism, they often have a more positive attitude about the concept of entrepreneurship. They realize that entrepreneurs are problem solvers, and that they add value to people’s lives. People benefit from the risks entrepreneurs take and the personal sacrifice they make. Entrepreneurial innovation makes lives better.
Students appreciate this, and can even identify some corporate CEO’s to whom they are willing to grant ethical approval — individuals such as John Mackey or Richard Branson. And many young people see entrepreneurship as aspirational — they want to start their own businesses and make a lot of money (i.e., profit!). Looking at business from an entrepreneurial perspective generates more positive attitudes, and we can show that all businesses started entrepreneurially, and are sustained by their continuing entrepreneurial performance, i.e., profitably delivering value for customers. If there are questions about corporate ethics, they relate to their non-entrepreneurial functions — such as HR (whence a lot of corporate wokeness emanates), legal (the people who write the opaque and deceptive terms and conditions that justify surveillance), finance (directing activities like stock buybacks that divert value from customers), and compliance (keeping corporations closer to government and more distant from markets).
Part of Allen’s approach to his students is to teach the entrepreneurial mindset — not just for business, but for life in general. He calls it “unleashing the inner entrepreneur” and includes what he calls “the economics of your dreams”, the secret of win-win, the creativity of the market, the entrepreneurial principles of career building, starting a profitable business, and character and leadership.
He also covers personal finance skills — developing knowledge of stocks and bonds and mutual funds and other financial instruments, insurance, retirement planning (even at age 18!), investing, spending, and, of course, personal management of student loans. It’s the entrepreneurial approach to life.
We should develop a new value proposition for business schools as humanness schools. Business schools today are part of the problem. They don’t focus enough on how business can be the catalyst for positive change. They should be committed to solving problems affecting not just business, but humanity as a whole. But reading business school leaders’ and graduates’ speeches and their books demonstrates that they’re not trying to help humanity as a whole but a few selected businesses and a few particular industries. They’re not dedicated to helping ordinary people, as they should be.
Allen’s new curriculum aims to redress that imbalance.
Additional Resources AllenMendenhall.com
"Corporate Wokeness Hurts The Groups It Purports To Help" (AEIR) by Allen Mendhall: Mises.org/E4B_191_Article1
"Troy professor: Students ‘very enthusiastic’ over anti-woke business scholars program" (Yellowhammer News) by Dylan Smith: Mises.org/E4B_191_Article2
Allen Mendenhall on Fox Business—"Ending Wokeism in the Corporate World": Mises.org/E4B_191_TV
The Bible the ancient Israelites were warned about the dangers of having a government that would tax them heavily and oppress them. They didn't listen.
Original Article: "An Ancient Warning: Criminal Trespass Is the State’s Essential Feature"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The Bible the ancient Israelites were warned about the dangers of having a government that would tax them heavily and oppress them. They didn't listen.
Original Article: "An Ancient Warning: Criminal Trespass Is the State’s Essential Feature"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Some claim that slavery was the main reason for the success of the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain, but the answer lies elsewhere.
Original Article: "What Drove the Industrial Revolution in Britain? It Wasn't Slavery"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The Bible the ancient Israelites were warned about the dangers of having a government that would tax them heavily and oppress them. They didn't listen.
Original Article: "An Ancient Warning: Criminal Trespass Is the State’s Essential Feature"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Some claim that slavery was the main reason for the success of the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain, but the answer lies elsewhere.
Original Article: "What Drove the Industrial Revolution in Britain? It Wasn't Slavery"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
We are living through a particularly bad moment in history for free markets and capitalism. Government, not business, is promoted as the solution to all problems. Young people have never known any other environment, and one of the consequences is the skepticism about capitalism that they learn in school, college, and university. One solution to this problem lies in better business education — shaping how young minds think about business by shedding light on the social and individual benefits of capitalism that might otherwise be deliberately shadowed by misinformation and misdirection.
Allen Mendenhall is leading the way with a new business curriculum at Troy University.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights There are unmerited concerns among young people today about the ethics of capitalism and business. Business is too often cast as the “bad guy” in the movie of life. Business is portrayed as exploitative and greedy, and businesspeople as self-serving. Historical scandals like Enron and WorldCom are cited as case studies. But this presentation is a caricature; there’s no evidence to support it. Business is the essential component of the capitalist system that has raised standards of living and quality of life all over the globe and especially in the West, where markets are somewhat freer.
Business didn’t have the same bad rap in the past. In the nineteenth century, there was a great celebration of the civilization-advancing commercial republic powered by the protestant work ethic. The image of the businessperson was a positive trope — it was a good role to be a businessperson creating value for others. Businesspeople were the good guys. They innovated, collaborated and served. We’ve lost that imagery.
A lot of the unmerited concern emanates from educational institutions, especially universities. Who is teaching young Americans to be skeptical about capitalism and business? A large portion of the blame goes to educational institutions, and especially universities. There’s an anti-business and anti-capitalism bias among the teaching profession in higher education that is communicated to students.
In this academic anti-business campaign, there’s a special role for economists, who have dehumanized economics by trying to make it a mathematical science. All their equations and computer models have the effect of taking humanness — the role of subjectivism, individual preference, and individualized emotion — out of economics. They try to reduce human behavior to a predictive data-driven algorithm.
The heritage of economics is humanizing. The mathematical approach to economics is not the tradition of the Austrian school approach, which embraces a humanizing perspective. Commerce cultivates virtue; the pursuit of honorable profit leads businesses to act with good faith and integrity in joining with partners to produce products and services that are valued and welcomed by customers because they serve their ends in their search for betterment in their lives.
The concept of honorable profit is often alien to students, and requires new learning: that profit is an emergent result of all the detailed interactions of individuals in a market, sending price signals to producers to indicate what society wants them to produce. Profit is a result of these signals indicating that society wants the producers to continue offering their goods and services.
Understanding value is central to understanding the ethics of capitalism. The emergence of profit is an outcome of the generation of value for customers. Value is central to the ethics of business, and Professor Mendenhall’s new course at Troy University places it squarely in the center. Value is subjectively determined by the customer, and the purpose of business is to help them realize the value they seek with the right products and services responsive to their wants, preferences and goals.
But here’s where the plot twists. The big corporate business community — representing less than 1% of businesses by count but the biggest proportion of GDP by dollar revenues - has been incentivized by Wall Street to pursue shareholder value (goosing stock prices) and stakeholder value (the diversion of value away from customers in favor of non-customer interest groups). Value for customers and even profit now takes a back seat to supposedly serving constituencies such as climate activists, victim groups, and, of course, government. Stakeholder value can act as cover for the CEO who fails to generate profit: they can claim to be focused on socially more important things.
The generation of value for customers, guided by the confirmation signal of profit, is no longer primary — except in Professor Mendenhall’s Troy University curriculum.
The perspective of entrepreneurship can help students appreciate ethical business. While young people express disdain and distrust for capitalism, they often have a more positive attitude about the concept of entrepreneurship. They realize that entrepreneurs are problem solvers, and that they add value to people’s lives. People benefit from the risks entrepreneurs take and the personal sacrifice they make. Entrepreneurial innovation makes lives better.
Students appreciate this, and can even identify some corporate CEO’s to whom they are willing to grant ethical approval — individuals such as John Mackey or Richard Branson. And many young people see entrepreneurship as aspirational — they want to start their own businesses and make a lot of money (i.e., profit!). Looking at business from an entrepreneurial perspective generates more positive attitudes, and we can show that all businesses started entrepreneurially, and are sustained by their continuing entrepreneurial performance, i.e., profitably delivering value for customers. If there are questions about corporate ethics, they relate to their non-entrepreneurial functions — such as HR (whence a lot of corporate wokeness emanates), legal (the people who write the opaque and deceptive terms and conditions that justify surveillance), finance (directing activities like stock buybacks that divert value from customers), and compliance (keeping corporations closer to government and more distant from markets).
Part of Allen’s approach to his students is to teach the entrepreneurial mindset — not just for business, but for life in general. He calls it “unleashing the inner entrepreneur” and includes what he calls “the economics of your dreams”, the secret of win-win, the creativity of the market, the entrepreneurial principles of career building, starting a profitable business, and character and leadership.
He also covers personal finance skills — developing knowledge of stocks and bonds and mutual funds and other financial instruments, insurance, retirement planning (even at age 18!), investing, spending, and, of course, personal management of student loans. It’s the entrepreneurial approach to life.
We should develop a new value proposition for business schools as humanness schools. Business schools today are part of the problem. They don’t focus enough on how business can be the catalyst for positive change. They should be committed to solving problems affecting not just business, but humanity as a whole. But reading business school leaders’ and graduates’ speeches and their books demonstrates that they’re not trying to help humanity as a whole but a few selected businesses and a few particular industries. They’re not dedicated to helping ordinary people, as they should be.
Allen’s new curriculum aims to redress that imbalance.
Additional Resources AllenMendenhall.com
"Corporate Wokeness Hurts The Groups It Purports To Help" (AEIR) by Allen Mendhall: Mises.org/E4B_191_Article1
"Troy professor: Students ‘very enthusiastic’ over anti-woke business scholars program" (Yellowhammer News) by Dylan Smith: Mises.org/E4B_191_Article2
Allen Mendenhall on Fox Business—"Ending Wokeism in the Corporate World": Mises.org/E4B_191_TV
Virtue-signaling politicians in New Jersey have banned single-use plastic bags, claiming to "help the environment." They need to read Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson instead.
Original Article: "Hazlitt's Lesson Restated: New Jersey's Disastrous Ban on Single-Use Plastic"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Progressives are fond of telling us that we are under a "social contract" with the government, in effect justifying whatever abuses authorities inflict. Putting up with massive inflation is the latest iteration of this so-called contract.
Original Article: "The Fraudulent Social Contract of Bad Money Regimes"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The US dollar is not the world's "reserve" currency because of responsibility on behalf of the monetary authorities. Instead, the dollar's "strength" wages from the USA's self-appointed role as the world's protector.
Original Article: "It's All about the Benjamins: Why the Dollar Determines US Policies"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Fortunately, the world is composed of many separate states, which enables "disobedient" residents in one state to escape to others, and fleeing conscription is merely an act of self-defense.
Original Article: "Escaping Russia's Military Draft Is an Act of Self-Defense"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Fortunately, the world is composed of many separate states, which enables "disobedient" residents in one state to escape to others, and fleeing conscription is merely an act of self-defense.
Original Article: "Escaping Russia's Military Draft Is an Act of Self-Defense"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The US dollar is not the world's "reserve" currency because of responsibility on behalf of the monetary authorities. Instead, the dollar's "strength" wages from the USA's self-appointed role as the world's protector.
Original Article: "It's All about the Benjamins: Why the Dollar Determines US Policies"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Fortunately, the world is composed of many separate states, which enables "disobedient" residents in one state to escape to others, and fleeing conscription is merely an act of self-defense.
Original Article: "Escaping Russia's Military Draft Is an Act of Self-Defense"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Progressives are fond of telling us that we are under a "social contract" with the government, in effect justifying whatever abuses authorities inflict. Putting up with massive inflation is the latest iteration of this so-called contract.
Original Article: "The Fraudulent Social Contract of Bad Money Regimes"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Progressives are fond of telling us that we are under a "social contract" with the government, in effect justifying whatever abuses authorities inflict. Putting up with massive inflation is the latest iteration of this so-called contract.
Original Article: "The Fraudulent Social Contract of Bad Money Regimes"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Virtue-signaling politicians in New Jersey have banned single-use plastic bags, claiming to "help the environment." They need to read Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson instead.
Original Article: "Hazlitt's Lesson Restated: New Jersey's Disastrous Ban on Single-Use Plastic"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The US dollar is not the world's "reserve" currency because of responsibility on behalf of the monetary authorities. Instead, the dollar's "strength" wages from the USA's self-appointed role as the world's protector.
Original Article: "It's All about the Benjamins: Why the Dollar Determines US Policies"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Virtue-signaling politicians in New Jersey have banned single-use plastic bags, claiming to "help the environment." They need to read Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson instead.
Original Article: "Hazlitt's Lesson Restated: New Jersey's Disastrous Ban on Single-Use Plastic"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
UK entrepreneur and founder of the Cobden Centre Toby Baxendale joins Bob to discuss meeting Hayek, the history of economists supporting 100% reserve banking, and the tools central banks and governments will use to enact "financial repression."
Until the day comes that a majority of the population wants to abolish all states, it makes sense in the meantime to look to ways that will reduce the power of states, localize that power, and take at least some of it out of the hands of some of the most powerful ruling state elites. This episode of Radio Rothbard features Ryan McMaken's talk presented at the Mises Institute 40th Anniversary Supporters Summit in Phoenix, Arizona, on October 7, 2022.
Recommended Reading "On Secession and Small States" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_102_A
"What We Mean by Decentralization" by Lew Rockwell: Mises.org/RR_102_B
"The European Miracle" by Ralph Raico: Mises.org/RR_102_C
"Nations by Consent" by Murray N. Rothbard: Mises.org/RR_102_D
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
UK entrepreneur and founder of the Cobden Centre Toby Baxendale joins Bob to discuss meeting Hayek, the history of economists supporting 100% reserve banking, and the tools central banks and governments will use to enact "financial repression."
Until the day comes that a majority of the population wants to abolish all states, it makes sense in the meantime to look to ways that will reduce the power of states, localize that power, and take at least some of it out of the hands of some of the most powerful ruling state elites. This episode of Radio Rothbard features Ryan McMaken's talk presented at the Mises Institute 40th Anniversary Supporters Summit in Phoenix, Arizona, on October 7, 2022.
Recommended Reading "On Secession and Small States" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_102_A
"What We Mean by Decentralization" by Lew Rockwell: Mises.org/RR_102_B
"The European Miracle" by Ralph Raico: Mises.org/RR_102_C
"Nations by Consent" by Murray N. Rothbard: Mises.org/RR_102_D
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
UK entrepreneur and founder of the Cobden Centre Toby Baxendale joins Bob to discuss meeting Hayek, the history of economists supporting 100% reserve banking, and the tools central banks and governments will use to enact "financial repression."
Until the day comes that a majority of the population wants to abolish all states, it makes sense in the meantime to look to ways that will reduce the power of states, localize that power, and take at least some of it out of the hands of some of the most powerful ruling state elites. This episode of Radio Rothbard features Ryan McMaken's talk presented at the Mises Institute 40th Anniversary Supporters Summit in Phoenix, Arizona, on October 7, 2022.
Recommended Reading "On Secession and Small States" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_102_A
"What We Mean by Decentralization" by Lew Rockwell: Mises.org/RR_102_B
"The European Miracle" by Ralph Raico: Mises.org/RR_102_C
"Nations by Consent" by Murray N. Rothbard: Mises.org/RR_102_D
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Standard neoclassical definitions of money call it a means of exchange and a store of value. But is this correct?
Original Article: "Cryptocurrency as Money—Store of Value or Medium of Exchange?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Radical Charles Dunoyer wanted "the municipalization of the world" by which states would be broken up and forced to compete both with the private sector and with countless other states.
Original Article: "The Secessionist French Classical Liberals: Molinari and Dunoyer"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Central banks claim that their main purposes are to help an economy maintain high rates of employment and price stability. Ironically, they claim to do this through inflation targets.
Original Article: "Central Banks Claim to Preserve the Value of Money through Inflation"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
In wartime, politicians frequently attempt to claim that all the citizens of foreign states are guilty of all the crimes their regimes commit. This is a modern invention, and a barbaric one.
Original Article: "No, Ordinary Russians Are Not Responsible for the Crimes of the Russian Regime"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The current bout of inflation is the latest disaster in a string of disasters caused by government debasement of once sound money.
Original Article: "History Repeats Itself: Abandoning Sound Money Leads to Tyranny and Ruin"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Standard neoclassical definitions of money call it a means of exchange and a store of value. But is this correct?
Original Article: "Cryptocurrency as Money—Store of Value or Medium of Exchange?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The current bout of inflation is the latest disaster in a string of disasters caused by government debasement of once sound money.
Original Article: "History Repeats Itself: Abandoning Sound Money Leads to Tyranny and Ruin"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The current bout of inflation is the latest disaster in a string of disasters caused by government debasement of once sound money.
Original Article: "History Repeats Itself: Abandoning Sound Money Leads to Tyranny and Ruin"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Radical Charles Dunoyer wanted "the municipalization of the world" by which states would be broken up and forced to compete both with the private sector and with countless other states.
Original Article: "The Secessionist French Classical Liberals: Molinari and Dunoyer"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Central banks claim that their main purposes are to help an economy maintain high rates of employment and price stability. Ironically, they claim to do this through inflation targets.
Original Article: "Central Banks Claim to Preserve the Value of Money through Inflation"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
In wartime, politicians frequently attempt to claim that all the citizens of foreign states are guilty of all the crimes their regimes commit. This is a modern invention, and a barbaric one.
Original Article: "No, Ordinary Russians Are Not Responsible for the Crimes of the Russian Regime"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
In wartime, politicians frequently attempt to claim that all the citizens of foreign states are guilty of all the crimes their regimes commit. This is a modern invention, and a barbaric one.
Original Article: "No, Ordinary Russians Are Not Responsible for the Crimes of the Russian Regime"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Central banks claim that their main purposes are to help an economy maintain high rates of employment and price stability. Ironically, they claim to do this through inflation targets.
Original Article: "Central Banks Claim to Preserve the Value of Money through Inflation"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Radical Charles Dunoyer wanted "the municipalization of the world" by which states would be broken up and forced to compete both with the private sector and with countless other states.
Original Article: "The Secessionist French Classical Liberals: Molinari and Dunoyer"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Standard neoclassical definitions of money call it a means of exchange and a store of value. But is this correct?
Original Article: "Cryptocurrency as Money—Store of Value or Medium of Exchange?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Entrepreneurial businesses embrace adaptiveness and change, and continuous innovation enabled by flexible and responsive organizations, empowered at every level. That doesn’t mean there’s no role for managers. Inside the corporation, entrepreneurial management co-ordinates the business flow of responding to changing customer wants and preferences, so that resources are allocated and reallocated to the production activities that customers value the most. In fact, management is becoming more important, not less. Professors Peter Klein and Nicolai Foss explain entrepreneurial management in their latest book, Why Managers Matter: The Perils of the Bossless Company (Mises.org/E4B_190_Book), and Peter Klein visits Economics For Business to highlight the key points.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Management co-ordinates the constant flux of entrepreneurial business. The essence of the adaptive entrepreneurial organization model is responsive change. Entrepreneurial businesses don’t lock themselves in to 5-year strategies and annual plans. They recognize that markets are in constant flux as a result of changing customer preferences, changing competitive activity, changing technologies, and changing conditions in business channels and in the economy. Change is the normal condition. It’s what Ludwig von Mises termed constant flux.
Management is required inside the firm to adapt and respond to change outside the firm. It’s not possible to manage the change in markets, but it is a necessity to manage resource allocation and productive activities inside the firm.
Management is co-ordination and orchestration, not authority and hierarchy. We might think of the concept of management in its industrial age guise of authority and hierarchy: some people “higher up” in the organization telling others “lower down” what to do. This kind of hierarchical authority can’t work in the digital network age; it’s too slow to process incoming data from the marketplace and too rigid to quickly or effectively implement newly imagined responses to those incoming data.
But in Professor Klein and Professor Foss’s analysis, management no longer equates to old-fashioned authority and hierarchy. Management is co-ordination: assembling the right resources — both human capital and complementary capital assets such as supportive technologies — in the right combinations (often referred to as “teams” in today’s management language) for the right shared task with the right shared goals. Professor Klein likened this to orchestration — there’s a conductor who guides the orchestra in playing the same symphony together, without telling the individual players how to play their instrument, and leaving the details of implementation to the individuals and their specialized skills.
Some orchestras may have better results than others because their teams have been well-recruited and well assembled and they respond better to management co-ordination. All firms and teams are complex adaptive systems, with emergent outcomes influenced by internal forces, one of which is management.
Management is culture more than authority. How do managers achieve a better outcome as a result of managing their teams? Professor Klein believes that they institute a successful culture, as opposed to designing an organizational structure. He defines culture in terms of norms, customs and practices — the accepted way (or simple rules) of “how we do things around here”. More specifically, in the customer-centric entrepreneurial firm, “here’s how we plan to facilitate value for our customers around here”. Skilled managers paint the pictures — the “vision”, if you will — in the minds of employees of the customer value standards the firm will achieve, and the customer experiences that the firm will facilitate.
Modern managers are comfortable with and quite expert at adaptation. The modern managerial culture is a far cry from traditional hierarchical managerial authority. It has the built-in flexibility for adaptiveness to the rapid rate of change in today’s digital business world. A well-functioning management process in a loosely structured organization can change internal production processes, teams and resource allocations in response to external changes in customer demand and marketplace conditions.
In fact, Professor Klein points out, through relevant case studies, such a management structure can be better at adaptation than, for example, a network of independent contractors and suppliers that would be challenged to orchestrate responsive changes to an external change, since each would have a different experience and process it through a different cultural orientation. They wouldn’t co-ordinate as well or as quickly as internally managed teams.
In certain cases, management authority can sometimes be a relevant organizational tool, so long as it is applied in a contingent fashion. The relevance and usefulness of authority varies by circumstance and business situations. Its usefulness is contingent, and managers must be sensitive as to when to apply authority and in what style.
Why Managers Matter identifies two distinct styles of managerial authority, Mark 1 authority and Mark 2 authority. Mark 1 authority is traditional command-and-control, exerted top down — superiors telling subordinates what to do.
Mark 2 authority is exercised through design rather than command: finding the right person for the task, combining the best-qualified people in teams, and giving them a goal with a wide latitude in their process and implementation in achieving the goal.
An important element of the contingent approach is to empathically identify the subjective preferences of employees. Some will respond well to flexible, open-ended direction that enables them to exercise their own initiative. Others might prefer the certainty of clear direction. One type of salesperson might be highly motivated by a 100% commission remuneration plan, another might feel more secure with a base salary with the potential for an achievement bonus upon exceeding quota.
Professor Klein identifies two broad sets of conditions for the exercise of Mark 1 and Mark 2 authority. When there is a high degree of interdependence between people, teams and tasks, such that it is critical that tasks are highly coordinated, completed at the same time and combined in a highly specific fashion, then management intervention is required and it will include Mark 1 elements. When production is more modular, when tasks and projects can be completed interdependently, then Mark 2 management can be exercised through a decentralized, flat and culturally aligned organization. (Professor Klein cited the example of the type of higher education institution where he works; all the professors can design and teach their classes, do their research, and publish their papers and books with a high degree of autonomy.)
Management is becoming more important, not less. In a rapidly changing world, where employee attitudes and experiences are very different than in the pre-digital world, and where global markets and their interconnected structures are more uncertain and cyclically unreliable, and where the pace of disruptive technological innovation is accelerating, good management is more important than ever for the success of our economy and our society. Smart managers are needed to find the right balance between operational excellence through established processes and adaptive change through adjustment and experimentation, a balance that business scholars call the ambidextrous organization. It can’t happen without management, and without managers.
Additional Resources Peter Klein’s book page: Mises.org/E4B_190_Klein
Why Managers Matter: The Perils of the Bossless Company by Peter Klein and Nicolai Foss: Mises.org/E4B_190_Book
Public Affairs book page: Mises.org/E4B_190_PA
Entrepreneurial businesses embrace adaptiveness and change, and continuous innovation enabled by flexible and responsive organizations, empowered at every level. That doesn’t mean there’s no role for managers. Inside the corporation, entrepreneurial management co-ordinates the business flow of responding to changing customer wants and preferences, so that resources are allocated and reallocated to the production activities that customers value the most. In fact, management is becoming more important, not less. Professors Peter Klein and Nicolai Foss explain entrepreneurial management in their latest book, Why Managers Matter: The Perils of the Bossless Company (Mises.org/E4B_190_Book), and Peter Klein visits Economics For Business to highlight the key points.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Management co-ordinates the constant flux of entrepreneurial business. The essence of the adaptive entrepreneurial organization model is responsive change. Entrepreneurial businesses don’t lock themselves in to 5-year strategies and annual plans. They recognize that markets are in constant flux as a result of changing customer preferences, changing competitive activity, changing technologies, and changing conditions in business channels and in the economy. Change is the normal condition. It’s what Ludwig von Mises termed constant flux.
Management is required inside the firm to adapt and respond to change outside the firm. It’s not possible to manage the change in markets, but it is a necessity to manage resource allocation and productive activities inside the firm.
Management is co-ordination and orchestration, not authority and hierarchy. We might think of the concept of management in its industrial age guise of authority and hierarchy: some people “higher up” in the organization telling others “lower down” what to do. This kind of hierarchical authority can’t work in the digital network age; it’s too slow to process incoming data from the marketplace and too rigid to quickly or effectively implement newly imagined responses to those incoming data.
But in Professor Klein and Professor Foss’s analysis, management no longer equates to old-fashioned authority and hierarchy. Management is co-ordination: assembling the right resources — both human capital and complementary capital assets such as supportive technologies — in the right combinations (often referred to as “teams” in today’s management language) for the right shared task with the right shared goals. Professor Klein likened this to orchestration — there’s a conductor who guides the orchestra in playing the same symphony together, without telling the individual players how to play their instrument, and leaving the details of implementation to the individuals and their specialized skills.
Some orchestras may have better results than others because their teams have been well-recruited and well assembled and they respond better to management co-ordination. All firms and teams are complex adaptive systems, with emergent outcomes influenced by internal forces, one of which is management.
Management is culture more than authority. How do managers achieve a better outcome as a result of managing their teams? Professor Klein believes that they institute a successful culture, as opposed to designing an organizational structure. He defines culture in terms of norms, customs and practices — the accepted way (or simple rules) of “how we do things around here”. More specifically, in the customer-centric entrepreneurial firm, “here’s how we plan to facilitate value for our customers around here”. Skilled managers paint the pictures — the “vision”, if you will — in the minds of employees of the customer value standards the firm will achieve, and the customer experiences that the firm will facilitate.
Modern managers are comfortable with and quite expert at adaptation. The modern managerial culture is a far cry from traditional hierarchical managerial authority. It has the built-in flexibility for adaptiveness to the rapid rate of change in today’s digital business world. A well-functioning management process in a loosely structured organization can change internal production processes, teams and resource allocations in response to external changes in customer demand and marketplace conditions.
In fact, Professor Klein points out, through relevant case studies, such a management structure can be better at adaptation than, for example, a network of independent contractors and suppliers that would be challenged to orchestrate responsive changes to an external change, since each would have a different experience and process it through a different cultural orientation. They wouldn’t co-ordinate as well or as quickly as internally managed teams.
In certain cases, management authority can sometimes be a relevant organizational tool, so long as it is applied in a contingent fashion. The relevance and usefulness of authority varies by circumstance and business situations. Its usefulness is contingent, and managers must be sensitive as to when to apply authority and in what style.
Why Managers Matter identifies two distinct styles of managerial authority, Mark 1 authority and Mark 2 authority. Mark 1 authority is traditional command-and-control, exerted top down — superiors telling subordinates what to do.
Mark 2 authority is exercised through design rather than command: finding the right person for the task, combining the best-qualified people in teams, and giving them a goal with a wide latitude in their process and implementation in achieving the goal.
An important element of the contingent approach is to empathically identify the subjective preferences of employees. Some will respond well to flexible, open-ended direction that enables them to exercise their own initiative. Others might prefer the certainty of clear direction. One type of salesperson might be highly motivated by a 100% commission remuneration plan, another might feel more secure with a base salary with the potential for an achievement bonus upon exceeding quota.
Professor Klein identifies two broad sets of conditions for the exercise of Mark 1 and Mark 2 authority. When there is a high degree of interdependence between people, teams and tasks, such that it is critical that tasks are highly coordinated, completed at the same time and combined in a highly specific fashion, then management intervention is required and it will include Mark 1 elements. When production is more modular, when tasks and projects can be completed interdependently, then Mark 2 management can be exercised through a decentralized, flat and culturally aligned organization. (Professor Klein cited the example of the type of higher education institution where he works; all the professors can design and teach their classes, do their research, and publish their papers and books with a high degree of autonomy.)
Management is becoming more important, not less. In a rapidly changing world, where employee attitudes and experiences are very different than in the pre-digital world, and where global markets and their interconnected structures are more uncertain and cyclically unreliable, and where the pace of disruptive technological innovation is accelerating, good management is more important than ever for the success of our economy and our society. Smart managers are needed to find the right balance between operational excellence through established processes and adaptive change through adjustment and experimentation, a balance that business scholars call the ambidextrous organization. It can’t happen without management, and without managers.
Additional Resources Peter Klein’s book page: Mises.org/E4B_190_Klein
Why Managers Matter: The Perils of the Bossless Company by Peter Klein and Nicolai Foss: Mises.org/E4B_190_Book
Public Affairs book page: Mises.org/E4B_190_PA
Entrepreneurial businesses embrace adaptiveness and change, and continuous innovation enabled by flexible and responsive organizations, empowered at every level. That doesn’t mean there’s no role for managers. Inside the corporation, entrepreneurial management co-ordinates the business flow of responding to changing customer wants and preferences, so that resources are allocated and reallocated to the production activities that customers value the most. In fact, management is becoming more important, not less. Professors Peter Klein and Nicolai Foss explain entrepreneurial management in their latest book, Why Managers Matter: The Perils of the Bossless Company (Mises.org/E4B_190_Book), and Peter Klein visits Economics For Business to highlight the key points.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Management co-ordinates the constant flux of entrepreneurial business. The essence of the adaptive entrepreneurial organization model is responsive change. Entrepreneurial businesses don’t lock themselves in to 5-year strategies and annual plans. They recognize that markets are in constant flux as a result of changing customer preferences, changing competitive activity, changing technologies, and changing conditions in business channels and in the economy. Change is the normal condition. It’s what Ludwig von Mises termed constant flux.
Management is required inside the firm to adapt and respond to change outside the firm. It’s not possible to manage the change in markets, but it is a necessity to manage resource allocation and productive activities inside the firm.
Management is co-ordination and orchestration, not authority and hierarchy. We might think of the concept of management in its industrial age guise of authority and hierarchy: some people “higher up” in the organization telling others “lower down” what to do. This kind of hierarchical authority can’t work in the digital network age; it’s too slow to process incoming data from the marketplace and too rigid to quickly or effectively implement newly imagined responses to those incoming data.
But in Professor Klein and Professor Foss’s analysis, management no longer equates to old-fashioned authority and hierarchy. Management is co-ordination: assembling the right resources — both human capital and complementary capital assets such as supportive technologies — in the right combinations (often referred to as “teams” in today’s management language) for the right shared task with the right shared goals. Professor Klein likened this to orchestration — there’s a conductor who guides the orchestra in playing the same symphony together, without telling the individual players how to play their instrument, and leaving the details of implementation to the individuals and their specialized skills.
Some orchestras may have better results than others because their teams have been well-recruited and well assembled and they respond better to management co-ordination. All firms and teams are complex adaptive systems, with emergent outcomes influenced by internal forces, one of which is management.
Management is culture more than authority. How do managers achieve a better outcome as a result of managing their teams? Professor Klein believes that they institute a successful culture, as opposed to designing an organizational structure. He defines culture in terms of norms, customs and practices — the accepted way (or simple rules) of “how we do things around here”. More specifically, in the customer-centric entrepreneurial firm, “here’s how we plan to facilitate value for our customers around here”. Skilled managers paint the pictures — the “vision”, if you will — in the minds of employees of the customer value standards the firm will achieve, and the customer experiences that the firm will facilitate.
Modern managers are comfortable with and quite expert at adaptation. The modern managerial culture is a far cry from traditional hierarchical managerial authority. It has the built-in flexibility for adaptiveness to the rapid rate of change in today’s digital business world. A well-functioning management process in a loosely structured organization can change internal production processes, teams and resource allocations in response to external changes in customer demand and marketplace conditions.
In fact, Professor Klein points out, through relevant case studies, such a management structure can be better at adaptation than, for example, a network of independent contractors and suppliers that would be challenged to orchestrate responsive changes to an external change, since each would have a different experience and process it through a different cultural orientation. They wouldn’t co-ordinate as well or as quickly as internally managed teams.
In certain cases, management authority can sometimes be a relevant organizational tool, so long as it is applied in a contingent fashion. The relevance and usefulness of authority varies by circumstance and business situations. Its usefulness is contingent, and managers must be sensitive as to when to apply authority and in what style.
Why Managers Matter identifies two distinct styles of managerial authority, Mark 1 authority and Mark 2 authority. Mark 1 authority is traditional command-and-control, exerted top down — superiors telling subordinates what to do.
Mark 2 authority is exercised through design rather than command: finding the right person for the task, combining the best-qualified people in teams, and giving them a goal with a wide latitude in their process and implementation in achieving the goal.
An important element of the contingent approach is to empathically identify the subjective preferences of employees. Some will respond well to flexible, open-ended direction that enables them to exercise their own initiative. Others might prefer the certainty of clear direction. One type of salesperson might be highly motivated by a 100% commission remuneration plan, another might feel more secure with a base salary with the potential for an achievement bonus upon exceeding quota.
Professor Klein identifies two broad sets of conditions for the exercise of Mark 1 and Mark 2 authority. When there is a high degree of interdependence between people, teams and tasks, such that it is critical that tasks are highly coordinated, completed at the same time and combined in a highly specific fashion, then management intervention is required and it will include Mark 1 elements. When production is more modular, when tasks and projects can be completed interdependently, then Mark 2 management can be exercised through a decentralized, flat and culturally aligned organization. (Professor Klein cited the example of the type of higher education institution where he works; all the professors can design and teach their classes, do their research, and publish their papers and books with a high degree of autonomy.)
Management is becoming more important, not less. In a rapidly changing world, where employee attitudes and experiences are very different than in the pre-digital world, and where global markets and their interconnected structures are more uncertain and cyclically unreliable, and where the pace of disruptive technological innovation is accelerating, good management is more important than ever for the success of our economy and our society. Smart managers are needed to find the right balance between operational excellence through established processes and adaptive change through adjustment and experimentation, a balance that business scholars call the ambidextrous organization. It can’t happen without management, and without managers.
Additional Resources Peter Klein’s book page: Mises.org/E4B_190_Klein
Why Managers Matter: The Perils of the Bossless Company by Peter Klein and Nicolai Foss: Mises.org/E4B_190_Book
Public Affairs book page: Mises.org/E4B_190_PA
The money supply is on a long and fast downward trajectory. This points toward recession and is just one more indicator of economic weakness in addition to negative GDP and an inverted yield curve.
Original Article: "In Latest Recession Signal, Money-Supply Growth Plummeted to a Three-Year Low in August"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Is there a case for an American empire? Professor Nigel Biggar of Oxford University believes so, but David Gordon sets him straight.
Original Article: "Biggar Thy Neighbor"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Recovery is genuine only when it reaches the masses of individuals. And recovery comes only from the actions of individuals acting in a free market.
Original Article: "Genuine Recovery Is Up to Investors, Producers, and Consumer Choice"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The money supply is on a long and fast downward trajectory. This points toward recession and is just one more indicator of economic weakness in addition to negative GDP and an inverted yield curve.
Original Article: "In Latest Recession Signal, Money-Supply Growth Plummeted to a Three-Year Low in August"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
President Biden's recent student loan forgiveness initiative only exacerbates the real problem: the cost of a college education, thanks to government intervention, is outrageously high.
Original Article: "Student Loan Forgiveness Treats the Symptom, Not the Disease"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The Fed claims 2 percent inflation promotes "price stability." However, that policy also causes the boom-and-bust cycle, which is anything but stable.
Original Article: "How the Policy of Price Stability Generates Greater Economic Instability"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Is there a case for an American empire? Professor Nigel Biggar of Oxford University believes so, but David Gordon sets him straight.
Original Article: "Biggar Thy Neighbor"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The Fed claims 2 percent inflation promotes "price stability." However, that policy also causes the boom-and-bust cycle, which is anything but stable.
Original Article: "How the Policy of Price Stability Generates Greater Economic Instability"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Recovery is genuine only when it reaches the masses of individuals. And recovery comes only from the actions of individuals acting in a free market.
Original Article: "Genuine Recovery Is Up to Investors, Producers, and Consumer Choice"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Barack Obama promised to "end child hunger" by 2015. Michelle Obama promised to end childhood obesity. Unfortunately, both increased in large part because of the Obama programs. Today, President Biden will declare war on "hunger in America." Stay tuned.
Original Article: "Obama's Forgotten Child Hunger Debacle"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Barack Obama promised to "end child hunger" by 2015. Michelle Obama promised to end childhood obesity. Unfortunately, both increased in large part because of the Obama programs. Today, President Biden will declare war on "hunger in America." Stay tuned.
Original Article: "Obama's Forgotten Child Hunger Debacle"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The money supply is on a long and fast downward trajectory. This points toward recession and is just one more indicator of economic weakness in addition to negative GDP and an inverted yield curve.
Original Article: "In Latest Recession Signal, Money-Supply Growth Plummeted to a Three-Year Low in August"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
The Fed claims 2 percent inflation promotes "price stability." However, that policy also causes the boom-and-bust cycle, which is anything but stable.
Original Article: "How the Policy of Price Stability Generates Greater Economic Instability"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Is there a case for an American empire? Professor Nigel Biggar of Oxford University believes so, but David Gordon sets him straight.
Original Article: "Biggar Thy Neighbor"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
President Biden's recent student loan forgiveness initiative only exacerbates the real problem: the cost of a college education, thanks to government intervention, is outrageously high.
Original Article: "Student Loan Forgiveness Treats the Symptom, Not the Disease"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
President Biden's recent student loan forgiveness initiative only exacerbates the real problem: the cost of a college education, thanks to government intervention, is outrageously high.
Original Article: "Student Loan Forgiveness Treats the Symptom, Not the Disease"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Barack Obama promised to "end child hunger" by 2015. Michelle Obama promised to end childhood obesity. Unfortunately, both increased in large part because of the Obama programs. Today, President Biden will declare war on "hunger in America." Stay tuned.
Original Article: "Obama's Forgotten Child Hunger Debacle"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Recovery is genuine only when it reaches the masses of individuals. And recovery comes only from the actions of individuals acting in a free market.
Original Article: "Genuine Recovery Is Up to Investors, Producers, and Consumer Choice"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. '
Daniel McAdams of the Ron Paul Institute joins Jeff and Bob to discuss the economic and political ramifications of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline sabotage.
Read "The Economics of War" from Human Action: Mises.org/HAP363-1 Read a study Bob co-authored on Europe's energy crisis: Mises.org/HAP363-2
Daniel McAdams of the Ron Paul Institute joins Jeff and Bob to discuss the economic and political ramifications of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline sabotage.
Read "The Economics of War" from Human Action: Mises.org/HAP363-1 Read a study Bob co-authored on Europe's energy crisis: Mises.org/HAP363-2
Ryan and Tho talk with Mises.org author and German native Rosanna Weber about the energy crisis in Germany. German policymakers have greatly worsened the ongoing energy crisis in Germany by abandoning nuclear energy and taking a hard line on Russian natural gas. Now with the damage done to the Nord Stream pipeline, German consumers face even fewer options as winter approaches.
Rosanna Weber is a graduate student in Economic History at the London School of Economics and a freelance journalist.
Recommended Reading "Germany's Nuclear Choice: Russian Energy Crisis Forces a Reckoning" by Rosanna Weber: Mises.org/RR_101_A
"Eat or Heat: Europeans Already Are Facing Previously Unthinkable Dilemmas" by Claudio Grass: Mises.org/RR_101_B
"Europe Ditched Russian Energy. Now People Are Sitting in Line For Days to Buy Coal. Is Biden to Blame?" by Alice Salles: Mises.org/RR_101_C
"Germany's (and Europe's) Self-Inflicted Upcoming Energy Crunch" by Weimin Chen: Mises.org/RR_101_D
"The 'Stunning Success' of the Green Revolution Is Yet Another Progressive Myth" by Kristoffer Mousten Hansen: Mises.org/RR_101_E
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Ryan and Tho talk with Mises.org author and German native Rosanna Weber about the energy crisis in Germany. German policymakers have greatly worsened the ongoing energy crisis in Germany by abandoning nuclear energy and taking a hard line on Russian natural gas. Now with the damage done to the Nord Stream pipeline, German consumers face even fewer options as winter approaches.
Rosanna Weber is a graduate student in Economic History at the London School of Economics and a freelance journalist.
Recommended Reading "Germany's Nuclear Choice: Russian Energy Crisis Forces a Reckoning" by Rosanna Weber: Mises.org/RR_101_A
"Eat or Heat: Europeans Already Are Facing Previously Unthinkable Dilemmas" by Claudio Grass: Mises.org/RR_101_B
"Europe Ditched Russian Energy. Now People Are Sitting in Line For Days to Buy Coal. Is Biden to Blame?" by Alice Salles: Mises.org/RR_101_C
"Germany's (and Europe's) Self-Inflicted Upcoming Energy Crunch" by Weimin Chen: Mises.org/RR_101_D
"The 'Stunning Success' of the Green Revolution Is Yet Another Progressive Myth" by Kristoffer Mousten Hansen: Mises.org/RR_101_E
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Entrepreneurs always generate new value for customers; that’s what they get paid for. It’s not always necessary to create a new market; there are many creative ways to expand the value potential of established markets and carve out a territory in the new expanded space.
James Kent, founder of the innovative apparel brand Rogue, White and Blue, talks to E4B about the entrepreneurial value creation method he pursues in growing a distinctive and differentiated brand in what might look to outsiders like a crowded market, but which to him looks like unbounded opportunity.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Entrepreneurs start with what they love — it’s the first source of differentiation. James is a lover of open-air experiences — of walking and hiking and exploring trails and off-road lands, of snowboarding in the mountains, and enjoying all the freedoms of exploration and everything to do with the great American outdoors. “What do I love?” is one of the first questions an entrepreneur asks of themselves, and James is certain of his answer.
Adding knowledge and experience fortifies the entrepreneurial recipe. All experience and most knowledge are individual. What we pay attention to, and how we learn is always unique to us personally. James picked up some valuable experience by working in sporting goods retail stores, both interacting with customers in stores and working his way up the corporate ladder into management positions. This commercial experience in sporting goods was highly complementary to his love of the outdoors, and the two became a productive combination in James’ entrepreneurial approach.
James was able to gain some even more fine-tuned experience by working as the first employee of a start-up, running an office in a location removed from the head office. This provided exposure to the entrepreneurial experiences of risk-taking, autonomy, maximizing the use of limited resources and using business development tools like Google AdWords — all directly useful for a future business journey.
A third layer of relevant experience came from joining the National Guard in a patriotic spirit of service. The service ethic is fundamental to all entrepreneurial endeavors.
The stage is set: what kind of business to launch? James asked the entrepreneurial questions. What do I love? The outdoors and outdoor recreation. What do I know? Apparel and apparel retail. What are my resources? Passion, the genuineness and clarity of commitment, design ideas, and a small amount of savings. Who are my customers? People who share the same passions.
Where will differentiation come from? It came from a reservoir of genuine feeling and the combination of two streams of thought: recreational love of the outdoors and patriotic love of country. The combination became the brand Rogue, White and Blue, described by customers as “the patriotic version of Patagonia”. It’s wild and unexpected like the American landscape, and it embodies patriotic design ideas, both in visual look-and-feel and in functional attributes such as Made In America.
The commitment to a differentiated brand platform creates a differentiated supply chain, differentiated production, and differentiated presentation. Entrepreneurs design their production infrastructure and supply network backwards, starting with the brand and then identifying the system components that will bring it to life.
James had design ideas in his mind. He self-taught himself Adobe Illustrator to get them from his mind into digital documentation, occasionally hiring outside designers on Fiverr at low variable cost for some specific refinement tasks. Modern technologies ranging from design software (and the training videos and additional user content available online for new adopters) to digital printing to internet-enabled collaboration sites like Fiverr can be combined to create a complete value network with limited fixed cost investment.
The next step down the supply chain was to find screen printers and James tested alternatives until he identified the best craftspeople in that specialized profession. He made them his business partners, which enabled him to benefit from their expertise in identifying the right Made-In-America apparel manufacturers and the right high-quality fabrics. By ordering garments through the printers, he was able to give the printers a more profitable business model while offloading some risk (e.g., of misprinting) onto them. The shared value space was big enough for everyone in the network.
The integrated platform of a differentiated brand and a differentiated supply chain is the result of entrepreneurial commitment: to brand integrity, quality, style, and consistency.
Finding customers through entrepreneurial action. At the outset, there wasn’t any marketing budget for Rogue, White and Blue. How does a brand get customers in those circumstances? Not by advertising but by entrepreneurial action: by meeting customers personally. James had a good instinct for who his customers would be based on input from like-minded friends and family. So, he went out to meet similar people by setting up a sales table at selected events where they might congregate. The first one was a gun show, and then more broadly outdoors-themed events. James vividly remembers the excitement of show attendees stopping by his booth, immediately bonding with the “patriotic version of Patagonia” brand feel — they didn’t need to be told, they understood it without prompting — and paying cash for the products. Rogue, White and Blue started with a batch of 96 T-shirts which quickly sold out.
Growth is funded by cash flow and there is no shortage of growth drivers and growth ideas. Cash flow is the most important financial indicator of business performance and it’s the most important source of growth capital. Profit is an accounting notion, and debt-financed development has its own set of risks. Cash flow is a pure indication of customer approval and customer value. Therefore, it provides the best funding source for both working capital and investment capital — turning the value experienced by consumers into the funds that enable expanded and enhanced value experiences in the future.
Rogue, White and Blue has expanded into more designs, new apparel items, a strong website to drive sales, and a reinforced brand presence.
Customer feedback loops ensure continuous improvement and progress. Meeting customers face-to-face or getting their feedback via the internet — these are feedback loops that help entrepreneurs refine their offering. The feedback may concern product quality, design, or brand imagery; it’s all positive input for an entrepreneurial business that is open and not defensive whenever there is criticism.
The entrepreneurial life is exciting. How are we all going to share in the productivity of the economy? The old way was to take a job and participate as an employee, hopefully ascending the hierarchical ladder of a firm or translating increased experience and skill in a profession for higher wages.
As the digital economy unfolds, and more of the work is being performed through algorithms and A.I. and machine learning that’s translated into process automation, the traditional ways of sharing in economic production will be blocked.
The better alternative is economic participation and reward through entrepreneurship. James Kent describes the entrepreneurial life as exciting and fulfilling. It requires a thorough commitment and it’s hard work — he described the long nights he’s devoted to the Rogue, White and Blue brand — which he finds energizing and motivating. There’s a commitment and a service ethic, and a consequent freedom.
Additional Resource Use the promo code E4B for a site-wide discount at roguewhiteblue.com
Entrepreneurs always generate new value for customers; that’s what they get paid for. It’s not always necessary to create a new market; there are many creative ways to expand the value potential of established markets and carve out a territory in the new expanded space.
James Kent, founder of the innovative apparel brand Rogue, White and Blue, talks to E4B about the entrepreneurial value creation method he pursues in growing a distinctive and differentiated brand in what might look to outsiders like a crowded market, but which to him looks like unbounded opportunity.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Entrepreneurs start with what they love — it’s the first source of differentiation. James is a lover of open-air experiences — of walking and hiking and exploring trails and off-road lands, of snowboarding in the mountains, and enjoying all the freedoms of exploration and everything to do with the great American outdoors. “What do I love?” is one of the first questions an entrepreneur asks of themselves, and James is certain of his answer.
Adding knowledge and experience fortifies the entrepreneurial recipe. All experience and most knowledge are individual. What we pay attention to, and how we learn is always unique to us personally. James picked up some valuable experience by working in sporting goods retail stores, both interacting with customers in stores and working his way up the corporate ladder into management positions. This commercial experience in sporting goods was highly complementary to his love of the outdoors, and the two became a productive combination in James’ entrepreneurial approach.
James was able to gain some even more fine-tuned experience by working as the first employee of a start-up, running an office in a location removed from the head office. This provided exposure to the entrepreneurial experiences of risk-taking, autonomy, maximizing the use of limited resources and using business development tools like Google AdWords — all directly useful for a future business journey.
A third layer of relevant experience came from joining the National Guard in a patriotic spirit of service. The service ethic is fundamental to all entrepreneurial endeavors.
The stage is set: what kind of business to launch? James asked the entrepreneurial questions. What do I love? The outdoors and outdoor recreation. What do I know? Apparel and apparel retail. What are my resources? Passion, the genuineness and clarity of commitment, design ideas, and a small amount of savings. Who are my customers? People who share the same passions.
Where will differentiation come from? It came from a reservoir of genuine feeling and the combination of two streams of thought: recreational love of the outdoors and patriotic love of country. The combination became the brand Rogue, White and Blue, described by customers as “the patriotic version of Patagonia”. It’s wild and unexpected like the American landscape, and it embodies patriotic design ideas, both in visual look-and-feel and in functional attributes such as Made In America.
The commitment to a differentiated brand platform creates a differentiated supply chain, differentiated production, and differentiated presentation. Entrepreneurs design their production infrastructure and supply network backwards, starting with the brand and then identifying the system components that will bring it to life.
James had design ideas in his mind. He self-taught himself Adobe Illustrator to get them from his mind into digital documentation, occasionally hiring outside designers on Fiverr at low variable cost for some specific refinement tasks. Modern technologies ranging from design software (and the training videos and additional user content available online for new adopters) to digital printing to internet-enabled collaboration sites like Fiverr can be combined to create a complete value network with limited fixed cost investment.
The next step down the supply chain was to find screen printers and James tested alternatives until he identified the best craftspeople in that specialized profession. He made them his business partners, which enabled him to benefit from their expertise in identifying the right Made-In-America apparel manufacturers and the right high-quality fabrics. By ordering garments through the printers, he was able to give the printers a more profitable business model while offloading some risk (e.g., of misprinting) onto them. The shared value space was big enough for everyone in the network.
The integrated platform of a differentiated brand and a differentiated supply chain is the result of entrepreneurial commitment: to brand integrity, quality, style, and consistency.
Finding customers through entrepreneurial action. At the outset, there wasn’t any marketing budget for Rogue, White and Blue. How does a brand get customers in those circumstances? Not by advertising but by entrepreneurial action: by meeting customers personally. James had a good instinct for who his customers would be based on input from like-minded friends and family. So, he went out to meet similar people by setting up a sales table at selected events where they might congregate. The first one was a gun show, and then more broadly outdoors-themed events. James vividly remembers the excitement of show attendees stopping by his booth, immediately bonding with the “patriotic version of Patagonia” brand feel — they didn’t need to be told, they understood it without prompting — and paying cash for the products. Rogue, White and Blue started with a batch of 96 T-shirts which quickly sold out.
Growth is funded by cash flow and there is no shortage of growth drivers and growth ideas. Cash flow is the most important financial indicator of business performance and it’s the most important source of growth capital. Profit is an accounting notion, and debt-financed development has its own set of risks. Cash flow is a pure indication of customer approval and customer value. Therefore, it provides the best funding source for both working capital and investment capital — turning the value experienced by consumers into the funds that enable expanded and enhanced value experiences in the future.
Rogue, White and Blue has expanded into more designs, new apparel items, a strong website to drive sales, and a reinforced brand presence.
Customer feedback loops ensure continuous improvement and progress. Meeting customers face-to-face or getting their feedback via the internet — these are feedback loops that help entrepreneurs refine their offering. The feedback may concern product quality, design, or brand imagery; it’s all positive input for an entrepreneurial business that is open and not defensive whenever there is criticism.
The entrepreneurial life is exciting. How are we all going to share in the productivity of the economy? The old way was to take a job and participate as an employee, hopefully ascending the hierarchical ladder of a firm or translating increased experience and skill in a profession for higher wages.
As the digital economy unfolds, and more of the work is being performed through algorithms and A.I. and machine learning that’s translated into process automation, the traditional ways of sharing in economic production will be blocked.
The better alternative is economic participation and reward through entrepreneurship. James Kent describes the entrepreneurial life as exciting and fulfilling. It requires a thorough commitment and it’s hard work — he described the long nights he’s devoted to the Rogue, White and Blue brand — which he finds energizing and motivating. There’s a commitment and a service ethic, and a consequent freedom.
Additional Resource Use the promo code E4B for a site-wide discount at roguewhiteblue.com
Tate Fegley joins Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop to discuss his recent Mises Wire article, "Private Property and Customer Safety: Starbucks Learns a Hard Lesson". As businesses increasingly interject broader "social values" into their business plans, customers are increasingly forced to make difficult decisions about how to navigate their economic behavior with ideological values. What role does the ideology of the state play in the decisions behind how businesses behave? Is a battle for power an inevitable consequence of a civil rights regime? How would these things be handled if we took property rights seriously?
This and more on this episode of Radio Rothbard.
Recommended Reading "Private Property and Customer Safety: Starbucks Learns a Hard Lesson" by Tate Fegley: Mises.org/RR_100_A
"The Equality Act's Attack on Religion Is Really about Private Property Rights" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_100_B
"The Transgender Debate Should Be about Women’s Freedom and Private Property Rights" by Jess Gill: Mises.org/RR_100_C
"To Understand Economics, First Understand Private Property" by Chris Calton: Mises.org/RR_100_D
"Woke Capitalism Is a Monopoly Game" by Michael Rectenwald: Mises.org/RR_100_E
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Daniel McCarthy, editor of Modern Age, joins Jeff to consider the state of modern conservatism, modern libertarianism, and whether they can or cannot find common ground.
Watch Daniel's talk at the LSC 2022: Mises.org/LSC22-McCarthy Read The Conservative Affirmation: Mises.org/HAP362-1
Tate Fegley joins Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop to discuss his recent Mises Wire article, "Private Property and Customer Safety: Starbucks Learns a Hard Lesson". As businesses increasingly interject broader "social values" into their business plans, customers are increasingly forced to make difficult decisions about how to navigate their economic behavior with ideological values. What role does the ideology of the state play in the decisions behind how businesses behave? Is a battle for power an inevitable consequence of a civil rights regime? How would these things be handled if we took property rights seriously?
This and more on this episode of Radio Rothbard.
Recommended Reading "Private Property and Customer Safety: Starbucks Learns a Hard Lesson" by Tate Fegley: Mises.org/RR_100_A
"The Equality Act's Attack on Religion Is Really about Private Property Rights" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_100_B
"The Transgender Debate Should Be about Women’s Freedom and Private Property Rights" by Jess Gill: Mises.org/RR_100_C
"To Understand Economics, First Understand Private Property" by Chris Calton: Mises.org/RR_100_D
"Woke Capitalism Is a Monopoly Game" by Michael Rectenwald: Mises.org/RR_100_E
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Daniel McCarthy, editor of Modern Age, joins Jeff to consider the state of modern conservatism, modern libertarianism, and whether they can or cannot find common ground.
Watch Daniel's talk at the LSC 2022: Mises.org/LSC22-McCarthy Read The Conservative Affirmation: Mises.org/HAP362-1
Conservatives have missed the point that it is not students particularly that are at fault for the student loan crises, but the entire bureaucratic economic-political system.
Original Article: "Seeing the Student Loan Crisis as a Form of Boom and Bust"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Joe Biden says the pandemic is over in an attempt to get a few more votes. But the administration certainly isn't acting like the "pandemic is over" in terms of actual policy.
Original Article: "The Pandemic Is "Over," but the Feds Aren't Giving Up Their Emergency Powers"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The surge of "progressive" prosecutors, many funded by George Soros, has been followed by increases in violent crime.
Original Article: "Are "Progressive" Prosecutors Real Reformers or Leftists Acting in Bad Faith?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Winter is approaching and Europeans are facing homes without heat, thanks to the US-led sanctions against Russia. Who will carry the blame when people freeze to death?
Original Article: "Europe Ditched Russian Energy. Now People Are Sitting in Line For Days to Buy Coal. Is Biden to Blame?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Because government is predatory, it may seem ironic then to use the political system as a means of protecting one's own property, family, and loved ones. But there are times when such a strategy makes sense.
Original Article: "Practicing Politics as Self-Defense"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
While people from poor countries seek to live in places like the USA because of its stable institutions and welfare state, could migration of people from stable countries to less-developed ones make those countries better off?
Original Article: "The Other Immigration Question: Should People from Wealthy Countries Migrate to Poorer Ones?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Post-Keynesians believe that capitalism is internally unstable, leading to necessary intervention by the central bank. Austrians see that as backward reasoning, as policies by the central bank to create credit from nothing is the problem.
Original Article: "Does Capitalism Itself Create Economic Instability or Is Central Banking the Culprit?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
One doubts that the so-called Inflation Reduction Act will reduce inflation. However, it will wreak havoc on the US economy with its lethal mix of taxes, regulations, subsidies, and outright crony capitalism.
Original Article: "The Inflation Reduction Act: Another Unfair and Unjustified State Intervention"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Conservatives have missed the point that it is not students particularly that are at fault for the student loan crises, but the entire bureaucratic economic-political system.
Original Article: "Seeing the Student Loan Crisis as a Form of Boom and Bust"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
An enduring progressive myth is that thanks to Western technologies and compassionate NGOs, American agricultural scientists saved the developing world via the Green Revolution. Not surprisingly, the truth is found elsewhere.
Original Article: "The "Stunning Success" of the Green Revolution Is Yet Another Progressive Myth"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The Fed's entire "strategy" can be summed up as "hike 'til it breaks, cut 'til it inflates." That's the best all those PhDs at the Fed have managed to come up with.
Original Article: "The Fed Is Finally Seeing the Magnitude of the Mess It Created"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
At the urging of the United States, Germany and other European governments have levied sanctions against Russia. In reality, these governments have levied sanctions against themselves and their citizens.
Original Article: "Germany's (and Europe's) Self-Inflicted Upcoming Energy Crunch"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
While officials in the White House, Treasury, and the Fed give the appearance of being in control, but in truth, they cannot undo the damage they have done.
Original Article: "Despite Their Hubris, Monetary Authorities Do Not Have Total Control"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Why does money have value? Typical economists claim that money is valuable because the government declares it so. But that is impossible, given the true origins of money, which are best explained by Austrian economists.
Original Article: "Do People Accept Money Because Government Endorses It?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The surge of "progressive" prosecutors, many funded by George Soros, has been followed by increases in violent crime.
Original Article: "Are "Progressive" Prosecutors Real Reformers or Leftists Acting in Bad Faith?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Winter is approaching and Europeans are facing homes without heat, thanks to the US-led sanctions against Russia. Who will carry the blame when people freeze to death?
Original Article: "Europe Ditched Russian Energy. Now People Are Sitting in Line For Days to Buy Coal. Is Biden to Blame?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Because government is predatory, it may seem ironic then to use the political system as a means of protecting one's own property, family, and loved ones. But there are times when such a strategy makes sense.
Original Article: "Practicing Politics as Self-Defense"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
An enduring progressive myth is that thanks to Western technologies and compassionate NGOs, American agricultural scientists saved the developing world via the Green Revolution. Not surprisingly, the truth is found elsewhere.
Original Article: "The "Stunning Success" of the Green Revolution Is Yet Another Progressive Myth"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
One doubts that the so-called Inflation Reduction Act will reduce inflation. However, it will wreak havoc on the US economy with its lethal mix of taxes, regulations, subsidies, and outright crony capitalism.
Original Article: "The Inflation Reduction Act: Another Unfair and Unjustified State Intervention"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Post-Keynesians believe that capitalism is internally unstable, leading to necessary intervention by the central bank. Austrians see that as backward reasoning, as policies by the central bank to create credit from nothing is the problem.
Original Article: "Does Capitalism Itself Create Economic Instability or Is Central Banking the Culprit?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
While people from poor countries seek to live in places like the USA because of its stable institutions and welfare state, could migration of people from stable countries to less-developed ones make those countries better off?
Original Article: "The Other Immigration Question: Should People from Wealthy Countries Migrate to Poorer Ones?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Joe Biden says the pandemic is over in an attempt to get a few more votes. But the administration certainly isn't acting like the "pandemic is over" in terms of actual policy.
Original Article: "The Pandemic Is "Over," but the Feds Aren't Giving Up Their Emergency Powers"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
At the urging of the United States, Germany and other European governments have levied sanctions against Russia. In reality, these governments have levied sanctions against themselves and their citizens.
Original Article: "Germany's (and Europe's) Self-Inflicted Upcoming Energy Crunch"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Why does money have value? Typical economists claim that money is valuable because the government declares it so. But that is impossible, given the true origins of money, which are best explained by Austrian economists.
Original Article: "Do People Accept Money Because Government Endorses It?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The Fed's entire "strategy" can be summed up as "hike 'til it breaks, cut 'til it inflates." That's the best all those PhDs at the Fed have managed to come up with.
Original Article: "The Fed Is Finally Seeing the Magnitude of the Mess It Created"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
While officials in the White House, Treasury, and the Fed give the appearance of being in control, but in truth, they cannot undo the damage they have done.
Original Article: "Despite Their Hubris, Monetary Authorities Do Not Have Total Control"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The rise of democracy blurred the lines between the regime and the people it exploits. This was less of a problem under monarchs, whose interests were clearly separate from the public's.
Original Article: "Molinari Explains the Difference between Monarchy and Popular Government"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
While the current political narratives claim that only Europeans were involved in the infamous transatlantic slave trade, the Africans themselves were also major players in directing and overseeing it.
Original Article: "Europeans Were Not the Only Slave Traders in Africa"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Do these things to stand apart from your peers.
Original Article: "Five Keys to Professional and Personal Development"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The rise of democracy blurred the lines between the regime and the people it exploits. This was less of a problem under monarchs, whose interests were clearly separate from the public's.
Original Article: "Molinari Explains the Difference between Monarchy and Popular Government"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The Fed is slowly increasing interest rates in the hopes that the economy will experience a "soft landing." However, there is no way to soften the blows about to fall on the economy.
Original Article: "Powell's Pivot to "Pain" but No Gain: Triggering the Coming Recession"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The Fed is slowly increasing interest rates in the hopes that the economy will experience a "soft landing." However, there is no way to soften the blows about to fall on the economy.
Original Article: "Powell's Pivot to "Pain" but No Gain: Triggering the Coming Recession"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Do these things to stand apart from your peers.
Original Article: "Five Keys to Professional and Personal Development"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
While the current political narratives claim that only Europeans were involved in the infamous transatlantic slave trade, the Africans themselves were also major players in directing and overseeing it.
Original Article: "Europeans Were Not the Only Slave Traders in Africa"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
We define entrepreneurship in terms of people working creatively to make others’ lives better. That’s a very broad statement, of course, so it’s instructive to observe how individual entrepreneurs choose to make some customers’ lives better in some specific ways by applying special skills and knowledge. Let’s call it finding an entrepreneurial focus.
Economics For Business talks to Jordan Lams, founder and CEO of Moxie, an industry pioneer in manufacturing, branding, and distributing cannabis products.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights. Entrepreneurs find their focus — or, sometimes, it finds them. Bruce Lee is reported to have said that the successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus. Entrepreneurs develop focus on particular customers, in order to understand them better, empathize with their wants, and deliver them the experiences that they value. Developing this focus may take time, or it may come early in the journey, but empathy always provides the pathway.
Jordan Lams observed the pain of a family member during a time of illness, and how cannabis products could bring some relief and comfort. From that time, he became focused on the health and medical benefits of cannabis in a broad range of personal circumstances.
From a position of focus, entrepreneurs develop the deep knowledge that becomes their marketplace advantage. Entrepreneurial focus directs research and knowledge gathering. In Jordan’s case, he gathered academic research, medical literature, and clinical studies, and he talked with medical practitioners about cannabinoid therapies. Networking brought him into contact with researchers and doctors and clinicians and product developers. He established a uniquely robust knowledge platform.
Focus plus knowledge leads to opportunity tension. Some entrepreneurial theorists have coined the term opportunity tension — that period when an entrepreneur’s focus and knowledge point to a market opportunity, but there remains unresolved risk in the process of seizing it. The entrepreneurial solution, of course, is to take the risk. Jordan executed his commitment by taking a job in the retail sector of his chosen industry — a place to meet customers one-on-one, and look backwards at the supply chain.
Customer orientation is refined by direct contact, conversation, and experience. Working in retail enabled direct customer contact and unfiltered conversations about customers’ preferences and wants, the benefits they sought compared to the benefits they experienced, and a general deepening of customer knowledge.
In addition, Jordan was able to observe the supply chain, including the interruptions and inconsistencies that detracted from customers’ experiences. Product quality was inconsistent and supply was unreliable. To an entrepreneur, this looks like opportunity.
Knowledge, experience, and customer contact provided the ingredient for a new firm and a new value proposition. Jordan sums up the firm he founded, Moxie, as knowledge + infrastructure. A status quo of incomplete knowledge, inferior and inconsistent products in unreliable supply chains can be replaced by a new market of shared and distilled knowledge delivered via consistent and trustworthy quality. Customers are able to develop trust and confidence in a brand based on knowledge (“we know what we are doing”) that brings new maturity in the form of scale and process control and quality assurance to an emerging market category.
The company’s knowledge base enables vertical integration because the knowledge is broad and not narrow, the recruitment of strong partners because shared knowledge makes for robust collaboration, and new standards of quality, adherence to which strengthens customer expectations.
The firm’s foundation supports both R&D and open innovation. All markets are changing at high rates of speed at all times. That’s why innovation is the essence of entrepreneurship. Standing still is a losing option. Jordan invests I R&D in the form of lab research (in pharmaceutical quality labs) exploring new product forms and new combinations, while also participating in the open innovation of knowledge sharing that goes on throughout the industry. R&D supports both specialization (making current offerings even better) and market expansion (new products, new forms).
Brand building will be the patient route to long term growth. While business environments change fast, one way to invest with patience in a consistent direction is to build a brand. A brand can reflect customer values — the things that matter to them — in a way that creates lasting bonds. On its website, Moxie positions its brand as a force of character: courage, grit, determination, nerve. It provides an emotional connection to customers who value self-realization and self-actualization.
Patient entrepreneurs can see the regulatory maze as a locus of opportunity, too. Moxie was the first licensed cannabis brand in California, and sees itself as a pioneer in leading institutional and regulatory progress. Instead of viewing regulators as business obstacles, Jordan employs his empathy skills to understand their position, their role, and their needs. He provides them with resources of information, industry knowledge and collaboration, and contributes where he can and where it’s appropriate to help them arrive at decisions and translate them into subsequent implementations.
As in building a company and building a brand, patience can pay off in future strength.
Additional Resources EnjoyMoxie.com
Jordan Lams on LinkedIn: Mises.org/E4B_188_LinkedIn
We define entrepreneurship in terms of people working creatively to make others’ lives better. That’s a very broad statement, of course, so it’s instructive to observe how individual entrepreneurs choose to make some customers’ lives better in some specific ways by applying special skills and knowledge. Let’s call it finding an entrepreneurial focus.
Economics For Business talks to Jordan Lams, founder and CEO of Moxie, an industry pioneer in manufacturing, branding, and distributing cannabis products.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights. Entrepreneurs find their focus — or, sometimes, it finds them. Bruce Lee is reported to have said that the successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus. Entrepreneurs develop focus on particular customers, in order to understand them better, empathize with their wants, and deliver them the experiences that they value. Developing this focus may take time, or it may come early in the journey, but empathy always provides the pathway.
Jordan Lams observed the pain of a family member during a time of illness, and how cannabis products could bring some relief and comfort. From that time, he became focused on the health and medical benefits of cannabis in a broad range of personal circumstances.
From a position of focus, entrepreneurs develop the deep knowledge that becomes their marketplace advantage. Entrepreneurial focus directs research and knowledge gathering. In Jordan’s case, he gathered academic research, medical literature, and clinical studies, and he talked with medical practitioners about cannabinoid therapies. Networking brought him into contact with researchers and doctors and clinicians and product developers. He established a uniquely robust knowledge platform.
Focus plus knowledge leads to opportunity tension. Some entrepreneurial theorists have coined the term opportunity tension — that period when an entrepreneur’s focus and knowledge point to a market opportunity, but there remains unresolved risk in the process of seizing it. The entrepreneurial solution, of course, is to take the risk. Jordan executed his commitment by taking a job in the retail sector of his chosen industry — a place to meet customers one-on-one, and look backwards at the supply chain.
Customer orientation is refined by direct contact, conversation, and experience. Working in retail enabled direct customer contact and unfiltered conversations about customers’ preferences and wants, the benefits they sought compared to the benefits they experienced, and a general deepening of customer knowledge.
In addition, Jordan was able to observe the supply chain, including the interruptions and inconsistencies that detracted from customers’ experiences. Product quality was inconsistent and supply was unreliable. To an entrepreneur, this looks like opportunity.
Knowledge, experience, and customer contact provided the ingredient for a new firm and a new value proposition. Jordan sums up the firm he founded, Moxie, as knowledge + infrastructure. A status quo of incomplete knowledge, inferior and inconsistent products in unreliable supply chains can be replaced by a new market of shared and distilled knowledge delivered via consistent and trustworthy quality. Customers are able to develop trust and confidence in a brand based on knowledge (“we know what we are doing”) that brings new maturity in the form of scale and process control and quality assurance to an emerging market category.
The company’s knowledge base enables vertical integration because the knowledge is broad and not narrow, the recruitment of strong partners because shared knowledge makes for robust collaboration, and new standards of quality, adherence to which strengthens customer expectations.
The firm’s foundation supports both R&D and open innovation. All markets are changing at high rates of speed at all times. That’s why innovation is the essence of entrepreneurship. Standing still is a losing option. Jordan invests I R&D in the form of lab research (in pharmaceutical quality labs) exploring new product forms and new combinations, while also participating in the open innovation of knowledge sharing that goes on throughout the industry. R&D supports both specialization (making current offerings even better) and market expansion (new products, new forms).
Brand building will be the patient route to long term growth. While business environments change fast, one way to invest with patience in a consistent direction is to build a brand. A brand can reflect customer values — the things that matter to them — in a way that creates lasting bonds. On its website, Moxie positions its brand as a force of character: courage, grit, determination, nerve. It provides an emotional connection to customers who value self-realization and self-actualization.
Patient entrepreneurs can see the regulatory maze as a locus of opportunity, too. Moxie was the first licensed cannabis brand in California, and sees itself as a pioneer in leading institutional and regulatory progress. Instead of viewing regulators as business obstacles, Jordan employs his empathy skills to understand their position, their role, and their needs. He provides them with resources of information, industry knowledge and collaboration, and contributes where he can and where it’s appropriate to help them arrive at decisions and translate them into subsequent implementations.
As in building a company and building a brand, patience can pay off in future strength.
Additional Resources EnjoyMoxie.com
Jordan Lams on LinkedIn: Mises.org/E4B_188_LinkedIn
While historians paint the enclosure movement in negative terms, it actually played an important role in developing agricultural entrepreneurship.
Original Article: "The Enclosure Movement and the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The reality of socialism is that it politicizes life entirely. How that is supposed to improve quality of life remains a mystery.
Original Article: "How Do We Define Socialism? By What It Does—and Does Not—Do"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Jordan Peterson has linked identity politics to socialism. Instead, socialism is about empowering the state.
Original Article: "Socialism Is Not Groupthink, but Statethink: A Brief Comment on Jordan Peterson"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
While historians paint the enclosure movement in negative terms, it actually played an important role in developing agricultural entrepreneurship.
Original Article: "The Enclosure Movement and the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The reality of socialism is that it politicizes life entirely. How that is supposed to improve quality of life remains a mystery.
Original Article: "How Do We Define Socialism? By What It Does—and Does Not—Do"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The academic and political buzzword today is "decolonialization," but what happens when good laws are discarded on the flimsy basis that they were established during a colonial era?
Original Article: "When "Decolonialization" Creates More Problems than It Allegedly Solves"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The academic and political buzzword today is "decolonialization," but what happens when good laws are discarded on the flimsy basis that they were established during a colonial era?
Original Article: "When "Decolonialization" Creates More Problems than It Allegedly Solves"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Jordan Peterson has linked identity politics to socialism. Instead, socialism is about empowering the state.
Original Article: "Socialism Is Not Groupthink, but Statethink: A Brief Comment on Jordan Peterson"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Adherents of the famous Phillips curve believe there is a permanent tradeoff between inflation and unemployment. This is mistaken.
Original Article: "The Fed Is Wrong to Make Policies Based upon the Phillips Curve"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Monarchs created Europe's modern states but lost the ability to control them. Then, having grown beyond the tools that helped monarchs turn themselves into absolute rulers, "the state acquired a life of its own."
Original Article: "How Monarchs Became Servants of the State"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Adherents of the famous Phillips curve believe there is a permanent tradeoff between inflation and unemployment. This is mistaken.
Original Article: "The Fed Is Wrong to Make Policies Based upon the Phillips Curve"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Monarchs created Europe's modern states but lost the ability to control them. Then, having grown beyond the tools that helped monarchs turn themselves into absolute rulers, "the state acquired a life of its own."
Original Article: "How Monarchs Became Servants of the State"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Vaccine mandates imposed by governments violate individual rights and further the coercive powers of the state. They also violate Kantian ethical norms, turning people into vehicles to accomplish the ends of governing elites.
Original Article: "Mandatory Vaccines vs. Logic and Kantian Ethics"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Joseph Solis-Mullen take a look at brewing debt crises in emerging markets and how the dollar still looks good when compared to other global currencies.
Recommended Reading "How the Fed Helped Create Another Calamity: The Ongoing Emerging Market Debt Crisis" by Joseph Solis-Mullen: Mises.org/RR_99_A
"August's Price Inflation Soared, and That Means Earnings Fell Yet Again" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_99_B
"Greenspan Would Be Proud: A Lesson in Fed Speak" by Joseph Solis-Mullen: Mises.org/RR_99_C
"It Just Might Be Time to Listen to the Austrians" by Joseph Solis-Mullen: Mises.org/RR_99_D
"Throwing the Fed's Machinery in Reverse: Fed Interest Rate Policies Continue to Damage the Economy" by Frank Shostak: Mises.org/RR_99_E
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Joseph Solis-Mullen take a look at brewing debt crises in emerging markets and how the dollar still looks good when compared to other global currencies.
Recommended Reading "How the Fed Helped Create Another Calamity: The Ongoing Emerging Market Debt Crisis" by Joseph Solis-Mullen: Mises.org/RR_99_A
"August's Price Inflation Soared, and That Means Earnings Fell Yet Again" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_99_B
"Greenspan Would Be Proud: A Lesson in Fed Speak" by Joseph Solis-Mullen: Mises.org/RR_99_C
"It Just Might Be Time to Listen to the Austrians" by Joseph Solis-Mullen: Mises.org/RR_99_D
"Throwing the Fed's Machinery in Reverse: Fed Interest Rate Policies Continue to Damage the Economy" by Frank Shostak: Mises.org/RR_99_E
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
With Queen Elizabeth II lying in state at Westminster Hall, hereditary monarchies are under attack as archaic & absurd. Has mass democracy in the West done any better? Ryan McMaken joins Jeff and Bob to discuss.
Read Ryan's Article on Monarchs: Mises.org/HAP361-1 Read Hoppe's Democracy: Mises.org/Democracy
Vaccine mandates imposed by governments violate individual rights and further the coercive powers of the state. They also violate Kantian ethical norms, turning people into vehicles to accomplish the ends of governing elites.
Original Article: "Mandatory Vaccines vs. Logic and Kantian Ethics"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
With Queen Elizabeth II lying in state at Westminster Hall, hereditary monarchies are under attack as archaic & absurd. Has mass democracy in the West done any better? Ryan McMaken joins Jeff and Bob to discuss.
Read Ryan's Article on Monarchs: Mises.org/HAP361-1 Read Hoppe's Democracy: Mises.org/Democracy
Argentina is synonymous with hyperinflation, but apparently its voters have not had enough.
Original Article: "Déjà Vu: Argentines Once Again are Voting for More Inflation While Remaining in Denial"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The Fed's suppression of interest rates in the USA didn't just affect this nation's economy. It also drove investors to seek higher interest rates in questionable investments.
Original Article: "How the Fed Helped Create Another Calamity: The Ongoing Emerging Market Debt Crisis"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
This is bad news for the administration, which has repeatedly attempted to downplay the relentless increases to the cost of living being inflicted on Americans after years of deficit spending, fueling inflationary monetary policy.
Original Article: "August's Price Inflation Soared, and That Means Earnings Fell Yet Again"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Argentina is synonymous with hyperinflation, but apparently its voters have not had enough.
Original Article: "Déjà Vu: Argentines Once Again are Voting for More Inflation While Remaining in Denial"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Typical teaching on stock prices says they are little more than a random walk. But people's purposeful actions are behind every economic transactions.
Original Article: "Short-Term Market Volatility Is Not Entirely Random"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
This is bad news for the administration, which has repeatedly attempted to downplay the relentless increases to the cost of living being inflicted on Americans after years of deficit spending, fueling inflationary monetary policy.
Original Article: "August's Price Inflation Soared, and That Means Earnings Fell Yet Again"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The Fed's suppression of interest rates in the USA didn't just affect this nation's economy. It also drove investors to seek higher interest rates in questionable investments.
Original Article: "How the Fed Helped Create Another Calamity: The Ongoing Emerging Market Debt Crisis"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Typical teaching on stock prices says they are little more than a random walk. But people's purposeful actions are behind every economic transactions.
Original Article: "Short-Term Market Volatility Is Not Entirely Random"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Logical positivism holds that theory is irrelevant to the empirical results. It is the other way around; One cannot understand or interpret economic data until one has a working economic theory in place.
Original Article: "We Cannot Interpret Economic Data Unless We Know Economic Theory"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Logical positivism holds that theory is irrelevant to the empirical results. It is the other way around; One cannot understand or interpret economic data until one has a working economic theory in place.
Original Article: "We Cannot Interpret Economic Data Unless We Know Economic Theory"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
By compensating slave owners for the abolition of slavery, Great Britain ended the scourge of chattel slavery long before it was ended in the Americas.
Original Article: "By Compensating Slave Owners, Great Britain Negotiated a Peaceful End to Slavery"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Includes an introduction by Jeff Deist.
Presented at the 2022 Libertarian Scholars Conference, in Nashville, Tennessee on September 10, 2022.
By compensating slave owners for the abolition of slavery, Great Britain ended the scourge of chattel slavery long before it was ended in the Americas.
Original Article: "By Compensating Slave Owners, Great Britain Negotiated a Peaceful End to Slavery"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Includes an introduction by Jeff Deist.
Presented at the 2022 Libertarian Scholars Conference, in Nashville, Tennessee on September 10, 2022.
Both Murray Rothbard and Harry Jaffa began as men of the Right. However, Rothbard turned toward the view that individuals possess rights outside of the state; Jaffa turned toward conservatism.
Original Article: "Promoting Natural Rights Instead of Conservatism: Looking at Rothbard and Jaffa"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The Fed’s tampering with market signals undermines the process of wealth generation, thereby exerting an upward pressure on the time preference interest rate and the market interest rate.
Original Article: "Throwing the Fed's Machinery in Reverse: Fed Interest Rate Policies Continue to Damage the Economy"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Both Murray Rothbard and Harry Jaffa began as men of the Right. However, Rothbard turned toward the view that individuals possess rights outside of the state; Jaffa turned toward conservatism.
Original Article: "Promoting Natural Rights Instead of Conservatism: Looking at Rothbard and Jaffa"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Paul Krugman recently argued that the Federal Reserve can engineer a "soft landing" for the economy as it tries to deal with inflation. Such a view ignores economic realities.
Original Article: "Looking at the Economic Myth of the "Soft Landing""
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Business is a form of applied economics. Its purpose is to make people’s lives better. Profit is the signal from society that business is doing a good job in the customer’s estimation. This is a completely human system, a form of human action and interaction. Business schools take the approach of mainstream economics, that mathematics is the tool of choice, expressed in data analytics, accounting, financialization, and numbers-based plans and strategies. The Austrian school approach offers a very different path. Professor Per Bylund joins the Economics For Business podcast to highlight some important differences.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Business logic based on understanding subjective value. The purpose of business to facilitate customer value. The pursuit of new economic value brings new firms into existence, the continuing realization of new value experiences for customers results in business growth, and recurrent refreshment of value propositions keeps businesses thriving and healthy.
Consequently, value is fundamental to business. Yet it is widely misunderstood. Sometimes it’s misconstrued as shareholder value, a function of stock price performance. Usually, it’s financialized as a set of numbers and indexes.
True value is in the mind of the customer. It’s the experience of feeling better off as result of interacting with a business — making a purchase, taking a subscription, or using a service that makes life feel better, and that feels like a superior choice compared to alternatives.
Customers decide what to value, and therefore what to purchase, and thereby decide the success of a business. All businesses must learn this value logic, and Austrian economics for business provides the understanding that points to the implications for business action.
Thinking in subjective terms. An understanding of subjective value reverses the flow of business thinking. It’s easy and conventional to think in objective terms about products and prices — what a firm produces and offers and the price the firm charges. It’s harder and somewhat counter-intuitive for businesses to think about how each individual customer feels — what’s important to them, individually and personally, about the unique ecosystem in which they make their choices (e.g., their family profile, what kind of a house they live in, or the subjective resource allocation priorities of each of the individual firm they work for).
The customer decides what is valuable to them, and that’s the basis from which business action must proceed.
Value-guided creativity. Business is a creative discipline. Because customer preferences and priorities are continuously changing, because competition is continuously aiming at making a superior customer proposition, because technology is continuously making new benefits and new customer experiences possible, and because we can’t possibly know how all this will work out in the future, businesses must always be changing, improving, adding, renewing, becoming somehow better in the future than they are today.
The only way to invent the future in this way is through creativity — new ideas, new combinations, new routes to convenience, new removal of barriers. Creativity can be random and unpredictable — we don’t know what is going to be successful out of all our creative ideas. Therefore, we apply constraints so that creativity operates within productive boundaries, and the generative constraint is customer value. If all our creative ideas are guided by the constraint of “will the customer find this more valuable”, then the opportunity for productive innovation is greater. If we place ourselves in the shoes of customers, and try to simulate what they will feel when they experience a new value proposition, we’re on the track to business success. This is value-guided creativity.
Business as a flow. Business schools emphasize planning and strategy (and strategies are often just long-term, bigger plans). These are tools of prediction and control — predict the future (we will achieve $10 million in annual revenue this year) and control how we get there (100 salespeople must sell $100,000 each). The numbers can fill a spreadsheet.
Similarly with organization design: the spreadsheet in this case is an org chart, with layers and reporting pathways and divisions and units, another exercise in statics.
The Austrian recognition of constant change results in re-thinking business as a flow. Thinking in statics is potentially disastrous because the world can change while your firm does not. Thinking dynamically opens the firm to feedback loops from the marketplace, listening to customers and monitoring when their preferences change or competition shifts, and being open to adapting and adjusting.
Organization design gives way to orchestration, the constantly changing arrangements dedicated to the improvement of the customer’s value experience.
Every business can and must act entrepreneurially. Our term for the orientation towards and capacity for constant change — constant pursuit of new customer value — is entrepreneurship.
In the popular vernacular, the word entrepreneurship has come to be associated with charismatic individuals, like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos or Reed Hastings. They are identified as the instigators of and catalysts for new value generation. That’s fine — such individuals are important in challenging the status quo. But for effective and commercial and sustainable new value generation, the entire firm must be entrepreneurial — highly sensitive to how a particular configuration of resources and a particular business model and value proposition serves customers, and to changes in the business environment that require adjustment on the firm’s part. The firm must be flexible enough to make these adjustments. Often, the market data comes to the firm from the edge, where front line employees working directly with customers gather the inbound information about change. The entrepreneurial firm ensures that the new information flows freely and is acted upon, and gives those closest to the customer the authority to make responsive changes.
Business schools often teach static and defensive concepts such as economies of scale and competitively insulated market structures. Business for them is production management. Business from the Austrian school perspective is value discovery, value facilitation and responsive change in the form of new products, new services, and new value.
Entrepreneurial empathy as a tool. When we think of business tools highlighted in business schools, we might think of strategic planning, data analytics, accounting, process management, incentive compensation, and financialization.
The tool of choice for the entrepreneurial firm is empathy. Empathy is customer-first thinking. It focuses on identifying and understanding what customers feel is missing in their life, what they long for and wish for. There’s a gap between customers’ actual experiences and their desired experiences. They can’t articulate solutions, but they’re brilliant at identifying the potential for improvement. If the customer feels that some experiences could be better, or that they’re struggling in some capacity with an experience, that’s a signal for the creative entrepreneurial firm to experiment with new ways to deliver that betterment.
Entrepreneurial firms create better futures for their customers via empathy. They bring customers new things that they can want, that weren’t available to them in the past or of which they were not aware.
It’s not all numbers. Just as mainstream economics has been rendered irrelevant and meaningless to real people because of its insistence on the use of algebra and mathematical models instead of real world observations, so mainstream business schools have made business into a world of spreadsheets, accounting, data analysis, bar charts and graphs, and structures and formulas.
Austrian school business thinkers understand the role of qualitative assessment — understanding people as humans as opposed to statistics, understanding emergent processes, understanding feelings and subjective value, and that the things that matter to people, both employees and customers, are values not numbers.
That’s why narrative and sense-making stories are taking the place of plans and strategies. Software development provides a good example: user experience design is a narrative about how customers prefer to interact with the software they are using, rather than a focus on lines of code.
Action and feedback loops. The ultimate replacement for business school concepts of planning and strategy is action. Entrepreneurship is action. Action generates an effect — a feedback loop from the marketplace that signals the result of the action. The customer purchased or did not purchase. The rating improved or worsened. Revenue grew or declined. In the A/B test, B was preferred.
The feedback loop is processed as learning, and new decisions can be made and new actions taken based on that learning, eliminating some possibilities, and opening up others. Innovation is introduced to the market and new learning follows new innovation in a continuous loop.
In the thinking of entrepreneurial action, acting faster and sooner is better, because the effect is generated faster, the feedback loop accelerates, and the resulting new action is fresher and and more responsive to the customer’s needs. When action is bolder and more daring, the feedback loop is more informative and clearer in its signals. The future unfolds as a result of entrepreneurial action.
Entrepreneurs don’t act alone or in isolation. The unfolding of the future is the consequence of many actions on the part of many people and firms. The market, therefore, is a process. Action and reaction keep it moving in unpredictable ways — resulting in what complexity theorists call emergence.
The Austrian School is a complete system for business. We didn’t have sufficient time with Professor Bylund in the podcast format to cover the complete range of business functions, including marketing and accounting and business model design, but these are all improved and enhanced by what we can call the Austrian approach. The goal of Economics For Business is to deliver this complete system in the form of tools, posts, articles, papers, books, videos, and podcasts like this one.
Additional Resources Austrian School Versus Business School: A side-by-side comparison (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_187_PDF
How To Think About The Economy: A Primer by Per Bylund: Mises.org/Primer
Even as population has grown, increasing the intensive margin for agriculture has led to increased food production. This may not necessarily be a good thing.
Original Article: "The False Benefit of Less Land Use for Agriculture"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Business is a form of applied economics. Its purpose is to make people’s lives better. Profit is the signal from society that business is doing a good job in the customer’s estimation. This is a completely human system, a form of human action and interaction. Business schools take the approach of mainstream economics, that mathematics is the tool of choice, expressed in data analytics, accounting, financialization, and numbers-based plans and strategies. The Austrian school approach offers a very different path. Professor Per Bylund joins the Economics For Business podcast to highlight some important differences.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Business logic based on understanding subjective value. The purpose of business to facilitate customer value. The pursuit of new economic value brings new firms into existence, the continuing realization of new value experiences for customers results in business growth, and recurrent refreshment of value propositions keeps businesses thriving and healthy.
Consequently, value is fundamental to business. Yet it is widely misunderstood. Sometimes it’s misconstrued as shareholder value, a function of stock price performance. Usually, it’s financialized as a set of numbers and indexes.
True value is in the mind of the customer. It’s the experience of feeling better off as result of interacting with a business — making a purchase, taking a subscription, or using a service that makes life feel better, and that feels like a superior choice compared to alternatives.
Customers decide what to value, and therefore what to purchase, and thereby decide the success of a business. All businesses must learn this value logic, and Austrian economics for business provides the understanding that points to the implications for business action.
Thinking in subjective terms. An understanding of subjective value reverses the flow of business thinking. It’s easy and conventional to think in objective terms about products and prices — what a firm produces and offers and the price the firm charges. It’s harder and somewhat counter-intuitive for businesses to think about how each individual customer feels — what’s important to them, individually and personally, about the unique ecosystem in which they make their choices (e.g., their family profile, what kind of a house they live in, or the subjective resource allocation priorities of each of the individual firm they work for).
The customer decides what is valuable to them, and that’s the basis from which business action must proceed.
Value-guided creativity. Business is a creative discipline. Because customer preferences and priorities are continuously changing, because competition is continuously aiming at making a superior customer proposition, because technology is continuously making new benefits and new customer experiences possible, and because we can’t possibly know how all this will work out in the future, businesses must always be changing, improving, adding, renewing, becoming somehow better in the future than they are today.
The only way to invent the future in this way is through creativity — new ideas, new combinations, new routes to convenience, new removal of barriers. Creativity can be random and unpredictable — we don’t know what is going to be successful out of all our creative ideas. Therefore, we apply constraints so that creativity operates within productive boundaries, and the generative constraint is customer value. If all our creative ideas are guided by the constraint of “will the customer find this more valuable”, then the opportunity for productive innovation is greater. If we place ourselves in the shoes of customers, and try to simulate what they will feel when they experience a new value proposition, we’re on the track to business success. This is value-guided creativity.
Business as a flow. Business schools emphasize planning and strategy (and strategies are often just long-term, bigger plans). These are tools of prediction and control — predict the future (we will achieve $10 million in annual revenue this year) and control how we get there (100 salespeople must sell $100,000 each). The numbers can fill a spreadsheet.
Similarly with organization design: the spreadsheet in this case is an org chart, with layers and reporting pathways and divisions and units, another exercise in statics.
The Austrian recognition of constant change results in re-thinking business as a flow. Thinking in statics is potentially disastrous because the world can change while your firm does not. Thinking dynamically opens the firm to feedback loops from the marketplace, listening to customers and monitoring when their preferences change or competition shifts, and being open to adapting and adjusting.
Organization design gives way to orchestration, the constantly changing arrangements dedicated to the improvement of the customer’s value experience.
Every business can and must act entrepreneurially. Our term for the orientation towards and capacity for constant change — constant pursuit of new customer value — is entrepreneurship.
In the popular vernacular, the word entrepreneurship has come to be associated with charismatic individuals, like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos or Reed Hastings. They are identified as the instigators of and catalysts for new value generation. That’s fine — such individuals are important in challenging the status quo. But for effective and commercial and sustainable new value generation, the entire firm must be entrepreneurial — highly sensitive to how a particular configuration of resources and a particular business model and value proposition serves customers, and to changes in the business environment that require adjustment on the firm’s part. The firm must be flexible enough to make these adjustments. Often, the market data comes to the firm from the edge, where front line employees working directly with customers gather the inbound information about change. The entrepreneurial firm ensures that the new information flows freely and is acted upon, and gives those closest to the customer the authority to make responsive changes.
Business schools often teach static and defensive concepts such as economies of scale and competitively insulated market structures. Business for them is production management. Business from the Austrian school perspective is value discovery, value facilitation and responsive change in the form of new products, new services, and new value.
Entrepreneurial empathy as a tool. When we think of business tools highlighted in business schools, we might think of strategic planning, data analytics, accounting, process management, incentive compensation, and financialization.
The tool of choice for the entrepreneurial firm is empathy. Empathy is customer-first thinking. It focuses on identifying and understanding what customers feel is missing in their life, what they long for and wish for. There’s a gap between customers’ actual experiences and their desired experiences. They can’t articulate solutions, but they’re brilliant at identifying the potential for improvement. If the customer feels that some experiences could be better, or that they’re struggling in some capacity with an experience, that’s a signal for the creative entrepreneurial firm to experiment with new ways to deliver that betterment.
Entrepreneurial firms create better futures for their customers via empathy. They bring customers new things that they can want, that weren’t available to them in the past or of which they were not aware.
It’s not all numbers. Just as mainstream economics has been rendered irrelevant and meaningless to real people because of its insistence on the use of algebra and mathematical models instead of real world observations, so mainstream business schools have made business into a world of spreadsheets, accounting, data analysis, bar charts and graphs, and structures and formulas.
Austrian school business thinkers understand the role of qualitative assessment — understanding people as humans as opposed to statistics, understanding emergent processes, understanding feelings and subjective value, and that the things that matter to people, both employees and customers, are values not numbers.
That’s why narrative and sense-making stories are taking the place of plans and strategies. Software development provides a good example: user experience design is a narrative about how customers prefer to interact with the software they are using, rather than a focus on lines of code.
Action and feedback loops. The ultimate replacement for business school concepts of planning and strategy is action. Entrepreneurship is action. Action generates an effect — a feedback loop from the marketplace that signals the result of the action. The customer purchased or did not purchase. The rating improved or worsened. Revenue grew or declined. In the A/B test, B was preferred.
The feedback loop is processed as learning, and new decisions can be made and new actions taken based on that learning, eliminating some possibilities, and opening up others. Innovation is introduced to the market and new learning follows new innovation in a continuous loop.
In the thinking of entrepreneurial action, acting faster and sooner is better, because the effect is generated faster, the feedback loop accelerates, and the resulting new action is fresher and and more responsive to the customer’s needs. When action is bolder and more daring, the feedback loop is more informative and clearer in its signals. The future unfolds as a result of entrepreneurial action.
Entrepreneurs don’t act alone or in isolation. The unfolding of the future is the consequence of many actions on the part of many people and firms. The market, therefore, is a process. Action and reaction keep it moving in unpredictable ways — resulting in what complexity theorists call emergence.
The Austrian School is a complete system for business. We didn’t have sufficient time with Professor Bylund in the podcast format to cover the complete range of business functions, including marketing and accounting and business model design, but these are all improved and enhanced by what we can call the Austrian approach. The goal of Economics For Business is to deliver this complete system in the form of tools, posts, articles, papers, books, videos, and podcasts like this one.
Additional Resources Austrian School Versus Business School: A side-by-side comparison (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_187_PDF
How To Think About The Economy: A Primer by Per Bylund: Mises.org/Primer
Paul Krugman recently argued that the Federal Reserve can engineer a "soft landing" for the economy as it tries to deal with inflation. Such a view ignores economic realities.
Original Article: "Looking at the Economic Myth of the "Soft Landing""
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The Fed’s tampering with market signals undermines the process of wealth generation, thereby exerting an upward pressure on the time preference interest rate and the market interest rate.
Original Article: "Throwing the Fed's Machinery in Reverse: Fed Interest Rate Policies Continue to Damage the Economy"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Even as population has grown, increasing the intensive margin for agriculture has led to increased food production. This may not necessarily be a good thing.
Original Article: "The False Benefit of Less Land Use for Agriculture"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Economists often deplore the corruption in developing countries, but when institutions are corrupt, don't expect people to have the incentive to be honest.
Original Article: "When Honesty Is Disincentivized, Don't Be Surprised That Trickery Abounds"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Original Article: "Everything You Love You Owe to Capitalism"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Original Article: "Everything You Love You Owe to Capitalism"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Economists often deplore the corruption in developing countries, but when institutions are corrupt, don't expect people to have the incentive to be honest.
Original Article: "When Honesty Is Disincentivized, Don't Be Surprised That Trickery Abounds"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The optics of the event were likely the idea of a proud Biden staffer leaning into the “Dark Brandon” aesthetic that has become popular among regime loyalists on Twitter. To Americans outside of this Very Online echo chamber, the imagery drew connotations of sinister authoritarian regimes.
Original Article: "Biden Declares "MAGA Republicans" Enemies of the State"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The optics of the event were likely the idea of a proud Biden staffer leaning into the “Dark Brandon” aesthetic that has become popular among regime loyalists on Twitter. To Americans outside of this Very Online echo chamber, the imagery drew connotations of sinister authoritarian regimes.
Original Article: "Biden Declares "MAGA Republicans" Enemies of the State"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop look at the rhetoric surrounding the Federal Reserve. A growing chorus of pundits is attacking Jerome Powell for risking a recession, but this misses what has brought the economy to this point. Is it possible to get American attention spans to capture the true cause of our economic instability? Can monetary policy ride the wave of the current culture war? Ryan and Tho address this and more in this week's show.
Recommended Reading "Inflation: State-Sponsored Terrorism" by Jeff Deist: Mises.org/RR_98_A
"Blame the Fed for Both the Inflationary Boom and the Inevitable Bust" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_98_B
"Inflation Kills" (Human Action Podcast) with Jeff Deist and Robert P. Murphy: Mises.org/RR_98_C
"We Cannot Interpret Economic Data Unless We Know Economic Theory" by Frank Shostak: Mises.org/RR_98_D
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Bob and Jeff unravel the corrosive and nonsensical policy of "inflationism," and consider its deep cultural effects.
Read Jeff's talk from the recent Ron Paul Institute conference: Mises.org/HAP360-1
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop look at the rhetoric surrounding the Federal Reserve. A growing chorus of pundits is attacking Jerome Powell for risking a recession, but this misses what has brought the economy to this point. Is it possible to get American attention spans to capture the true cause of our economic instability? Can monetary policy ride the wave of the current culture war? Ryan and Tho address this and more in this week's show.
Recommended Reading "Inflation: State-Sponsored Terrorism" by Jeff Deist: Mises.org/RR_98_A
"Blame the Fed for Both the Inflationary Boom and the Inevitable Bust" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_98_B
"Inflation Kills" (Human Action Podcast) with Jeff Deist and Robert P. Murphy: Mises.org/RR_98_C
"We Cannot Interpret Economic Data Unless We Know Economic Theory" by Frank Shostak: Mises.org/RR_98_D
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Bob and Jeff unravel the corrosive and nonsensical policy of "inflationism," and consider its deep cultural effects.
Read Jeff's talk from the recent Ron Paul Institute conference: Mises.org/HAP360-1
New York City’s subways have become a nightmare, with rampant crime, delays, derailments, and poorly capitalized. This is a gift from "backdoor socialism."
Original Article: "New York City Subways: The Woes of Socialist Enterprises"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
New York City’s subways have become a nightmare, with rampant crime, delays, derailments, and poorly capitalized. This is a gift from "backdoor socialism."
Original Article: "New York City Subways: The Woes of Socialist Enterprises"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Commodity money isn't a government creation, as so many believe. It has a definite praxeological foundation.
Original Article: "The Praxeological Origins of the Price System"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Biden has declared that the USA has "zero inflation" at present. Austrian economists say, "Not so fast."
Original Article: "Inflation in the USA: Where Do We Stand Today?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Commodity money isn't a government creation, as so many believe. It has a definite praxeological foundation.
Original Article: "The Praxeological Origins of the Price System"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Powell isn't a villain for pulling his foot off the money-creation accelerator a little. No, Powell's villainy stems from his role in helping create the boom in the first place.
Original Article: "Blame the Fed for Both the Inflationary Boom and the Inevitable Bust"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Powell isn't a villain for pulling his foot off the money-creation accelerator a little. No, Powell's villainy stems from his role in helping create the boom in the first place.
Original Article: "Blame the Fed for Both the Inflationary Boom and the Inevitable Bust"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Biden has declared that the USA has "zero inflation" at present. Austrian economists say, "Not so fast."
Original Article: "Inflation in the USA: Where Do We Stand Today?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
How do new markets form? When consumers change their tastes and preferences and behaviors, how are the markets to serve them activated? The markets don’t yet exist — entrepreneurial action is required to create them. The answer to the question, of course, is that entrepreneurs — real people taking the real business risk to initiate new business experiments — provide the new energy and new initiative to create markets where previously they didn’t exist.
Jared Wall is one of these creative entrepreneurs, and thchempspot.com is his creation.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights. Courageous entrepreneurs lead the way into new markets as they are still forming. Entrepreneurs bring the energy that opens new markets and new pathways to economic value. New markets can emerge as the result of changing consumer tastes and preferences, new channels or platforms, new forms of delivery, new technologies or a combination of several catalysts — but the energy, initiative and drive of the entrepreneur is always the necessary ingredient for the ultimate emergence of new value and new market arrangements.
New discoveries and new innovations often provide the entrepreneur with market-opening mechanisms. Serving customers in new and different ways doesn’t always require new products and services, but it is often the case that the discovery or invention of novel combinations can lead to innovation — that is, new and better experiences for customers that were previously unknown or unavailable or narrowly distributed. In the market for consumable cannabis products, there emerged a new THC variant called Delta 8 THC, a cannabinoid that offered both different product performance and different accessibility. The emergent new ingredient provided the pathway to a whole new market opportunity.
Legislation and regulation are complications and barriers in formative markets, but often their ambiguity provides an opening for innovative entry. The courageous entrepreneurs who lead the way into formative markets often encounter legislative and regulatory barriers, since these are static drags on progress and innovation and never keep up with the changes in markets. At the same time, the regulatory thicket can sometimes be useful to the entrepreneur who can cut a new opening others can’t imagine.
In the market for consumable cannabis products, Delta 8 THC became such a new opening, which was cut when some content in a comprehensive congressional Farm Bill encouraged the commercialization of certain kinds of hemp, of which Delta 8 THC was one of the by-products. Legislators and policy authors can’t think about the future the way entrepreneurs can, and they did not envision the future world of innovation they were unlocking.
The regulatory maze is an aspect of legislation and regulation — but every maze has an exit path.
Innovation in formative markets combines and compounds. Jared Wall launched thchempspot.com to offer Delta 8 THC experiences to consumers. Those who shop at the site find a lot more innovation than just this ingredient. There are multiple new consumable forms for varied experience delivery — gummies, chocolate bars, chewing gum, soft gels, and peanut brittle, among others.
Where do these innovations come from? Not from the R&D labs of major corporations, that’s for certain. They originate in the creative minds of imaginative entrepreneurs, and they take shape in their experiments and prototypes and willingness to try new things. Will they all be big successes? Of course not. But they will all generate feedback loops of acceptance or non-acceptance, reviews and ratings and experience sharing; they’ll contribute to innovation as an ongoing cycle of learning. Society enjoys better choices because entrepreneurs unleash their creativity and don’t hold back from experimental designs.
Market infrastructure and market institutions can’t always keep up with entrepreneurial change, but new supportive services quickly appear to lubricate frictions and provide institutional arbitrage. All commerce needs infrastructure such as payment systems and institutions such as banks, and market formation can sometimes move faster than infrastructure and institutions can adapt. Jared Wall had this experience — PayPal and major banks cut off services because thchempsot.com, while serving legitimate customers with legal products, was deemed a “high risk” business, outside their terms and conditions.
Yet, in a quite inspirational way, business services emerge in these situations to navigate around the barriers of poorly adapted institutions. Jared found consultants who offer the service of connecting so-called “high risk” businesses with value-network partners willing to collaborate with them. Jared was quickly able to replace his payment system and banking infrastructure. There was a service interruption, but it was temporary. A new network of mediating services quickly formed to bypass institutional barriers.
The creation and sharing of new information is a big part of the innovation equation. Jesus Huerta De SotoJesus Huerta De Soto; Socialism, Economic Calculation, and Entrepreneurship; 2010; Chapter 2, "Entrepreneurship". identifies the creation and sharing of new information as the central activity of entrepreneurs - informing customers of new products and services and new offerings and prices. Entrepreneurs are constantly creating, updating, and improving the information resources they make available to customers. High quality information enhances value.
On thchempspot.com, Jared provides information in Q&A form, pull-down menus, and product descriptions. He’s self-published an informative e-book that’s free on the site, and he publishes an informative newsletter. We can sometimes feel unclear about the value of information, but in formative markets its importance is primary not secondary.
How do new markets form? When consumers change their tastes and preferences and behaviors, how are the markets to serve them activated? The markets don’t yet exist — entrepreneurial action is required to create them. The answer to the question, of course, is that entrepreneurs — real people taking the real business risk to initiate new business experiments — provide the new energy and new initiative to create markets where previously they didn’t exist.
Jared Wall is one of these creative entrepreneurs, and thchempspot.com is his creation.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights. Courageous entrepreneurs lead the way into new markets as they are still forming. Entrepreneurs bring the energy that opens new markets and new pathways to economic value. New markets can emerge as the result of changing consumer tastes and preferences, new channels or platforms, new forms of delivery, new technologies or a combination of several catalysts — but the energy, initiative and drive of the entrepreneur is always the necessary ingredient for the ultimate emergence of new value and new market arrangements.
New discoveries and new innovations often provide the entrepreneur with market-opening mechanisms. Serving customers in new and different ways doesn’t always require new products and services, but it is often the case that the discovery or invention of novel combinations can lead to innovation — that is, new and better experiences for customers that were previously unknown or unavailable or narrowly distributed. In the market for consumable cannabis products, there emerged a new THC variant called Delta 8 THC, a cannabinoid that offered both different product performance and different accessibility. The emergent new ingredient provided the pathway to a whole new market opportunity.
Legislation and regulation are complications and barriers in formative markets, but often their ambiguity provides an opening for innovative entry. The courageous entrepreneurs who lead the way into formative markets often encounter legislative and regulatory barriers, since these are static drags on progress and innovation and never keep up with the changes in markets. At the same time, the regulatory thicket can sometimes be useful to the entrepreneur who can cut a new opening others can’t imagine.
In the market for consumable cannabis products, Delta 8 THC became such a new opening, which was cut when some content in a comprehensive congressional Farm Bill encouraged the commercialization of certain kinds of hemp, of which Delta 8 THC was one of the by-products. Legislators and policy authors can’t think about the future the way entrepreneurs can, and they did not envision the future world of innovation they were unlocking.
The regulatory maze is an aspect of legislation and regulation — but every maze has an exit path.
Innovation in formative markets combines and compounds. Jared Wall launched thchempspot.com to offer Delta 8 THC experiences to consumers. Those who shop at the site find a lot more innovation than just this ingredient. There are multiple new consumable forms for varied experience delivery — gummies, chocolate bars, chewing gum, soft gels, and peanut brittle, among others.
Where do these innovations come from? Not from the R&D labs of major corporations, that’s for certain. They originate in the creative minds of imaginative entrepreneurs, and they take shape in their experiments and prototypes and willingness to try new things. Will they all be big successes? Of course not. But they will all generate feedback loops of acceptance or non-acceptance, reviews and ratings and experience sharing; they’ll contribute to innovation as an ongoing cycle of learning. Society enjoys better choices because entrepreneurs unleash their creativity and don’t hold back from experimental designs.
Market infrastructure and market institutions can’t always keep up with entrepreneurial change, but new supportive services quickly appear to lubricate frictions and provide institutional arbitrage. All commerce needs infrastructure such as payment systems and institutions such as banks, and market formation can sometimes move faster than infrastructure and institutions can adapt. Jared Wall had this experience — PayPal and major banks cut off services because thchempsot.com, while serving legitimate customers with legal products, was deemed a “high risk” business, outside their terms and conditions.
Yet, in a quite inspirational way, business services emerge in these situations to navigate around the barriers of poorly adapted institutions. Jared found consultants who offer the service of connecting so-called “high risk” businesses with value-network partners willing to collaborate with them. Jared was quickly able to replace his payment system and banking infrastructure. There was a service interruption, but it was temporary. A new network of mediating services quickly formed to bypass institutional barriers.
The creation and sharing of new information is a big part of the innovation equation. Jesus Huerta De SotoJesus Huerta De Soto; Socialism, Economic Calculation, and Entrepreneurship; 2010; Chapter 2, "Entrepreneurship". identifies the creation and sharing of new information as the central activity of entrepreneurs - informing customers of new products and services and new offerings and prices. Entrepreneurs are constantly creating, updating, and improving the information resources they make available to customers. High quality information enhances value.
On thchempspot.com, Jared provides information in Q&A form, pull-down menus, and product descriptions. He’s self-published an informative e-book that’s free on the site, and he publishes an informative newsletter. We can sometimes feel unclear about the value of information, but in formative markets its importance is primary not secondary.
Original Article: "Defining and Defending Freedom"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
While we often concentrate on government agents' antiliberty actions, it is easy to overlook the shadow government of private business firms and NGOs that do the government's bidding.
Original Article: "America's Secret Government by Proxy"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Aided by state intervention, disinformation is becoming a way of life in communications.
Original Article: "Modern Information Control: State Intervention and Mistakes to Avoid"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Aided by state intervention, disinformation is becoming a way of life in communications.
Original Article: "Modern Information Control: State Intervention and Mistakes to Avoid"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Like many modern "conservatives," F.H. Buckley believes that America's future is conservative governance with a helping of government intervention, tariffs, and regulation.
Original Article: "Review: Progressive Conservatism: How Republicans Will Become America’s Natural Governing Party"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
While we often concentrate on government agents' antiliberty actions, it is easy to overlook the shadow government of private business firms and NGOs that do the government's bidding.
Original Article: "America's Secret Government by Proxy"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The Mali Empire flourished as a trading center and gold-producing region from the late Middle Ages into the mid-seventeenth century.
Original Article: "The Mali Empire: An African Story of Gold and Greatness"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Mainstream economists say everyone should pay the same price for the same good. But that doesn't totally make sense.
Original Article: "Why I Love "Price Discrimination""
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Like many modern "conservatives," F.H. Buckley believes that America's future is conservative governance with a helping of government intervention, tariffs, and regulation.
Original Article: "Review: Progressive Conservatism: How Republicans Will Become America’s Natural Governing Party"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Original Article: "Defining and Defending Freedom"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Mainstream economists say everyone should pay the same price for the same good. But that doesn't totally make sense.
Original Article: "Why I Love "Price Discrimination""
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The Mali Empire flourished as a trading center and gold-producing region from the late Middle Ages into the mid-seventeenth century.
Original Article: "The Mali Empire: An African Story of Gold and Greatness"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Brandan Buck, a historian on the anti-war right and a recent participant at the Rothbard Graduate Seminar. The conversation looks at the parallels between modern American politics and the political climate that gave rise to America's foreign policy in the second half of the 20th Century. How did the American right get dragged into the project of liberal imperialism? Is China the new Evil Empire? How important are figures like Tucker Carlson in questioning the war narrative? These questions and more are answered in this episode.
SPECIAL OFFER: Use coupon code RothPod at the Mises Store to save 20% off of Murray Rothbard's classic The Betrayal of the American Right: Mises.org/Betray.
Follow Brandan Buck on Twitter: @Brandan_Buck
Recommended Reading "No ‘Putin apologia’ and certainly not new: the Old American Right on war" by Brandan Buck: Mises.org/RR_97_A
"Bear Any Burden: Military Sacrifice and Rise of American Populism" by Brandan Buck: Mises.org/RR_97_B
"A History of Distrust: How the Right Lost Faith in Institutions" by Brandan Buck: Mises.org/RR_97_C
"Fly Over Country, the Gunbelt, and the Nationalization of America Internationalism" by Brandan Buck: Mises.org/RR_97_D
The Betrayal of the American Right by Murray N. Rothbard: Mises.org/RR_97_E
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Journalist Jordan Schachtel joins the show to discuss Biden's escalating rhetoric against what he terms "ultra-MAGA" semi-fascists. Is America finally past any pretense of democracy?
Keynesians claim that tax cuts are good because they help increase consumer spending. But here's why this doesn't matter.
Original Article: "Do We Want Real Tax Cuts? How About Cutting Government Spending?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
When the Nixon administration ended the dollar's ties to gold, it was yet another sad chapter in the US government's abuse of its currency. And the government learned nothing.
Original Article: "Money Does Matter: The End of the Gold Standard Led to a Lower Standard of Living"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Much of modern history portrays the African slave trade as purely a European venture. But capturing and sending slaves abroad required both approval and aid from African elites.
Original Article: "The African Slave Trade Wouldn't Have Been Possible without African Elites"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
In June 2004, Professor Hoppe visited the Mises Institute in Auburn to deliver an ambitious series of lectures titled Economy, Society, and History.
This project brings together the core of Hoppe’s lifetime of theoretical work in one vital and cohesive source. Here we find provocative themes developed by Hoppe in the 1980s and 90s, particularly in his essays found in A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism and The Economics and Ethics of Private Property. We also find his devastating critique of democracy, made famous in his seminal book Democracy—The God That Failed.
This audiobook is narrated by Paul Strikwerda.
Download the complete audiobook (12 MP3 files) here. This audiobook is also available on Soundcloud and via RSS.
If falling enlistments are an indication of declining faith in the military overall—and especially declining support among conservatives—that's very good news.
Original Article: "Falling Military Recruitment Is Another Sign of Waning Faith in the Regime"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Not long ago, Germany's politicians were proudly phasing out nuclear power. Facing a harsh winter without Russian natural gas, the atom suddenly seems like a good alternative.
Original Article: "Germany's Nuclear Choice: Russian Energy Crisis Forces a Reckoning"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Clifton Duncan joins the show to discuss Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness plan, along with the broader question of whether college and student loans are still worthwhile for young people.
Jeff's Article, "Is College Worth It?": Mises.org/HAP358-1
In this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop look at the popularizing of the term "regime" being used against the Federal government. As a recent Bulwark article notes, this change in framing can be seen in conservative politicians like Ron DeSantis to publications like The Federalist. Ryan and Tho welcome the American right sounding more and more like Lew Rockwell, and touch on the contributions of paleoconservatives like Sam Francis.
Recommended Reading "World War I as Fulfillment: Power and the Intellectuals" by Murray N. Rothbard: Mises.org/RR_96_A
"The Problem With Right-Wing Regime Talk" by Joshua Tait: Mises.org/RR_96_B
"The Violent Fantasies of Blake Masters" by Sam Adler-Bell (New York Times): Mises.org/RR_96_C
"Inside the New Right, Where Peter Thiel Is Placing His Biggest Bets" by James Pogue (Vanity Fair): Mises.org/RR_96_D
"The Paranoid Style in American Politics" by Richard Hofstadter (Harper’s Magazine): Mises.org/RR_96_E
"Secede From the Regime" with Ryan McMaken and Lew Rockwell: Mises.org/RR_96_F
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Fernando R. Tesón is all mixed up. He thinks libertarians' principled nonaggression ties their hands in the face of violence against others and that this limitation extends to good-guy states.
Original Article: "Should Libertarians Get behind States Waging "Humanitarian" Wars?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Do the principles of customer value generation that we espouse in our Economics For Business program apply equally for both B2C and B2B businesses? The answer is emphatically yes. B2B customers are seeking subjective value and a value experience just as B2C customers are. They have a clear sense of the things that matter to them, and those include emotional and personal values as well as price and functionality and performance.
In fact, trends that begin in the B2C domain often quickly begin to influence the B2B domain, and the alert entrepreneur can track those trends in B2C and establish an early advantage by exploring them for their business customers. Rick West has done exactly that with his business services company, Field Agent.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights In addition to identifying a meaningful problem, and providing an effective innovative solution, entrepreneurs in today’s B2B market must offer the right service delivery platform. Rick West created a company called Field Agent to provide B2B customers with a meaningful service: monitoring their retail stores and shopper behavior and collecting in-store data about the interactions of shoppers, stores, shelves, displays and products. This kind of information is high value for both the retail operators (like Walmart) and the companies that sell products through retail stores (such as Procter and Gamble or The Coca-Cola Company). The set of services often goes by the terminology of “shopper marketing”.
Typically, such business service offerings have a long and cumbersome sales cycle. The service provider and the service client get in contact, there are meetings, prices are negotiated, and contracts are prepared and signed. Then, once the service is executed, there are more steps in analytics and preparation of presentations of findings, and another big meeting to discuss the findings and recommendations. Lots of meetings, lots of travel, lots of time, lots of lawyers.
Is this the right service delivery platform? It’s been virtually institutionalized over time. But it’s not a good fit with modern business models and the modern technology-shaped environment.
The Amazon effect. Think about purchasing on a shopping platform like amazon.com. The customer first self-educates. If there’s a complex product to buy – such as an expensive flat screen HDTV with internet connectivity and interaction with all the latest entertainment ecosystem devices like Roku and streaming services like Apple TV – the customer might search for information via google, might visit some ratings sites, do some comparison shopping, and generally collect information to get to the point where they are confident of making a purchase. They don’t need to speak to an HDTV salesperson or a “customer success manager” or to sign a paper contract.
Or think of a slightly more complex transaction such as buying a car on Vroom. There are some contracts to be signed via DocuSign, but confident shoppers are comfortable with self-educating, making their decision, committing, and experiencing the delivery of the car to their home, perhaps with the added service of taking away their old one.
This is the world of services and service delivery we live in today. Your B2B customer also has a life as a consumer and an internet shopper, and is fully aware of the efficiency, convenience, and safety of these kinds of transactions. Call it the amazon effect: customers becoming comfortable with the “click-to-cart” experience, without interpersonal interaction with a salesperson or other service personnel.
Why not in B2B services?
Click-to-cart has arrived in B2B services. Rick West’s customers for Field Agent services can purchase them on plumshop.com. A full array of shopper marketing services is offered via pull-down menus in categories such as Audits, Marketing, and Insights. Under these headings are Display Photography, Price Check, Shelf Management, Price Sensitivity Study, and dozens more, all in the language of shopper marketing that’s well understood by the knowledgeable B2B service buyer.
Clicking on any one of these takes the client to a price list and a detailed description of the service and its output, all in the colorful and engaging presentation style of an e-commerce site (like amazon.com!) The client can create an account online and make a transaction just as easily as buying a TV on amazon (and probably easier than buying a car on Vroom).
Self-educated buyers know exactly what they want, and the description and designation of the services are crisp and clear. Clients can check out testimonials, comparison shop, and take all the steps any smart B2B service purchaser would take to get themselves to the point of confidence and trust.
Some customized services will always be a client requirement, but there will be a rapid shift to more and more self-service. Some clients and some projects will always require a custom, tailored response, and Rick’s company has both custom service and automated service capabilities. One point he makes is that a first project might be customized and accompanied by in-person client service, while for the second or repeat purchase, the client will be comfortable with the click-to-cart process.
Rick’s guessing a 70:30 split for automated versus customer services over time in his field, especially as the interface software learns and becomes better and better at responding to client needs and preferences.
B2B entrepreneurs are trend-spotters in the B2C domain. People are people. Economic behaviors that we can observe in consumer shopping and buying are bound eventually to show up in business-to-business markets. They’re the same people – your B2B client is a consumer when not at work. Smart B2B entrepreneurs keep an eye open for B2C trends that can be expected to transfer to B2B and jump on them early.
Additional Resources Field Agent: FieldAgent.net
Plum: PlumShop.com/fa/shop
Rick West on LinkedIn: Mises.org/E4B_184_LinkedIn
Typical discussions about the fate of our planet center around issues like war, climate change, and sovereignty. Peter Zelhan says "the halcyon days of 1980–2015 are over."
Original Article: "Can We See the End of the World from Here? Will We Still Feel Fine?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Advocates of the New Green Deal emphasize new "green jobs" and other benefits, but the NGD is basically a Keynesian scheme in which government allegedly spends us into prosperity.
Original Article: "The New Green Economy Is Little More than a Keynesian Spending Scheme"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Elites are attacking the government of Mauritius for having lower tax rates than other African countries. The real issue is the levels of taxation in other African countries.
Original Article: "If Mauritius Is a Tax H(e)aven, Other African Countries Must Be Tax Hells"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
When inflation hits, we see higher overall prices for everyone. But inflation hits lower-income people the hardest, and they bear the brunt of this tax.
Original Article: "Inflation Makes People Poorer (And It's the Government's Fault)"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Comic Dave Smith joins Jeff and Bob for a compelling look at the poisonous political landscape in post-goodwill America.
In this celebratory episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop look at the fall of the Cheney and Bush dynasties and what it means for American politics. Other topics include former CIA directors declaring war on half of America, and just how much money Liz Cheney made in DC.
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
How do companies make decisions? Data certainly don’t make decisions, nor do analytics, nor do the computers they run on. Human begins make decisions — the human factor is crucial. Subjectivism is paramount, even in the age of big data and A.I. The key still lies with the people who are interacting with the data to generate human insights.
Ahmed Elsamadisi is one of the leading data scientists in the world. He’s worked on self-driving cars and nuclear defense and some of the biggest business challenges on earth. He believes that it is the stories we tell from data that drive business success. We are privileged to interview him at Economics For Business podcast, and he gave us a lot of useful advice we can all use every day in managing our businesses.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights The data community has made data and algorithmic analysis far too complex, to the point where it’s no longer useful for business. The path-dependent route to today’s complex data tables was paved with lots and lots of columns and lots and lots of rows. These data tables are leftovers from the early days of computing SQL language was designed to manipulate these rows and columns. A.I. comes along and can analyze all the possible combinations of data cells. Business executives ask their data departments to generate a lot of these combinations to search for patterns. It often takes a long time, a lot of revisions, and generates no clear answers.
Another aspect of history is the use of dashboards. We tend to design dashboards rather than formulate good business questions. The metrics on dashboards are sometimes useful for operations but they’re often not at all useful for understanding the causal connections between data points. Consequently, different people can interpret them in different ways and there is no consensus as to what they mean and what to do about it.
The purpose of data analytics is to generate good decisions that lead to action. The entrepreneurial method drives towards D and A: decisions and actions. Analytics should help to formulate the hypotheses on which to base decisions. The problem with complex dashboards and algorithmic pattern recognition is that they often don’t give clear direction on recommended action, especially when the interpretation varies depending on who is doing the interpreting.
Ahmed’s experience is that sharing a numerical dashboard with 10 executives is very likely to result in 10 different interpretations, and the resultant confusion and disagreement freezes action rather than accelerating it.
We need data to tell us stories that we can all rally around. The most powerful tool for developing consensus around action is narrative — often called storytelling. While 10 dashboard interpretations might lead to 10 different action plans, a single well-told story can align everyone who hears it, understands it, and internalizes it. We heard about the power of narrative in episode #181 (Mises.org/E4B_181) in which Brian Rivera explained the role of storytelling and sensemaking in The Flow System of management, and in episode #152 (Mises.org/E4B_152) where Derek and Laura Cabrera explained the power of aligned mental models for driving business. Stories achieve alignment.
Ahmed Elsamadisi built his service, narrator.ai, to output data analytics in the form of a story. The complexity riddle is removed and replaced with a narrative that all executives, not just data scientists, can understand. Narrator.ai re-integrates data science with the all-important human element of understanding stories.
The way to get data to tell stories is with a conversation. Ahmed says that the way we ask questions (data queries) is flawed. It’s quite a normal practice to set the A.I. to search the data tables to look for patterns to see if anything interesting emerges. This is what Ahmed calls “lazy hypothesis generation”, which is never going to yield useful actionable insights (yet many big analytics companies are taking in huge customer revenues for just this service). Clients may claim to be making data-driven decisions but that’s mis-characterizing this business behavior, typical though it may be.
Ahmed advises us to think more in terms of a conversation with data. To facilitate this, he has developed a universal data model with just three variables: an entity (such as a customer), an action, and time. Every business question is about a customer taking some action in some time period. The universal data model enables the conversation: what action did the customer take in what period of time, e.g., when did they open the email and what action did they take after opening it. This is not a database query, it’s a more thoughtful question about the customer experience and how to understand it.
Ahmed told us that training customers in this conversational mode of interaction with the universal data model results in a cultural shift in thinking. The conversation can go back and forth in several iterations until the understanding is fully honed. Clients hear the data talking to them through the stories that narrator.ai generates. The have deeper insights and a story to share to form a consensus around the action that the story suggests. Narrator.ai clients have used stories for everything from describing new product specs to updating board decks.
Great conversations with data are based on empathy and thinking about the customer experience. At Economics For Business, we elevate customer empathy a the most important business skill, in the context of an understanding of customer value as subjective, a good feeling from an enjoyable or satisfying experience.
Ahmed advises us to think in this same way when formulating conversations with data to generate insights. If we think about the customer’s experience, desired and actual, and the actions they take before and after that experience, and the time context of the experience, we’ll do well in formulating good questions. The action component of the universal data model is central to the Austrian deductive method: knowing what people do can help us deduce motivation and expectation. Knowing what they did next can shed light on the ends they had in mind. Actions like opening e-mails or repeat buying are also revealing of intent and expectations. The more we converse with the data, the more insight we can gain.
Storytelling with data is another implementation of subjective quantification — with the benefit of enhanced intuition over time. In episode #176 (Mises.org/E4B_176), Peter Lewin introduced us to the Austrian concept of subjective quantification — turning customers subjective valuations into numbers such as capital value on a balance sheet. We tested the subjective quantification term with Ahmed, and he endorsed it — with a major addition. It’s important to include the dimension of time. If, over time, we have better and better conversations with data and formulate better questions and hypotheses, we’ll get better and better at generating insights. Our intuition will improve. We’ll get a better “feel” for the data. Even our empathy can become more accurate.
Additional Resources Narrator.ai and its excellent blog, Narrator.ai/Blog
"Top Ten Signs You Have A Data Modeling Problem": Mises.org/E4B_183_Blog
Ahmed Elsamadisi on LinkedIn: Mises.org/E4B_183_LinkedIn
The efficient market hypothesis, which is popular in neoclassical economics circles, holds that markets are so "efficient" that entrepreneurial profits are generated randomly.
Original Article: "Profits Are Not Random. They're How Entrepreneurs Help Allocate Resources Efficiently."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
In the past, many Americans may have simply trusted to the regime to provide "law and order." But that sentiment is apparently becoming more and more rare.
Original Article: "Rising "Constitutional Carry" Is a Sign of Failing Trust in Government"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The IRS plans to hire 87,000 new armed agents, while an FBI raid on Trump–the administration's open political rival–draws allegations of corruption. Economists and political scientists, from Mises to Robert Higgs to James Burnham to public choice scholars, explain why mission creep and abuse by state agencies is the rule rather than the exception.
Jonathan Turley on Trump being disqualified from office: Mises.org/HAP356-1 Mises on the managerial state: Mises.org/Bureaucracy James Burnham's The Managerial Revolution: Mises.org/Burnham Bob Murphy Show Episode on the FBI: Mises.org/BMS92
On top of Congress passing the "Climate Relief Bill," environmentalists also demand that President Joe Biden declare a "climate emergency" in order to seize new powers ostensibly to combat dreaded climate change. However, climate alarmism is not based on reality.
Original Article: "The Agenda behind Climate Change Catastrophism"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
It’s often the case that lead users — the most sophisticated, committed, and energetic users — are an excellent source of innovation ideas. Those customers who are most engaged are thinking the most intensely and the most creatively about what they want from the usage experience. We came across a particularly instructive example: video game modders. Who are modders, what do they do, and what can we learn from them? Professor Gordon Miller has studied this important entrepreneurial phenomenon, and he joins Economics for Business to share his knowledge.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights. Modding is user-generated value innovation. Modding, from modifying, is the act of a changing a game, usually through computer programming, with software tools that are not part of the game. This can mean fixing bugs, modifying content to improve it, or adding content. But modding is not an activity taken on by those at game companies—developers release patches and downloadable content, not mods. Modding is instead done by players and fans of the game… Modding is more than adjusting the preferences or game settings, it is making changes that cannot be made through the game as it is.
Game producers and designers enable and encourage this user innovation. Game producers have come to recognize that the creative ideas and initiatives of the modding community can contribute new value to their businesses and franchises. Games like Minecraft enable users to explore, within a predesigned GUI, a practically endless 3-dimensional world to build innovative structures and other things like functional computers and console emulators. Minecraft also makes available code and tools for modders to create mods that are essentially new games, or major innovations within the original game. The famous DOTA (“Defense Of The Agents”) game is entirely the product of the modding community, encouraged and enabled by the developer, Valve Software.
Modding is a practical application of the theory of absorptive capacity. Absorptive capacity refers to the capability of a firm to recognize, collect, assimilate, process, transform and use external knowledge for competitive advantage in innovation, flexibility, and overall business performance. The external sources of knowledge are knowledge networks, either formal or informal or a combination of both. Formal networks might include suppliers and partners, university research departments and labs, and even industry share groups. It’s sometimes called open innovation — actively looking at and tapping into what other firms are doing.
Informal networks are those like the modder community — lead users, user groups, tinkerers, and so on. This is sometimes referred to as distributed innovation or user innovation — it’s not the producer originating the innovation, but an external informal source.
The challenge is to be able to generate awareness of these sources of knowledge, evaluate them, bring them inside to the company for evaluation and processing, and turn them into useful innovations or internal changes.
In highly dynamic industries, it is productive to tap into these knowledge networks. Professor Miller refers to the external networks of knowledge, both formal and informal, as the wisdom of the crowd. If you are operating in an environment characterized by high dynamism and rapid change, the wisdom the of crowd is an important and often decisive resource.
The wisdom of the crowd can contribute to innovation and business performance, especially in the form of idea diversity.Innovation performance improves through better firm capitalization of knowledge resources.The wisdom of the crowd offsets firm rigidity — making it more receptive to new ideas,Entrepreneurial judgment can increase innovation performance by increasing absorptive capacity.Innovation performance feeds back into absorptive capacity, creating an iterative self-improvement loop. Professor Miller proposes three areas of business development by capitalizing on external user groups. First, firms struggling to innovate due to internal rigidities may well benefit from developing communities — similar in concept to modding communities - connected to their own industries. By absorbing and incorporating the learning that occurs in such groups, they can take advantage of readily available innovative ideas for change.
Second, these communities may also provide a wellspring of talent for enhancing the firm’s absorptive capacity in useful ways. This is a pool of unique and entrepreneurial individuals with the potential to enhance the firm’s human capital and make the firm more explorative.
Third, even if the firm does not fully tap in to all the knowledge coming from the community, there is still the potential for new solutions to emerge that are stimulated by external ideas. There are always hobbyists and fans, and technology easily facilitates their interactions. Crowdsourced knowledge provides a uniquely useful tool for enhancing organizational innovation.
The wisdom of the crowd is a path to profit. Modding as an art form allows players to express what they most want games to be. This becomes a useful indicator for determining the most profitable paths to pursue. Firms seeking to enhance their innovative capabilities and remain profitable must pay attention to external sources of learning, however informal.
Additional Resources Download our free E4B PDF: "Assessing Your Firm’s Absorptive Capacity": Mises.org/E4B_182_PDF
The Invisible Hand In Virtual Worlds: The Economic Order of Video Games by Matthew McCaffrey: Mises.org/E4B_182_Book
Fresh off destroying the agricultural economy of Sri Lanka, the Great Reset crowd now is urging people to eat insects in order to combat the food shortages that the self-appointed elites have caused.
Original Article: "The Great Reset at Work: The Dystopian Transformation of the Food Industry"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Has economics fallen to politics? Court economists like Paul Krugman–we might call them "regime economists"–represent a profession in big trouble. Jeff and Bob discuss.
Michael Tanner, "PIketty Gets it Wrong": Mises.org/HAP355-1 Bob Murphy on the economics establishment vs. Judy Shelton: Mises.org/HAP355-2 Jeff Deist on Nancy McLean's unprofessional attacks: Mises.org/HAP355-3 Bob's article with Phillip Magness on Piketty: Mises.org/HAP355-4
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss the regime's latest Orwellian word game to avoid acknowledging a recession. Is this an attempt to gaslight the country, or a reflection of economic pain being less obvious to the beltway class?
Recommended Reading "GDP Shrinks Again as Biden Quibbles over the Definition of Recession" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_93_A
"The Fed Is Making It Up as It Goes, So It Ditched Forward Guidance" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_93_B
"Yellen: Recession Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_93_C
"The Economy Needs a Volcker Moment" by Connor Mortell: Mises.org/RR_93_D
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Most economists see GDP as a snapshot of the performance of the economy. However, it is better understood as a misleading statistic which fails to accurately describe what really is happening economically.
Original Article: "GDP Provides a False Reading of the State of the Economy"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The traditional approaches to the structure and management of firms are becoming barriers to customer value. The Austrian capital theory approach recognizes that all value in the corporation flows to it from the value experiences of customers. Therefore traditional organization design — centralization, hierarchies, divisions, bureaucracy, command-and-control — insofar as they are poorly aligned with customer value actually detract from the value of the firm.
There are alternative approaches to business organization, several of which we have highlighted in Economics For Business. One well-articulated alternative is The Flow System (Mises.org/E4B_181_Book). We talk to one of the authors of the concept, Brian Rivera.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights The first principle of all business organization is the delivery of customer value. The superiority and broad applicability of the Austrian business model emanates from its value-dominant logic. The purpose of business is to facilitate a value experience on the part of the customer. Only value matters, and all else (resources employed, raw materials used, production costs, organization, supplier partnerships, etc.) follows. Austrian capital theory enables managers to identify value drivers (i.e. what resources, raw materials, production costs, organization, partnerships result in the most value for customers).
The focus of the Flow System is to deliver the best value to the customer through FLOW: the interconnection of complexity thinking, distributed leadership, and team science.
Flow is another term for entrepreneurial judgment. In Brian Rivera’s book, The Flow System, flow is described as “a narrative of in-the-moment decision making of judgments”. It is entrepreneurial action and interaction with the environment, irrespective of structure. It’s goal-oriented adaptive and collaborative behavior of teams and firms.
The Austrian perceptions of the market as a flow, value as a flow and capital as a flow mean that the Austrian business model is perfectly consistent with The Flow System.
Mastering complexity thinking is fundamental to implementing the flow system. Many business environments exhibit high variability and uncertainty. We’ve used the term VUCA to characterize them: volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. All business managers and entrepreneurs can benefit from adopting a complexity world-view, and understanding business as a complex system.
Complex adaptive systems are open, continuously dynamic, evolving, learning, and responsive to external changes. They can oscillate between order and disorder, they’re non-linear and can’t be predicted or controlled.
Brian Rivera highlights a number of techniques to manage in such an environment, including:
Sensemaking: the development of narratives or storytelling to conceptualize the complex environment and develop an appropriate set of mental models. The question to ask is, “What’s the story?” — the story that can unite the firm and its partners around a shared understanding and shared purpose.
Weak signal detection: in complexity, signals are never clear; uncertainty is the norm and errors are always a possibility. Weak signal detection is simply intensifying the scnning of the environment for insights and noticing more, so that both threats and opportunities can be detected earlier to avoid surprise.
Action: the only source of real knowledge about the world is experience, and experience results from action. Therefore, The Flow System emphasizes action — the D and the A in the OODA loop.
The Flow System employs a new definition of leadership: distributed leadership. Distributed leadership is described as leadership that extends horizontally, vertically and every place between. The tools of leadership are not structures (such as hierarchy and top-down management) but methods:
Psychological safetyActive listeningIntentShared mental modelsBias towards actionCollaborationMentoring. Perhaps the most essential factor is psychological safety among team members. It’s a group property — a shared belief in which the team is safe from interpersonal risk taking. Individuals can speak up, take risks, and experiment without fear of criticism or reprisal so long as every action fits within the shared belief framework. There is no command structure, and teams are the building blocks of the organization.
There’s a new field of team science for collaborative functioning in the workplace. Team science is multi-disciplinary. Teams are necessary for the development of solutions in many problem areas, and the research behind team science has been conducted in many fields (ecology, healthcare, organizational science, psychology and more).
A team is a collection of individuals with a shared goal, who interact and are interdependent in their tasks, who have different roles while sharing responsibility for outcomes, and constitute a social entity embedded in a larger system (a business unit or corporation) requiring them to manage relationships across organizational boundaries.
A major section of the book The Flow System is devoted to an overview of the current state of team science as it relates to business organizations, covering team size and composition, teamwork, team processes and team transitions, team culture, team effectiveness, and combining teams for multi-team scaling.
Here’s a sample concerning the functions of shared leadership in a team:
Compelling team purpose — exceeding individual goals.Members work jointly to integrate their complementary talent and skills.Outcomes are collective, joint efforts.Members adapt their working approach to each other.Mutual accountability plus individual accountability. Core principles and attributes of The Flow System. Customer firstValue is a flowComplexity thinking, distributed leadership and team science can facilitate the flow when they are interconnected and synchronized. Additional Resources E4B Knowledge Graphic — "The Flow System Guide" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_181_PDF
theflowsystem.com
flowguides.org
The Flow System by by John Turner, Nigel Thurlow, and Brian Rivera: Mises.org/E4B_181_Book
Teams That Work: The Seven Drivers Of Tea Effectiveness by Scott Tannenbaum and Eduardo Salas: Mises.org/E4B_181_Book2
Lest anyone underestimate the brutality of state control, the way governments have handled the covid-19 pandemic demonstrates the authorities have not yet hit bottom.
Original Article: "Covid-19 and the Continuing Erosion of Private Property Rights"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Featuring Joseph Becker, Anthony Cesari, Felicia Jones, and Alex Voss. Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 30 July 2022.
Fellowships in Residence at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, are available to graduate students and post-docs interested in scientific research in the Austrian school and libertarian political economy. For more information, visit Mises.org/fellows.
The Mises Institute’s Master of Arts in Austrian Economics is the first graduate program in the United States dedicated exclusively to the teaching of economics as expounded in the works and great treatises of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard. For more information, visit Mises.org/edu.
Students can also apply for scholarships to Mises Institute events at Mises.org/events.
"This reform will be resisted at every step; but it must be pressed persistently." —Sam Tilden
Download the slides from this talk at Mises.org/MU22_PPT_44.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 30 July 2022.
“The worst thing that can happen to a good cause is, not to be skillfully attacked, but to be ineptly defended." —Frédéric Bastiat
Tho Bishop gave this talk at Mises University 2021.
Additional Resources WhatHasGovernmentDoneToOurMoney.com
Watch or listen to Mises University 2022 at Mises.org/VMU22
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Download the slides from this talk at Mises.org/MU22_PPT_44.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 30 July 2022.
Jeff Deist and Connor Mortell host an AMA during Mises University 2022 on the topic of "What You Can Do."
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 30 July 2022.
We live in a world of constant cronyism. Nothing seems to change, no matter the party or the people in power. Was it always like this? Can we learn from it?
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU22_PPT_35.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 29 July 2022.
Higher education signaling, grade inflation, federal aid and student debt, free speech, and university bureaucracy.
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU21_PPT_34.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 29 July 2022.
Inequality is a good thing in the free market. Economic equality is a disastrous government policy that leads to economic ruin for all—including the poor and workers.
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU22_PPT_36.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 29 July 2022.
Some principles for understanding environmental issues. Can government steer energy use decisions to improve outcomes?
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU22_PPT_37.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 29 July 2022.
US medical provision is far from a free market, and is a mixed bag of government and markets—as are most developed countries. Flagship programs have serious fiscal problems ahead.
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU22_PPT_29.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 28, 2022.
Is it all bad news? There is still entrepreneurship. There is still innovation.
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU22_PPT_27.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 28 July 2022.
Do these characteristics give rise to monopoly power?
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU22_PPT_20.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 27 July 2022.
Good theory leads to better statistics and better predictions.
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU22_PPT_19.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 27 July 2022.
Less and less and less?
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU22_PPT_17.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 26 July 2022.
Government attempts to limit “monopoly power” cannot improve well-being.
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU22_PPT_15.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 26 July 2022.
In 1920, Ludwig von Mises destroyed the intellectual foundations of the case for socialist central planning.
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU22_PPT_12.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 26 July 2022.
Entrepreneurship today is a movement, a welling-up of new economic creativity, combined with a great desire for economic freedom and the joys of self-reliance and discovery. The movement is newly empowered by enabling institutions that simply weren’t around a few years ago, including the internet and its digital economic platforms. Professor Raushan Gross is a great observer and great documenter of this entrepreneurial surge, and he joins the Economics For Business podcast to share some of his original and distinctive observations about the very human aspects of his new entrepreneurial studies.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Let’s not over-theorize and over-professionalize entrepreneurship: it’s people finding new ways to thrive by creatively serving other people. There’s an explosion of university entrepreneurship programs, entrepreneurship research and entrepreneurship methodologies. There’s an attempt to professionalize entrepreneurship, to make it a product of business schools.
Raushan Gross sees things differently, through a humanist, subjective and ethical lens. He looks at the culture of entrepreneurship, the social movement of individuals making their way in life in a new manner, seeing new opportunities to make their lives better for themselves and their families by making life better for others.
There’s a newly emerging set of institutions and a new class of entrepreneur: the digitalpreneur. Economists take an interest in how institutions shape behavior and economic activity. They see institutions as constraints. They sometimes call them “the rules of the game”. Professor Gross has a different take. The new institutions of entrepreneurship — the internet, digital platforms, e-commerce, digitization in general — are not constraining; rather, they are openings to a new space with new possibilities. This digital space is welcoming. There’s abundant knowledge to be shared. There are new ways to think about access to resources, about production and marketing and organization. There’s a new world of price signals, much more flexible and fast-changing, and the route to cash flow and profit is faster.
Professor Gross identifies digitalpreneurs as a new economic class: not higher or lower, not defined by their origins or background, free to move at any speed and to access any place in their relentless, unbounded pursuit of entrepreneurship.
Today’s entrepreneurs are rewriting economic history: from the invisible hand to the visible hand to the digital hand. Adam Smith introduced the metaphor of the invisible hand — the concept that individual economic actors and firms entrepreneurially pursuing their own profit goals generate the economic system we call free market capitalism, with benefits for all of society. Friedrich Hayek expressed a similar idea as “spontaneous order”. The invisible hand guided the rapid growth in real standards of living of the industrial revolution.
Then the visible hand imposed itself: the concepts of management control, and of planning and centralization. Creativity, innovation, and rapid growth were suppressed, while bureaucracies expanded. We got “Bullshit Jobs”, in David Graeber’s locution, from which creativity and caring were expunged.
Professor Gross takes us beyond both the invisible hand and the visible hand to the digital hand, which gently guides digitalpreneurs to participate in or even create new markets. The digital hand is generative. It enables digitalpreneurs to operate their own digital platforms, to construct their own digital economy, to assemble their own economic knowledge and to find their own unique place in the knowledge economy. The digital hand opens up new pathways to economic freedom.
Digital entrepreneurship can be conducted at any scale, but watch out for the dead hand. Where are the corporations in their embrace of digitalpreneurs? Certainly, there are the new digital corporations like Amazon and Google who seem willing to hire members of the new class and turn them loose in creative experimentation. But what about the old economy corporations who need to make the transition to the new world? Are they hiring entrepreneurs? Are they enabling entrepreneurs, freeing them from bureaucracy and from the command-and-control hierarchy? The evidence so far is that they are not.
How to integrate the entrepreneurial orientation into a corporate organization remains an unsolved mystery. How can the corporate advantages of reach and scale be leveraged to further realize the senses of purpose and meaning that drive entrepreneurship? How can corporations shift to the entrepreneurial culture?
They need to find ways to eliminate what Professor Gross calls the Dead Hand — bureaucracy, regulation, control, risk-aversion, centralization, procedures, and rules.
But corporate culture is not the only barrier to the realization of the entrepreneurial society. There are other cultural barriers to overcome. Professor Deirdre McCloskey is famous for her analysis that the catalyst for what she calls The Great Enrichment — the 3000% increase in real standards of living in certain Western countries from 1800 to the present — was a change in how we talked about entrepreneurship. The perceptions and descriptions of the bourgeois life of commerce transitioned from scorn to admiration. Entrepreneurs came to be seen as bold and innovative, a force for good, providers of desirable services enhancing the quality of life.
Professor Gross sees a fresh need for such a change in language and cultural support for the new age of digital entrepreneurship. One example he gives is the language of venture failure. Initiatives that are concluded early or don’t hit some target or don’t attract sufficient buyers or don’t generate enough profit to be sustainable are deemed “failures”. This characterization tends to lead to erroneous conclusions about risk (as in risk of failure) and about the people who engaged in the initiatives (“failures” or, worse, “losers”).
There’s a much different and better way to frame the same data as learning, and augmenting the pool of knowledge. When we think of entrepreneurship as a flow, we can visualize how information flows from the past to the present, elevating the intelligence of every entrepreneur and every firm that’s operating today. Not only does knowledge flow, it compounds, so today’s entrepreneurs can be exponentially more informed than their predecessors.
The more we adopt this win-win cultural approach to cumulative entrepreneurial knowledge-building, as opposed to the win-lose language of failure and success, the closer we’ll come to the beneficent entrepreneurial society that Adam Smith imagined, before he was so rudely interrupted.
Additional Resources Join Economics for Business today and receive a free copy of The Emerging Institutions of Entrepreneurship eBook by Raushan Gross: Mises.org/E4B_Join
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU22_PPT_14.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 26 July 2022.
Time is an irreversible flux. Each moment has a unique place in the sequence of moments of time with respect to action.
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU22_PPT_11.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 26 July 2022.
Capital is the starting point of economic calculation.
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU22_PPT_13.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 26 July 2022.
Menger discovered much more than the principle of marginal utility—he created an entire system of economics based on subjective value and individual choice.
Download lecture slides at Mises.org/MU22_PPT_01.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 25 July 2022.
Entrepreneurship is a general feature of the market economy.
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU22_PPT_07.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 25 July 2022.
Praxeology is the method of economics.
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU22_PPT_03.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 25 July 2022.
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU22_PPT_06.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 25 July 2022.
"We would not expect money to be paper, national, or under the control of any entity."
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU22_PPT_05.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 25 July 2022.
This concept of economic calculation is really the foundation of all economic theory, and price theory is the cornerstone of economic calculation.
Download lectures slides at Mises.org/MU22_PPT_02.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 25 July 2022.
"The free market and the division of labor does not promote hyper-atomized individuals. It creates social harmony and community." Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU22_PPT_04.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 25 July 2022.
Includes an introduction by Jeff Deist. Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 24 July 2021.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Tho Bishop is joined by Mises Research Fellow Marcel Gautreau for a wide-ranging conversation about challenges to the American-dominated neoliberal order. Marcel is a Ph.D. candidate studying economic and other policy reforms in non-liberal states and offers his perspective on how Rothbardian power-elite analysis is a powerful tool in understanding the world's most pressing issues today. He also shares his favorite Mises U lecture.
Additional Resources "Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature" by Murray Rothbard: Mises.org/RR_91_A
For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto by Murray Rothbard: Mises.org/RR_91_B
Never a Dull Moment: A Libertarian Look at the Sixties by Murray Rothbard: Mises.org/RR_91_C
"A Rothbardian Analysis of the Constitutional Convention" by Patrick Newman: Mises.org/RR_91_Video
Marcel Gautreau on Twitter: @anarchyinblack
Watch Mises University 2022 live: Mises.org/Live
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Connor Boyack, author of the new Tuttle Twins book America's History: 1215-1776, joins the show to make the Rothbardian case for de-bamboozling history.
America’s History: A Tuttle Twins Series of Stories: TuttleTwins.com/History Rothbard on Historical Revisionism: Mises.org/HAP353-1
It is hard to explain through evolution how we know any necessary truths. Does this give us reason to abandon necessary truth? Nozick thinks so.
Original Article: "Nozick on Morality and Evolution"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
June was the fifteenth month in a row during which price inflation outpaced earnings growth. June's gap is also among the biggest we've seen in decades.
Original Article: "Inflation Hits 9.1 Percent after Months of Empty Talk at the Fed"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Progressives claim that inequality is causing poverty and making people's lives worse. In reality, inequality leads to better economic outcomes overall and pulls more people out of poverty.
Original Article: "We Need More Inequality, Not Less"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
There is an excellent, deeply researched, Austrian economics-founded theory of customer value: the value learning cycle, which we explored thoroughly in Episode #178 (Mises.org/E4B_178). How do entrepreneurs and executives apply that theory to create customers, delight them, and grow strong brands and businesses? That’s the subject of the second part of Mark Packard’s business handbook for value creation, Entrepreneurial Valuation: An Entrepreneur’s Guide To Getting Into The Minds Of Customers (Mises.org/E4B_179_Book).
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Entrepreneurs can’t directly access the customer’s mental model, but they can apply empathy to run simulations. Entrepreneurial empathy is the ability to see the world through the mental model of the customer. We all see the world through mental models rather than directly, and each of us has our own, unique mental model. But mental models can also be shared and aligned. A mental model is a way of thinking about real situations or about the real world. It’s quite possible to describe someone else’s mental model. We can first ask them questions (“How do you think about your current situation?” “What do you do when the car you drive gets to 50,000 miles on the odometer?”) and then run hypotheses or ideas through the model that emerges (“How do you like this?”, “How does this make you feel?”, “Would you buy this product?”)
Empathy is knowledge-based, and therefore can be practiced by any entrepreneur. It’s not the case that some people are more capable of empathy than others. Since empathy is knowledge-based, it can be learned, developed, and trained. It’s a process of filling different buckets of knowledge about your customer. There’s factual knowledge about them, as well as factual knowledge about their consumption or usage (e.g., location, frequency, any reports, or ratings they’ve provided). And then there’s experiential knowledge — what an experience felt like to them.
Only the customer has this experiential knowledge, only they can feel it. But if the entrepreneur can understand the customer’s mental model, it’s possible to simulate what that experience might feel like — feel what they feel. It’s possible to get closer and closer by experiencing it yourself: eating the food you’re offering them or the beverage you’ve designed, using their mental model rather than your own. The customer’s experiential knowledge is tacit — it can’t be communicated directly — but entrepreneurs can get closer to it through simulation, and interpret it through empathic technique.
Be aware that there is always the risk of what Mark calls interpretive loss — we listen or observe but we don’t interpret the data properly or fully. Our downloadable pdf provides direction on where interpretive loss occurs and how to safeguard against it.
There are some techniques to reinforce the accuracy of empathic investigation. Lead users: In every category, there are users who feel needs and experience unsatisfaction / dissatisfaction more intensely. Give investigative priority to them.Contextual in-depth interviews: Communication can be more productive using specific techniques from our E4B tools library. The contextual in-depth interview technique is one of our useful tools.Ethnographic deduction: Ethnography is the technique of observing users in action. It’s a better tool than a survey or questionnaire — what users do is more informative than what they say when answering surveys. Researchers deduce motivations from observation.Behavioral data: Some data streams can be the equivalent of ethnography — observing users buying or searching as an indicator of their needs, preferences, and concerns.Entrepreneurs can also learn from themselves: We are all both consumers and producers. In the categories that are most important to you, observe your own behavior as a user. Be aware of your concerns as a customer. Make your empathy channel customer-to-customer. From value propositions to innovation. Developing a value proposition is a problem-finding process. Designing an innovation is a problem-solution process.
Problem-finding is the development of knowledge of a problem to be solved from the customer’s perspective, using the experiential learning from the mental modeling exercise. A problem is not the same as a need — it’s a specific gap in the solution landscape of products and services from which the customer can choose, a gap that can be filled with a new solution yet to be identified but capable of identification.
Problem-solving is the application of resource knowledge and technical knowledge to identify a new solution. The entrepreneur must navigate multiple uncertainties to arrive at a solution — demand uncertainty (is there real demand?), technical uncertainty (will it work?), resource uncertainty (will I be able to gather the resources to get to a solution?), capability uncertainty (can I do this?), and competitive uncertainty (will someone else beat me to it?).
Mark’s book includes a multi-step process for problem-solution creativity. One of the most interesting is knowledge combining.
What’s a pancake boat? It’s a combination of two very basic words and ideas that represents the potential for something new. Perhaps a very flat-profile boat for floating under low bridges. Or a breakfast barge touring the harbor. The point is the combination. When entrepreneurs can combine technological knowledge with problem knowledge, it’s possible to invent a new solution without inventing a new technology.
Mark has two suggestions to help with knowledge combining. One is to become interested in technologies. If you are having a hard time devising a solution, it’s probably because you are not familiar enough with technologies that are already available to do so. Find tech websites that can keep you up-to-date on the latest discoveries and applications. The more you understand about the properties and capabilities of resources and technologies, the better you can leverage those properties and what they do.
The second suggestion is a specific method. List as many different resources, technologies, and skills that you know about — software skills, hardware skills, people skills, technologies you’ve worked with, processes you’ve worked with, etc. Keep the list updated.
Then turn to the problem you are trying to solve. Mentally step through all the resources on your list and bring each of them into active memory. Try to think of a possible solution using each one. Keep going through the whole list. You’re bringing technical knowledge schemas forward while holding your problem knowledge in active memory.
Do any of the solutions stand out? Are there any that are truly outside-the-box? Are any of them impossible with current technology? That’s good. Do more research. You might find a breakthrough answer.
It takes time, commitment, and resources, but when you are passionate about the entrepreneurial process the effort will pay off big time.
Entrepreneurs get inside the mind of the customer to make the world a better place. The goal of entrepreneurship is to enhance and improve the state of well-being experienced by customers. To achieve this goal, entrepreneurs aim to understand the customer’s mental model, and run creative solutions — potential futures — through it to simulate the customer’s new experience. It’s a counter-factual exercise, but entrepreneurs can improve their capacity, and their odds of success, with practice, commitment, and the use of some of the cognitive techniques Mark Packard recommends.
Additional Resources "Contextual In-depth Interview Technique" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_179_PDF
"Interpretive Value Learning" (PPT): Mises.org/E4B_179_PPT
Entrepreneurial Valuation: An Entrepreneur’s Guide To Getting Into The Minds Of Customers by Mark Packard: Mises.org/E4B_179_Book
In the 1950s, McCarthyism targeted people who were accused of supporting Russia. Today's McCarthyism targets people accused of supporting … Russia. Some things never change.
Original Article: "Like the Old McCarthyism, the New McCarthyism Targets Russia"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The ruling class is claiming that free markets are nothing more than a "trickle-down" scheme. But a free market system really does serve society best.
Original Article: "Consumers, Workers, and Monopolies: Free Markets Serve All"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The Keynesians running our economic life may be reassured that the Fed cannot fail in a technical sense, but the public should be appalled.
Original Article: "The Fed Cannot Go Bankrupt; However, It Can Bankrupt the Country"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Once wealthy Argentina has suffered under one interventionist regime after another for nearly a century. What are the prospects for changing things for the better?
Original Article: "Argentina's Difficult Political Landscape and Libertarian Prospects for Change"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Lots of Americans now openly discuss the idea of National Divorce, focusing on the political, cultural, and social divisions in America. But what about the economics? How would issues like debt, entitlements, and defense be addressed if the US split into two or more new political entities?
Mises.org senior editor and economist Ryan McMaken joins Jeff to discuss.
Listen to Hoppe on centralization and secession: Mises.org/HAP352-1
In an attempt to stymie the spread of covid-19, the Chinese government has imposed reckless and harmful lockdown policies in several cities. This will not end well.
Original Article: "China's Draconian Lockdown Policies: Major Consequences to Follow"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The West Indies played a vital role in growing the British economy in the eighteenth century.
Original Article: "The Industrial Revolution and the West Indies: Did the Colonies Spark Progress in the Metropole?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The New York Times claims that the "administrative state"—that is, governance by unelected bureaucrats—protects our country and enhances democracy.
Original Article: "Turns Out the Elites Like the Administrative State Better than Democracy"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
People often speak of the Constitution with reverence, as though it were infallible. However, the Constitution was a centralizing document that cast aside the decentralization of the Articles of Confederation.
Original Article: "Is the Constitution a Centralizing or Decentralizing Document?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Indian tribe sovereignty has long been a much neglected, yet important, tool in decentralizing and limiting government power in the US.
Original Article: "SCOTUS Attacked Indian Tribe Sovereignty in Castro-Huerta, and That's a Bad Thing."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, pundits on the Left have demanded even more centralization of government. But federalism is the best way forward.
Original Article: "Federalism, Not Centralization, Is the Way out of the Current Conflicts"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss Jill Biden's "Latinx" outreach and recent polling that illustrates a dramatic shift in political voting patterns. Are we seeing the end of the modern political party system? Do the struggles of American progressives reflect a broader global divide between secular and traditionalist politics?
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
More than sixty years after being "liberated" by Fidel Castro and communism, Cuba has become a large slave state where people enjoy little freedom.
Original Article: "More than Sixty Years after "Liberation," Cuba Is a Communist Slave State"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Paul Krugman denies that the Fed artificially suppressed interest rates. As usual, Krugman neither understands interest rates nor the effects of inflationary policies.
Original Article: "Krugman Is Wrong (Again): Artificially Low Interest Rates Created Bubbles"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
"Repealing the twentieth century" sounds like madness to many. Yet the progressivism that came from that century will be the death knell of civilization if not stopped.
Original Article: "Civil Society and Counterrevolution against Progressivism"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Keynesian economics is a scourge to any nation that tries it, and African countries are no exception.
Original Article: "Nine Ways Debt and Deficit Spending Severely Harm African Societies"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Groups targeted by class warriors in America will achieve more if they follow the Igbos’ path and ignore the politics of grievance.
Original Article: "Africa's Entrepreneurs: The Igbos of Nigeria"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Getting into the minds of customers is the universal need of everyone in business. A new book by Mark Packard, Entrepreneurial Valuation, provides a new understanding of how customers identify value in the constant, never-ending flow of the value learning cycle. Mark joins Economics For Business for a two-part episode on how entrepreneurs can better understand value in order to delight customers.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Getting into the minds of customers is the universal need of everyone in business. The business world is enthusiastically adopting the insights of Austrian economics. They appreciate the unique economic perspective that can help grow and strengthen customer-facing businesses — and that means all businesses. Professor Mark Packard is presenting his insights on customers and how their minds work when choosing what to buy in a new book, Entrepreneurial Valuation, with the sub-title An Entrepreneur’s Guide To Getting Into The Minds Of Customers (Mises.org/E4B_178_Book). It’s a business book for every business and every businessperson.
The first step is to experience value as customers experience it. They learn it. The purpose of business is to create value for customers. And for customers, the pursuit of value is everything. It’s life — a never-ending process of identifying what they expect to be valuable to them and trying to weigh up their choices between alternatives. Human beings are always valuing, all the time. In fact, Mark makes the point that we should think of value as a verb, not just as a noun. Value as a noun has a specific meaning: it’s an experienced benefit that constitutes a change in well-being from a state of unwellness to a better-off state. The benefit is the experience, and it can be ascribed to something that made us feel better off, which therefore has value.
Valuing — the verb form of value — refers to human beings constantly deciding what to do and what to choose based on their valuation process. And that process is learning — learning from previous value experiences, and learning from observing others. As customers, people are always asking: what makes us and others the best off we or they can be?
Entrepreneurs must have their own, complementary, value learning process: learning what customers value and, ideally, what they will value in the future.
Customers can be unsatisfied or dissatisfied. It’s important that entrepreneurs address these value states differently. The default state for people is unsatisfied. We have unmet needs that we feel all the time. Mises called it a state of uneasiness. Needs like hunger can be satisfied in the short term, but the satisfaction degrades quickly. Needs like security or freedom or friendship may always be unsatisfied, or at least part of the time. There is always a state of greater well-being to aspire to.
Dissatisfaction is a different state. A customer may have applied their value knowledge — made a valuation — to predict a future value experience, and it falls short of their expectations. They made an error. This results in a feeling of dissatisfaction
Both states are opportunities for entrepreneurs: to meet a hitherto unmet need, or to substitute satisfaction for dissatisfaction via a new or better solution. It’s important to know the customer’s state of well-being and its source.
Customers have limited value knowledge and considerable value uncertainty, yet they must make value predictions. Customers use the value knowledge they possess, from previous value experiences or observing others in the market, to try to predict a future improvement in well-being for themselves. What choices should they make to achieve this improvement?
How do they make the prediction? They perform a mental simulation of future value experiences. They imagine themselves having a future value experience with a particular product or service. Via the simulation, they form their predictive valuation: the benefit they expect to experience in the future.
When they actually use the product or service, they assess the actual value experience and compare it with the prediction, thereby updating their value knowledge. They ascribe to the product or service the satisfaction or dissatisfaction experience they feel. Or they might ascribe it to a set of circumstances or some other context. In any case, they have a new mental model: a new experience they can ascribe and use for future predictions.
Value learning is a cycle. Self-assess to identify unsatisfaction and dissatisfaction;Search for new value propositions with new satisfaction potential;Compare the new value proposition with alternatives (and with others’ experiences);Make an economic calculation: willingness to pay;Purchase;Usage experience — including objective value experienced in consumption and subjective value experienced as degrees of feelings of satisfaction (e.g., delight at exceeding expectations versus satisfaction at meeting expectations versus disappointment at failing to meet expectations);Assess usage experience compared to value expectation;Adjust value knowledge base and revise future expectations. Austrian economics helps businesses get into the minds of customers to monitor and understand their value learning. Economics is a much better discipline than finance on which to construct an approach to growing a successful business, because economics is the science of choice: how customers choose the ends they pursue and how they choose the means they perceive as best for attaining their ends.
It’s the Austrian school of economics that is most useful. Traditional economics believes that customers seek utility — what’s useful to them. But subjective value doesn’t reside in utility, it resides in the satisfaction that comes from the feeling of making the best choices. Behavioral economists believe that customers have a tendency to make poor choices (from the economists’ point of view) because of incomplete value knowledge.
But Austrian economists accept the customer’s mind as it is. The goal is to understand how customers choose and how they experience value in their everyday lives, how they negotiate value uncertainty, how they set expectations for the future and how they compare actual experience with expectations. What goes through their minds? To know that requires getting inside their minds, which is what Professor Packard is trying to help us to do with his new book.
Additional Resources "Experiential Value Theory: How Customers Think About Value" (PPT): Mises.org_E4B_178_PPT
Entrepreneurial Valuation: An Entrepreneur’s Guide To Getting Into The Minds Of Customers by Mark Packard: Mises.org/E4B_178_Book
"Tools For The Value Learning Process" (PDF): Mises.org_E4B_178_PDF
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by William Yarwood of Mallard UK (MallardUK.com) for a conversation about British politics. What led to the fall of Boris Johnson? What does the Prime Minister's resignation mean for Brexit? Is there anyone in British politics that is interesting? These questions and more are answered in this episode.
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Jeff and Bob discuss the effect of rising interest rates on Uncle Sam's ability to service debt—and promote the increasingly less radical idea that a default on Treasury debt is both inevitable and good.
Jeff's article on rising rates: Mises.org/HAP351-1 House Budget Committee report on higher interest rates and US debt service: Mises.org/HAP351-2 Rothbard on the ethics of debt repudiation: Mises.org/HAP351-3
Congress enjoys exorbitant political privilege in the form of cheap deficit spending—but it may soon come to an end.
Original Article: "Rising Interest Rates May Blow Up the Federal Budget"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
While the economic sanctions against Russia are helping to impoverish people in that country, they are doing a lot of damage elsewhere too.
Original Article: "The Unending Farce of US Sanctions against Russia"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The relative lack of inflation in Japan doesn't mean real wages haven't fallen.
Original Article: "How the BOJ Created "Noninflationary" Money While Ruining the Japanese Economy"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
With his current timid, weak, and prevaricating position on price inflation, Powell is positioning himself as the new Arthur Burns, who did nothing to end 1970s inflation.
Original Article: "Powell Is the New Arthur Burns, Not the New Paul Volcker"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The standard line among the Great Reset crowd is that capitalism exploits poor nations and causes poverty. In reality, capitalism and free markets have reduced poverty around the world.
Original Article: "Developing Countries Don't Need Wealth Transfers; They Need Free Markets"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Many of the best-known civil rights leaders eschewed entrepreneurship, emphasizing that blacks seek employment in the professions and government jobs.
Original Article: "Entrepreneurship Should Be the Goal, Not White-Collar Jobs"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Tightening the interest rate hurts both bubble and solid businesses. The Fed should just focus on reducing the money supply.
Original Article: "The Fed's Tightening Will Only Drag Out the Economic Slump"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
When conservatives applaud unlimited war spending, they not only harm our economy and body politic, but they give the Left a powerful talking point.
Original Article: "War Spending Gives MMTers and the Left a Strong Talking Point"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The end of Roe may force many Americans to recognize that the United States is not one place. It is many places. The key is to reject uniform federal policy.
Original Article: "To Avoid Civil War, Learn to Tolerate Different Laws in Different States"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Since the 1940s, failed statist schemes have dragged Argentina into poverty. Javier Milei, who is gaining popularity there, hopes to change his nation's sad history.
Original Article: "Will Argentina's Next President Be a Rothbardian?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The relative lack of inflation in Japan doesn't mean real wages haven't fallen.
Original Article: "Here We Go Again: The Fed Is Causing Another Recession"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Did you feel happy when the government gave you a check paid with printed money? Watch now as your daily groceries, gas and power become unaffordable.
Original Article: "How Governments Expropriate Wealth with Inflation and Taxes"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Although social media is blamed for many social ills, the sickness doesn't come from Twitter or Facebook but from how the ruling classes have politicized life itself.
Original Article: "Don't Blame Social Media. Blame the Politicization of Nearly Everything"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Ben Bernanke once claimed that a monetary gold standard caused economic instability. He failed to mention that his fiat money standard causes the boom-and-bust cycles.
Original Article: "Contra Ben Bernanke, the Gold Standard Promotes Economic Stability"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Real deflation—both monetary inflation and price inflation—is necessary, and that can only be accomplished if the Fed can resist the temptation to keep doing what it's been doing since 2008.
Original Article: "What Will It Take to End Rampant Home-Price Inflation?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
US foreign policy is a morass of lobbying, payouts, decisions, and power plays that violates the standards this country claims to promote.
Original Article: "Who Really Makes US Foreign Policy? Who Benefits and Who Loses?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates and we know what follows, given there has been more than a decade of malinvestments building up: severe recession.
Original Article: "Economic Winter Has Arrived"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The business-as-a-flow orientation embraces continuous adaptive change within the firm. Traditional slow-motion control mechanisms like strategy and planning are no longer appropriate. The new toolkit that entrepreneurs are developing includes the after action review (AAR), a learning tool rather than a misguided attempt at predictive control.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights In a VUCA world, entrepreneurial orientation embraces change and adaptation in order to reach goals. Learning fast is critical in times of accelerated change. A business firm must change at least as fast as its market and its external environment if it is to survive and thrive — ideally faster. In earlier podcasts, we’ve made reference to the OODA loop as a non-linear change management framework: Observe changing data, filter those Observations through your firm’s capabilities, culture, heritage, and experience to understand what the new data means to your firm specifically, re-Orient if it’s indicated, make new Decisions and take new Actions, and monitor the feedback loops for updated Observations. Speed of progression through the loop is a competitive advantage — make changes faster than your competitors.
One of the keys to successfully managing change is a bias for action. It’s possible that in some situations some businesses may fear taking action — they lack confidence in their own hypotheses and are concerned that their action might be “wrong”. Austrian entrepreneurship takes a different perspective. Entrepreneurial orientation and intent shape decision-making by giving it a high potential focus and, thereafter, every action is framed an experiment from which to learn. Learning enables a greater capacity for reframing. Curt Carlson, in E4B podcast #175 (Mises.org/E4B_175), told us that relentless reframing is key to success in innovation. Learning through action is paramount.
The tool for learning from action is the AAR – After Action Review. The After Action Review is a simple device that asks the questions: what did we intend would happen, what did actually happen, what can we learn from what happened, what will we change next time we take action.
Intent — What are the intended results and metrics?It’s important to continually review the shared understanding of intent among those participating in any action or project or initiative. Shared intent is the mechanism that supplies direction and thrust so that everyone is moving in the same direction. It’s sometimes called commander’s intent (in the military) or leader’s intent (in Agile team science). It’s key that every team member subscribes to and can articulate the intent.Performance — What happened? Is there a performance gap compared to intent?“What happened” can be a challenging question because observation is often subjective, and individuals in different vantage point and with different perspectives can provide different reports or estimations of what happened. Cultural factors become important – front line actors and individuals located lower in a hierarchy must be able to speak freely about what they observed without fear of contradiction or condemnation by superior. A performance gap must be viewed as a learning opportunity that is good for the entire team and the firm as a whole.Learning — What was the cause or source of any performance gap?In a high-speed learning culture, teams are eager to identify causes or issues that give rise to performance gaps. In complexity thinking, it is not always possible to identify linear cause-and-effect linkages, but it’s generally possible to identify areas for improvement as a result of experiencing a setback. It may simply be necessary to run more experiments until a better performance can be attained. It may be possible to identify obstacles that can be removed. It may be possible to identify risks that can be mitigated. In any of these cases, learning via experience (i.e., after action) advances knowledge and augments adaptiveness.One possible learning is that the intended result is not, in fact, within the capacity of the firm, leading to either a decision to augment capacity or a decision to redirect existing resources into other lines.Next Time — What should we change?Learning leads to new hypotheses which can be implemented through new action. The After Action Review identifies what changes in behavior are appropriate to try in a future action. There’s the opportunity to eliminate waste, or abandon no-longer promising trials, or experiment with improved ideas. In a learning culture, there is eagerness to return to action armed with new knowledge and to explore new potential. AAR’s can span all time periods: before action, during action, after action. When should a firm conduct AARs? All the time. In fact, there’s a role for before action reviews, during action reviews and after action reviews. All have the same structure.
What is / was / is going to be our intent?What challenges will we expect to face / are we facing / did we face?What have we learned in the past / what are we learning right now / what caused the latest gap?What will make us successful this time / what adjustments should we make right now / what will we change next time? A learning culture and orientation are critical to the successful application of AAR’s. Learning via AARs is not mechanical, it’s cultural. The culture of the firm must be that there’s no development, no progress, no improvement without learning. Mark McGrath links the learning culture to the growth mindset. The relevant assessment is not one of strengths versus weaknesses but the mindset of the firm compared to that of its competitors. Seeking growth is a mindset, and so is learning. It’s a humble mindset in which we recognize our bounded understanding and seek eagerly to augment it with new knowledge.
There are simple shared rules for individual AARs and for the learning culture: shared goals and mental models, open to every level of the organization, psychological safety, transparency, shared findings, preparation for next time. Within these rules, every firm can build a capacity for learning that becomes a capacity for growth.
Additional Resources E4B AAR template (PPT): Mises.org/E4B_177_PPT
Background reading: NextForge.com
"Orientation: Bridging The Gap In The Austrian Theory Of Entrepreneurship" by Mark McGrath and Hunter Hastings (AERC 2022 Paper): Mises.org/E4B_177_PDF1
Mark McGrath on LinkedIn: Mises.org/E4B_177_LinkedIn
OODA Loop: Mises.org/E4B_177_PDF2
Many think cancel culture is an odd particularity of the Anglosphere. Unfortunately, it raised its ugly head at this year's Austrian Economics Meeting Europe held in Lithuania.
Original Article: "The Austrian Economics Meeting Europe Got a Taste of Cancel Culture"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The Federal Reserve was supposed to prevent recessions that people blamed on the lack of central banking. Not surprisingly, the post-Fed recessions have been worse.
Original Article: "How Bad Were Recessions before the Fed? Not as Bad as They Are Now"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Neither the Ukraine war nor tough weather changes would threaten a global food shortage in a normal market environment. Unfortunately, world markets are riddled with regulations, killing production.
Original Article: "Government Intervention Is Fueling Food Shortages"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
When it comes to energy and the environment, Americans not only get the wrong facts, arguments, and narratives–they get the wrong philosophy. Alex Epstein, who recently published perhaps the most important book of our time, joins Jeff and Bob to explain.
Get Alex's new book Fossil Future: Mises.org/Fossil
The United States economy may have delivered no growth in the first half of 2022 after the decline in the first quarter, narrowly avoiding a technical recession.
Original Article: "US Household Saving Rate Vanishes, Credit Card Debt Soars"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Inflation is raging and progressives want action. What kind of action? They want to return to the 1970s regime of price controls.
Original Article: "Back to the Future: Progressives Imagine the Good Old Days of Price Controls"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Unlike a private-sector service, police do not operate under any contractual obligations to provide services in any particular way. They can choose to do nothing at all, and face no real consequences.
Original Article: "Why Police Do Nothing While Kids Are Killed"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
As antigun studies surface left and right, it's worth remembering that the right to self-defense isn't merely about being safe. It's about having the choice to defend yourself.
Original Article: "Guns and Self-Defense"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Peter Schiff once joked that Obama should have appointed Bernie Madoff secretary of the Treasury. The government's easy money policies ultimately lead to Ponzi schemes.
Original Article: "From the Eccles Building to Vegas: The Fed Enables the Worst Ponzi Schemes"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss a recent Mises Wire article about how the state uses holidays as a culture war weapon. Independence Day offers the rare opportunity for opponents of the regime to strike back on a holiday that explicitly celebrates secession and self-determination.
Recommended Reading "Juneteenth and Secular Holidays as Tools of the Regime" by Tho Bishop: Mises.org/RR_88_A
"3 Things to Remember on Independence Day" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_88_B
"Was the American Revolution Radical?" by Murray N. Rothbard: Mises.org/RR_88_C
"The American Revolution Was a Culture War" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_88_D
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Forget Jerome Powell's fanciful "soft landing" or the notion that the Fed can pull another rabbit from its hat. The banking system is headed for a crash and monetary authorities likely will make things worse.
Original Article: "A Perfect Storm Is Brewing in Banking and Finance"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Anyone who doubts whether we are in a recession can stop doubting. The Fed's reverse repos show that we're headed for a crash.
Original Article: "The Great Crash of 2022"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The Mauritius government still denies Chagossians independence, continuing colonial policies.
Original Article: "Independence for Chagossians? Time to End Colonialist Policies"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
At the core of the entrepreneurial orientation that is the engine of vibrant, growing, value-creating, customer-first businesses, we find the principles of subjectivism and subjective value. Subjective value embraces not only the value the customer seeks, but also the value that entrepreneurs establish in their companies: capital value. Once businesses master these two principles in combination, they can open new horizons of innovation and growth.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights A fundamental advantage of Economics For Business over traditional business schools is the understanding of subjective value. It’s hard for conventional businesses, and for the traditional instruction in business school, to fully embrace all the insights of subjectivism and the subjectivism of value. The traditional bias is towards numbers, quantification, prediction, and financial control.
Value is conflated with price and profit. Value is what customers will pay, cost is what the producer pays for inputs, and profit is the difference. Value is inherent in the thing that is produced. Finance and accounting are the numerical tools for computing these relationships.
When business embraces subjectivism, the value is not in the thing. Human minds bring value to the thing. Value comes ultimately from the consumer or end-user. They evaluate the offerings available to them and make value decisions, to part with their money (or not) to claim the value that’s offered.
Value is better thought of as a verb rather than a noun. It’s an emotional driver of decision-making.
Firms can’t impose their concepts of value on customers. A key difference for the subjectivist approach is that customers alone determine value and producers can’t create it and sell it. Value is experienced by customers and, of course, experience lies entirely with them and can’t be reproduced or projected or simulated by producers.
That doesn’t mean that there’s no role in value generation for businesses. Steve Phelan broke down the firm’s value role into 3 parts: value imagination, value delivery and value capture.
Value imagination is a belief about the future — entrepreneurs imagine (or have a “hunch” about) a future in which a target customer experiences value from the producer’s offering, the goods and/or services they make available to customers. This imagination step is a major component of the entrepreneurial journey construct we employ at econ4business.com to help businesses generate value and grow. It’s creativity at work — where value creation starts.
Value delivery is implementation of the imagined value: designing the goods / services for commercial offering, assembling all the components required for implementation (including people in team roles as well as production assets) and taking the offering to the marketplace with a price and a value communication bundle.
Value capture concerns how much of the value experienced by the customer flows back to the producer. Typically, value production takes place in a system — perhaps including retail channels, or a wholesale partner, or a bank of financial partner. How much of the value flow do they take? Or how about competition, who might copy and undercut. Or suppliers who violate contracts or under-perform on contracted services. Entrepreneurs must pay close attention to value capture.
Subjective value thinking extends to business investment decisions. Subjectivism applies not only to value but to the assets of a producing firm. The subjectivist approach understands assets as providers of potential services that customers might value. Most classes of assets (including people) can be assigned to multiple different uses and multiple configurations for the provision of different services. Entrepreneurship weighs up — evaluates — all the possibilities and assigns the assets to their greatest value generating uses.
Value calculus assesses the value-producing arrangements inside the firm. Entrepreneurial producers of value face in two directions: outward to the market and customers, and inwards to the firm and its internal organization.
Looking inwards, producers must calculate which assets — including both human capital assets and physical assets — in which combination result in the greatest value for customers at the least cost. This requires an evaluation that assesses value flowing to the customer from the firm. Since value is subjectively determined by the customer, this calculation is extremely challenging. Peter Lewin called it subjective quantification, and Steve Phelan used the term value calculus. It’s a combination of qualitative and quantitative assessments that’s learned over time. It’s highly contingent on the (changing) value preferences of customers.
Internally, managers must combine their people assets and physical assets in a way that produces most value based on this uncertain and changing value calculus. Entrepreneurs and owners can’t be the decision-makers for everyone, and so the organizational technology must be designed for greatest value generation. Instructively, that organizational technology has been changing over time — from highly structured and divisionalized organizations to today’s more open, networked, and interconnected organizations.
The tool for capturing this value calculus is EVA — economic value added. Capital is a value. In fact, Ludwig von Mises remarked that it was unfortunate that business ever coined the term capital goods, because it tends to make us think of capital as something solid and fixed. It’s not — it’s the result of the value calculus that Steve Phelan talks about.
Capital value can be measured, but not in the way that is captured on a P&L or a balance sheet — creating numbers that appear to be exact, and fixed and fully determined. Entrepreneurs must estimate capital value and the estimate is that of the valuer. They do so algorithmically — there’s a process and a routine but it’s not necessarily mathematical. It includes breaking down the asset combination into smaller and smaller components — perhaps individual people or teams, or perhaps divisions versus the entire company, or perhaps some set of components that can be thought of as an integrated grouping — and assessing their relative capital value contribution. Money values can be used since this helps the expression of relative value, but the algorithmic computation is never exact. Its validity is always in the eye of the valuer. The goal is to find costs that don’t add value, or don’t add as much value as other costs.
Accounting and finance — one looking to the past to measure what happened and one looking to the future to predict what will happen — offer objective-looking numbers, but they truly reflect the subjective value calculus of the entrepreneur in trying to allocate economic value added as accurately as possible.
Additional Resources "An Austrian Theory Of The Firm" by Peter Lewin and Steven Phelan: Mises.org/E4B_176_PDF1
Austrian Capital Theory: A Modern Survey of the Essentials by Peter Lewin and Nicolas Cachanosky: Mises.org/E4B_176_Book
"Entrepreneurship in a theory of capital and finance — Illustrating the use of subjective quantification" by Peter Lewin and Nicolas Cachanosky: Mises.org/E4B_176_PDF2
Mises.org economist and senior editor Ryan McMaken joins Jeff and Bob for a hard look at the economic reality Americans face today.
Shostak on the true definition of a recession: Mises.org/HAP349-Shostak Bob's article in the QJAE: Mises.org/HAP349-Murphy
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop talk about the increasing decay of federal legitimacy. Republicans are threatening to nullify federal law. Democrats want to nullify Supreme Court decisions.
Oh, and the Supreme Court just eliminated one of the most political, ill-reasoned decisions in its history.
Recommended Reading "Abolish the Supreme Court" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_87_A
"Make Every State a Sanctuary State" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_87_B
"End Roe v. Wade: It's Time to Defederalize Abortion Policy" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_87_C
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Americans are looking at a grim energy future, thanks to government.
Original Article: "The Biden Administration's Ignorant Energy Policies: Higher Gas Prices Are Only the Beginning"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The Biden administration, stung by low poll numbers, insists that the president is receiving unfair PR, which is hiding the "truth" about Biden's many accomplishments.
Original Article: "For Presidents, Unpopularity Is a Simple PR Problem. Biden Is No Exception"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Ryan McMaken and Zachary Yost examine some reasons why early Americans hated the idea of a professional standing army, and some of the tactics used to decentralize military power in the US and Switzerland.
Recommended Reading "Why We Can't Ignore the Militia Clause of the Second Amendment" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/WES_02_A
"The Second Amendment's Authors Would Hate Today's Huge Federal Military" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/WES_02_B
"Opposing Standing Armies: A Great American Tradition" by Zachary Yost: Mises.org/WES_02_C
"When State Governors Tried To Take Back Control of the National Guard" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/WES_02_D
Be sure to follow War, Economy, and State at Mises.org/WES.
Curt Carlson has devoted his life to value creation and innovation — VC&I as he sometimes characterizes it. He has been CEO of SRI, a “pure innovation” company where the business model was to create important new innovations that positively impacted the lives of many people. Examples of his innovations are Siri (ultimately sold to Apple) and HDTV (the technology that enables the streaming so many people enjoy today).
He started a consulting company called Practice Of Innovation, which established methods of innovation available to everyone and every firm. Now he teaches at University, aiming to develop a new generation of innovators.
He talks to Economics For Business (econ4business.com) about value creation and innovation as a life skill.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Value Creation is a complex adaptive system. Value creation is a system of many agents, components, arrangements, technologies, constraints, and unpredictable emergent outcomes. There are a challenging number of variables, and there’s a requirement for highly integrated collaboration and recursive and iterative process, utilizing adaptive feedback loops and continuous readjustment. It’s hard — and quite rare — to get right and easy to get wrong.
The essential element of value creation is the mental model. The mental model for value creation is solving important and meaningful problems for others. It shouldn’t be about launching a new business or a new technology, but about helping others. And, since people don’t think in terms of “I have a problem to solve,” the value creator must also understand the customer’s mental model. They experience dissatisfactions. They wish things could be better. They make trade-offs. They can’t always articulate what they want. They have to learn what to want, and value creators can help them to understand what they can want in the future.
Mental models are fundamentally important to the creation of value. We all have mental models of the way we’d like the world to work. The value creator is able to identify — “get inside” — others’ mental models and see the world the way others see it. This perspective is vital — the critical first step in the value creation process.
The calculus of value is subjective. Value can only be defined by the individual who experiences it. Individuals make a mental calculation of value – it might include some numbers and some thoughts, feelings, preferences, and ideas. They are able to make this calculation in their own mind, even though the potential costs and benefits lay in the future.
The dimensions of value are many. When evaluating the purchase of a car, for instance, the price is part of the calculation, but so is the appearance and pride of ownership, the comfort, the gas mileage, the color of the seats, the cost of maintenance, and many, many more features and attributes and functional and emotional benefits.
Despite the difficulty and complexity, people are agile and adept at making this complex calculation. Value creators must be able to appreciate how customers make the subjective calculation — the calculus of value.
The removal of barriers to the experience of value is a good way to create it. Convenience is often highly valued by customers. It represents the removal of barriers to value – easier to operate, less time taken, less physical or mental effort required. These are all valuable. The iPhone provided a more convenient way to enter data (responsive touch screen versus traditional keypad), and this played a big part in its adoption and success. The mental model is that people want to do things that are easy to do. They don’t want the clumsiness of a tiny keyboard on a phone. They don’t want to read a 20-page user guide for a new piece of software. They don’t want packages that are difficult to open or retail stores that are crowded and hard to shop. Identifying and understanding mental models like these gives skilled value creators their competitive advantage. If barriers are perceived negatively by customers, then create value for them by getting rid of barriers.
A need is not a problem to be solved. A need is a mental model. Reframing is the tool for understanding. Curt uses the example of the slow elevator in a prestigious office tower. Residents complain. Engineers might try to solve the problem by re-engineering the elevator for greater speed. A value creator would try to identify the mental model of the complainers. That’s reframing. They are annoyed because they feel that their valuable time is being wasted; they’re bored for a few seconds. Understanding this mental model opens up the possibility for new value approaches. Add a digital screen in the elevator with a news feed so that people can use the time to catch up on the latest headlines. Or add a mirror so that they can use the time to check their clothes and hair before going into the meeting.
Most value creation challenges can be better addressed through reframing. In fact, Curt describes his innovation method as “relentless reframing”. The art of value creation is teasing out the customer’s mental model. Do it again and again, back and forth between the value creator and the customer, to get the understanding of the customer’s mental model right.
Value creation is coupled with innovation: VC&I. The definition of innovation is not just the new idea or new product or new service. It’s the sustainability of any new solution once it’s delivered into the marketplace. Customers use it and prefer it, they pay enough for it to sustain the financial business model, they repeat their purchases and provide supportive comments and assessments. To be truly sustainable, the innovation must appeal to a lot of people, not just a few early adopters. The benefits must be greater than the costs to the user, based initially on their value calculus, and subsequently on their actual experience. And the offering must be better than competition. To get customers to change from a competitive offering, Curt says the degree of superiority must be 2X to 10X.
Curt uses the N-A-B-C process tool as a methodology for innovation teams. On previous visits to the Economics For Business podcast, Curt has laid out the framework of his N-A-B-C model and how to use it. See our E4B graphic tool (Mises.org/E4B_175_PDF) and the Key Takeaways summary from the podcast #37 (Mises.org/E4E_37).
N = Need: Identifying and understanding the customer’s mental model, and perceiving the world as they perceive it, getting to their perspective of how the world can be improved. This is where relentless reframing applies.
A = Approach: Designing an innovative solution with a sustainable business model. The temptation is always to jump straight to the approach without truly understanding the Need, according to Curt. This always leads to error and requires a pivot.
B>C = Benefits Per Costs: This is the customer’s value calculus, very hard to get right as a result of its multi-dimensionality and combination of qualitative and quantitative measures.
C = Competition: What are the alternatives among which customers are choosing, whether direct or indirect - remembering that not buying anything is an alternative they’ll consider. Overcoming inertia requires a high degree of superiority.
Our econ4business.com toolkit (Mises.org/E4B_175_PDF) includes a full explanation of how to apply this tool.
Value Creation and Innovation is a life skill that can be taught to everyone. Solving others’ problems is a deeply human activity. We’re all wired to do it for each other, every day. Value creation can be taught to kids of any age in school, and it can become a life skill. It can be taught to people studying any discipline in universities and colleges, from humanities to hard sciences, so that they can apply it in their field. It can be taught in every firm, whatever the line of business.
The resultant life skill is the mental model that life is about solving meaningful problems for others. It’s about understanding and appreciating others’ mental models. Reframing is the tool for gaining this understanding. Value creation is a fundamental capacity for everyone. They can make an impact on society by solving problems that matter.
Additional Resources "N-A-B-C Innovation Process" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_175_PDF
Curt Carlson on Innovation Champions: Mises.org/E4E_91
"Answering the Million Dollar Question (Part 1)—How Value Creation Forums Help Create Winning Research Proposals": Mises.org/E4B_175_Article
California's progressive political classes now have a scheme to impose a single-payer system for medical care. If imposed, it will be costly but also ineffective.
Original Article: "California Scheming: The Progressive Leadership's New Plan to Impose High-Cost, Low-Quality Medical Care"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Progressives believe that economies should be run by high-IQ "experts." But successful market economies require entrepreneurs with an idea and the willingness to face uncertain economic conditions.
Original Article: "Market Success Is about Giving People What They Want"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The so-called Great Reset is an attempt by wealthy elites and their allies to control people's lives. Their schemes need to be both exposed and resisted.
Original Article: "The Great Reset: Turning Back the Clock on Civilization"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Year-over-year PPI growth came in at over 10 percent for the sixth month in a row. This will put more pressure on the Fed to "do something."
Original Article: "Wholesale Prices Rise More than 10 Percent, Pointing to Continued Price Hikes"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Progressives have long pushed for a state dominated by a new class of "scientific" experts who are supposedly nonpolitical and pursuing only "good government." It's a fantasy many people still believe.
Original Article: "Why Progressives Love Government 'Experts'"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Though Kuttner thinks the New Deal a great success, he himself lays out some of its many problems.
Original Article: "The New Deal: Admissions against Interest"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Forget the notion that the Fed "fights inflation." In fact, the Fed exists to promote inflation.
Original Article: "Even When There Is Inflation, the Fed STILL Fights Falling Prices"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
A Google engineer is in hot water for claiming the company's chatbot tech had become sentient. Meanwhile, Jerome Powell presumes to fight inflation technocratically, by raising the Fed Funds rate nearly a full percentage point. So is the engineer correct? Do technology and machine learning portend an end to scarcity and a solution to monetary policy? Jeff and Bob discuss.
Google Engineer Blake Lemoine's interview with LaMDA: Mises.org/HAP348-LaMDA Charles Haywood's on why AI is overblown: Mises.org/348-Haywood Read 'Yes, a Planned Economy Can Actually Work' at Jacobin: Mises.org/348-Jacobin Read Bureaucracy by Mises: Mises.org/Bureaucracy Bob's article on the Socialist Calculation Problem debate: Mises.org/348-Murphy
Totalitarian societies do not become that way overnight. There are recognizable signs and stages which show how a society slides into that abyss.
Original Article: "The Five Stages of Totalitarianism"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The theory of real business cycles won a Nobel Prize, but it ultimately confuses cause with effect.
Original Article: "Are Technology Shocks Responsible for Business Cycles? In a Word, No."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Tho Bishop introduces a new Mises Institute podcast: War, Economy, and State, with Ryan McMaken and Zachary Yost. The War, Economy, and State podcast covers geopolitics and international relations from a free-market and anti-interventionist perspective. You can subscribe at Mises.org/WES.
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
The Davos crowd sold globalization as a way to bring nations together. Unfortunately, by insisting on political conformity, the globalists have set the world on fire.
Original Article: "Instead of Uniting the World, Globalization Has Set Nation against Nation"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Skyrocketing asset prices are great for hedge fund managers and Wall Street types, but they increasingly drive ordinary people into unsustainably large amounts of debt.
Original Article: "Are Today's Homeownership Rates Sustainable?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Negative feedback loops are the ultimate source of value. Mises called it “uneasiness and the image of a more satisfactory state”. Bill Gates said that “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning”. Negative feedback loops give us the opportunity to improve our service delivery capacity, and the value proposition behind it. Sterling Hawkins has identified the ultimate feedback loop for personal performance. He calls it discomfort. We should seek discomfort, analyze it, understand it, and utilize it as an ultimate tool for improvement. His book is titled Hunting Discomfort (Mises.org/E4B_174_Book) and we talk to him about it on the Economics For Business podcast.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Discomfort is a feedback system. There will always be physical, mental, emotional, or even spiritual discomfort in our lives. It’s necessary and useful. It signals to us how we are interacting with our environment. It keeps us oriented. Sterling’s case is that we shouldn’t try to avoid it, we should embrace it – he recommends that we actively practice hunting discomfort. Once we find it and embrace it we work our way through it, and the result is personal growth. We get better.
First, face reality. The first discomfort Sterling outlines is facing reality. In business, we often say that it’s a great challenge to align the firm’s internal assessment of reality with what is actually going on in the external environment, especially in times of rapid change. We may just not see reality accurately. Our product may not be as well-liked by customers as our research tells us it is.
We can’t change reality, but we can change how we see it. We can change our belief structure. One way is to run many experiments where we can objectively and empirically measure results, and expand on what works and discard what doesn’t. We might find some things that work that we didn’t believe could. And we might find that we thought worked simply does not. Both represent valuable learning and provide us with a reality we can grasp.
Eliminate self-doubt. Self-doubt is mentally wrestling with questions and beliefs and insecurities. It’s the world of “I might” rather than “I will”. Sterling’s advice is that self-doubt can be a gift. It indicates an unwillingness or inability to commit. And yet commitment is often associated with entrepreneurial success. It’s part of what Professor Peter Klein calls entrepreneurial judgment: the capacity to choose which action to take and to follow through with it.
Choose your commitment as wisely as you can – which includes choosing those actions not to take. Sterling’s metaphor is Get A Tattoo. It’s an irreversible commitment everyone can see.
Some people find discomfort in exposure. If you commit, you might feel more exposure than you’re comfortable with. You might have to raise money, when it’s not your skill. You may have to make a presentation about which you’re not feeling 100& comfortable. You might be the only one expressing disagreement in a meeting full of groupthinkers.
Sterling’s recipe is to assemble a support group — he calls it your street gang. They’re supporters, subject matter experts, mentors. You’ll make your commitment to them, and they in turn will give you honest feedback, trust, and loyalty. You’ll still be committed but you won’t feel so exposed.
We take on greater and greater challenges — and that’s uncomfortable. As businesses take shape and grow, the challenges only get bigger. We might get to the point where we want to avoid some of the big challenges. But that’s the wrong viewpoint. The alternative is to turn challenges into an opportunity to find new ways to utilize our resources — to use them as a portal to advance from the status quo to a new reality. The method is reframing. What if you tried the opposite of the status quo solution? What if you looked at the challenge through someone else’s eyes, using their mental model rather than your own – what would they do? What if you change the assumptions about the way you’re addressing the challenge? There are many ways to reframe challenges, and reframing can release you and give you new energy.
The greatest discomfort is uncertainty. Economists talk endlessly about uncertainty in business. It’s a consequence of the unknowable future. But you own your own uncertainty — for entrepreneurs, it’s a feeling, not an economic concept. It’s subjective. We’re not only uncertain about outcomes, but about resources, about financing, about our capacity, about our partners. Uncertainty is multi-dimensional. It’s also guaranteed — we can’t avoid it.
Economists, therefore, say that entrepreneurs bear uncertainty. It’s what they do. It comes with the job. Sterling’s word is surrender: don’t fight or fear uncertainty, but accept it willingly as a cost. Give up resistance. Get into your discomfort zone. Entrepreneurs need to be doing hard things most of the time, however uncomfortable that might be.
Additional Resources Hunting Discomfort. How To Get Breakthrough Results In Life And Business No Matter What by Sterling Hawkins: Mises.org/E4B_174_Book
Visit SterlingHawkins.com
The Fair Tax is a supposed alternative to the income tax. But the name does not matter, since a tax is still a tax.
Original Article: "The Fair Tax Is the Tax That Will Not Die"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Inflation is at a forty-year high, fuel prices are wreaking havoc, and there's no end in sight. Time for Biden to tell us how good we have it.
Original Article: "Will Punch-Drunk Biden Take America Down with Him?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
In seeking membership in NATO, Finland and Sweden seem to believe they will have more military security. But they also are giving up their precious independence.
Original Article: "Finland and Sweden in NATO: Disregarding the Benefits of Neutrality"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Since the state is incorrigible and incapable of being reformed, perhaps the best way to deal with government predations is to boycott the elections.
Original Article: "Let's Boycott Them!"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Today, inflation and prices are soaring. We know that Federal Reserve monetary policy is the cause. But why didn't something similar happen after the 2008 financial crash?
Bob Murphy and professor Ross McKitrick discuss the government policies, Fed actions, and banking movements that lead up to the 2008 crisis, and why the current economic situation is different.
Ross McKitrick on inflation then versus now: Mises.org/HAP-McKitrick Bob explains how Keynesians missed the latest bout of price inflation: Mises.org/HAP347-Murphy Bob's book Understanding Money Mechanics: Mises.org/Mechanics
Vladimir Putin (not unlike President George W. Bush) has led his country into a destructive war, yet the Russian political leadership enjoys wide public support.
Original Article: "Why Russia's Authoritarian Regime Continues to Enjoy Public Support"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop look at the question of election integrity and what it means for the regime. How should we look at the allegations made in the film 2,000 Mules? How should we view the concept of election security? What does history tell us about the relationship between state power and voter turnout? Tune in for this and more on this week's episode of Radio Rothbard.
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
The Great Reset usually is framed as the reestablishment of democratic social principles. In reality, it's an attempt to do away with the last vestiges of classical liberalism.
Original Article: "Covid and Its Statist Legacy: How Did We Get to This Point?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Once upon a time, the progressive hero was "socialist man." Today, we have "Davos man," who is ready to plan your life for you—your wishes notwithstanding.
Original Article: "Davos Man Is at It Again: The 2022 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The Great Reset usually is framed as the reestablishment of democratic social principles. In reality, it's an attempt to do away with the last vestiges of classical liberalism.
Original Article: "The Backstory of the Great Reset, or How to Destroy Classical Liberalism"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Because of Elon Musk's attempt to take over Twitter, Tesla has been removed from the S&P's ESG Index, an action that exposes ESG for what it really is: a woke cartel.
Original Article: "Elon Musk versus the Woke Cartel"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Jeff and Dr. Murphy discuss a recent interview with IMF economist Manmohan Singh in the context of central banks co-opting digital technology for bad ends.
Find Manmohan Singh's Interview: Mises.org/HAP-Singh Janet Yellen, "I was wrong about inflation": Mises.org/HAP-Yellen Kristoffer Hansen on the basics of central bank digital currencies: Mises.org/HAP-Hansen Block and Barnett on Maturity Mismatching: Mises.org/HAP-BlockBarnett
In this episode of Radio Rothbard, Jeff Deist and Ryan McMaken talk police, guns, gun control, and the 2nd Amendment.
Recommended Reading "Uvalde's Biggest Mistake Was Trusting the Police to Keep Us Safe" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_84_A
"Politicizing Mass Shootings Only Guarantees There Will Be More of Them" by Bill Anderson: Mises.org/RR_84_B
"Police Botched the Uvalde Standoff. Now Gun Controllers Want to Give Police More Power." by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_84_C
"Just How Common Are School Shootings?" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_84_D
"End the Incorporation Doctrine" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_84_E
"Police Have No Duty to Protect You, Federal Court Affirms Yet Again" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_84_F
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
The African Continent Free Trade Area has the potential to serve Africans and bring about better living standards. However, it is threatened by government attempts to "manage" trade.
Original Article: "To Succeed, the AfCFTA Must Be about Actual Free Trade, Not Government-Managed 'Free Trade'"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
There are two competing visions for the Right.
Original Article: "The New Postliberalism"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The proabortion centralist line of "accept our definition of human rights, or else" is what we'd expect from the imperialists of old who claimed the "savages" in the colonies couldn't be trusted with self-government.
Original Article: "Federal Control of Abortion Laws Is Modern Colonialism"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
After the 2008 housing bust, the government supposedly set up a fail-safe mortgage program aimed at preventing future bubbles. It failed.
Original Article: "The Fed's Latest Housing Bubble"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Recorded at Maggiano’s Little Italy in Orlando, Florida, on May 14, 2022.
Slides used in this talk are available here.
Special thanks to Greg and Julann Roe for sponsoring this event.
A strange strand of thought has emerged in European political economy circles that has been given the name of The Entrepreneurial State. The headline claim is that the state (i.e., nation state governments) can and should intervene in the economy to bring about innovation, and that, indeed, it is absolutely necessary for grand, mission-driven undertakings such as climate change amelioration and the commercial development of next-generation technologies. Economics For Business talked to Christian Sandström, co-editor with Karl Wennberg, of Questioning The Entrepreneurial State (see Mises.org/E4B_172_Book), a compendium of analysis by thirty-two leading economists (including friends of E4B such as Peter G. Klein, Samuele Murtinu, and Saras Sarasvathy) to demonstrate the fallacies of the case for an entrepreneurial state. There’s a lot of sound economics to be learned from Professor Sandström’s book.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights There’s a warm climate in Europe for government solutions to perceived economic problems. “The entrepreneurial state” is one of the forms these solutions take. Entrepreneurship is well-developed in Europe, and recognized as a growth accelerator. Nevertheless, since 2008-9, country-level growth rates have been below expectations.
Professor Mariana Mazzucato originated the concept of “the entrepreneurial state”, telling fellow economists that they were all wrong in expecting growth to come from private entrepreneurship. Only government has the scope and scale to act entrepreneurially at the level of lifting the growth rate of the whole economy, overcoming the barriers to the introduction and commercialization of new technologies, and tackling the great missions such as climate change amelioration. Historically, she claims, this precedence has always applied: the state leads innovation and private entrepreneurs follow to fine tune the details of marketplace adoption and implementation.
The ongoing failure of Green Deals represents just one illustration of the errors of the entrepreneurial state. One essay in Professor Sandström’s book spotlights what he calls Green Deals: directed investments in various technologies aiming at so-called sustainable development. Public funds distort incentives in the market, making it “rational” for firms to pursue technologies without long-term potential.
One of his examples is a municipality in northern Sweden that accumulated billions of Swedish Krona in debt investing in industrial plant aiming to create car fuel from cellulose, with the ambition of creating an environmentally friendly substitute for gasoline, which would also result in new jobs and a regional resurgence in competitiveness. The process of extracting ethanol from cellulose proved to be more difficult than promised, and no technological breakthroughs occurred. The 2008 recession resulted in falling prices for ethanol, yet more public money was poured in. The end result has been a high debt burden on the municipality, no new jobs, and no reindustrialization for the region.
As Professor Sandström and his co-author Carl Alm conclude, this case and other similar cases stand in stark contrast to ideas about an entrepreneurial state successfully taking on risk and pursuing new technological opportunities.
There are fundamental reasons why governments can’t act entrepreneurially. First, governments don’t operate in markets and they are not subject to market tests, like going out of business if they fail to meet customer needs. They bear no genuine entrepreneurial risk. They have no competitors and so no process of competitive refinement and improvement. Their entrepreneurial actions can’t be evaluated. In effect, they want to achieve innovation without entrepreneurship, which is an impossibility.
Governments lack the required competence for the tasks they claim to be able to undertake. Peter Klein, Samuele Murtinu and Nicolai Foss introduce and explain the economic concept of ownership competence. Entrepreneurs operating in competitive markets have strong incentives (i.e., their own property and their own funds) to allocate resources that they own or control to the most productive applications and to generating the value that the market prizes most highly. Knowing what to own, when to own it (or dispose of it), and how to create value through ownership, all under conditions of uncertainty, requires a skill set that bureaucrats and public actors don’t have and can’t exercise. Public employees can’t exercise the ultimate responsibility that comes with ownership.
Bureaucrats can’t reproduce the human factors of entrepreneurship. Saras Sarasvathy introduced us to the entrepreneurial method of business innovation in episode #131 (Mises.org/E4B_131). Entrepreneurs self-select into the role of uncertainty-bearing, and then initiate projects and advance through a process of market co-creation, making commitments and then adjusting those commitments based on feedback loops and customer responses. They develop a lived experience that enables them to identify new goals to pursue and new means for pursuing them along the pathway. Creativity and adaptability are more relevant to success than investing acumen and planning.
Governments can’t operate in this way. They place big bets, with quantitative goals and illusions of predictability of outcomes, and they pay with other people’s money. They are not capable of finding the serendipity that guides the entrepreneur.
Governments don’t understand the innovative generativity of new technologies. Professor Sandström’s book includes quite extensive examination of what is identified as the Digital Platform Economy (DPE) — the digital entrepreneurial ecosystem of platform access to markets, data, algorithms, and cloud computing capacity (There’s a useful report on the DPE provided in the book at Mises.org/E4B_172_PDF). Digital platforms are enablers for entrepreneurial creativity and business building as a consequence of the access that they give to new business tools and the interconnections to resources, both human and material. The platforms are provided by private companies, and the resulting value creation is user and customer co-generated.
Governments misunderstand the Digital Platform Economy. They see platform providers as monopolistic owners of excessive market power to be regulated and taxed, and totally miss the value generation of hyper-connectivity between buyers and sellers, the complementarity of firms on both sides of the platform, the open access and the lowered transaction costs.
These digital platforms will do much more to encourage entrepreneurial growth than any government ever could.
Governments’ errors are repeated because there is no genuine evaluation of their activities, initiatives, and “missions”. Professor Sandström investigated the way that the results of government innovation expenditures and initiatives are assessed. He found that most evaluations are conducted by consultants, paid by the hour and mindful of the opportunity for future business if their work is well-received by the government that employs them. Some other assessments are conducted by the government departments themselves.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Professor Sandström could find only 5% of these assessments that were critical in any way (mostly simply to say that the desired results were not achieved).
Moreover, the assessments were economically incomplete. There was no identification or discussion of opportunity costs (what better uses could the funds have been put to) or of administrative costs, which are high since bureaucratic infrastructure grows with each new initiative.
The government’s best role is to remove itself as a barrier, and possibly to help remove additional barriers (for which it often bears responsibility in the first place). Is there such a thing as innovation policy? Professor Sandström says no. He does point out that, in the Austrian tradition, removing barriers to entrepreneurship can help to create the type of environment in which innovation can flourish. This might involve the elimination of legislation and regulation that gets in the way. It could also include nurturing educational institutions to bring the right kinds of thinking and learned skills into the marketplace.
Any such initiative should be general and non-selective. Picking winners should be left to markets.
Additional Resources Questioning the Entrepreneurial State: Status-quo, Pitfalls, and the Need for Credible Innovation Policy, edited by Karl Wennberg and Chris Sandström (PDF and ePub): Mises.org/E4B_172_Book
"The Digital Platform Economy Index" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_172_PDF
Chris Sandström on Twitter: @ChrisSandstrom
Krugman’s recent NYT column on Russia features commentary on trade surpluses that is at best very misleading.
Original Article: "What Krugman Gets Right and Wrong on Trade Surpluses"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
While supporters of the Biden administration fault Putin for shortages, Austrian economists know the answer lies in Washington's monetary and economic mismanagement.
Original Article: "Austrian Economists Are Not Surprised by the Shortages"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
While the covid-19 pandemic brought sickness and death, another pandemic raged through Washington: abuse of executive power.
Original Article: "The Pandemic of Executive Overreach Comes to an End. When Will the Next One Begin?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Jeff and Bob take a look at the misnamed "World Economic Forum" and its conference this past week in Davos, focusing on their recently published report.
Read the WEF's Chief Economists Outlook: Mises.org/WEF22
The presence of American companies in foreign nations was once seen as a sign of American superiority and an instrument of American cultural power. Not anymore.
Original Article: "McDonald's Closes All Stores in Russia as Woke Russophobes Rage"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
In this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop consider progressivism as a form of modern colonialism. The response to the prospects of the Supreme Court overturning Roe vs. Wade has highlighted the degree to which the American left—particularly those that reside in major blue cities—can't live with the concept of other areas of the country not abiding by what they see as moral absolutes. Ryan and Tho look at how this tension is shaping the modern political landscape, and they discuss the history of this impulse towards "liberal" centralization.
Recommended Reading "The New Postliberalism" by Jeff Deist: Mises.org/RR_83_A
"Federal Control of Abortion Laws Is Modern Colonialism" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_83_B
"The Clash of Metropolis and Colony" by Charles and Mary Beard: Mises.org/RR_83_C
"Why the US Supports Secession for Africans, but Not for Americans" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_83_D
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
The combination of covid lockdowns, money pumping, and attempts to force a new green economy are taking their toll. This is not going away any time soon.
Original Article: "It's Not Just the USA: The Economic Instability Is Global"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
While the standard secular narrative is that Christianity held back science and human development, history tells a different story, one of literacy and the development of human capital.
Original Article: "Christianity and the Development of Human Capital: Challenging the Narratives"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The Europeans are welcome to keep NATO going if they like. But the time has come for the United States to exit.
Original Article: "NATO Plans to Rip Off Americans Even More as Sweden and Finland Set to Join"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Everything from huge Keynesian "stimulus" policies to the war in Ukraine is dovetailing in a bout of stagflation: the simultaneous growth of inflation and unemployment.
Original Article: "Massive State Economic Intervention Has Led to This Point"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Recorded at Maggiano’s Little Italy in Orlando, Florida, on May 14, 2022.
Special thanks to Greg and Julann Roe for sponsoring this event.
How do businesses actually manage — rather than plan for — continuous change? The increasing adoption of systems thinking in business tells us that the world is changing very fast, and companies need to change at least as fast as their environment in order to thrive. It’s comfortable to talk about but hard and uncomfortable to do. Most people prefer to continue to do what they’re used to rather than embrace change and constant experimentation.
There’s a lot to be learned from the military where special forces are trained to specialize in rapid reaction in chaotic or VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) worlds. They face an ever-changing environment (often described as kinetic). They have a very pure evolutionary process: what wins, survives. While the military organization is hierarchical, military operations are flat so that tactical decisions can be made by the people on the ground.
While we are anti-war, we can nevertheless recognize that the military has experience and expertise in managing and organizing for continuous change. We can learn from it.
There are significant barriers to overcome to implement rapid change management in business. Certainly, the time scales are different. Companies change at an intergenerational pace, one generation of managers (or managerial techniques) learning from the last one. In hierarchical organizations, people reach managerial and executive positions by accumulating experience. By the time they get to their high position in the hierarchy, they have locked in an old mental model. They miss the signals of change and fall back on preconceived ideas and notions and methods.
In addition, there is considerable inertia to overcome — a resistance to change that acts as a blocker to agility. It’s human nature to resist change. Once a company has established a niche or a market share, it’s genuinely hard to abandon the strategy or the tooling or the products and services and the marketing that got them there.
To put it in military terms, change is a constant battle.
Situational awareness is a set of tools that are transferable from military to business to improve management of change. Situational awareness governs how well your understanding of the world maps to reality. It operates along two perspectives and 3 time frames.
Internal situational awareness concerns the orientation of your firm, resources, capacity, the capabilities of your team, morale and so on. External situational awareness concerns markets, competitors, customers, trends, technologies, and all the environmental factors that are subject to change.
The three timeframes in military terminology are tactical, operational, and strategic.
The tactical timeframe concerns people on the ground in contact with the environment. In business, this can be the sales team or customer service or engineers in direct contact with customers. They’re doing implementation work but they are also the sensing mechanism. They may have daily or even hourly cycles for intention to change, making the change, learning from the consequences of the change and moving forward to the next change. They must be empowered, trained and equipped, and confident about their freedom of action and adaptation.
The strategic timeframe is the macroeconomic scale of what the firm is trying to achieve for the customer. This frame may be months or years, and dictates how to organize, how to invest, and where to allocate resources.
The operational timeframe is between the other two. How does the firm integrate short term implementational excellence with long term strategic engagement with a changing environment? How does the firm integrate all the hourly and daily information coming from the front line with the long-term investments and resource allocation projects? In a software business for example, there may be a trade-off between building new tooling, which takes time, and rapidly delivering products from established tooling.
How to apply situational awareness. Actively use the 6-box framework (internal /external perspectives, tactical/ operational/ strategic timeframes.
To achieve better alignment of internal / external timeframes, look for mismatches across boundaries in the firm. Do the people working on the front line have the same understanding of the importance of the work as the managers and executives. Does getting thing done seem more difficult than it should be? Are the feedback loops fast? Is the information in the feedback loops spread throughout the firm, through multiple teams, divisions and silos? What’s the gap between perceived ideals and actual experience?
To implement across three time frames is an exercise in portfolio balancing and active discovery, with a high premium on sensing skills.
How much time and resource effort should a firm spend on refining its tooling (the operational timeframe) so that every produced end-product is exactly the same (the tactical timeframe) while keeping an eye out for environmental change, when a future competitor might introduce a faster cheaper product (the strategic timeframe)?
As Austrian economics always stresses, there’s no objective answer, just subjective learning from experience. For example, Netflix was part of the strategic timeframe that Blockbuster failed to manage. Blockbuster was operating its stores in a proven fashion (tactical) and adding new stores (operational), while rejecting the implications of the Netflix model. Today (May 2021), Netflix shows signs of missing some strategic signals. They made content their focus (tactical) and built original production capability (operational) but may be finding that customer tastes are changing and the appeal of their produced content is in decline (strategic).
Similarly, for the last few years, funding has been easy for startups (tactical) and so they have focused on long term market development (strategic) without hitting profit and cash flow milestones (operational). Now that funding is drying up, they are having to shore up their operational capabilities.
There are a couple of techniques that are helpful. One is Horizon Scanning: allocating some resources to identifying and picking out future external scenarios that represent potential change or strategic threats and building a response in advance. Another is red team thinking: mapping out future internal failure modes and then working backwards from them to identify the trip wires to look out for, and to nip emerging issues in the bud.
The after action review (AAR) is an important element of situational awareness. The AAR is applied not just in the military but in fast change business environments such as agile software development. It’s a tool to separate the quality of the decision you made from the outcome of the action that you took. We tend to get attached to our decisions, even if they were based on poor principles.
The components of an AAR include:
What was expected to happen?What actually happened?What went well and why?What can be improved and how? The discussion must be open and honest without hierarchy or blame. As far as possible, everyone on the team should participate so that all perspectives can be included. The focus is on results and dentification of ways to sustain what was done well as well as the development of recommendations on ways to overcome obstacles. It’s really important to identify with high fidelity what happened, because only then is there a good chance to identify new opportunities or trends with equal fidelity. In situations of uncertainty, it’s important to identify “what happened” accurately, in order to be able to identify what it means and what it implies for future actions.
AAR becomes part of disciplined execution. The Economics For Business community is familiar with the explore/expand method of managing business complexity: explore many options through experimentation and expand (by allocating more resources) those that show good results. Annika Steiber in episode 170 (Mises.org/E4B_170) called this capability “ambidexterity” — combining two logics of business in consistent and reliable execution on one hand and openness to change and exploration on the other.
Ben expands this thinking into the concept of disciplined execution. Once a process is proven and is producing reliable results, map it out carefully and then take individual steps or parts of the process and see if they can be further improved, e.g., by automation, without changing the outputs. Processes thus become more resource efficient in producing their output. Always be trying to improve what you already do well.
Similarly, once an “explore” project starts to become productive, apply the same continuous improvement standard. Map the process, examine parts that can be improved, and do so part by part so production is maintained and efficiency is increased.
All of this change dynamic should be driven from the bottom up. Process improvements, fast responses to feedback loops, experimentation and rapid change are all insurgencies — the established hierarchy and mental models will often find them hard to embrace. Insurgency is a bottom-up dynamic. When transformation is pushed from the top down, it often happens that the territory changes before the consultants have drawn the new map. The hierarchy’s role is to provide strong alignment with the orientation of the firm and its culture and vision-mission, alongside loose control of front-line action.
Additional Resources "Apply Situational Awareness To Manage Change" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_171_PDF
Ben Ford’s website, where you’ll find his Mission Control services: MissionCtrl.dev
Ben Ford’s LinkedIn page, with a lot of presentations and recordings to learn from: Mises.org/E4B_171_LinkedIn
Recorded at Maggiano’s Little Italy in Orlando, Florida, on May 14, 2022.
Special thanks to Greg and Julann Roe for sponsoring this event.
Trying to interpret the actions of Vladimir Putin or politics in Russia using Western narratives is likely to end in failure.
Original Article: "Understanding Russia's War: The Strange Philosophy of Aleksandr Dugin"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
We spend a lot of time on this show talking about central banking. This week we talk about central bankers themselves, from Powell to Brainard to Lagarde to Greenspan. Robert Aro joins.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Tho Bishop is joined by JP Cortez of the Sound Money Defense League (SoundMoneyDefense.org). JP, a Mises U alum, talks about the ongoing legislative battles over money at the state level. Which states are doing the most to challenge the Fed? What are some of the most important policies worth fighting for in the future?
To learn more about the Monetary Metals scholarship, visit MoneyMetals.com/Scholarship.
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Persistently loose monetary policies always have negative growth and distributional effects that impair political stability. In extreme cases, there are civil wars and armed conflicts between countries.
Original Article: "Inflation, War, and Oil: How Today's Crises Are Rehashing the 1970s"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
In the first episode of this new podcast, Ryan McMaken and Zachary Yost discuss NATO, Turkey, Russia, and why the USA needs to leave it all behind.
Be sure to follow War, Economy, and State at Mises.org/WES.
The latest Keynesian money-printing and spending schemes are blowing up. It is time to hear what the Austrians have to say.
Original Article: "It Just Might Be Time to Listen to the Austrians"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Proponents of arming Ukraine against Russia call critics "isolationists" as a pejorative term. But these "entangling alliances" have a history of sad endings with tragic results.
Original Article: "Noninterventionism Is Not Isolationism: The US Government Should Stop Arming Ukraine"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Innovation in organization is at least equal in importance to technological innovation and product / service innovation. It tends to get less attention, which is a great opportunity for imaginative entrepreneurs to implement change for competitive advantage. Dr. Annika Steiber has studied organizational innovation for over twenty years and is a global authority. She shares her insights with Economics For Business, including her analysis of the most dramatic organizational innovation of all, Rendanheyi.
Professor Steiber’s most recent book is Leadership For A Digital World (Mises.org/E4B_170_Book1), and is her most comprehensive guide yet for business management in the digital age. She’s the author of eleven books, including The Google Model (Mises.org/E4B_170_Book2) and The Silicon Valley Model (Mises.org/E4B_170_Book3).
Her Menlo College Rendanheyi Silicon Valley webinars are available at Menlo.edu/Webinars.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Organizational innovation doesn’t get the attention it merits, even though it can contribute greatly to customer value generation. Innovation thinking tends to focus on technology innovation and product/service innovation, with the definition of innovation as the successful introduction of new customer value to markets. Organizational innovation is not often seen through that lens. But it should be. We can reframe the problem this way: does bad organizational structure subtract from the customer value experience? We can all think of ways in which it might do so: for example, poor customer service when customer-facing employees are not empowered, and layers of bureaucracy that impede responsiveness to customer needs. In those cases, organizational innovation could readily generate improved customer experiences and enhanced customer value.
Dr. Steiber had made organizational innovation her research focus for over two decades.
There are a small number of organizational innovators, and a lot of imitators. Google has been one of the originators of new organizational models. Many organizational innovations are pre-packaged — LEAN is an example — and implementers are following someone else’s lead. Others are long drawn out evolutions of incremental improvement without a great burst of innovation.
One example of what Dr. Steiber calls "an entirely new animal" in organizational innovation can be found in the early years of Google, which she studied first hand — she was embedded in Google as an independent researcher. She observed a different management model than anything she had seen before anywhere in the world. From this research, Professor Steiber developed six new management principles, published in her book The Google Model, and summarized in our free PDF (Mises.org/E4B_170_PDF).
Silicon Valley companies employed and expanded on the Google Model. Dr. Steiber studies the peers of Google in Silicon Valley and found that they all adopted the Google Model and its six principles, some more slowly than others. Interestingly, her research pointed to a DNA advantage for Silicon Valley going back to the gold rush: it was a location that attracted and was populated by innovative and entrepreneurial people who were capable of building businesses and new institutions from scratch in the late 19th Century, and in the 20th Century, it was the place where Information Technology emerged, was expanded and accelerated and first put to use in business. Knowledge and knowledge flow replaced management structures and face-to-face administration, including at early pioneers such as Hewlett-Packard.
Read "The HP Way"—an early Silicon Valley organizational innovation manifesto (Mises.org/E4B_170_PDF2).
The six management principles Dr. Steiber describes are:
Dynamic capabilities. Ability to integrate, develop, and reconfigure internal and external competencies in order to meet rapidly changing surroundings.
A continuously changing organization. Instead of waiting and springing into action after needs become pressing, a company should ensure that its organization is permeated with a proactive approach to change.
A people-centric approach. People-centric, focusing on the individual and liberating their innovative power and providing them with a setting in which they can express their creativity.
An ambidextrous organization. Two different forms of organizational logic within the same organization: daily production, which works best with a conventional planning-and-control approach, and innovation, which requires greater freedom, flexibility, and a more open attitude toward experimentation. An ambidextrous organization must successfully handle and utilize the energy inherent in the contrast between these two forms of logic.
An open organization that networks with its surroundings. Permeable boundaries and a constant and conscious exchange of information with the surroundings. Long-term survival requires that companies develop into more open networking systems.
A systems approach. A holistic view of the system and understanding that the system can spontaneously develop new characteristics that can be difficult to predict. These new characteristics can be positive, negative or a combination of the two, creating a demand for additional measures, such as decreasing the fallout from unexpected negative system effects.
We highlighted a couple of these new management principles.
A continuously changing organization The most successful companies are designed for constant renewal. They expect change all the time, and they lead its development. They aim for excellence on every dimension, applying three layers of expertise:
Be proactive: Search for change internally and externally. Embrace it and practice it.Experimentation culture: Try every initiative assuming that it could be a new opportunity. Mobilize fast.Don’t follow. Take the lead, change the standard, be disruptive rather than disrupted, practice creative destruction. These companies never lose external focus, continuously monitoring developments and competitors that could disrupt them, and constantly market-testing new initiatives. They have highly developed sensing capabilities.
An ambidextrous organization Combining the two logics of flawless daily execution for known established businesses and exploratory experimentation seeking unknown new business innovation is an organizational breakthrough. It’s a systemic view of an organization combining different kinds of leadership for the two styles, different cultural signals, different milestones, different incentives, and different evaluation criteria. One system is designed for stability and one for change.
Rendanheyi: the most radically entrepreneurial organizational innovation. True organizational innovation is very rare, but there is a new one that Professor Steiber described for E4B called Rendanheyi.
Rendanheyi is an organizational innovation for the network age in which a large company (Haier, the Chinese company that first instituted the model has 70,000 employees) splits itself into hundreds of microenterprises of averagely 60-70 people — but could be as low as 10 or so - each enterprise performing as its own entrepreneurial business with its own P&L, its own customer base, and control over hiring, budget, and distribution of profit, and over its own value-adding line of business. Defining characteristics include:
No bureaucracy, hierarchy, or pyramid forms of organization; no managers.Employees are not referred to as such — everyone can be an entrepreneur is the mantra; they choose which microenterprise to work in. The focus is on the customer or end-user and not on pleasing the manager above. Incentive systems reward all employees for value creation, and all individual employees are constantly trying to understand how to increase value for customers. Increased value creation is rewarded, and so wealth generation is democratized.Zero distance to the end-user: this is a Rendanheyi principle that brings the consumer or customer inside the microenterprise to co-create new value in the form of new products and services and solutions. Wholesalers and retailers, for example, can inject distance between a Haier micro-enterprise and its users; the enterprise might look to digital solutions to eliminate that distance. Generally, they seek to identify barriers to zero distance to the users and get rid of them.End-user is a general term, so that those micro-enterprises that are serving other businesses rather than consumers can nevertheless practice the zero distance principle. For example, there may be a marketing micro-enterprise within Haier that serves a manufacturing micro-enterprise and a sales micro-enterprise. All can be aligned with zero distance and can work to fulfill end-users’ needs.Paid-by-user. This principle focuses micro-enterprises on end-user value by emphasizing that all businesses live or die based on whether the end-user pays them for value perceived, or not. It’s Austrian customer sovereignty in action. The general tendency in paid-by-user is away from transactional relationships to extended relationships across multiple purchases in ecosystems and via subscriptions and memberships. Relationships are an important focus, and the focus is on creating life-time users.
A sports team on the playing field is a sound analogy for Rendanheyi. There is no central control, each team member is collaborating and combining specialized skills for a team result.
There is only limited call for corporate functions at the center of the Rendanheyi organization. There is a role for developing and furthering vision that crosses multiple micro-enterprises, and for portfolio decision-making as to where to invest resources. Some orchestration functions can be assigned to the center — for example, furthering ecosystem thinking whereby micro-enterprises serving a consumer domain such as the kitchen can develop multiple services including information services and integration services across multiple appliances, tasks, and problems for the kitchen ecosystem.
The result of the Rendanheyi model is the animation of a living system, a superorganism. Rendanheyi provides a genuinely new and different perspective on entrepreneurial organization at scale.
Additional Resources "Six Organizational Principles for Adaptive Entrepreneurial Models" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_170_PDF
Rendanheyi Silicon Valley Center: Mises.org/E4B_170_Rendanheyi
Menlo College Rendanheyi Silicon Valley Webinars: Menlo.edu/Webinars
Menlo College Digital Management Courses and Webinars: Executive.Menlo.edu
Enforceable and accepted private property rights can help bring some solutions to the acrimonious debate over transgenderism and transgender rights.
Original Article: "The Transgender Debate Should Be about Women’s Freedom and Private Property Rights"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
France is seeing its wealth-to-income levels rise to Japan's level because it is becoming harder for people to save and build wealth.
Original Article: "France Is Catching Up to Japan, but Not in a Good Way"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Since the early 1960s, African nations have gained political independence from colonial powers, but the monetary colonialism of fiat money continues.
Original Article: "Africa's Way Out of Monetary Colonialism"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Money velocity's role in forcing up prices is misunderstood because today's monetary "authorities" fail to consider how new money is injected into the economy.
Original Article: "The Fed Gets It Wrong on Money Velocity, Too"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Colonialism, imperialism, unfair trade, and more. African politicians look everywhere for the causes of Africa's poverty and chaos but in the mirror.
Original Article: "African Politicians Must Stop Blaming Others for Africa's Economic Woes"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
In the face of the coming hardship, central bankers and globalist institutions are going to demand more power to respond to the crisis they created. Bitcoin gives their political opponents a weapon against them.
Original Article: "From El Salvador to Africa, the Next Currency War Pits Populists against Bankers"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Social issues, from abortion to critical race theory to teaching gender identity in elementary schools, dominate our politics and media.
Original Article: "Why Social Issues Dominate"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Here we are in 2022, worrying about if the world's oldest nuclear powers will be the ones to touch off a global nuclear war. It's not Pakistan or North Korea or "proliferation." It's Washington and Moscow, yet again.
Original Article: "Proliferation Isn't the Problem. Legacy Nuclear Powers Again Threaten the Globe."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Would you give up voting in exchange for no more taxes? Stephan Livera joins the show to discuss the curious distinction between economic freedom and personal or political freedoms, and how we weigh those freedoms.
The Fraser/Cato Human Freedom Index: Mises.org/HFI The Heritage Index of Economic Freedom: Mises.org/IEF
In this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss recent inflation news, broader chaos in financial markets, and another round of funding for Ukraine.
Recommended Reading "Inflation Up, Wages Down as Biden Passes the Buck to the Do-Nothing Fed" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_81_A
"From El Salvador to Africa, the Next Currency War Pits Populists against Bankers" by Tho Bishop: Mises.org/RR_81_B
"Biden: Inflation Is Everybody’s Fault but Mine" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_81_C
"Noninterventionism Is Not Isolationism: The US Government Should Stop Arming Ukraine" by Daniel Martin: Mises.org/RR_81_D
"Forget What the 'Experts' Claim about Deflation: It Strengthens the Economy" by Frank Shostak: Mises.org/RR_81_E
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
The partisan leftism of much of the tech industry has led to conservatives calling for state intervention in the digital sphere. Elon Musk's recent purchase of Twitter proves this was wrong.
Original Article: "Austrians Have Been Correct about Big Tech: Elon Musk Just Proved Them Right"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The patent system in pharmaceuticals incentivizes firms to game the system for monopoly profits.
Original Article: "Postcovid America: Racked by Inflation, Americans Pay Too Much for Drugs"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
In the final days of the Soviet Union, the Washington establishment was convinced nationalism was a greater threat than Soviet despotism. Thus, George Bush tried to prop up the USSR and prevent Ukrainian secession.
Original Article: "1991: When America Tried to Keep Ukraine in the USSR"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Last year, Joe Biden and his administration claimed that inflation was "transitory." This year, Vladimir Putin gets the blame. Next year, Biden will blame American businesses. And the beat goes on.
Original Article: "No, It's Not the Putin Price Hike, No Matter What Joe Biden Claims"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
One will occasionally hear from a libertarian activist that Disney World is some sort of model for totally private governance. This is a huge exaggeration of the reality.
Original Article: "Disney's Special District Is Not a "City-State" or "Private City""
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The EU is a prime example of a tendency toward territorial expansion and political centralization.
Original Article: "Decentralized and Neutral"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Is there any industry a passionate entrepreneur can’t improve and enhance by elevating the customer experience? The answer is clearly no. Economics For Business talks to Jeff Arnold, who finds insurance fun, exciting, and a source of inspiration, and who is advancing profitably towards the new future he’s imagining, where buying insurance is so enjoyable that customers will stop shopping on price and clamor for the new experience he is designing.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Passionate, creative entrepreneurs can deliver profitable innovation to any industry, no matter how static and rigid it may seem. Jeff Arnold loves insurance. He told us he finds it fun, awesome, and exciting. Studying the intricacies of contractually trading and transferring risk for payment generated a lifetime interest and passion in him. He’s turned that passion into revenue and profit by delivering new value to customers in aspect of their life or their business that is extremely important to them.
As a good Austrian, Jeff Arnold views his industry first from the customer’s perspective. Customer-first. That’s the Austrian way of business. When Jeff thinks about insurance, he thinks from the consumers’ perspective. They pay hundreds of thousands of dollars over a lifetime for insurance of many kinds: house, automobile, business, medical care, and more. Do they know exactly what they are buying — or, perhaps more importantly, not buying because of exclusions buried deep in the small type of the appendices to an insurance policy agreement? How do they feel about the customer interface, including call center phone trees and hard-to-decipher policy documents?
From this perspective, he is able to develop design principles for an insurance business with a better customer experience:
Help customers to think about a systematic lifetime plan for all their insurances;Help them develop the knowledge required to properly understand insurance offers and alternative policies;Give them the opportunity to customize insurance products for their needs as opposed to buying a commoditized vanilla product;Help them to get the exchange value from the purchase that is right for them.Give them an interpersonal experience that’s much better than the industry norm. Jeff focuses his customers on value, not price. Most often, buyers approach an insurance purchase with a transactional frame of mind: how can I pay the lowest price. They’ll shop around to find it. Jeff wants to put an end to “price shopping”, to be replaced with a value calculation: what coverage do I need, how did I get it, and who is the best provider?
The value calculation often entails discovering and eliminating exclusions — coverages that are excluded in the fine print of the contract. These exclusions occur in home insurance (which is especially hard to read and understand) auto insurance (there are 12-14 exclusions to look for according to Jeff) and commercial or business insurance (where many coverages are automatically excluded and must be built back in item by item, with careful attention to detail).
The value solution lies in the integration of technology and personal service. Jeff’s latest business, RightSure, aims to get individuals the right insurance by using A.I. in combination with “famously friendly humans”, i.e., staff carefully selected and trained to deliver knowledge and service in an amenable way. The A.I. can provide a preliminary phone interface, a chatbot interface on the website, and can do an excellent job of matching customer needs to the right policies. Famously friendly people can patiently explain all the policy options, point out what’s covered and what’s excluded, answer customer questions, and help them to make informed decisions. They’re good at listening, exhibit high empathy, and can help customers navigate from suspicion to trust.
The combination of A.I. and famously friendly humans delivers a superior customer experience while also achieving high levels of efficiency. The return on investment in human capital is as high as the return on technology capital. The combination generates brand uniqueness.
Jeff represents entrepreneurship in action in the insurance industry. Jeff Arnold is a quintessential entrepreneur. He’s driven by a passion for his industry, where he spent a career in multiple roles before launching his current business. He gathered knowledge he learned from others and from his own experience in those various roles. He innovates by having a more highly developed customer focus than others, and commits to a better experience for his customers than they can expect elsewhere. And he knows how to combine and recombine assets and resources in new ways to deliver that better experience. He continuously monitors the customer experience and customer sentiment to keep improving.
His primary skill are empathy and imagination — understanding the experience customers prefer and designing it in his mind before bringing it to life. He doesn’t need technology expertise to bring his vision to life; he can buy that on the market. It is the human factors of empathy and imagination that lie behind his superior product.
Imagining the future drives product and service innovation. After a lifetime in the insurance industry and informed by hundreds and thousands of conversations with consumers, Jeff can accurately identify current dissatisfactions and easily imagine future products and services to address some of those satisfactions. Some of the ones he mentioned in our conversation were:
The macro policy: Why do customers have to buy home and auto and business and medical insurance I separate policies and separate transactions. What if there could be one macro policy for a family, adjustable to new needs as life goes on yet still a “one policy” solution for managing all the risks a family faces?
Expanding liability coverage: It seems like lawmakers and courts are continuously finding new things the rest of us are guilty of, like saying bad things on social media. Liabilities are expanding — Jeff called it social inflation. What if our policies could keep up without us having to adjust them in new transactions?
New payment systems: What if we bought automobile insurance by the mile instead of in a lump? Or what if we got refunds based on good driving habits (which is beginning to happen with telematics)? Generally, the payment system of lump sums for coverage over a time period can be replaced by behavioral measures of consumption.
These are the kinds of innovation Jeff is imagining, and working hard on bringing to market. Entrepreneurs make the world a better place.
Additional Resources Jeff Arnold’s author page on Amazon.com: Mises.org/E4B_169_Author
Jeff’s website, Ambassador For The Insurance Industry: JeffArnold.com
The Art Of The Insurance Deal by Jeff Arnold: Mises.org/E4B_169_Book
RightSure.com
Propping up congressional deficit spending, juicing equity markets, and constantly recapitalizing commercial banks are the Fed’s true mandates.
Original Article: "Inflation, Quick and Dirty"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
In 1991, Ukrainians held an election and voted for secession. Today we’re supposed to cheer that. But to suggest something similar for a region of the United States? Well, we’re told that’s just plain wrong.
Original Article: "You Support Ukraine's Independence? Then You Support Secession."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Jeff is solo this week and hosts Tom Woods to ask a simple question: Why do social issues dominate our attention, to the detriment of economics and fiscal reality?
Read Jeff's article "Why Social Issues Dominate" Mises.org/Dominate
With members of Congress claiming that the Russian invasion of Ukraine somehow threatens the US homeland, it is time to tell the truth about the military threats to this nation.
Original Article: "Where the Truth Is Hidden: Debating the Current State of the US Armed Forces"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
In this episode of Radio Rothbard, Mises Graduate Program Provost and Constitutional law attorney Joe Becker joins Tho Bishop to break down the leaked opinion on the Dobbs case, potentially overturning Roe v. Wade. Joe provides a thorough breakdown of the logic behind the Alito opinion, and the two look at the impact this could have on American institutions broadly.
Recommended Reading Leaked draft decision, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (PDF): Mises.org/RR_80_A
"End Roe v. Wade: It's Time to Defederalize Abortion Policy" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_80_B
"Why Social Issues Dominate" by Jeff Deist: Mises.org/RR_80_C
"Before Roe v. Wade, Abortion Had Always Been a State and Local Matter" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_80_D
Mises Institute Graduate Program: Mises.org/edu
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Will Japan ever change course on its negative interest rates? Only if voters begin to realize that the lack of inflation to date in Japan is simply good luck.
Original Article: "Why the Yen Fell While the Dollar Rallied"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The Fed's reckless behavior has undermined Netflix more than the losses at CNN+.
Original Article: "How Did CNN+ Get Canned by Netflix? Austrian Economists Might Have an Answer"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Moscow has used naturalization and immigration to effect demographic change and encourage conflict between ethnic groups in neighboring states. It has proven to be an effective foreign policy tool.
Original Article: "How Russia Uses Immigration and Naturalization to Grow State Power"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Markets are marvelous. They’re the poetry of economics. They are one of the most remarkable technologies humans have ever built. Beautiful businesses develop new markets both outside and inside the firm. We discuss markets with Anthony J. Evans, a business school professor who teaches that all businesspeople must become economists.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights A business economist is an Austrian who looks at the fields of economics and business to see how one is best applied to the other. Aim to be a good economist and a good business practitioner. Managerial economics is the application of the economic way of thinking and the insights of economics to the managerial task of creating value. It was Shlomo Maital who wrote, “Managers can’t just employ economists, they must become economists” (Mises.org/E4B_168_Book). Anthony Evans follows that direction and teaches his students at ESCP Business School that they’ll be more productive and more capable as businesspeople as a result of learning and applying economics.
Market system economics provides businesses with the best toolkit for success. Businesses are participants in the market system. Managerial economists study markets in order to find ways for businesses to use market insights, harness market mechanisms and understand the signals and information that markets provide. It’s easy for firms to overestimate their ability to affect the markets in which they are participating, and don’t sometimes they don’t fully understand or properly analyze what market prices are telling them.
Prices are the most important market signals, and they can transmit information about potential futures. They can guide firms on understanding how much value they are creating relative to competitors. They can provide signals about how to increase revenue by moving process higher or lower. They can help businesses understand opportunity costs and transaction costs.
Markets are decentralized experimentation, and if some new experiments by disruptive competitors are commanding purchases from actual buyers today, that may signal more buyers and more transactions in the future especially after prices adjust to higher transaction volumes. Monitoring prices and reading the signals must be a core managerial skill.
Market tests should be applied whenever feasible. Technology can help. Businesses should run a market test for every question that a market can answer: is this offering or initiative valued, is it preferred, can we put a price on it, will varying the price change the level of demand or acceptance, is the benefit greater than the cost, do some customers prefer a competitive offer? Run a market test — A/B test, pilot program, prototype evaluation, survey with customers, whatever is feasible.
Today’s technology provides tremendous help with low-cost digital testing methods, fast feedback loops, and efficient data processing. In fact, more and more, technology can relieve managers of the task of formulating their own understanding by automating the test procedures and the analytics and recommendations.
Markets can be brought inside the firm to improve business performance. Markets stimulate innovation, lower costs, and efficiency because customers always want better, cheaper, and faster and competing entrepreneurial firms always want to provide those benefits in the search for profits. The same effects of the market order can be sought inside the firm. What is the market value and the right price for marketing services from the marketing department, or HR services or IT services? What’s the marginal cost versus marginal benefit analysis for one more HR staff member, or the opportunity cost of one more IT system installation versus one more sales campaign? What’s the value of the knowledge flowing through the firm?
These are the kinds of questions that the market order can answer, and managers should always be asking them. Prices can be the metric for all learning.
Market economics can also guide organizational design and processes. Markets are dynamic and ever changing. Businesses must reflect and emulate this dynamism. Organizational design and structures must be flexible enough to enable dynamism and not erect barriers to change and adaptation. What are the forces that make markets grow and decline, and what are the forces that have this effect on firms? Organization should harness the forces of market growth.
Professor Evans’ suggestion is a constitutional view of the firm. Let simple rules of conduct emerge from a shared sense of vision and mission, codify them, and then let decentralized teams run the experiments that feel constitutionally right to them given their reading of market signals.
Subjective value is immeasurable, but can be gauged in market tests. The purpose of a firm is to generate subjective value, which is created by customers through their own experiences and co-created by the firms and brands and services that facilitate those experiences. Subjective value is intangible and immeasurable. But exchange value — what customers actually pay in an exchange transaction — can be a proxy in some cases.
Subjective value is a hard concept to grasp for those who have been educated or trained to think of value in objective terms, as something inherent in a product. Professor Evans finds his students, when asked to describe the value of an offering or an idea, instinctively gravitate to the product-based view, citing attributes, features and performance benefits.
Taking the customer perspective is very hard, and perhaps unnatural. The economic point of view is always to put the producer in the shoes of the customer, to take the customer’s view and identify the customer’s mental model for processing information and observation. It’s hard to do, and requires significant cognitive effort. But done well, it’s key to marketing, innovation, product improvement and competitive positioning. Empathically diagnosing subjective value is one of the greatest insights economics can give to business.
Entrepreneurs thrive in markets. Markets are the place where entrepreneurs ply their skills, and the entrepreneurial role will never diminish. Their imagination of the future and anticipation of future demand – even under conditions of uncertainty – their creativity and their judgment will always be important in the context of dynamic interactions of multiple players, offerings, and institutions within markets. The human factor is the most important.
Entrepreneurship is not an academic matter to be debated for the distinction of different nuances, but a practical matter of working and succeeding in markets. It concerns the identification of a profit opportunity via some kind of new product, service, method, or recombination of capital, and the ability to introduce this novelty into the marketplace, actively making decisions about resource allocation, cost, investment, communications and all the other elements of a business, overcoming obstacles and resolving difficult challenges. It is, as Professor Evans stated it, both ideational and implementational. Ambidextrous.
And the common backdrop for all entrepreneurs and businesses of all kinds is continuous change. In his book Economics: A Complete Guide For Business (Mises.org/E4B_168_Book), Prof Evans states that, “Economic change will disintegrate existing combinations (of capital goods) and force entrepreneurs to find new ones”. This action, which Prof Evans refers to as “recalculation”, is core to the dynamics and agility of entrepreneurs in markets. Recalculation is the creative pulse that provides the energy for generating new capital structures out of old ones.
Austrian economists have always been acutely aware of change as an economic factor. Perhaps the business world is catching up, but Austrians have always been ahead. It’s the perspective that entrepreneurs and businesses can co-ordinate with each other fruitfully in markets where change is so pervasive and so fast that no-one has complete knowledge and yet must be able to act. Austrian economics demonstrates that good outcomes are possible, even in these conditions of bounded knowledge, for everyone participating in the market, so long as entrepreneurs are free to do their work without intervention. It's a very powerful message.
People in business can be proud of acting as value generators and not feel any imposed need to “give back” or sacrifice themselves to artificially constructed restraints.
Additional Resources Economics: A Complete Guide For Business by Anthony J. Evans: Mises.org/E4B_168_Book
AnthonyJEvans.com
Politicians have become accustomed to conjuring whatever they want through the “miracle” of printing money. But in the real world, it’s still necessary to produce oil and gas through actual physical production.
Original Article: "To Fight Russia, Europe's Regimes Risk Impoverishment and Recession for Europe"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Our guest is Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, author of the recently-released Take Two Aspirins and Call Me By My Pronouns, a book that details the intrusion of critical race theory and identity politics into medical education and medical practice. He is a former Associate Dean for Curriculum at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and returns to the show to discuss his book and the new organization that he is leading to push back against the new trend.
SHOW NOTES Stanley Goldfarb: Twitter
Do No Harm
Related Episode: Ep. 102 Curriculum Subverted: An Academic Leader Pushes Back Against Woke Medicine (with Stanley Goldfarb)
Related Episode: Ep. 140 Amy Wax on Wokeness in Medicine
Related Episode: Ep. 149 James Lindsay: Critical Race Theory, Post-Modernism, and Medicine
Watch the episode on the Accad & Koka Report YouTube channel
Why did Europe advance economically in the postmedieval period? Bas Spliet looks to the writings of Ralph Raico and Hans-Hermann Hoppe for answers.
Original Article: "Decentralization and the Rise of the West: The European Miracle Revisited"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
For many years, conservatives have held the FBI as being nearly infallible. It is time to rethink this devotion to a federal agency that pursues its own political agendas.
Original Article: "It Is Time To End the Fixation with Federal Law Enforcement"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Washington regards the entire world as its "sphere of influence." But now Beijing is looking to follow the US playbook on hegemony and expand Beijing's network of military bases abroad.
Original Article: "Expect Washington to Throw a Fit over China's New Deal with the Solomon Islands"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Johnny Vedmore is an independent journalist from Cardiff, Wales. He discusses his masterful article on Klaus Schwab's mentors, including Henry Kissinger and John Kenneth Galbraith.
Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: The YouTube version of this interviewJohnny Vedmore’s article on Klaus SchwabPart 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5 of the BMS series on Klaus Schwab and the Great ResetAn evaluation of Herman Kahn’s “Year 2000” forecasts. Part 1 of John Kenneth Galbraith’s "The Age of Uncertainty"Trailer for the Kubrick film, “Dr. Strangelove”Bob’s novel, MinervaSchwab’s books The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Covid-19 and the Great Reset For more information, see BobMurphyShow.com. The Bob Murphy Show is also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and via RSS.
Reparations is a buzzword in the present political climate, but most plans involve an expansion of the welfare state. But there is a form of reparations that is legitimate.
Original Article: "Reparations for Government-Imposed Property Theft Are Justified and Necessary"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Imposing economic sanctions upon Russia is tantamount to throwing gasoline on a raging fire. The sanctions will not end the Russian invasion of Ukraine and only will make things worse.
Original Article: "The Economic Sanctions against Russia Are Destructive and Counterproductive: We Must Oppose Them"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
For all the talk of decolonialization, many Third World countries that became independent set up regulatory regimes that mirrored their former "mother" country.
Original Article: "The Conservatism of Decolonization"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
America's Cold War relationships have created conditions for very hot wars to take place. The current war in Ukraine is part of that sorry Cold War legacy.
Original Article: "There's a Reason George Washington Warned against "Entangling Relationships""
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The war on free speech has been given a boost by a new legal theory called "reckless associations," the "leaders" of an association that allegedly harms someone else are declared liable for that harm.
Original Article: "Reckless Associations: The Ruling Class Creates New Legal Theory to Stifle Free Speech"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Our friend Saif, known to the world as Dr. Saifedean Ammous, joins Jeff and Bob Murphy for a demolition of the pseudo-economics behind Green energy.
Read Saif's The Fiat Standard: Mises.org/FiatStandard Saif's paper 'Energy Systems and the Knowledge Problem: The Case of Biofuels': Mises.org/SaifEnergy
Jordan Peterson is turning his eye toward Austrian economics. Unlike the many conservatives who see free market advocacy as some sort of "dangerous fundamentalism," Peterson seems to get it.
Original Article: "Jordan Peterson on Austrian Economics: Free Markets Are 'Profoundly Equitable'"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Among the states that performed the best during the pandemic were lockdown-light states like Utah and Florida. Among the states with the worst outcomes were lockdown-heavy California, New Mexico, New Jersey, and New York.
Original Article: "New Covid Study Shows Lockdown-Heavy States Had Some of the Worst Health Results"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop look at the fallout from Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter. While the move reportedly has authoritarian corporate lawyers openly weeping on intra-company calls, what will be the real impact on political discourse? How did a once-favored Obama Administration ally become a supervillain for the progressive elite?
Recommended Reading "Elon Musk Bought Twitter, and the Pundits Sure Are Mad" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_79_A
"Elon Musk's Twitter Gambit and What It Means to the Clique in Power" by Michael Rectenwald: Mises.org/RR_79_B
"Elon Musk, Crony Capitalist" by Lee Enochs: Mises.org/RR_79_C
"A Mixed Hero: A Libertarian Reassessment of Elon Musk" by Konrad Graf: Mises.org/RR_79_D
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Michael Rectenwald takes on the progressive canard of "socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor," in which the government protects the wealthy but throws everyone else to the tender mercies of rapacious capitalism.
Original Article: "The Great Reset VII: Capitalism for the Rich and Socialism for the Poor"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
There’s a lot of speculation about the future of work — what form it will take, where it will be done, and who will do it (including the robots versus humans debate). We talk to Mo Hamzian, an entrepreneur who is not only theorizing about the future of work, but building newly imagined workspaces that combine spatial design with technology and custom services, making elite workspaces available to everyone.
Entrepreneurship is now both an economic and societal trend, opening up business opportunities of its own. Entrepreneurship is now, as our guest Mo Hamzian styles it, “a thing”. It’s in the forefront of culture, it’s always in the news, it’s a lifestyle choice as well as a business choice, it’s a career, it’s a source of new heroes for our time.
Institutions of entrepreneurship are growing: schools are teaching entrepreneurship, media are covering entrepreneurship, technology is supporting entrepreneurship.Standards are emerging: tools like our own value learning process and 4 Vs value generation model, as well as processes like the Business Model Canvas are becoming standards of the entrepreneurial method.The sharing of entrepreneurial knowledge in a community is expanding via mentoring by experienced entrepreneurs. As a consequence, we see the emergence of new societal norms. An entrepreneurial society favors self-reliance over dependency, resourcefulness over entitlement, breakout achievement versus structured conformity, and creativity over formula. Entrepreneurship is understood as a journey that is never completed, and may adaptively follow many diversions in pursuit of evolving goals, rather than a predictable climb up the hierarchical ladder of the corporation. Keep thinking rather than keep climbing.
Even inside the corporation, structure is giving way to small self-organizing teams and corporate procedures are being replaced by adaptiveness and agility.
One of the implications of the growth of entrepreneurship is the trend that gets the name “The Future Of Work”. Entrepreneurship brings many significant social changes, including flexibility of time and place and methods of work. And the government’s pandemic policies of shutting down office and work spaces and encouraging work-from-home accelerated those changes. Now it is clear, more than ever, that, in the digital age, there is no need whatsoever to commute through grey suburbs on jammed roads or overcrowded trains to get to a dull and depressing cubicle farm just so that you can be in the same building with the other sad souls who are your colleagues.
Cities will empty out, commercial office markets will enter a period of secular decline, and individuals will feel liberated and empowered to do their best work in the physical location and surroundings of their choice.
One way to seize the opportunity represented by the future of work is via real estate itself — repurposed and re-imagined. Mo Hamzian is an entrepreneur who sees the opportunity in real estate for work where many might see only decline. He looks at it through a different lens, as entrepreneurs do. Can real estate provide the multi-purpose flexibility and adaptiveness required for today’s and tomorrow’s work patterns? It can if looked at creatively.
The creative lens is the customer-first lens: everyone deserves the best workplace. Business thinking that prioritizes customer sovereignty can often solve the most challenging problems. Mo Hamzian translates the unmet needs of today’s distributed workforce as seeking the best space from which to work — comfortable, well-equipped, good acoustics and conferencing technology, a place that “recognizes you” and your needs.
He developed his ideas, in part, by studying the workspaces of the business elites — the top bankers, tech executives and corporate CEO’s. These are immersive, high tech, high comfort, high style ecosystems you never want to leave. They’re available to a very few. What if they were made available to a much wider audience? This is the way many markets evolve — first, affordable at great expense only for a few, then quickly expanded to a mass audience.
This is the idea behind VEL — Mo Hamzian’s startup to bring elite workspaces to a wide audience of users on demand.
Do your best work: the VEL concept is aimed at personal productivity, encouraging the individual to achieve high quality output in a temporary workspace. This implies, of course, some responsibility and commitment on the part of the user.Achieve flow: the ultimate level of individual work is characterized by the feeling of flow — the fulfilment of experiencing how good you are and how much you are improving while doing your work. VEL’s workspace and technology are designed to support flow.Elite environment for everyone: Mo Hamzian’s study of immersive elite workplaces enables designs that bring the same experience to a temporary workspace.Technology: From wi-fi telecommunications and conferencing to (in the future) A.I. and VR and holography, there’s a lot that technology can do to support high quality and high productivity work, and VEL can provide it on demand at variable cost and affordable pricing.Flexible access: customers can rent VEL space and technology by the hour or by the day, in whatever configuration they prefer.Democratization and decentralization: VEL workspaces are available to all, with an aim to distribute them across the country for wide availability, whether urban, suburban, or rural, wherever work can be done.Customization and recognition: Ultimately, the high-tech VEL workspace will recognize the individual when they walk in and configure to their customized set of needs. The VEL concept removes frictions and barriers that might otherwise stand in the way of the future of work and the future of distributed entrepreneurship. As we advance towards a more entrepreneurial future across the entire business landscape, from big corporations operated by flexible, agile teams to individual practitioners, gig workers and small, highly specialized and highly networked companies, concepts like VEL will be an important part of the enabling infrastructure.
Additional Resources Mo’s LinkedIn page: LinkedIn.com/in/MoHamzian
Mentioned by Mo as a worthwhile mentoring site: GrowthMentor.com
VEL website: MyVEL.com
The quickest way to discredit an intellectual opponent is to accuse that person of being a "conspiracy theorist." But what happens when real conspiracies occur?
Original Article: "Do Conspiracies Really Exist? Murray Rothbard Thought So"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Arguments for equal pay are popular in our body politic, but what happens if some of those arguments are based upon the faulty logic of the labor theory of value?
Original Article: "Are Equal Pay Arguments Based upon the Labor Theory of Value?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
It is interesting that the founder and leader of the market monetarists declared in January 2020 that the world was about to enter a "golden age" of low inflation for the Federal Reserve.
Original Article: "Keynesians and Market Monetarists Didn't See Inflation Coming"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Disney's special legal status in Florida is reminiscent of the mercantilist corporations of old. They were granted favors at the expense of ordinary businesses who did not enjoy the favor of state officials.
Original Article: "Disney's Corporate Welfare Is Modern Mercantilism"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Bob critiques the economic views of Yuval Harari, who predicts “useless people” because of technological advances. Bob then showcases similar thinking from right-wingers. He ends by addressing a common critique of the Christian God.
Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5 of the BMS series on Klaus Schwab and the Great ResetBob’s book with Silas Barta on Understanding BitcoinSource for NWO compilationSource for World Government Summit panel on blockchainSource for Harari audioTim Pool episode featuring Michael Malice discussing NPCs (around 1:04:30)Schwab’s books The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Covid-19 and the Great Reset For more information, see BobMurphyShow.com. The Bob Murphy Show is also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and via RSS.
We are told that economic growth goes along with liberal democracy. But social institutions play an important role that transcends the political order.
Original Article: "Do Institutions Play a Role in Promoting Economic Growth? In Short, Yes."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
A libertarian view of the law by definition means that there can be no immunity from legal consequences. Anything else perverts the very meaning of law.
Original Article: "Sovereign Immunity Is Antilaw: The State Must Make Restitution to Its Victims"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Despite the Left's denials that Hitler was a socialist, a careful reading of his writings and speeches tells a different story. His sympathies lay with the workers, not the bourgeoisie.
Original Article: "No, Hitler Was Not a Closet Capitalist"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Trying to understand the Russian invasion of Ukraine from the exclusive viewpoint of modern Western democracy is to ignore the long history of authoritarian leadership in Russia.
Original Article: "Russia's Invasion of Ukraine Is Just the Latest Expression of Pan-Slavic Authoritarianism"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
This week Jeff is solo with very special guest Jimmy Rogers, the famed investor, Alabama native, and fan of Austrian economics.
In this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop look at the controversy surrounding recent Florida education reforms. Why does it benefit the state to erode the family structure, and what can be done to combat it?
Recommended Reading "Why Marxist Organizations Like BLM Seek to Dismantle the Western Nuclear Family" by Bradley Thomas: Mises.org/RR_78_A
"Don't Blame Capitalism for the Decline of the Extended Family" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_78_B
"How Wage Work Liberated Women (and Men)" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_78_C
"Why Do Socialists Hate Families?" by Jonathan Newman: Mises.org/RR_78_D
"Can Libertarians Have Communal Property?" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_78_E
Leftism: From de Sade and Marx to Hitler and Marcuse by Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn: Mises.org/RR_78_F
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
The standard line with progressives is that unless government controls medical care, prices will skyrocket. But what if the free market model costs less than government-directed care?
Original Article: "How Fully Private, No-Insurance Hospitals Help the Common Man"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The current political polarization in the USA is not a "threat" to "our democracy." Instead, democracy as we know it is the prime reason for the polarization.
Original Article: "Political Upheaval Is Not Threatening “Our Democracy.” Our Democracy Is."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The Biden administration in its desire to "save" the planet from climate change has decided to destroy one of this country's most productive and important industries in the process, putting the US economy itself in jeopardy.
Original Article: "Destroying America to "Save" It? Biden's Nihilistic Destruction of the Energy Industry"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
From globalization to sanctions, to international institutions like the UN, the US is leading a small global fragment that's little more than NATO and a handful of friends. Meanwhile, two-thirds of the global economy isn't signing on.
Original Article: "The "Rules-Based International Order" Is Dead. Washington Killed It."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Is it too much to hope that the current inflation will "burn out" via similar mechanisms that have reined in inflation in the past?
Original Article: "We Still Haven't Reached the Inflation Finale"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The sanctions against Russia have the potential to spiral into something much larger. Indeed, many governments are using the current conflict as an opportunity to further push "green energy," rearmament, and other big-spending schemes.
Original Article: "Heavy Sanctions against Russia Could Usher in a Wider Economic War"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
To what extent should entrepreneurial businesspeople concern themselves with macro-economic variables? At E4B, our point of view is: not much. We don’t believe you can fully trust the data, we don’t believe you should put much credence in the interpretations of it, and we encourage businesses to concentrate on serving customers and generating value.
We made an exception this week to discuss the phenomenon of the inverted yield curve, because it might, conceivably, have some immediate effect on businesses and their customers. We talked with Dr. Murray Sabrin, author of Navigating the Boom/Bust Cycle: An Entrepreneur’s Survival Guide.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights The yield curve inverted. What does that mean? Technically, the yield curve inversion refers to short term interest rates on the 2-year treasury note doing above the interest rate on the 10-year treasury note.
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The reason this is of interest is that, historically, it’s a signal that the countdown to a recession has begun. At the human level, it means that market participants expect tighter short-term borrowing conditions, potentially making financing business activity more expensive and more difficult.
In reality, there’s no way to be certain of future conditions, and there are so many variables, from inflation to unpredictable Federal Reserve activities, that prediction is inevitably inaccurate.
Moreover, on their own terms, the Federal Reserve interest rate data are not consistent. The 3-month treasury rate remains 2% below the 10-year rate — no inversion there.
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Therefore, predictions of a recession should be taken with the proverbial grain of salt. It may be different this time.
What matters is what entrepreneurs do in the face of this uncertainty. Dr. Sabrin has a number of ideas and pieces of advice for businesses.
Examine conditions in your own sector rather than in macro-economic variables. Economic conditions and trends and outcomes vary significantly by sector. What’s happening in automobiles, housing, energy, and retailing is sector specific.
Look especially for those sectors where free markets are allowed to operate; there may be different trends there. For example, deflation (a continuous trend towards lower prices) might be anticipated from the technology sector as result of innovation and competitive striving, rather than the price inflation we are being promised from other sectors.
Similarly, pay greatest attention to your most relevant geography: neighborhood, city, and state. Economic conditions in Florida are a lot different than in California. Manhattan is different than San Diego. Your neighborhood might be different. Maybe your business operates internationally. Think about your relevant geography and not about the macro-economic headlines.
Focus first on your supply chain. Dr. Sabrin’s extensive research into the longitudinal success of entrepreneurial businesses emphasizes the important of reliable inputs. In risky economic periods, the supply chain may need bolstering — extra inventory coverage, additional suppliers in case of disruptions. This may be expensive and more expensive to finance amidst rising rates, but guarding against supply chain disruption is a primary concern. Don’t risk disappointing your customers because your supply chain breaks.
Maintain your most important lending relationships. If financing is a concern, look to bolster and strengthen lending relationships. Secure a line of credit. Nurture the relationship with your bank. And explore the newly emerging landscape of fintech lending — another example of free markets expanding the range of options and possibilities for entrepreneurs.
Here’s a financial landscape map from an earlier E4B podcast — use it to become familiar with the latest financing options: Mises.org/E4B_166_PDF
Your individual cost curve is not the same as that of the market. The current pervasive concern is with higher interest rates and higher costs. These are macro-economic variables. But the cost curve for your business does not have to be the same. Many suppliers will be lowering prices and offering promotions or special terms to maintain their business flow. You can take advantage by shopping around, rebidding contracts, and seeking out the most eager suppliers. Your micro-economics can be different than the headline macro trends.
Most importantly, seek opportunities within changing economic circumstances. An inverted yield curve is just another instance of continuous change, and change is the condition under which entrepreneurs thrive. They find opportunities in change. There are always growth sectors, there are always customers with needs, and there are always new openings, even when some doors are closing. The agile entrepreneur is alert to new possibilities.
Additional Resources Navigating the Boom/Bust Cycle: An Entrepreneur’s Survival Guide by Murray Sabrin: Mises.org/E4B_166_Book
"Financial Capital Options For Businesses at All Stages" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_166_PDF
In a recent episode of “The Problem With Jon Stewart,” the former Daily Show host asks former president of the Kansas City Fed Thomas Hoenig why the Fed couldn’t have bailed out homeowners, or just “quantitative ease” away the Treasury’s debt. Hoenig gives muddy answers, so Bob tries to clarify.
Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: Jon Stewart’s full interview with Thomas HoenigJon Stewart skewers Paul KrugmanJon Stewart interviews Kelton and Gray on MMTBob’s book Understanding Money Mechanics For more information, see BobMurphyShow.com. The Bob Murphy Show is also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and via RSS.
Money printing may bring rising wages, but it also brings rising prices for goods and services. And those increases are outpacing the wage increases.
Original Article: "Real Wages Fall Again as Inflation Surges and the Fed Plays the Blame Game"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
While the battlefield results are mixed, much of the action in the Russia-Ukraine war is happening beyond the warring countries.
Original Article: "After More Than a Month of Fighting, Where Do Things Stand in the Russia-Ukraine War?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Paul Krugman recently wrote that the reason we see high inflation is that people mistakenly believe inflation is in our future and act accordingly. This reasoning is false.
Original Article: "Do "Inflationary Expectations" Cause Inflation? Contra Krugman, the Answer Is No"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Jeff and Bob discuss the mechanics—and pain—required to put an end to inflation.
Read Bob's Understanding Money Mechanics: Mises.org/Mechanics
In this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop take a look back at previous statements by current members of the Fed. For years, the Fed said the biggest problem was a lack of inflation. Now, with inflation at historic heights, is there any reason to believe the Federal Reserve is prepared for what to do next?
Recommended Reading "The Fed Who Cried Growth" by Jonathan Newman: Mises.org/RR_77_A
"We Still Haven't Reached the Inflation Finale" by Brendan Brown: Mises.org/RR_77_B
"Real Wages Fall Again as Inflation Surges and the Fed Plays the Blame Game" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_77_C
"Do Inflationary Expectations Cause Inflation? Contra Krugman, the Answer Is No" by Frank Shostak: Mises.org/RR_77_D
"The Fed Can't Fix the Economy, but It Can Break It" by Jon Wolfenbarger: Mises.org/RR_77_E
"Kashkari Said What?" by Robert Aro: Mises.org/RR_77_F
Understanding Money Mechanics by Robert P. Murphy: Mises.org/BobMoney
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
The world is in chaos, so politicians MUST do something. Hence, they demand autarky, which is like attempting to put out a fire by pouring gasoline on it.
Original Article: "And Now for a Really Bad Response to Political Calamity: Autarky"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Russian oligarchs, American pols, and state-connected billionaires are all cut from the same cloth: they didn't earn, or fully earn, their wealth and position in society. We must withdraw our sanction of these people.
Original Article: "The Wrong Elites"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Recorded in Birmingham, Alabama, on April 2, 2022.
Special thanks to Mark Walker for sponsoring this event.
Bob completes his series on the elites who are literally trying to take over the world. He first explains Schwab’s connection to the Global Government Summit, and then finishes reading key excerpts from Schwab’s book on Covid-19 and the Great Reset.
Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3, and Part 4 of this seriesBob and Carlos Lara’s presentation, "How to Weather the Coming Economic Storms"Bob’s book Common Sense: The Case for an Independent TexasBob and Carlos’ book The Case for IBC and their book How Privatized Banking Really WorksThe WEF’s bio for its founder, Klaus SchwabSchwab’s books The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Covid-19 and the Great ResetSchwab’s address to Global Government SummitForbes’ article on Schwab the power broker. For more information, see BobMurphyShow.com. The Bob Murphy Show is also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and via RSS.
Despite assurances from politicians and the media, the Federal Reserve System is not a collection of geniuses who stand guard against inflation and recession. Instead, think of the Fed policy makers as the Keystone Cops of central banking.
Original Article: "The Fed Can't Fix the Economy, but It Can Break It"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Ukraine should have been a middle-income country by now. Instead, it is one of the poorest in Europe. If Ukraine joined the EU, it would be the poorest country and well below even Bulgaria.
Original Article: "If Ukraine Joins the EU, It Will Be the Poorest Member by Far"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Recorded in Birmingham, Alabama, on April 2, 2022.
Slides used during this talk are available here.
Special thanks to Mark Walker for sponsoring this event.
What drives customer behavior and customer choices? It’s the existential question for business; you’ve got to know the answer. But it’s a mystery, hard to unlock. The solution to this answer lies in what market researchers call insights, based on the Austrian deductive method that we summarized in episode #164 with Per Bylund (Mises.org/E4B_164). In episode #165, we talk to Darshan Mehta, a lifelong professional in the field, an advisor to global and local brands, an originator of insights technology, and a deep thinker in the field.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Insights mark the road to innovation and differentiation and give businesses a competitive advantage. By definition, an insight is a deep understanding of the motivation of an individual: why they do what they do, choose what they choose, and stop doing what they used to do? What guides their behaviors, what they do with their time, and how they find betterment and ease?
These individual motivations can sometimes be exhibited as technology trends, social trends and cultural shifts. Insights help businesses understand the drivers of these shifts in the landscape, as well as how these shifts, in turn, change individual behavior. Causality works in both directions.
Insights are multi-dimensional, and businesses need to install multi-dimensional systems to generate insights. No single method and no single information or data source will deliver the deep and rich insights businesses need. Darshan Mehta recommends a multi-dimensional approach.
Conversations with customers This is the number one source of data for insights generation: deep, rich, personal, subjective, and revealing. It requires some skill development to be good at customer conversations. Empathy is a key ingredient — what Darshan calls “being a people person”, interested in how people feel, and with the curiosity to learn and the humility to understand that a lot of what is important to customer decision-making resides in the sub-conscious and is difficult to articulate. In fact, conversation helps people to learn how to describe their feelings and motivations, if the interviewer lets the conversation develop slowly and with time for self-reflection to dawn. The human-to-human connection factor is important, whether in a one-on-one conversation, a group setting (such as a focus group) or an online chat.
Whether your business is present in the conversation or not, customers are having those conversations, so it’s important to listen and take part.
There are tools on the econ4business.com website to frame in-depth interviews:
Contextual In-Depth Interview Method: Mises.org/E4B_165_Contextual and for listening with empathy:
Episode 33 "Isabel Aneyba: Listening From the Heart and the Techniques of Empathy": Mises.org/E4E_33 Behavior observation The Austrian deductive method comes into play when the data is in the form of behavior that we can actually observe — accompanied shopping, ethnography, buying data, shopping data, video data, eye-tracking, A/B testing. All of these give us information about behavior. The next step in insight generation is to deduce the drivers of the behavior. Sometimes we may have some conversational data or sentiment data (such as from surveys) to combine with the behavioral data, sometimes not.
The process of working backwards from behavior to motivation uses the question, “Why?” Why did they act that way? Why did they reject an alternative? What could possibly be behind the behavior? If they acted unexpectedly, or out-of-pattern, or differently than last time, why was that? The standard of 5 Why’s is often invoked to get to the deepest understanding. But it’s not the repetitive 5 Why’s of the child asking mom why they can’t have a piece of candy. The Why’s must be deeply thought-out, probing, significant Why’s to get to the next level of understanding.
Data analytics Analysis of so-called big data can make a contribution to multi-dimensional insights generation, especially if the data relates to behavior such as buying patterns, clickstreams, and cultural shifts in behavior (like Tik-Tok usage). Data can’t reveal drivers or deeply felt dissatisfactions, but it can reveal trends and even suggest some preferences (e.g., shifts in usage from one brand of social media to another). Data analysis algorithms don’t ask why, they ask what — especially what data patterns and pattern shifts can be observed. Bear this in mind when integrating data analytics into your multi-dimensional insights generation process.
Learn the language of dissatisfaction. The drivers of customer choice are always derived from dissatisfaction. Because they are seeking betterment, they must, logically, be dissatisfied with current conditions. It’s very tricky to identify dissatisfactions because the language of articulation is subjective and personal. Researchers and engineers and designers talk about “pain points”, but customers probably don’t. They may talk about what makes them “crazy”, or “upset”, or “frustrated”. Relative satisfaction / dissatisfaction could be revealed by brand-switching. Installing feedback loops for activation immediately after the customer’s product or service experience can help gather relevant data, especially if you can gather the feedback in the customer’s language rather than your own.
Insights are built through combination, recombination, and synthesis. “Insights lie where worlds collide” is a quote from Darshan’s book (Getting To Aha! Why Today’s Insight Are Tomorrow’s Facts). What he means by that is it’s a combination and recombination of conversational data and analytical data and trend observations and cultural shifts that ultimately generate the insight.
Blending and mixing and putting elements together to reveal new possibilities beats logic in the process of insights generation. Call it synthesis. And before synthesis can take place, the ability to break down wholes into component parts in a creative way is required. Analysis and synthesis, destruction and creation.
Ultimately, human emotion lies behind all insights and all innovation: experiences are feelings. Technically, the drivers of customer behavior change can be tracked to functional factors such as speed (faster), cost (cheaper), and / or convenience (easier). But beyond these lies emotion — the feeling that an experience is, was, or can be great. Customers buy experiences, not goods or services. A solution that evokes emotion results in (according to Darshan) a response that’s 12X stronger than one based on just faster/cheaper/easier. Therefore, an insight that evinces emotion — reveals it, brings it to light — is the most valuable of all.
It's important to understand the language of positive emotion, as well as the language of dissatisfaction. An experience evokes emotion when customers call it amazing or super-cool or use superlatives of that kind.
Customers bond most strongly to businesses that can align with their highest values. Beyond even the strongest emotional benefits lie highest values: lifetime values for which customers are always striving. Examples include family security — always a goal and never entirely realized — a sense of achievement — there’s always more to achieve — and a world of peace — we know today how elusive that is.
Brands that can associate themselves with these highest values — purpose-driven brands — or help customers attain them for themselves will be especially prized and loved in today’s markets. Humanizing brands in a digital world is a difficult standard to attain, and making the emotional connection with the customer on the subject of their highest and most strongly held values is the pathway.
Listen to the Economics For Business Podcast (Mises.org/E4BPod) on the role of highest values in business.
It's a modern expression of customer sovereignty that brand buyers are so active in evaluating products and services based on their assessment of the values exhibited by the corporations behind them, and that they seek to change the world through buying and not buying.
Better insights can help led us to a better world by identifying dissatisfactions and pointing to new solutions. Insights are visions of what makes us human, improving what connects us and unites us.
Additional Resources Getting To Aha! Why Today’s Insights Are Tomorrow’s Facts by Darshan Mehta: Mises.org/E4B_165_Book
iResearch.com
Recorded in Birmingham, Alabama, on April 2, 2022.
Slides used during this talk are available here.
Special thanks to Mark Walker for sponsoring this event.
It is theoretically possible that through huge gains in productivity, the US could escape inflation and stave off a recession. But don’t count on it.
Original Article: "Why It's Looking More like the 1970s than the 1950s."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Europe wants cheap and abundant energy, but politicians demonize nuclear, gas, and oil. All the interventionist proposals that are put forward by European politicians entail a higher cost for long-suffering consumers.
Original Article: "European Environmentalists Have Made Energy Independence Impossible"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Do the low inflation rates mean that the purchasing power of Japanese and Swiss citizens has increased relative to other countries over time? The answer seems to be no.
Original Article: "What Causes Exceptionally Low Inflation in Japan and Switzerland?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The states of Europe have more than enough wealth and military potential to deal with a second-rate power like Russia. The American taxpayers, on the other hand, deserve a break from Europe's grifting.
Original Article: "NATO: Our International Welfare Queens"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Rothbard the historian explained so well how the true progressive goal was always to remake America domestically by promoting war.
Original Article: "Rothbard on Today's Progressive War Jingoism"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The usual "experts" claim inflation is a general increase in the price level. Wrong. Prices rise because of inflation, which is a government-caused increase in the amount of money in circulation.
Original Article: "Inflation Isn't What the "Experts" Say It Is. The Confusion in Terms Is Deliberate"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Some blame high prices, wages, the Ukraine war, or the weak recovery. The fact is currency destruction is at the heart of generalized price rises everywhere.
Original Article: "Commodities Do Not Cause Inflation. Money Printing Does."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Jeff and Bob discuss whether America has its own oligarchs instead of Hoppe's "natural elites."
Hoppe's essay mises.org/Hoppe338 Jeff on the wrong elites: mises.org/WrongElites Bob on Piketty's bad inequality numbers: mises.org/Bob338
Those responsible for locking down much of the US during covid blame the pandemic itself for the economic and social havoc that followed. Perhaps they should look at the lockdowns themselves.
Original Article: "Lockdowns, Not the Pandemic, Created Havoc"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Lenin called World War I a war among the capitalists of Europe. He was wrong. It was a war among oligarchs, statists who extract wealth from legitimate economic activity at the barrel of a gun.
Original Article: "The State: It’s Oligarchs All the Way Down"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
In this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop mock the self-awareness of beltway foreign policy experts lamenting Putin's challenge to "rules-based international order." With countries like India and Brazil increasingly unwilling to follow the lead of America and the West in sanctioning Russia—and actively pointing out the hypocrisy of the US regime—we may be witnessing the end of the post-Cold War unipolar world.
Recommended Reading "The Rules-Based International Order Is Dead. Washington Killed It." by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_76_A
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Think better, think Austrian is the mantra we have adopted for our Economics For Business project. Economics is a way of thinking. It’s conceptual, and its concepts can help businesses to make better decisions. The most important business decisions are those that pertain to the generation of value for customers, since that is the purpose of the firm. We talk with economist Dr. Per Bylund about exactly how the Austrian way of thinking helps businesspeople in every role to think better, and the business benefits that ensue.
Key takeaways and Actionable Insights. “Think Better, Think Austrian” means starting from first principles. Businesses are concerned with behavior — with action. The most important behavior is that of customers . Do they buy, or do they not buy?
The Austrian economics framework places people, and the effort to understand what they are trying to do, in the center of its analysis. First principles in Austrian economics teach us that people act to improve their circumstances—to somehow make things better for themselves. We recognize that people have a purpose in mind, and they make choices that lead them to attaining what they want or need.
It is from this first principle that business owners and entrepreneurs can work backwards to understand the motivations behind the actions of our prospective customers. We can ask why. And we should.
Thinking backwards reveals new understanding. If customers act in a way we don’t understand, or differently from the way we expect them to act, or hope they will act, we can work backwards from what we’ve learned without judgment and instead exercise empathy. They might do something “crazy” — like using a product in a very unexpected way, or buying a competitive product that we know to be “inferior” in some sense. We know that their action made sense to them, and that they believed they would be better off compared to alternative choices or actions. Working backwards from this understanding enables us to deduce their motivation, and what value they were seeking. We can learn from their “crazy” action and rethink our offering. We can choose to take their feedback, even if it doesn’t make sense to us, and offer them an alternative.
Thinking better requires a relationship with the customer. Successful business owners and entrepreneurs must develop a deep enough relationship with their customers to understand how they think, how they feel, and how they perceive things. Additionally, we must learn the context in which they are making their choices—there’s no such thing as a non-contextual choice. Per Bylund makes this clear when he explains that ice cream in summer is a different product choice than ice cream in winter, and clothes for business wear at the office are a different choice than clothes for working from home. Consider this: Whom does the consumer believe is observing and judging them and what standards are being applied? Those are important contextual factors to be taken into account.
The Austrian thinker considers all these influences on the customer and uses them to build and nurture relationships
We know that the ultimate purpose for customer action is the relief of some unease. How do consumers and customers decide what they want to spend their money on? Rather than asking ourselves what people want to buy, we can ask ourselves what decisions people make in pursuit of better circumstances. They start from a position of dissatisfaction. They feel unhappy, or disappointed, or feel let down or lacking in some way. Contented people don’t act. People whose every comfort has been seen to, and who lack nothing—people who aren’t experiencing any unease—don’t buy. Discontented people do. This never-fully-satisfied feeling of discontent on the part of the customer is the universal resource for the entrepreneur. It is never exhausted because people are never fully content or fully satisfied in all of their many needs.
Customers use this heuristic to calculate potential value, even though they likely have no idea they are doing it. They think, to what degree do I expect my choice to relieve my discontent? Satisfaction is achieved not so much via the benefit that products and services promise, but via the burdens that are taken away: less work, less difficulty, less effort, less cost to get to a feeling of less discontent or less fear or less concern or less stress.
Often, of course, customers’ concerns are social. How do others see me, how do I appear to them, how do I compare to others in appearance or competence or achievement? The relief of unease is always subjective and often the subjectivity comes in the form of the customer comparing themselves to others, or to their own assessment of others’ judgment of them.
The entrepreneur listens carefully to what customers say, and observes their actual behavior, then uses empathy to understand what process the customer is using to define their unease and ways to relieve it.
Additional Resources "Think Better, Think Austrian" How-To Guide (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_164_PDF
"Per Bylund on Opportunity Costs": Mises.org/E4E7
Jeff talks to Keith Weiner of Monetary Metals about why gold still plays a major role in the global economy.
Listen to Bob's interview with Keith at mises.org/BMS234 Find out more about Monetary Metals at monetary-metals.com
Saudi Arabia could flee to gold or cryptocurrencies to escape the money-printing machine, but it won't replace the US dollar with an inferior fiat currency.
Original Article: "Why Saudi Arabia Won't Abandon Dollars for Yuan"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The standard bureaucratic line after a program's failure is that the government agents didn't have enough authority or resources to handle the job. Neither explains the failure of Trump's Paycheck Protection Program.
Original Article: "No, More Bureaucracy Would NOT Have Saved Trump's Paycheck Protection Program"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Keith Weiner is founder and CEO of Monetary Metals, an investment firm that pays interest on gold, and the founder of the Gold Standard Institute USA. Weiner’s mission is to provide entrepreneurial services and education to help restore gold as the world’s money par excellence.
Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: The YouTube version of this interviewKeith Weiner’s bio at Monetary MetalsWeiner’s Forbes article on gold and silver coins not circulating For more information, see BobMurphyShow.com. The Bob Murphy Show is also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and via RSS.
Capitalism is often blamed for the effects of policies that aren't capitalism. This is why we need a better definition of capitalism.
Original Article: "What’s in a Name? Why the Definition of Capitalism Matters"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The late Dr. Thomas Szasz, who was well known to libertarians, believed using coercion to treat psychiatric patients was a form of torture. He left a legacy of freedom in a profession that has all but abandoned liberty.
Original Article: "Dr. Thomas Szasz’s Campaign against Psychiatric Coercion and the 'Therapeutic State'"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Bob and Jeff get into the weeds of Disney's shareholders, revenues, and holdings in light of the company's recent spat with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
The agriculture industry is largely running as a planned economy. When the power to make decisions is delegated to bureaucrats rather than to those impacted, mismanagement is a given.
Original Article: "How Agriculture Bureaucrats Are Manipulating Food Prices—and Our Diets"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop look at Ryan's article, "NATO: Our International Welfare Queens" (Mises.org/RR_75_A), breaking down how American taxpayers are subsidizing European militaries. The two also look at the increasingly aggressive positions taken by smaller NATO members, and the consequences this could have as the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues.
Recommended Reading "NATO: Our International Welfare Queens" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_75_A
"European Environmentalists Have Made Energy Independence Impossible" by Daniel Lacalle: Mises.org/RR_75_B
"It All Comes Back to NATO" by Ron Paul: Mises.org/RR_75_C
"Is NATO a Dead Man Walking?" by José Niño: Mises.org/RR_75_D
"We Must Now Learn the Lesson of 1914, Not the Lesson of 1938." by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_75_E
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Europe would have been immeasurably better off had its regimes chosen compromise instead of "countering aggression" in 1914. Sometimes this lesson is heeded, as when the US refused to intervene in 1956 and 1968.
Original Article: "We Must Now Learn the Lesson of 1914, Not the Lesson of 1938."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Beijing only ever really wanted Moscow around as a way to balance against Washington. But with the US being seen to overtly seek to punish Beijing, this will now only move it closer to Moscow.
Original Article: "A Harder Line with Beijing? Let’s Hope Not."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The United States is no longer in any position to remake the world in its image. It's not 1945 or even 1970. Yet the US seems to be gearing up to bully half the world into compliance with the US Russia sanctions.
Original Article: "Will Biden Sanction Half the World to Isolate Russia?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Recorded at the 2022 Austrian Economics Research Conference hosted at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, March 18–19, 2022.
The Ludwig von Mises Memorial Lecture, sponsored by Dr. Don Printz. Includes audience question and answer period.
The Austrian Economics Research Conference is the international, interdisciplinary meeting of the Austrian School, bringing together leading scholars doing research in this vibrant and influential intellectual tradition. The conference is hosted by the Mises Institute at its campus in Auburn, Alabama, and is directed by Joseph Salerno, professor of economics at Pace University and academic vice president of the Mises Institute.
There are only two ways human cooperation occurs: through voluntary means or through coercion. The free market stands for voluntary cooperation; coercion and violence are the means of the state.
Original Article: "Markets Are Peaceful but the State Is Not"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
It has been more than fifty years since Egyptian strongman Gamal Abdel Nasser died, but his unfortunate legacy of imposing socialism on Egypt still harms the nation and its economy.
Original Article: "Egypt Is Still Haunted By Its Ghosts of Socialism"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The medical care industry is so restrictive of individual freedoms — those of both of doctors and patients — that we can legitimately classify it as tyrannical. As is always the case, the solution will come from entrepreneurship, the creative and innovative response of individuals, doctors and teams and firms and their new business models to the dissatisfactions of patients and users of today’s system.
Joe Matarese is one of those innovative individuals. In episode #162 of the Economics for Business podcast, he described the nature and cause of the problem. In episode #163, he surveys the entrepreneurial solutions, some of which are beginning to emerge and some of which still lie in the future.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights As with all entrepreneurial solutions, the consumer is in the driving seat. The consumer — in this case, the patient — are clear in what they want, and what they don’t always get: quality care, accessible and convenient, at an affordable price.
Their definition of quality includes the alignment of interests between medical professionals and patients. Accessibility and convenience result from timely response to patient needs as opposed to lines, waiting rooms and delays. Affordable prices will arise when pricing is open as opposed to hidden behind the veil of insurance, co-pays, and healthcare-as-a-benefit rather than as an economic good.
Direct Primary Care is the business model that aligns doctor and patient interests. The new emerging model of membership-based primary care (see BigTreeMedical.com) is a doctor or a small team of doctors setting up an independent practice and recruiting a customer base of subscription-paying patients. In return for a monthly or annual subscription, the patient enjoys access, and one-on-one consultations on demand (usually via tele-medicine visits). The doctor is often networked into a pharmacy (or the practice obtain a pharmacy license) so the patients access to drugs is facilitated, and the prices of drugs to the patient can be lowered.
Most importantly, the patients are able to build a strong relationship with their primary care doctor. Health monitoring can be closer and more personalized, and early treatment — one of the most important variables in medical care efficacy — can be facilitated.
The direct primary care practice is networked into specialists and treatment centers so that the doctor and patient together can choose the treatment pathway that is best for the individual — tailored to individual circumstances and needs.
Personalized technology supplements the Direct Primary Care model, greatly enhancing the health outcome benefits for the patient. The direct primary care model and one-on-one patient-physician relationship provide the ideal conditions for the deployment of modern personalized technologies. Condition-monitoring watches and wristbands and other wearable or portable consumer electronics can provide the doctor with monitoring data and send an alert for any change in condition or abnormal reading. The doctor or patient can call for an immediate diagnostic consultation.
A direct primary care practice can be networked into an imaging center and a testing center for supplemental data acquisition — many of the new devices are mobile and can come to the patient, rather than vice versa, or can provide more immediate and convenient accessibility.
Personalized networked tech provides a new infrastructure for patient-directed monitoring and analysis (whereas the Obamacare “standard of practice” protocol predetermines what tests and diagnostics a patient can access, locked behind a bureaucratic gateway).
An entrepreneurial ecosystem of services will emerge to support the Direct Primary Care model. The opportunities for entrepreneurs in the new medical care ecosystem are, to use Joe Matarese’s word, endless. He cited, as an example, the Surgery Center Of Oklahoma (SurgeryCenterOK.com), which posts cash prices for surgeries online (no hidden fees), and can usually provide service within 24 hours. They take no insurance and patients pay cash. On a broader geographic scale, medical tourism destinations with open pricing give patients the opportunity to find best pricing and provide the latest equipment and top doctors.
There are cost sharing services such as Sedera (Sedera.com) that offer new ways for patients to pay for healthcare in a peer-to-peer sharing of large unexpected medical costs. Sedera’s Cash Pay Directory provides educational resources and shopping tools to “help members become savvy healthcare shoppers”.
There are negotiation vendors who help patients to get fair pricing on medical bills from the big hospital conglomerates. There are online pharmacy vendors, like Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drug Company (CostPlusDrugs.com), to help patients shop for the best drug values.
There are entrepreneurial services like Freedom Health Works (FreedomHealthWorks.com) to help Direct Primary Care doctors with billing systems, office tech and the business infrastructure for a modern practice.
In the entrepreneurial world of healthcare, entrepreneurs compete to provide the best and most affordable services ecosystem so that patients can enjoy the best healthcare.
Open pricing and cash payments are an important component of the new system. A big problem, perhaps the biggest problem, with the current medical care system is that the price system is not able to work in the way that it works in free markets. As Joe put it in episode #161, medical care system is “price-less”. Because payments are made by a third-party payer and not by the individual consumer, pricing becomes opaque to the user and economic calculation is rendered impossible. The third-party payment veil has resulted in price escalation and price manipulation and multiple prices for the same procedure at the same facility depending on whether the payments are immediate or deferred and the degree of bureaucratic and regulatory involvement.
If patients were to pay cash for treatments, they could make better decisions about exchange value. Catastrophic insurance for unexpected and rare events would make the use of insurance more like its application in car insurance and fire insurance — a properly priced optional spreading of risk for unexpected future events.
Consumers and physicians will collaborate in the creation of a parallel system for medical care. Joe Matarese believes the status quo medical care edifice is too rigid and entangled to reform. The solution lies in a parallel system. If consumers activate their demand for improvements in quality, accessibility, convenience and payments systems, entrepreneurs will respond with new market-based offerings. Customers will flock to them because of the benefits they perceive in contrast to the current system. Market feedback loops of satisfaction and dissatisfaction will rapidly fine-tune the new parallel system to a higher level of value and acceptance. Joe estimates that to will take only 5-10 years for the new system to take over.
Additional Resource "Entrepreneurial Solutions to Medical Tyranny" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_163_PDF
Medicus Healthcare Solutions: MedicusHCS.com
A funny thing has happened on the way to accepting the standard ruling-class narrative on the war in Ukraine: inconvenient and unpleasant facts about the region and its recent history.
Original Article: "Facing Unpleasant Facts: What You aren’t Supposed to say about the War in Ukraine"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Recorded at the 2022 Austrian Economics Research Conference hosted at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, March 18–19, 2022.
The Lou Church Memorial Lecture, sponsored by The Lou Church Foundation. Includes audience question and answer period.
The Austrian Economics Research Conference is the international, interdisciplinary meeting of the Austrian School, bringing together leading scholars doing research in this vibrant and influential intellectual tradition. The conference is hosted by the Mises Institute at its campus in Auburn, Alabama, and is directed by Joseph Salerno, professor of economics at Pace University and academic vice president of the Mises Institute.
Those gloating about Russia being "cut off" are overstating the case. In fact, many of the world's largest countries have shown a reluctance to participate in the US's sanction schemes, and even close US allies aren't going along with it.
Original Article: "Russia Isn't Nearly as Isolated as Washington Wants You to Believe"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
States continue to seek new ways to make the financial system an “economic chokepoint” enabling the state to crack down on specific organizations, individuals, or activities.
Original Article: "The West's Russia Sanctions Show Why States Want to Weaponize the Financial System"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Bob continues his series, this time focusing on the creepy worldview of WEF speaker Yuval Harari, and further reviews Schwab’s book on Covid-19 and the Great Reset.
Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: Part 1 and Part 2, and Part 3 of this seriesThe WEF’s bio for its founder, Klaus SchwabSchwab’s books The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Covid-19 and the Great Reset“Awaken With JP”‘s episode on Schwab and HarariHarari’s talk on the future of humanity at the 2018 World Economic Forum conferenceBob’s article on the socialist calculation debate and Joe Salerno’s lecture on itForbes’ article on Schwab the power broker For more information, see BobMurphyShow.com. The Bob Murphy Show is also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and via RSS.
From the Volga Germans to the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire to the Spaniards and the Mennonites, choosing emigration as a means of avoiding military conscription has a long history.
Original Article: "America Has Long Been a Haven for Draft Dodgers from Foreign Lands"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The scientific method requires free and open dissent from any scientific hypothesis. Yet JAMA is requesting that medical boards become a new Inquisition to root out heresy and apostasy from CDC doctrines.
Original Article: "Real Scientific Inquiry Requires Dissent. But That's Not What the CDC and JAMA Want."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Today, progressives govern by the law of good intentions, and when government has good intentions, the results, no matter how disastrous, don't matter.
Original Article: "Love, Fear, and the Law of Good Intentions"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Jeff and Bob discuss the dynamics of the housing market in the context of a recent talk by Alex Pollock.
"Hazlitt, Hayek, and How the Fed Made Itself into the World's Biggest Savings and Loan": mises.org/PollockAERC
In this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss whether Lindsey Graham is the worst member of the US Senate. The two carefully compare him to other terrible American senators — including Mitch McConnell and Tom Cotton — before settling on a definite conclusion.
Also on this episode, Ryan and Tho identify a silver lining to the Senate's Supreme Court confirmation hearing.
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Recorded at the 2022 Austrian Economics Research Conference hosted at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, March 18–19, 2022.
The F.A. Hayek Memorial Lecture, sponsored by Greg and Joy Morin. Includes audience question and answer period.
The Austrian Economics Research Conference is the international, interdisciplinary meeting of the Austrian School, bringing together leading scholars doing research in this vibrant and influential intellectual tradition. The conference is hosted by the Mises Institute at its campus in Auburn, Alabama, and is directed by Joseph Salerno, professor of economics at Pace University and academic vice president of the Mises Institute.
It is one thing to follow the law for prudential reasons and another thing entirely to assume the law brings with it some sort of moral imperative. Laws rarely do.
Original Article: "In the Age of Covid, We're Reminded an Unjust Law Is No Law at All"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Today, we see Russian athletes, artists, and musicians punished because of their government's invasion of Ukraine. The last time Russia invaded another country, President Jimmy Carter decided to punish American Olympic athletes.
Original Article: "Canceling American Athletes to Punish Russia: The 1980 Moscow Olympics Boycott"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Imposing sanctions will advance the reach of surveillance capitalism while strengthening the power of states to control the financial system overall. The end result will be a lower standard of living and a less free economy.
Original Article: "The West's Russia Sanctions Could Lead to Many Unpredictable and Unpleasant Outcomes"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
While government officials and politicians denounce high drug prices, they have created monopoly privileges for drug firms, thus ensuring higher-than-competitive prices for pharmaceuticals.
Original Article: "Patents, Legal Monopolies, and the High Prices for Drugs"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Recorded at the 2022 Austrian Economics Research Conference hosted at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, March 18–19, 2022.
The Murray N. Rothbard Memorial Lecture, sponsored by Steven and Cassandra Torello. Includes audience question and answer period.
The Austrian Economics Research Conference is the international, interdisciplinary meeting of the Austrian School, bringing together leading scholars doing research in this vibrant and influential intellectual tradition. The conference is hosted by the Mises Institute at its campus in Auburn, Alabama, and is directed by Joseph Salerno, professor of economics at Pace University and academic vice president of the Mises Institute.
Recorded at the 2022 Austrian Economics Research Conference hosted at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, March 18–19, 2022.
The Henry Hazlitt Memorial Lecture, sponsored by Yousif Almoayyed.
The Austrian Economics Research Conference is the international, interdisciplinary meeting of the Austrian School, bringing together leading scholars doing research in this vibrant and influential intellectual tradition. The conference is hosted by the Mises Institute at its campus in Auburn, Alabama, and is directed by Joseph Salerno, professor of economics at Pace University and academic vice president of the Mises Institute.
Sanctions remain popular because they placate the voters who insist "we" must "do something," and government officials are more than happy to accept this invitation to grow state power.
Original Article: "Why Sanctions Don't Work, and Why They Mostly Hurt Ordinary People"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Medical care in the US exemplifies how the perverse effects of accumulated, self-reinforcing economic errors can render a system dysfunctional for consumers. As CEO of Medicus Healthcare Solutions, Joe Matarese has seen the current system from the inside — working and interacting with thousands of hospitals and thousands of providers, primarily doctors, around the country, dealing with processes, bureaucracies, government reimbursement procedures, and the full gamut of the producer side of the medical care system. In Part 1 of a two-part podcast series, he gives us the informed insider’s view.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Many forces combine and interact to produce the medical care system we experience today. Politics: As in almost all cases of market destruction, politicians are highly responsible. They have decided that the medical care of individual citizens is an appropriate field for their interventions, and they meddle in their usual ignorant and incompetent fashion. Dr. Scott Atlas of Stamford University was one who documented some of this glaring incompetence and its resultant creation of the crisis response to the COVID-19 pandemic in his book A Plague Upon Our House. The impact of political incompetence on individuals’ experience of medical care is not limited to COVID-19, but Atlas’ book provides one excellent example.
Regulation: Politicians don’t just meddle; they legislate and regulate. The Affordable Care Act of 2011 is a particularly significant milestone. It created a regulatory environment in which it became virtually impossible for independent physician groups to function. Smaller and rural hospitals could not survive the regulatory burdens imposed, and many closed or were acquired by larger hospital groups. The resultant consolidation and anti-decentralization led to centralized decision-making (particularly evident in the COVID-19 pandemic, but much more broadly impactful than just that event) to the effect that individual doctors are told how to practice and how to treat their patients. The one-on-one doctor-patient relationship that flexibly exercises the experience of the doctor on behalf of the individual needs of the patient and their particular condition Is no longer operative. Doctors now apply a centrally designed pre-determined “standard of care” (and are even told by the AMA what “woke” language to use when interacting with their patients).
Bureaucracy: With regulation comes bureaucracy. Central to the medical care system is the CMS bureaucracy — The Centers For Medicare And Medicaid Services. (You can visit the behemoth at cms.gov — it’s instructive to see the breadth and depth of its reach.) This is the home, for example, of the code lists that govern medical care billing and payment policies. Every doctor must code every patient interaction and every procedure, and the code triggers a specific billing amount. The care that doctors can give patients is governed by these codes and standard-of-care protocols rather than the heuristics an experienced doctor uses to treat individual patients in individual circumstances.
Perverse incentives: Out of the regulatory bureaucracy comes a cascade of perverse incentives. The billing code system leads to one of them: hospitals and doctors will lean towards treatments and billing codes that result in the best billing and revenue outcome for them, rather than what is best for the patient. Similarly, with the fee-for-service model of the Affordable Health Care Act, there’s always the incentive to provide the service or procedure that generates the best fee.
Financial Engineering: The worst financial engineering of the medical care system is the tying of health insurance to employment, and the general misuse, misunderstanding and mispricing of insurance that results. Insurance is appropriate for classes of events (like car accidents or house fires) which are known to have distributed incidence but unknown in terms of where and when they will take place. Individuals pay into an insurance pool that can be drawn on when an unlucky individual encounters an incident; we all hope we will never have to draw on it. In health care insurance, individuals pay for coverage which they know they will draw on. They expect insurance to pay for routine things they should really pay for out of individual income or savings. Medical insurance coverage is appropriate for rare or catastrophic events, but not for everyday health maintenance. In fact, insurance totally obscures the market for health care.
The combined result of all these forces is the elimination of economics from medical care. No free market: Medical care is the epitome of interventionism. There are no unregulated voluntary exchanges between buyer and seller, in this case patient and doctor. Every interaction is regulated, bureaucratized, coded, and distorted by financial engineering. Most importantly, there is no free market pricing. Prices are the indispensable signaling and information exchange mechanisms of markets; when they are suppressed, markets can’t function. The medical care system is, as Joe Matarese puts it, price-less.
No entrepreneurship: The function that solves consumer problems in markets is entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs identify customer dissatisfactions and devise and present solutions for consumers to choose from. Entrepreneurship can’t operate in regulated healthcare. It is suppressed. Joe pointed out that, in the few corners where an entrepreneurial breakout has occurred — he mentioned medical tourism, Lasik eye surgery, cosmetic surgery, and The Surgery Center Of Oklahoma (SurgeryCenterOK.com) — prices have been lowered, quality increased and value spread wider and wider in the market, reaching more and more consumers.
Repressed Innovation: A major output of freely priced entrepreneurial markets is innovation. Entrepreneurs bring improvement in the form of new services and offerings, improved processes, and the application of new scientific discoveries. The innovation process is highly repressed in US Health Care, as in, for example, the FDA’s long and arduous bureaucratic process for approving new drugs resulting in delays in their adoption costing millions of lives.
Replacing the free market is an edifice of massive, plodding, constraining entities. The top of the monstrous pile can probably be assigned to Big Pharma. The massive amount of funds flowing through the pharmaceutical companies empowers their commandeering of the medical community. Government healthcare agencies such as CMS, FDA and VA take up their entwined cronyist positions related to Big Pharma and Big Hospitals. Big Insurance is the financial engineering for the edifice. The bureaucracy regulates them all, but from a position of having been captured through the lobbying process. The patient sits at the bottom of this stack, squeezed by its weight, restricted by its rules, and constrained from receiving individualized care even though doctors and nurses are capable of providing it.
The COVID-19 experience was an instance of the negative consequences of regulated, bureaucratic, perversely incentivized and politicized medical care. The standard four pillars of a medical response to the COVID-19 pandemic would have been:
mitigationearly outpatient treatmenthospital treatmentvaccination Instead, we were bureaucratically and politically accelerated towards a mass vaccine solution, satisfying the perverse incentives of Big Pharma.
Mitigation could have embraced healthy lifestyles, nutraceuticals, and some stratifying of risk by patient age. Instead, it was botched with ridiculous and useless mask mandates and pointless (and damaging) lockdowns.
Early outpatient treatment for those infected would have recognized the “golden window” of outpatient treatment in the first two or three days of the case to reduce the need for later hospitalization, as documented by Dr. Serafino Fazio and others in a published paper (see Mises.org/E4B_162_Paper), with drugs like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, but these were ridiculed, and their use repressed. By the time hospital treatment is needed, the condition has changed from one of inflammation and clotting to pneumonia and lung infection, with potentially worse outcomes. The use of remdesivir was centrally authorized, and this drug is much more expensive and risks worse side effects than the early treatment drugs.
The four pillars were abandoned for the centrally planned decision of mass vaccination.
There is a pathway out of medical tyranny. Principles of Austrian economics can help us find the way out of the current situation. Some of the principles we might apply include:
Let free markets operate: The medical care edifice refutes and represses free markets and market pricing. The first step in a solution is to restore markets to medical care.
Customer sovereignty: Markets are built around the consumer as “the captain of the ship”, determining the purpose and direction of the voyage. Consumers would exercise their sovereignty in a one-on-one relationship with their primary care physician.
Decentralization: Decisions in markets are made close to the customer and not via centralized bureaucracies.
Network versus hierarchy: Austrian economics views markets as networks of specialized nodes connected by 2-way information flows and provider-consumer interactions. The medical care edifice is a hierarchy not network.
In Part 2 of "Entrepreneurial Solutions to Medical Tyranny," Joe Materese will identify some specific ways that we can build a parallel system outside the edifice to bring back consumer sovereignty and free markets.
Additional Resource "Entrepreneurial Solutions to Medical Tyranny" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_162_PDF
Medicus Healthcare Solutions: MedicusHCS.com
In many ways, the liberal democracy that had its roots in nineteenth-century liberalism seems to have run its course. Can we revive it, or does something more authoritarian take its place?
Original Article: "The Progressives' Liberal Democracy Has Failed. Radical Decentralization Is the Answer."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
The Ukrainian regime thinks it knows better than husbands and fathers when it comes to caring for their families. But no bureaucrat ought to be allowed to make such a decision.
Original Article: "Ukraine's Regime Is Now Kidnapping Fathers for Military 'Service'"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
President Harding wanted to see the end of war and a return to a more traditional American foreign policy.
Original Article: "The Triumphant Foreign Policy of Warren G. Harding"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Trade war means increasing the debt, eroding the public confidence, raising prices, and burdening the economy with interventions. All of it done in the name of the "public good."
Original Article: "There Is No Winner in This Trade War"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
In this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop talk about this year's Austrian Economics Research Conference and the value of interdisciplinary approach.
Watch AERC at Mises.org/LIVE
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Jeff and Bob Murphy talk about the state of gross economic ignorance in America today.
Lessons for The Young Economist: Mises.org/YoungEcon
Understanding Money Mechanics: Mises.org/BobMoney
In the months since Angela Merkel’s departure from the German chancellorship after sixteen years in power, the editorials praising her reign have been legion. This is not one of them.
Original Article: "The Legacy of Angela Merkel: Kicking the Can Down the Road"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
From economic power to demographics to military spending, Russia simply doesn't have the ability to be a great power that threatens anyone outside its "near abroad."
Original Article: "Russian Weakness and the Russian "Threat" to the West"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
A central bank whose policies accommodate irresponsible deficit spending by the federal government is a menace to society, unleashing uncontrollable forces.
Original Article: "Inflation: Who or What Is the Culprit?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Zombie companies, which were already a problem in 2019, have not only not been killed off but have multiplied. The zombie apocalypse could be closer than we imagine.
Original Article: "The Covid Panic Brought Even More Economic Zombification"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Bloomberg suggests that individuals should not be permitted to make their own stock selections because they are not "qualified" to make such decisions. Instead, governments should help direct their investment choices.
Original Article: "Should Government Be Your Stockbroker? Maybe So, Says Bloomberg"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
The new cold warriors are gaslighting the public on military spending, claiming spending isn't "keeping up." They want hundreds of billions in new taxpayer dollars.
Original Article: "The War Party Wants a New Cold War, and the Money That Comes with It"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Your individual experience is a business asset. Life is teaching us more than we sometimes realize. An insightful analysis of what we’ve experienced, combined with purposeful translation, can generate unique intellectual property on which to base a unique approach to business. Connie Whitman joins Economics For Business to share her experience and her development of a thriving, resilient, and adaptive coaching and training service.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Experience is an asset that reveals our business superpowers. Life teaches us whether we fully realize it or not. While climbing the job ladder at a firm may seem like the pursuit of credentials and titles, it’s better understood as an accumulation of knowledge and learning that can be applied in the future in entrepreneurship.
Connie Whitman enjoyed a 20-year career in financial services up to the SVP level. It was her customers who pointed out to her what “superpowers” she was developing — a distinctive capacity to assist all parties in a complex collaborative contract to fully understand the benefits accruing to each one of them individually and all of them collectively.
We all can have these superpowers, but we don’t always realize them until a third party points them out, through asking for input or advice or seeking us out or praising us. It’s important to learn the right kind of self-assessment — and to learn to listen to others’ assessment of us — so as to be able to understand our own superpowers.
We can translate our experience into intellectual property that forms the basis for an entrepreneurial business.
Connie Whitman transformed her experience into both a brand philosophy and a scalable methodology. Connie knew from her experience in business that the function entitled “sales” is often viewed negatively: sales activities and salespeople might be accused of rapaciousness and avarice, however unjustified such accusations may be. She intended to develop a service in coaching and training in the sales field, and so it was important to distance herself from these misperceptions. Her counter was selling from a place of love: relationship selling based on love, respect, and integrity. Selling is the construction of an “everybody wins” proposition. It’s an honorable implementation of the entrepreneur’s ethic of service. Anyone using Connie’s techniques would evoke for themselves a feeling of pride and self-respect that the critics of the sales function try to deny.
She crafted a methodology for selling from a place of love in the form of a seven-step selling process. It is replete with Austrian principles of subjectiveness, empathy, and customer sovereignty.
Preparedness: Planning in advance to assemble all the knowledge and understanding available to make you informed and ready; anticipating what the customer will want to know and is likely to ask.
Connecting: Using empathy to connect on the basis of what’s important to the customer in order to establish credibility.
Exploring: Asking questions to learn as much as possible about the customer’s needs and preferences in the context of their current circumstances.
Active Listening: Connie’s phrase is “be present” — listen intently and indicate that you have heard accurately by asking follow up questions to further explore customer needs.
Presenting Solutions: Framing all value propositions as a solution — reliving customer unease.
Confirming: The process of closing the sale, actively asking the customer for their business.
Following up: Consistent, persistent, and respectful (CPR) follow up to confirm satisfaction and potentially extend the relationship.
Connie’s method has evolved and improved over the years — nothing is ever fixed, and all businesses adapt and learn. Yet this intellectual property developed from experience has proven to be solid capital generating both revenue flows and client satisfaction, not to mention word-of-mouth recommendations and references.
Business-building is a function of your network — another piece of intellectual property born of experience. You meet many people in your professional career and you make many connections. Your network is another IP asset. It’s one you should groom and keep fresh and active, turning it into another business asset.
An IP business can be lasting, but you may have to refresh the infrastructure. Connie’s in-person, face-to-face business model was challenged during the COVID pandemic. When business travel stopped, and a lot of sales training budgets were cut. The IP remained valid. The market signal was for her to digitize the business. She took classes and hired consultants to learn how to achieve domain authority. She educated herself on the technology required for digitization of her individual business model, and the processes for digital engagement that were consistent with her 7-step process and principles. The result has been further growth, and the continued fulfillment of pursuing her business goals, and realizing new ones.
Your entrepreneurial IP business can become your most fulfilling experience. Connie describes her entrepreneurial experience as immensely fulfilling — the most rewarding thing she has done in her life. It’s the realization of the value accumulated over a career, and the new value shared with clients in providing service to them. It has been tremendously hard work, of course, and has required some challenging resource allocation decisions — of both time and money — but the reward greatly exceeds the sacrifice.
Additional Resources "Connie Whitman’s Seven-Step Sales Loop" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_161_PDF
ESP—Easy Sales Process by Connie Whitman: Mises.org/E4B_161_Book
Connie’s website: WhitmanAssoc.com
Changing The Sales Game podcast: Mises.org/E4B_161_Pod
Socialization of the economy led to immediate disaster. In 1920–21, Bolshevik agrarian policy culminated in a famine with an impact unparalleled in modern European history.
Original Article: "Socialist Economies Are Impossible: Lessons from Russia, 1917–22"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
More than critiquing vaccines, this book exposes Anthony Fauci’s career as a case study in crony capitalism. The key players are the government regulatory agencies headed by Fauci.
Original Article: "Anthony Fauci: Master of Medical Crony Capitalism"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Progressives will write the history of covid to hide the mistakes of progressive "experts" and to distance themselves from disastrous or pointless policies. They've done it before.
Original Article: "This Is How the Progressives Will Write the History of Covid"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.
Price inflation has been accelerating upward since April of last year. Yet the Fed has done virtually nothing. What's the Fed waiting for?
Original Article: "With Inflation at a 40-Year High, the Fed Is Too Afraid to Act"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
In this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop look at the economic consequences of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. What has been the damage from America's weaponization of the dollar? Is Russia likely to return to the gold standard? What may be the fallout in Europe?
Recommended Reading "Can Government Successfully Counter Recessions Through Expansionary Policies? Don't Count on It" by Frank Shostak: Mises.org/RR_72_A
"Sanctions against Russia Are the Lockdowns of 2022" by Tho Bishop: Mises.org/RR_72_B
"The Steep Cost of Sanctions for Europe and Russia" by Daniel Lacalle: Mises.org/RR_72_C
"The Economy May Be Finally Peaking, and the Fed Won't Help Matters" by Brendan Brown: Mises.org/RR_72_D
"Why Sanctions Don't Work, and Why They Mostly Hurt Ordinary People" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_72_E
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Bob continues his series on Klaus Schwab and the Great Reset, highlighting an interesting remark in Biden's SOTU, Strobe Talbott's open support for global government, and the introduction to Schwab's book on Covid-19 and the Great Reset.
Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: Part 1 and Part 2 of this seriesThe WEF’s bio for its founder, Klaus SchwabSchwab’s books The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Covid-19 and the Great ResetBob’s first co-hosted Human Action podcast with Jeff DeistForbes’ article on Schwab the power broker For more information, see BobMurphyShow.com. The Bob Murphy Show is also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and via RSS.
History is a clash between the forces of liberty and the proponents of power. In Cronyism, Patrick Newman offers a compelling and important narrative on the early days of the American republic, and the rise of a Federal regime that conquers a nation conceived in liberty.
Narrated by Scott R. Pollack
Download the complete audiobook (17 MP3 files) in one ZIP file here. This audiobook is also available on Soundcloud, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and via RSS. Purchase the Audiobook on MP3-CD and Audible/Amazon, or paperback at the Mises Store.
Introduction to Cronyism: Liberty versus Power in Early America, 1607–1849. Narrated by Scott R. Pollack
Here in Canada, the trucker protesters (and their supporters) have been civil and maintained the usual Canadian niceness. This civility has not been reciprocated by the political class.
Original Article: "Report from Canada: The Regime Is Lying about the Truckers"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
With the approval of Biden's infrastructure bill, it now turns out the US government is even in control of a "kill switch" that could disable your car if you are deemed "impaired."
Original Article: "Elections Now Decide Who Can Operate Your Car"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Entrepreneurs can realize their goal to think better, think Austrian by taking a systems thinking approach. We can ditch linearity and hierarchies in favor of distributed networks and webs of causality and create better knowledge – more aligned with the real world — and better mental models. Professors Laura and Derek Cabrera of Cabrera Research Lab and Cornell University — leading authorities on systems thinking — speak to Economic For Business on the application of systems thinking for entrepreneurs, and everyone.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights There’s a crisis in thinking in the business world. Laura and Derek Cabrera have conducted deep research in the field of business thinking, and they’ve identified both the problems and the solution. The problems include reductionism (we’re taught to think about parts of systems instead of the system as a whole); hierarchical organization of thinking (versus complex distributed networks); thinking in categories versus breaking down part-whole groupings; thinking in terms of liner cause-and-effect versus webs of causality; and the prevalence of bivalent logic (right/wrong, black/white) rather than the multi-valent logic of many right answers.
This way of thinking is not well-aligned with the realities around us. The solution is systems thinking — the thinking of complex adaptive systems.
Systems thinking aligns with how the real world works. Our mantra at Economics for Business is Think Better, Think Austrian. Systems thinking is better thinking (and Austrian economics fully embraces complex adaptive thinking — what Mises called constant flux and Hayek called spontaneous order and Lachmann called the market as a process of combination and recombination).
Systems thinking defines complex adaptive systems in this way:
Autonomous agents follow simple rules based on what’s happening locally around them, the collective dynamics of which lead to the emergence of the complex dynamics we see.
This description is actually a mental model of a complex adaptive system. The products of systems thinking are mental models. None are perfect representations of reality, but they help us when they are better representations of reality.
Four simple rules of systems thinking produce better mental models. By following 4 simple rules, over and over again, anyone can become a practiced and adept systems thinker. The rules are captured in the acronym DSRP.
D is for Distinctions. Systems thinkers make distinctions between different things and different ideas. We can make distinctions between different customers, different costs, different sales channels, different suppliers, different employees. We identify boundaries, what’s inside and what’s outside. We differentiate, compare, and contrast.
S is for organizing ideas into systems of parts and wholes. Every thing is a system because it contains parts. Every e-mail contains words which contain letters which are made up of pixels. We construct meaning when we organize different ideas into part-whole configurations. We split things up or lump them together in systems of context. We group, we sort, we classify, we assemble.
R is for identifying relationships between and among ideas. We can’t understand much about anything without understanding the relationships between or among the ideas or components. Relationships include causal, correlation, feedback, inputs/outputs, influence, etc. Fundamentally, relationships are action and reaction. We live in an infinite network of interactions, including between our own thoughts, feelings, and motivations. We connect, interconnect, associate and join.
P is for looking at things from different perspectives. When we make a distinction or identify parts and wholes or identify a relationship, we are always doing so from one particular perspective, made up of the point from which we are viewing and the thing or things in view. Being aware of the perspectives we take is paramount to understanding ourselves and the world around us. If we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change. We frame, we interpret, we empathize, and we negotiate from a perspective.
Systems thinking is not a set of steps but a set of rules, and from the interplay of these rules emerges the dynamics of systemic thought.
There are four types of action for systems thinkers applying the DSRP rules. 1) See Information and structure. To construct meaning and mental models, we take in information and structure it. It’s important to recognize the difference between the information and how we structure it. A good way to do this is visualization: use whiteboards or sticky notes or software to map out systems and parts (e.g., boxes within boxes on a chart) and relationships (lines between the boxes). This physical manifestation of a system can help create new knowledge and point to solutions.
Laura and Derek told the story of a large conglomerate business that, by visualizing its divisions and functions and the information flows between them, was able to identify redundancies, see where communications and information was lacking or blocked off, and design a new and improved structure.
2) Use common patterns in the structure of mental models. Laura and Derek use the term cognitive jigs: forms of information structuring that can be used again and again. A list is one type of cognitive jig. It can be used to order priorities or structure wholes into parts. Similes and metaphors are jigs. There’s another called a relationship distinction system (RDS) that can help solve silo problems in organizational design by identifying required relationships and the people responsible for them, and the resources required to operate the relationship. Excel spreadsheets and tables are jigs. Look for useful cognitive jigs and use them over and over again. They increase the efficiency and speed of thought.
3) Make structural predictions. Austrians are wary of predictions because we know the future is uncertain. Here, we are not talking about predicting the future, but predicting the possibility of new knowledge existing after restructuring information. For example, a new relationship opportunity could emerge if we change our perspective. A new understanding could emerge if we break something that we were treating as a whole into its parts. We can identify gaps in our current thinking and make a bet that there’s something positive in changing that thinking. We can create new knowledge.
4) Embrace the logic of and/both. We are taught bivalent logic: there’s right and wrong, there’s black and white, there’s X and Y. There’s an alternative: multivalent logic. There can be more than one right answer. There can be a continuum rather than fixed points.
One example of multivalent logic applies in the analysis of what customers want. They have a variety of preferences, ordered in different ways at different times and in different contexts. They are continuously learning what to want, and always making trade-offs. Bivalent logic won’t help entrepreneurs understand customers’ choices or decision-making processes.
Another example of bivalent versus multivalent logic is cause and effect compared to a web of causality. We tend to think of cause and effect as neighbors on a timeline. The cue ball of cause strikes the colored ball of effect and moves it in a designated direction. But it’s more realistic to think of the events of our lives or our business having multiple causal factors. There are so many mediating factors and external and internal variables that lead us to be more systematic in our thinking about them. Purposely look for webs of causality rather than shoehorn observed phenomena into a linear causal model that doesn’t match the reality of the world.
Systems thinking includes the recognition of individual subjective purpose and intent. The perspective of methodological individualism leads Austrians to worry about whether systems thinking is well-aligned with Austrian thinking. I asked Laura and Derek this question. The response: “I would say that’s precisely what systems thinking entails — the notion that each individual agent is following simple interaction rules with other agents, and that those interaction rules are leading to the system and its emergent properties.
An example of an interaction rule from Austrian economics: humans act in order to improve their circumstances. Another is that they use their own subjective value system to determine what is an improvement. The action axiom, subjective value, opportunity cost in choosing between alternatives, profit and loss and the context of constant change are the simple rules of Austrian economics.
Practice, practice, practice. Systems thinking is something everyone should be able to do. It can be practiced. Our brains are already building mental models about the world. It’s already in us and so it pays to be aware of it.
It’s like any exercise: more reps make us stronger. Look at anything through the DSRP lens when you are feeding your dogs or driving down the highway observing billboard advertisements. Make the neuronal pathways of DSRP second nature.
This can occur at the level of individual learning or of organizational learning. In episode #152 (Mises.org/E4B_152), we discussed the organizational model of VMCL — an organization using learning to acquire the capacity to do its mission every day to achieve its vision.
Additional Resources "How to Become A Systems Thinker" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_160_PDF1
"Practical Systems Thinking Actions and Behaviors" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_160_PDF2
Systems Thinking Made Simple: New Hope for Solving Wicked Problems by Derek and Laura Cabrera: Mises.org/E4B_160_Book
Cabrera Research Lab: CabreraResearch.org
In Orwellian fashion, if you want freedom, that makes you a "racist" and a "fascist." So, it is assumed by our overlords to be "fascism" when truckers protest for the freedom to earn a living.
Original Article: "The Canadian Truckers' Battle against Covid Tyranny"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
In a remarkable pivot, the White House now says, “We’ve not been pro-lockdown—most of the lockdowns actually happened under the previous President.”
Original Article: "The White House Now Says It Never Really Wanted Lockdowns"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
The evolution from gold standard to gold exchange standard to the dollar fiat system is one based largely on deception and broken promises.
Original Article: "Today's Fiat Dollar Standard Is Founded in Lies"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
SEZs are loopholes, and capitalism breathes through loopholes. But like all loopholes, they tend to benefit those who can afford to hire the lawyers who can identify said loopholes.
Original Article: "What Would Mises Have Thought of "Special Economic Zones"?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Although covid cases in Austria—and most other countries—are rapidly falling, Austria has doubled down on punishing the unvaccinated and become the first country to mandate vaccination for all adults.
Original Article: "Austria Doubles Down on Forced Vaccinations"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Jeff and Bob discuss Biden's SOTU, the immorality of sanctions, and Fed chair Powell's pregnant comments.
This week, Jeff and Bob discuss oil prices. Why are gas prices spiking in the US, and what are D.C. politicians planning for oil companies?
In this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss the fallout from the first week of the Ukraine-Russian conflict. What is the impact on American politics? Are Western leaders capable of de-escalation? What will be the lasting impact on other geopolitical fronts?
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
In this episode of Liberty vs. Power, Dr. Patrick Newman and Tho Bishop look at the connection between the imperialism of the Jacksonians and the corruption of America as an "empire of liberty." As manifest destiny — and the annexation of Texas — brings the United States to the Pacific Ocean, and the issue of slavery heightens sectional differences in Washington, the party of Jackson and Van Buren comes to embrace many of the same policies that it was created to tame.
Recommended Reading "Shadow Imperialism: American Filibusters in Latin America" by Chris Calton — Mises.org/LP11_A
"The Folly of 1845: Texas and the Evils of Annexation" by Ryan McMaken — Mises.org/LP11_B
Cronyism: Liberty versus Power in Early America, 1607–1849 by Patrick Newman — Mises.org/LP_Crony
To subscribe to the Liberty vs. Power Podcast on your favorite platform, visit Mises.org/LvP.
Rory Sutherland, Vice-Chairman Ogilvy UK, is a peerless marketing authority, revered throughout the business world. He published a blogpost with the title Wanted — an Austrian School of Marketing. In praxeology, subjective value theory, customer sovereignty, and ordinal value stacks, he identified the building blocks of a marketing approach for our digital age. We talk about it in Economics For Business #159.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Mainstream economics has the wrong narrative about capitalism and, consequently, a misconception about marketing. Mainstream economics fetishizes efficiency, and regards marketing as a cost and an add-on business activity rather than fundamental and essential. There are multiple erroneous assumptions about consumer behavior such as adhering consistently to transitive preferences, perfect trust, and knowing to the penny how much utility will be derived from every transaction. Utility is defined in a circular fashion (consumers act to maximize utility / how do economists know what utility is / it’s the value that consumers try to maximize).
The influence of mainstream economics on business is to favor a focus on what Rory terms “instrumental objective means of business growth”, such as lower prices, and wider distribution. Business becomes obsessed with quantification, and, because value is not quantifiable, looks for other outcomes that can be quantified and used to justify investments. This approach misses the key point: that the marketing tournament is played out not in the objective arena, but in the subjectivity of the consumer’s mind.
Ludwig von Mises developed the science of understanding human behavior, and provided a unique economic underpinning for marketing. Mises introduced the new method of praxeology, making Austrian economics an entirely different science than mathematics-based economics. It’s the science of human behavior, of action, and can be combined with psychology and evolutionary biology in the development of a superior mental template for understanding business.
For marketers, the most telling understanding from praxeology is the consumer’s drive to relieve uneasiness. Mises phrases it: “The incentive that impels a man to act is always some uneasiness.” Note the terms “impels” and “always”. These are powerful insights for marketers. But more is required for action: “the expectation that purposeful behavior has the power to remove ….the felt uneasiness”. This is the task of marketing: to create such an expectation.
The relief of unease is the consumer’s primary drive, and therefore the proper focus of marketing. There is no need, as Rory phrases it, for marketers to “ladle on the positives” in their communications. Removal of unease works differently. It creates the expectation that uneasiness can be removed by actions the consumer takes.
Reputation, for example, is a reassurance to customers that they won’t be disappointed, and that promises made can, with some confidence, be expected to be kept.
A strong brand is a special form of such reputational reassurance.
Investment in a costly advertising campaign with high production quality can remove unease about the credibility of a seller — someone willing to invest in advertising must be confident that there will be widespread acceptance of what they’re offering, giving the buyer a corresponding confidence of not only quality but also social endorsement.
Guarantees, samples, and easy return policies are examples of widely used and effective unease-reducing marketing initiatives.
In fact, anything that reduces the work that customers need to do to enjoy the product or service (such as, for example, home delivery) can relieve unease and increase the value experience. Economists might call this reduced opportunity cost or transaction cost. Whatever the terminology, the unease-reduction approach is the most powerful marketing method.
One example Rory cited was that of zoom. While the technology has been well-established for some time, zoom was bedeviled by the problem of social unease in the early phases of its establishment. Is an electronic meeting as effective as an in-person meeting? Will a client think less of a service provider who doesn’t fly to see them, irrespective of the quality of the remote, technology-enhanced communication?
The analysis of unease — especially the socially-contextual unease inherent in a service like zoom — is a really important element in the understanding of value generation through marketing. Austrian school marketers can develop a special understanding by asking more questions about how best to reduce unease rather than how to increase desirability. Rory used the example of range anxiety for potential buyers of electric vehicles. Their anxiety about possibly running out of power before finding a charging station might be irrational based on their physical environment and infrastructure, but the anxiety nevertheless governs purchase and usage and demands relief.
Marketing is built on an Austrian understanding of customers and their subjective heuristics of value perception. Customers’ perception of the potential for the relief of unease is subjective and emotional. The appreciation of goods and services is not merely a product of their objective characteristics. Value for consumers can be created through psychology, not just through production. Value is a consumer experience, an emotional response driven by a subjective sense of what matters to them, embedded in context, story and meaning.
Changing consumer behavior is not a function of the objective reality of product and price. Marketers who focus just on these elements are “playing with a limited deck”, in Rory’s words. The presentation of a good or service to customers is fundamental to the value proposition. It’s not an add-on or an optional extra for business. Marketing can change customer’s minds through reframing, through changing the social context, or through any one of many, many more ways to change how they look at things.
Consumers evaluate through heuristics rather than rational calculations of economic benefits and costs. The marketing power of brand or reputation is a customer heuristic: a firm that has invested in its reputation through quality and service, reliability, and consistency in keeping its marketing promises, as well as cultivating its online ratings, will be rewarded in the marketplace. Customer disappointment — resulting from a failure to consistently keep promises — will be punished. Reputation and disappointment, of course, are subjectively perceived.
Austrian marketers thrive on the feedback loops. As Rory puts it, some people like plain white bread and some will pay $10 for a sourdough olive focaccia loaf. Marketers explore all the possibilities in a market — they embrace the messiness of customer preferences and the whimsy of their choices. Perfect competition deprives customers of these whimsical choices; it commodifies what’s offered by suppliers.
If markets were designed by suppliers there’d be less variance but also less resilience (fewer options). Markets are designed by consumers and value is created in customer-initiated experiences, facilitated by suppliers who listen and respond well. Consumers get what they want via feedback loops, sending signals back to the marketer about what they want and don’t want, and what they’ll buy and won’t buy.
Brands especially welcome market feedback so that they can align more and more tightly with consumer preferences, and customize the branded experience to an ever-greater extent, reinforcing the brand-consumer bond. It is the consumer feedback loop that drives innovation. Marketing is the listening and alignment function. It’s essential to the workings of capitalism. It is the tool for synthesis of value through the imaginative redefinition of what people value, based on their signals.
It is the Austrian perspective that deals so well with the unpredictability of marketing successes. Another limitation of conventional economics and quantification-obsessed businesses is the search for one right answer. Such restricted models of reality are dangerous. What capitalism and marketing are good at is coming up with multiple answers — increasing the potential solution space for problems, and increasing the number of ways to relieve unease.
The answer to any customer demand is never one thing, it’s multiple options for different value-uncertain customers to choose from. Sometimes there are what Rory calls “opposite things” (Red Bull and Coca-Cola) or sometimes multiple different things (a wide range of single serve beverages for a wide range of consumers in a wide range of situations).
Rory is an expert on unpredictable marketing successes. In his book Alchemy, he describes the “magic” of marketing and some of its unpredictable outcomes. One of the notable ones was the success of Red bull, a beverage brand that, according to research among its own consumers, “tastes kind of disgusting”. The testing agency had never seen a worse reaction to any new product. Why is there such unpredictability? As Rory puts it:
Models of human behavior devised and promoted by (mainstream) economists and other conventionally rational people are wholly inadequate at predicting human behavior.
Red Bull “hacks the human unconscious”. It has potent associations with risk taking behavior, with myths about the power of caffeine and taurine, with perceived signaling effects, and with several more psychological placebos. These have nothing to do with product and price, and make the success of Red Bull unpredictable.
Another way to say this is to call Red Bull’s success an emergent property. The future is unpredictable, but so is the past (we can’t really explain Red Bull’s success), even though we attempt to post-rationalize. It’s just one of several possible outcomes and we don’t truly know the story and how it happened.
Austrians’ embrace of emergent outcomes in free markets with freedom of choice makes marketers perfectly comfortable with unpredicted outcomes.
Much of business success is luck, instantiated by entrepreneurship and enabled by marketing. As a consequence of this unpredictability, extraordinary business success is a function of luck and timing. Business outcomes are largely probabilistic rather than deterministic. Sadly, 80% of the effort in business is applied to pretending that it is deterministic — in the form of planning and strategy activities for example.
The time and place of “take off” for new innovations and marketing campaigns is entirely unpredictable. There are two influences that can bring a little more certainty. One is the role of the entrepreneur, who is likely to be more single-mindedly focused and more persistent in betting on a single innovation than a larger corporation that has a portfolio and a risk-averse bureaucracy.
The second is marketing, which has the capability to change customer psychology and change their frame of reference, transforming a bleeding edge concept into something inevitable and compelling. Early-stage adopters are often seen as somewhat crazy (i.e., there is limited socially contextual acceptance for the innovation), and marketing can accelerate the adoption curve by reducing or eliminating the value uncertainty of more customers more quickly.
Importantly for marketers, Austrian economics takes a process view of markets, in which people and their preferences and their individual and social behavior are constantly changing. This “constant flux”, as Mises worded it, gives energy to marketing as a stimulus for innovation, improvement, and promises of better alternatives.
Additional Resources "The Austrian School Of Marketing" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_159_PDF
Rory Sutherland's blog post: "Wanted — an Austrian School Of Marketing": Mises.org/E4B_159_Blog
Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life: Mises.org/E4B_159_Book
Rory Sutherland on YouTube: "Praxeology: Time To Rediscover A Lost Science" (There’s a special frame at 8:10): Mises.org/E4B_159_Video
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Tho Bishop interviews Norm Singleton, senior fellow of the Market Institute and former legislative director for Congressman Ron Paul. Tho and Norm discuss the experience of being an Austro-libertarian within the belly of DC, the challenges Dr. Paul faced in office, and what Norm sees as some of the most important battles in Washington today.
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
In this episode of Liberty vs. Power, Dr. Patrick Newman and Tho Bishop look at the record of the Jackson administration on trade, spending, and corporate privilege, and how it tied into a larger shift within the Anglosphere.
Cronyism: Liberty versus Power in Early America, 1607–1849 by Patrick Newman — Mises.org/LP_Crony
To subscribe to the Liberty vs. Power Podcast on your favorite platform, visit Mises.org/LvP.
Bob explains the friendly exchange he had with Dave Smith regarding the new Johns Hopkins study that concluded lockdowns did little to reduce mortality. Smith had tweeted that in a sane world, all those favoring lockdowns would be publicly disgraced, while Bob argues that these studies are so open-ended that people on both sides can reasonably ignore those that disagree with their preferred conclusions.
Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: Dave Smith’s original tweet about the Johns Hopkins studyBob’s article on Nordhaus vs. the UNA Reuters “fact check” that cites Johns Hopkins experts on why lockdowns DO workA Politifact pushback on Johns Hopkins study For more information, see BobMurphyShow.com. The Bob Murphy Show is also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and via RSS.
Entrepreneurship-as-design is brought to life in a wonderful conversation with Mark Romera, who conceived, designed and brought to market a values-driven vision of kids having fun playing in their backyards, via an impeccably crafted brand named Spimbey.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights. Entrepreneurs can identify innovation opportunities even in the most established fundamental routines of everyday family life. What’s more basic than kids playing with physical toys in the family back yard, running round, having fun, connecting with others? It’s fundamental to family life in the neighborhood. Yet, kids don’t get that experience so much these days. How to bring it back? That’s an entrepreneurial question that Mark Romera answered with Spimbey, a brand new playset product he designed and launched though his company, Spimba.
First, choose your customer. Mark chose Mom. Kids are users, but Mom’s the customer. She’s part of a family with target-age kids and some backyard space. She wants her kids to have fun, play safely outside, play with others, and develop themselves physically and mentally. She worries about how much time kids spend on their digital screens, and how that affects their development.
How does an entrepreneur develop the requisite deep knowledge about Mom? Talk to her; engage her in conversation. Go where the play takes place — the back yard.
Distill a complex need into a simple solution. Already, there’s a lot of complexity. Mom, kids, families, playthings and the materials they’re made with. This brings in safety considerations and regulations, as well as design and manufacturing needs and marketing and distribution needs. The best way to get started is work backwards from the simple solution — the concept of a finished playset, easily assembled by Mom or Dad in a suburban backyard. It needs to be simple for Mom to understand and picture in her mind, and all her questions (like safety and ease of assembly and sustainability) must have simple answers.
From this simple vision, entrepreneurs work backwards in a disassembly process to identify everything they’ll need and the network design to bring it all together.
Design and assemble a flexibly networked internal and external team. Mark was a sole founder. First, he assembled his team in answer to the questions, who can help me with this journey? He also had flexibility for when and where he needed team members. For the “internal” team (not necessarily employees but performing functional management roles) he looked for process development, product development, brand development and web development. He made careful decisions about types of people, level of experience and the ability to take responsibility in an agile process. Most important was brand alignment — a premium, high quality, high integrity brand presentation requires team members of an appropriate caliber who understand reputation building and high consumer trust.
Next, he focused on assembling the external support team: design, safety experts, materials experts, testing labs and safety certifiers aligned with the appropriate regulatory regimes, manufacturing partners, external sales and customer service experts, logistics, freight and delivery partners. The entire value network must be linked, and scheduled for the right inputs at the right time, all working backwards in the calendar from the critical date, which is the high season for retail sales of playsets. Co-ordination of value network nodes and information flows with process inputs, sequences and handoffs is a complex exercise which must be programmed before any work commences.
The design process is a combination of creativity, rigor, networking and collaborative integration. As we’ve learned, much of entrepreneurship is a design process, to get from a concept that’s generated internally to a completed product or project that can meet the rigorous demands of the external world, including Mom and the safety regulators, and the guardians of the distribution channels.
The design concept must take a form that everyone involved in the design process can see and understand in an appropriate way, without contradictions or misunderstandings. Then the appropriate design parameters must be assigned: safety, durability, ease of assembly and ease of use, manufacturability, regulatory compliance, freight and packaging constraints. Many of these design inputs must be outsourced — to computer design shops, materials specialists, manufacturers who can impose their own restrictions, warehousers and freight carriers who have specific requirements.
There is a lot of iteration, adjustment, change management and process orchestration to be managed as the design concept advances towards the market and becomes more and more solid, complete and comprehensively detailed. Mark emphasizes meticulous planning, and a calm demeanor with clear communications to keep the network aligned and on the same page.
Branding is a critical element. The product is physical, but the benefits are psychological. This includes the sense of fun and easiness for the kids, and the feeling of satisfaction and safety for parents. These psychic benefits must be captured in the brand presentation, both online and in physical elements like design and color and packaging. For Mark, his brand is his philosophy, captured in communication, presentation, design, production and delivery.
Mark Romera’s personal entrepreneurial journey passed through various business roles and experiences before branching into entrepreneurship. Mark worked in growth marketing, business intelligence, new business development and as an independent consultant solving strategic problems for business clients. As his responsibilities increased, he often felt like an entrepreneur inside the corporation. In growth marketing, he learned the power of testing supported by data. Test everything, without waiting for too much discussion about the pros and cons of an idea or concept. If it works, scale it up, if it doesn’t, try to understand why based on the data you’ve collected. Testing and experimentation produce data, and data reduces uncertainty. The data cycle requires speed for success, and not conventional structures or decision-making processes that slow things down.
Entrepreneurship brings unique psychic rewards. With his growth hacking and exploit-and-expand experience, Mark felt ready and eager to step into entrepreneurship. He told us he wanted something more, because something was missing. He wanted the freedom to develop his own ideas from scratch and to create something new and cool. The psychic reward from entrepreneurship is special. It combines the challenge of immediate implementation and a successful sales season with the long term vision of building a global brand, extending a product line, and gaining acceptance in markets worldwide.
The entrepreneurial journey for Mark is immediately highly rewarding with the long term prospect of increasing achievement and success.
Additional Resources Mark Romera’s "Entrepreneurial Journey as a Design Process" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_158_PDF
See the completion of the journey: Spimbey.com
On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Ash Navabi, a Canadian economist. Ash breaks down the differences in culture and political traditions between the US and Canada, and offers his take on the clash between the Freedom Convoy protests and the Trudeau regime.
Recommended Reading "Canada Nice No Longer: Trudeau's Totalitarian Response to Trucker Protests" by Mitch Nemeth: Mises.org/RR_70_A
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Wokism and US foreign policy should not be viewed as isolated phenomena but rather inextricably linked concepts given the US’s universalist foreign policy modus operandi.
Original Article: "Wokism Could Provoke a Global Anti-American Backlash"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
General Andrew Jackson, fresh off the election of 1828, assumes the office of the presidency, armed with a battle plan to bring down the institutions he blames for the corruption of the republic: America's National Bank.
In this episode of Liberty vs. Power, Dr. Patrick Newman and Tho Bishop look at the Jacksonians' embrace of executive power and their battle against Nicholas Biddle of the Second Bank of the United States.
Recommended Reading "Bureaucracy and the Civil Service in the United States" by Murray Rothbard — Mises.org/LP9_A
"The War on Cash: Old and New" by Louis Rouanet — Mises.org/LP9_B
A Short History of Paper Money and Banking in the United States by William Gouge — Mises.org/LP9_C
The Jacksonian Persuasion: Politics and Belief by Marvin Meyers — Mises.org/LP9_D
Cronyism: Liberty versus Power in Early America, 1607–1849 by Patrick Newman — Mises.org/LP_Crony
To subscribe to the Liberty vs. Power Podcast on your favorite platform, visit Mises.org/LvP.
The terminology of complex adaptive systems sounds academic and abstruse, but the subject is not: it’s about the real-life, in-your-face problems and challenges that face a business every day. The secret to solving the challenges of complexity is adaptation. Luca Dellanna, a business expert on the subject, joins Economics For Business to explain how any firm and all management teams can harness the power of adaptation.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Complex systems are a business’s everyday environment, and every business behavior is an adaptation. Every action a manager or leader takes should be aimed not just at its direct outcome but also for the adaptations triggered in your team, i.e. the longer term, second order future behaviors that are made more likely as a consequence of the immediate action. Take motivation as an example. Motivation results less from direct efforts (such as a “motivational speech”) but rather from the establishment of an environment in which good effort is recognized and rewarded. Your system action could be as simple as checking back with employees regarding assignments very quicky and providing feedback. This shows that their behavior is observed, appreciated and valued — a motivational environment to which they will adapt positively. A different environment can be demotivating, with negative long term consequences.
Fast, tight feedback loops are the engines of adaptive systems. Feedback is the energy of adaptive systems, and Luca urges that the feedback loops must be fast and tight. After-action feedback should be as close to immediate as possible, so that there is no uncertainty about whether action is praiseworthy or not. Dashboards and end-of-period bonuses are too delayed for motivational purposes. Similarly, feedback should be highly specific to the action in question, as opposed to a general — and, even worse, vague or unclear - evaluation. These “motivational moments” or “mission moments” can contribute to the sense of a shared mission and vision.
The opposite case can generate “motivational losses”. When a team member or colleague shifts from motivated and engaged to unmotivated and disengaged — ready to quit perhaps — it’s a motivational loss. These can be avoided. Treat these occasions as incidents, to be investigated and addressed. Usually, the best solution is productive clarity, because motivational losses usually occur in the event of unclear objectives or unclear directions. The solution to lack of clarity is to make it impossible to be misunderstood, and to do so from the very outset, so that there is never a need to be remedial.
People have mental contracts, and it’s important to understand and empathize with them. We all have two contracts, the one we sign, and the one in our mind which includes a host of intangibles that are unexpressed in the written contract. We might expect to receive promotion after an appropriate period of hard work, even though there’s nothing in the written contract to that effect, nor has anyone made us that promise. It’s an implicit contract. It’s important to identify and understand these mental contracts, and to end, through clear communications that can’t be misunderstood, all misconceptions that can lead to unfulfilled expectations.
Signaling must be clear and costly. Leadership behaviors act as signals to the rest of the organization. The signals must be clear and unambiguous. Words can be misunderstood or can be perceived as self-contradicting when there is inconsistency. Behaviors can be more clear and more consistent. Luca gave a safety example: instead of instructing individuals to wear helmets in unsafe areas, managers should go to wear the work is being done, and demonstrate the behavior. The more “costly” the signaling behavior to the manager, the more clear the signal. Luca gave the example of the founder of the Dupont explosives businesses living with his family at the factory where explosives were made. He put “skin in the game” to demonstrate the importance of safety in a notoriously unsafe industry — a costly signal, and one that had the desired effect.
How to become a systems thinker: practice adaptive thinking and apply it to yourself. Adaptive thinking can be practiced. It can become an expertise. Think through every reality to determine how other individuals are adapting to behaviors of others that concern them or affect their work. How do people adapt to the words that are spoken to them, or the instructions that are given to them? What are the likely second and third order effects? Always ask yourself, how is the system adapting?
Then apply adaptive principles to yourself. Fashion tight and specific feedback loops for yourself so that your actions generate immediate feedback. How are people adapting to your actions? Make sure you are using the right mental models. Check your assumptions.
Additional Resources Luca-Dellanna.com
"Managing Adaptive Systems" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_157_PDF
The Power of Adaptation: A Guide to Bottom-up Growth that Lasts by Luca Dellanna: Mises.org/E4B_157_Book
Teams Are Adaptive Systems: 12 Principles For Effective Management by Luca Dellanna: Mises.org/E4B_157_Book2
Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb: Mises.org/E4B_157_Book3
For the covid despots, anyone who objected to government commands was the equivalent of a heretic who must be condemned or banished from every place except the cemetery.
Original Article: "The Media War on Canadian Truckers: Is Freedom Public Enemy Number One?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Bob has Steve Patterson back on the show, to concede that Steve’s skepticism of higher mathematics was right all along. Specifically, Bob explains how his recent discovery of a theorem from Riemann showed that something is indeed rotten in the way mathematicians typically handle infinite sets.
Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: The YouTube version of this interviewSteve Patterson’s website and YouTube channelSteve’s interview with NJ WildbergerA great summary of Riemann’s Rearrangement TheoremThe BMS episodes on Godel’s Incompleteness Theorems and Arrow’s Impossibility TheoremSteve’s previous appearance on the Bob Murphy Show For more information, see BobMurphyShow.com. The Bob Murphy Show is also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and via RSS.
Real wages are going down. Debt is skyrocketing. The economy has only partly recovered from an economic disaster. This isn't the "historic growth" Joe Biden wants you to think it is.
Original Article: "Biden's "Historic Growth" Is No Such Thing."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Sometimes people—even other economists—are incredulous that the Austrians deny the possibility of interpersonal utility comparisons.
Original Article: "Why Austrians Stress Ordinal Utility"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
A recent New York Times article featuring economist Stephanie Kelton and her (disastrously misguided) book on Modern Monetary Theory garnered criticisms, but not from the usual sources. No less than economist Larry Summers, former Treasury secretary and Harvard president, weighed in to criticize the Times for giving credence to MMT (he likened it to "quack cancer cures"). Reliably leftwing economics writer Noah Smith chimed in on substack to call MMT a "fringe ideology" and lambaste its lack of macroeconomic foundations. But a backlash ensued: several female economists claimed the criticisms of Kelton (and MMT) were rooted in sexism, bemoaning the male-dominated nature of the economics profession. And as with all academic or professional disciplines, "diversity" is now not only a buzzword but an open requirement in hiring. I asked Baylor professor and Mises Institute senior fellow Dr. Peter Klein to join the show and give us his behind-the-scenes view of the increasingly politicized economics profession.
Read the Times article: Mises.org/KeltonNY Bob Murphy's review of Kelton's book: Mises.org/KeltonBook Noah Smith's review of Kelton's Times article: Mises.org/KeltonNoah
Fannie Mae is helping ensure easy money flows to apartments. That means multifamily prices are heading skyward like asset prices overall.
Original Article: "Rising Rents and Cheap Money Flowing—So Apartment Prices Are Soaring"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
California politicians say "gun owners should cover the costs of gun violence." Apparently, holding actual criminals responsible for their own misdeeds is too much work in California.
Original Article: "San Jose's Gun Tax Has Nothing to Do with Reducing Crime"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
The election of 1824 pits the Old Republicans against the entrenched interests of one-party rule in America. In this episode of Liberty vs. Power, Dr. Patrick Newman and Tho Bishop discuss the collapse of the first party system of the United States, the corrupt bargain that haunts the political career of John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay, and the rise of a new political movement inspired by Jeffersonian ideals: the Jacksonians.
Recommended Reading Cronyism: Liberty versus Power in Early America, 1607–1849 by Patrick Newman — Mises.org/LP_Crony
To subscribe to the Liberty vs. Power Podcast on your favorite platform, visit Mises.org/LvP.
In this episode, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop consider the counterfactual of what would have happened if Donald Trump were still president. What would the political landscape look like if it were a Republican administration dealing with historic unemployment? How would the reaction to the covid regime have looked in 2021? What would be the significance of the 2022 midterms and other political trends? That and more are covered on the latest Radio Rothbard.
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Business success is a function of knowledge — the right knowledge at the right time applied in the right way. But knowledge is always scarce and incomplete and sometimes wrong. It is best to regard knowledge as a process: continually gathering changing knowledge from a wide range of sources to integrate into decision-making and action. Austrian economics can provide that integration, helping businesspeople with sense-making in a complex, ever-changing world of knowledge. Yousif Almoayyed joins Economics For Business to share his knowledge journey and the ways in which Austrian Economics provided him with the required integrating theory.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Business knowledge is gathered from multiple sources and multiple disciplines. Gathering knowledge that’s relevant for business success is a process, a journey, and an exploration. It’s not limited to business subjects. A rounded businessperson studies economics, of course, but also history, psychology, languages, culture, computer science, political science. Why are these all relevant? Because business is a social science, concerned with how people think and perceive and interact, and how they adapt to new knowledge and changes in context and changes in choices. All the knowledge disciplines impact business.
There’s an exploratory phase in every knowledge journey, where we cast our knowledge net wide. Yousif Almoayyed describes how his early years of schooling included multiple schools both in his native Bahrain and in the US and other countries. He started to gather comparative knowledge of different countries and cultures. He decided to continue the process by traveling to and studying in China. He developed an elevated capacity for the critical business skill of empathy: seeing things as others see them, through others’ eyes, or rather, through others’ mental models. People who grow up with a different cultural and philosophical and religious and linguistic and institutional background develop different mental models. The facility to discern, analyze and understand those mental models helps businesspeople in their interactions with customers, competitors, employees, partners, and suppliers.
The exploratory phase of knowledge gathering doesn’t require us to think about applying that knowledge in business at the time of gathering. It’s building up a knowledge inventory.
Different fields of knowledge can yield different business skills. Yousif told us how he studied computer science and developed a deeper understanding of the clarifying explanatory power of logic. Via the discipline of computer programming, which requires efficient navigation to an answer that is both right and elegant, he was able to gather principles of logical reasoning that are highly applicable across disciplines.
He studied history and — by combining these studies with empirical observations in China and Cambodia and Africa as well as the Middle East — he was able to develop his skills in causal reasoning. What causes can be credibly and realistically and logically linked to what outcomes? What he observed on the ground did not always comport with what is taught in history books, since historians may use flawed or biased logic or incomplete knowledge. Best to construct your own reasoning chain and your own web of causality. This skill is highly applicable in business.
Linguistics helps with understanding the meaning that people intend when they speak. It helps with nuance and idiom, and with assessing people through their spoken words — another critical business skill.
Austrian economics is the system of thought and logic and insight that can integrate all this knowledge into a cogent way of understanding and explaining the business world. Yousif felt that, even with his wide range of multidisciplinary knowledge and multicultural experiences, he still did not understand people and their decision making sufficiently for business. Yousif discovered Austrian economics by reading its definitive treatise, Human Action by Ludwig von Mises.
He told us that he found the insights in Human Action, derived from theory, were highly confirmable in the real world via observation. Anyone can make the same discovery. Over time, for example, you will be able to build more and more confidence in your understanding of how people make their decisions, as well as in your own decision-making about the future. By understanding how individuals’ value systems drive economic decision making, you will be able to interpret and anticipate their economic choices. You’ll deduce the theories or mental models through which people see the world, and analyze their actions that way.
Value systems are at work in firms, also. When a firm has a value system of trust and collaboration, there will be an alignment of interests among everyone who works there, and with suppliers and partners. If you take such a firm as a customer, you can apply the same values-based approach to building a strong business relationship.
Running your own business is an original and customized application of principles of Austrian economics. You can’t read a book about how to run your own business, Yousif told us. Your analysis, using the principles, must be original. He gave the example of applying price theory in his domestic market of Bahrain. It’s an island, so it’s possible to track price fluctuations in inbound commodities — a special economic case. There are unique seasonal business patterns. Trading in oil has a disproportionate effect on economic conditions, and the oil industry is government controlled, so oil prices affect government spending. Boom and bust cycles are very real, and there is observable monetary distortion of firm-level accounts.
Yousif is able to plug these real and highly specialized data into his command of Austrian price theory to arrive at not only price decisions, but a wider range of decisions about when to build inventory and when to deplete it, and when and how to refresh his capital base, replacing older high-maintenance machines with new high-reliability upgrades. Theory is applied in practice in a very real way and in very real decisions. The results have been impressive: a turnaround of a firm to become a growth business and a market leader.
This is our aim at Economics for Business: applying economic principles to help you to improve and accelerate your business.
The US benefits in no way from a war with Russia. Fortunately, many Americans are less than enthusiastic.
Original Article: "The Usual Suspects Are Pushing War with Russia"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Under PM Mario Draghi, the Italian government has issued new edicts designed to make life even more difficult for anyone who doesn't comply with every aspect of the state's covid regime.
Original Article: "Italy's Covid Despotism Just Got Worse"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Like new money, knowledge spreads unevenly through the economy in a kind of Cantillon effect. Here's what that means for different market actors
Original Article: "Why Intellectual Property Isn't Necessary to Reward Innovation"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Often the biggest barrier secession movements face is the widely held (and ludicrous) belief that our current set of lines on a map are sacred and must be preserved.
Original Article: "It's Time to Break Up New York State"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Blockchain technology might be useful in forcing banks to be more transparent in how they handle reserves.
Original Article: "Could Blockchain Technology Help End Fractional Reserve Banking?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Ryan and Tho discuss Taiwan policy with Zachary Yost, author of a new paper on the prospects of a Mainland Chinese takeover of Taiwan. China faces some very large obstacles, but so does the United States.
Recommended Reading "Victory Without Battle: A Smarter Vision for US-Taiwan Policy " by Zachary Yost (PDF): Mises.org/RR_67_A
"China’s Military Strength Has Been Greatly Exaggerated" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_67_B
"The US Military Isn't As Invincible As It Thinks" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_67_C
"A Fat, Comfortable Military Is a Woke Military" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_67_D
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
Virginia's stranglehold over American politics continues with President James Monroe. While high school textbooks refer to this period of one-party rule as the "Era of Good Feelings," the reality is the Second Bank of the United States offers some of the most vulgar examples of corruption the American people have seen. In this episode, Patrick Newman and Tho Bishop discuss the Panic of 1819 and the impact it had on political alliances for decades to come.
Recommended Reading The Panic of 1819: Reactions and Policies by Murray Rothbard — Mises.org/LP7_A
A Short History of Paper Money and Banking in the United States by William Gouge — Mises.org/LP7_B
"The Scandal of Smith and Buchanan: The Skeletons in the McCulloch vs. Maryland Closet" by David Bogen (PDF) — Mises.org/LP7_C
Cronyism: Liberty versus Power in Early America, 1607–1849 by Patrick Newman — Mises.org/LP_Crony
To subscribe to the Liberty vs. Power Podcast on your favorite platform, visit Mises.org/LvP.
Today, it’s easy for socialists to point to the Interstate Highway System and exclaim, "Look at what we socialists did to facilitate transportation." They're careful to always ignore the unseen downside.
Original Article: "The Unseen Consequences of the Interstate Highway System"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
We all seek progress: at the individual level, the team level, and the company level. Flow is the term for the experience that we feel when we are making progress on challenging activities through our own actions. Flow is high productivity and high achievement. It is the sensation you have when making progress is “winning” over being distracted or frustrated. Organizational structure is often a barrier to flow. Bart Vanderhaegen tells Economics For Business how to transcend the barrier.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Learning and change are good for people and organizations, but very hard to implement. Management books, management gurus and consultants are all for change to established ways of doing things. But the business landscape is littered with failed change and transformation projects. It’s not people who resist change, it’s processes and established practices and organizational structure. In many ways, structure is the biggest barrier to change, and the enemy of learning. Even when change projects re-make a business’s structure, it’s still there, just in a different configuration.
What if it were possible to transcend structure?
The secret lies in motivation. Austrian economics reveals the secret of motivation: every individual seeks better circumstances for themselves, trading one set of conditions that’s unsatisfactory for another set that they prefer. That’s an intrinsic motivation — it comes from inside the individual.
Most business systems rely on extrinsic motivations, what Bart Vanderhaegen calls carrot and stick. The firm metes out rewards in the form of awards and bonuses and promotions for behavior it wants to encourage, and withholds them when there is unapproved behavior. The firm takes a positivist or behaviorist view of the world: people can be “nudged” into approved behavior patterns.
Rewards have many flaws. They rely on predictions — setting future targets — that can never be reliable. These predictions are often fixed, unresponsive to changes in the environment, and usually set without much discussion with the individual who is to be motivated by the target. If the target is met or not, the individual finds it hard to know exactly how their actions contributed to the result.
There is a third kind of motivation: FLOW. It is possible to harness a third kind of motivation that is neither carrot nor stick, and relies on neither reward nor punishment. It can provide autonomy and freedom to individuals to pursue what they find valuable. They can see their own activity as a contribution to a greater end or purpose for themselves. This kind of motivation comes from FLOW.
FLOW is your absorption into an activity performed well. It’s the enjoyment of performing an activity to the extent that you are actually experiencing that you are good at it, while you ae doing it. The activity itself creates the motivation for it. FLOW easily wins the internal competition between getting distracted or diverted versus making progress on the activity.
We are progress-seeking creatures, and FLOW gives us the greatest sense of progress.
FLOW is practical, and can be harnessed, practiced, and linked to work and organization. There are three conditions for being in FLOW, or getting back to FLOW when you fall out of it.
1) A clear and specific goal for the activity.
This is not to be confused with aspirational goals like a corporate vision, or target goals like the year-end sales volume target. This goal is at the level of action. For the specific activity, what represents completion? In what time specific frame? What problem will have been solved when the action is complete?
2) Capture immediate feedback from the activity.
The activity tells you if you are making progress. Measurement is in the activity itself — there is no outside judge. If you’re not making progress, the activity can steer you back to it. Bart Vanderhaegen uses a tennis analogy: if your shots are going in, you’re making progress; if not, you can adjust your action.
3) The activity must have a challenging but solvable level of difficulty.
To make progress requires taking on challenges that can elevate our skills. FLOW requires overcoming difficulties (an insight that is contrary to the old adage of “keep it simple”).
For those who are quantitatively minded, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the founder of FLOW studies, measured the appropriate degree of difficulty as 10-12% harder than one’s current ability — a kind of Goldilocks number of not too hard and not too easy.
This has profound implications for organizations engaged in motivation. They must present ever-increasing levels of difficulty to their employees and teams, as they learn to perform better and better in the flow of taking on challenging tasks.
4) Organizational structure is a barrier to FLOW and to its power to solve complex business problems.
FLOW can solve complex problems. When the overarching problem to solve is how to deliver customer value — which is a problem that cuts across all elements of corporate structure — a FLOWing team can succeed, because value is a clear goal, and learning by taking on difficult challenges provides a pathway to the goal. The customer doesn’t care how the firm is structured.
Internal structures of departments and functions and conflicting goals and rules can present a major barrier to FLOW and to customer value generation. A problem-solving team representing many departments and focused on the goal of customer value can transcend the barrier, and transcend corporate structure.
Therefore, Bart Vanderhaegen recommends not to spend time and effort creating a new structure when the current one is problematic. Create FLOW over structure.
5) How to put FLOW into action.
Like everything that has value, FLOW is a subjective experience. But there are some application actions that can help to generate team FLOW.
Organize a problem-solving network on top of the structural layer.
It’s an organic network that crosses departments and regions and functions and all other structural boundaries.
Give each team in the network a mandate.
A mandate is a problem to solve without specific direction on how to solve it. The team figures out what the solution will look like and how to get there.
Make the problems as open as possible.
The problem may be to define what are the most important problems to solve.
Create transparency (via a software platform) on the problems, ideas and progress.
Everyone “taking the pen” themselves.
Make sure the goals are linked to actions.
For the most open problems, goals can be set for a small number of steps: let’s get to the next milestone in 30 days (e.g., generating a first set of preliminary ideas).
Through criticism and testing, teams will be able to FLOW to new levels of comfort in solving the most difficult of problems. They become more and more capable. And the problem-solving network is scalable: it can become bigger and bigger and solve harder and harder problems.
Additional Resources "The Value-Creating FLOW Process for Business Problem-Solving" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_155_PDF
Bart Vanderhaegen’s TED Talk: Mises.org/E4B_155_Video
PactifyManagement.com
The Pactify Podcast: Anchor.fm/Pactify
FLOW: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi: Mises.org/E4B_155_Book1
Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention by Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi: Mises.org/E4B_155_Book2
The reality is the primary quality of an entrepreneur can’t be taught: the stomach to risk everything and keep wanting more.
Original Article: "George Hearst: Entrepreneur in the Mises Mold"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
It is time to get back to normal life, and that starts with visible human faces.
Original Article: "Unmask America"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
The historical guilds of Europe have long been criticized for cartelizing trade and seizing monopolistic powers. And new research suggests the situation was very similar in Africa as well.
Original Article: "The Problem with Guilds: They're Monopolistic and Wasteful"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Trust in the US military has plummeted according to a recent survey, and conservative Americans may finally realize that the military is just a wing of the woke, progressive American establishment.
Original Article: "Americans May Finally Be Losing Confidence in the Woke Military"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Monetary inflation results in a general rise in prices, often called "price inflation." But rising prices are not always "inflation." In any case, more government regs and subsidies won't help.
Original Article: "When Higher Prices Are Not Inflation"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Countries must remain free to refuse the edicts of global institutions of "government" like the World Bank or the IMF. This is true even when the stated goal is advancing free markets.
Original Article: "Global Governance versus Freedom and Free Enterprise"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Thanks to vast regulatory powers, regimes have many tools and many advantages in propping up fiat currencies when faced with competition from other currencies.
Original Article: "What the Regime Will Do to Fight Private Digital Currencies"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
In its effort to patch together a working financial system out of postwar crises, the Federal Reserve would wildly exceed its mandate, flooding the world with dollars.
Original Article: "Money and Banking in the US after the Crises of the 1970s and '80s"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
This is freedom: "That he is independent of the arbitrary power of his fellows … [freedom] arose in the process of social development and its final completion is the work of mature Capitalism.”
Original Article: "Will Artificial Intelligence Create a Socialist Paradise?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Germany's government is pushing a new plan for massive spending on a "Climate Fund." This is justified with the usual Keynesian myths about the benefits of government spending.
Original Article: "Germany's New Green Stimulus Plan Won't Save Their Economy"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Across so many fields, from money to nutrition, I’ve found that the corollary to the government-heavy approach is a desire not to make choices for oneself.
Original Article: "Who Needs Personal Responsibility When We Can Just Trust Our Overlords?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
When the Democratic Colorado governor slightly scaled back covid mandates, he met furious opposition from the Left. Expect these people to push mandates forever.
Original Article: "Why They Want to Keep the 'Health Emergency' Going Forever"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Latin America's antiglobalization epoch, from 1913 to 1970, was marked by high regulations and antitrade efforts that have fueled Latin America's economic problems.
Original Article: "Colonialism Isn't the Source of Latin America's High Inequality"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Gabriel Boric is no friend of free trade, low taxes, or markets in general. Yet these policies are what made Chile the most prosperous country in South America.
Original Article: "Chile's New President Threatens the Nation's Market-Driven Prosperity"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Justice Stephen Breyer's retirement gives the Biden Administration something they desperately need: the opportunity to control a news cycle after weeks of bad economic headlines, worse polling, and international tension.
In this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop take a look at some of the names being floated around for Breyer's replacement, and expose the inherently political nature of the Supreme Court.
Recommended Reading "Congress Should Pack the Supreme Court" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_66_A
"The Supreme Court Is Overrated" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_66_B
"Abolish the Supreme Court" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_66_C
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
The transformation of Jeffersonians into National Republicans continues under President James Madison. Following the Louisiana Purchase, the new administration sets its eyes on Florida and Canada for new American expansion. The result is the disastrous War of 1812 and the rise of a new central bank.
Recommended Reading "The Feds Before the Fed" by Scott Trask — Mises.org/LP6_A
"Our Oligarchs Can Thank James Madison" by Ryan McMaken — Mises.org/LP6_B
"Why James Madison Hated Democracy" by Ryan McMaken — Mises.org/LP6_C
Cronyism: Liberty versus Power in Early America, 1607–1849 by Patrick Newman — Mises.org/LP_Crony
To subscribe to the Liberty vs. Power Podcast on your favorite platform, visit Mises.org/LvP.
Contractionary monetary policy may be necessary to slow the rise of inflation, but the recessionary results of this remind us why the Fed's inflationary policy is so dangerous.
Original Article: "Inflation or Recession? The Fed Faces a Choice."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
2021 was the year of binge spending. 2022 is likely to be a hangover.
Original Article: "2022: The Year of the Hangover?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Turkey's President Erdoğan faces a series of crises as the lira collapses and the state's central bank steps in to clean up the mess.
Original Article: "Turkey's Economy Is in Big Trouble"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Bob continues his series on Klaus Schwab, explaining the WEF’s plans for redesigning the world, and providing quotes from Schwab’s book on the fourth industrial revolution.
Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: Part 1 of this seriesThe WEF’s bio for its founder, Klaus SchwabSchwab’s books The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Covid-19 and the Great ResetThe WEF’s Global Redesign Summit and the Global Redesign InitiativeNick Buxton’s article on Davos and the danger to democracyForbes’ article on Schwab the power brokerFEE article on the socialist roots of fascism1983 article in Harper’s on the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) For more information, see BobMurphyShow.com. The Bob Murphy Show is also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and via RSS.
Bob starts a series looking into Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum and, along with Prince Charles, proponent of the “Great Reset.”
Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: Klaus Schwab and Prince Charles promoting the “Great Reset”The World Economic Forum’s page on the Great ResetAn example of a session from the WEF’s Davos Agenda 2021 conferenceThe WEF’s bio for its founder, Klaus SchwabSchwab’s books The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Covid-19 and the Great ResetThe video of Schwab explaining his connection to KissingerThe “red pill” documentary Wake Up CallMurphy’s new book from the Mises Institute, Understanding Money Mechanics For more information, see BobMurphyShow.com. The Bob Murphy Show is also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and via RSS.
Bob critiques a Guardian article from an economist favoring price controls, and explains his argument with Joe Weisenthal about the social benefit of saving actual cash.
Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: Dr. Keith Smith (of the Surgery Center of Oklahoma) contact page.The Guardian article advocating price controls.Murphy Mises.org critique of Weisenthal.Murphy article on the 1920-21 depression.Mises essay calling inflationary war finance “undemocratic.”BMS series on Bohm-Bawerk (1, 2, and 3). For more information, see BobMurphyShow.com. The Bob Murphy Show is also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and via RSS.
Overall, at least 50 percent of the consumer price index in Japan appears to be government controlled, which is reflected in the significant growth of government spending on subsidies.
Original Article: "Japan's Inflation Is Hidden behind Central Bank–Financed Subsidies"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
For entrepreneurs, design is not just lines and shapes and colors and decoration, and it’s not just the look and functioning of a website or a building or another object. It’s a process of advancing from an idea or concept to marketplace realization as a customer-desired new service PR product. In fact, according to Professor Henrik Berglund, entrepreneurship is design.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Entrepreneurs advance from idea to implementation via a process of design. How do entrepreneurs exercise judgment? How do they advance from an imagined idea or business concept or anticipated value to implementing their project in the marketplace and making sales to customers?
It’s a creative process. Some call the domain design science, although we Austrians would think of it in a more subjective framework as human design. In general terms, design provides the bridge from the internal environment of the firm (its capital, its capacity, its skills, its resources, etc.) to the external world of customers and the marketplace. Design facilitates the fit between the two. It’s a goal-driven process of getting to the right design: a value proposition design that attracts customers, an effective value network design for assembling all the components, a business model designed to deliver the value, and pricing and cost choices that result in profit.
The steps in the design process take the form of design artifacts. Design is not abstract. It’s action. The action takes the form of constructing design artifacts: things like sketches and flow chart diagrams and network maps and templated value propositions and business model designs and business plan spreadsheets, prototypes, landing pages and A/B tests.
There is a design pathway from more abstract and conceptual to more substantial and closer and closer to a marketable product, service, or business. The artifacts are not arranged in any specific order, but they are characterized by the progress from abstract to functional and detailed.
Most importantly, the design artifacts are measurable and testable, so that entrepreneurs can get more and more information about how well the design fits with the real world — customer assessments and feedback, simulations, beta tests and other feedback loops serve to make the design more substantial and the entrepreneur’s level of confidence higher.
Experimentation is one kind of design pathway. Professor Berglund described experimentation as a design interaction with an existing real-world situation, where the testing process is to assess how well the entrepreneurial vision works in that world. Is there demand? Will customers find the proposition useful, and will they buy? Through repeated and experimental testing, entrepreneurs measure their way to the best-fit adaptation of their concept to the market.
He used as an example of experimentation an early step in the development of Dropbox, in the form of a video that carefully described its function and benefits, and sought feedback from the market in the form of requests to join a beta test. The video was successful in attracting a beta test audience, reassuring the designers of the potential use case.
Transformation requires a different kind of design approach. Transformative ideas do not have an existing market — a “real world” — in which to experiment. There is no identifiable demand at the outset. The process is co-creation, with potential users and customers, of a new world or a transformed world. The design path is not the use of carefully constructed measurable artifacts, but of another kind, which Prof Berglund describes as mutable and transformable.
He used the example of the iPhone, transforming from the functionality of a phone — with a use case of intermittent 2-way communication events - to the concept of a handheld device with continuous use for a multiplicity of purposes aided by integration with software apps and internet connectivity. The vision was never precise, as it can be with experimentation. Apple outlined a more vague vision of possibilities and soft boundaries, and invited individuals and communities of software developers to join, collaborate, make specialized local contributions, and synthesize a new, emergent system over time.
Firms will typically employ a mixture of experimentation and transformation in a portfolio of projects. Experimentation and transformation are “ideal types” of design, not always as clearly differentiated in the real world as they are in theory. Nevertheless, it’s important for entrepreneurs to differentiate between them, and to maintain a portfolio of projects that instantiates both types.
Professor Berglund and Chalmers are engaged in a new synthesis of entrepreneurial theory and practice. Prof Berglund observes in a book chapter called "The Artifacts of Entrepreneurial Practice," that entrepreneurship scholarship has not always been very useful or helpful to practicing entrepreneurs. Now this is changing as researchers move closer to "the real time doings and sayings of practitioners involved in entrepreneurship". In the spirit of transformation, there’s a new synthesis of theory and practice that is being co-created. That synthesis is one of our guides at Economics For Business; we hope to gather from business entrepreneurs their evaluations about which elements of theory and research are of most use in practice.
Additional Resources "Opportunities as Artifacts and Entrepreneurship as Design" by Henrik Berglund, Marouane Bousfiha, and Yashar Mansoori (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_154_Paper1
"The Artifacts of Entrepreneurial Practice" by Henrik Berglund and Vern L. Glaser (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_154_Paper2
HenrikBerglund.com
Chalmers.se
Flawed as we are and with limited knowledge about the world and ourselves, we might not know what is objectively “best for us long term.” Government planners know even less.
Original Article: "Central Planners Don't Know What's Best for You"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
We will win. But how long will it take, and at what price victory?
Original Article: "How We Will Win"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Suppose some people don't like the services furnished by a "minimal state." Don't these people have the right to establish their own services to compete with the minimal state?
Original Article: "True Competition versus the Monopolist 'Minimal State'"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
The Federal Reserve now owns $2.6 trillion in mortgages. That means about 24 percent of all outstanding residential mortgages in this whole big country reside in the central bank.
Original Article: "The Federal Reserve Keeps Buying Mortgages"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
With the prices of everything rising at historic rates, no issue is shaping politics more right now than inflation. Unfortunately for Americans, Republicans in Washington appear no more serious on the Federal Reserve than the Biden Administration.
What lessons can be learned from the past? How might the Biden Administration respond? What can be done on the issue? In this Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop dive into the politics of inflation.
Recommended Reading "How Easy Money Inflated Corporate Profits" by Brendan Brown: Mises.org/RR_65_A
"The Economy May Be Finally Peaking, and the Fed Won't Help Matters" by Brendan Brown: Mises.org/RR_65_B
"How Asset Price Inflation Is Different from Goods Price Inflation" by Brendan Brown: Mises.org/RR_65_C
"Monetary Inflation and Price Inflation" by Robert P. Murphy: Mises.org/RR_65_D
"Ending Fiat Money Won't Destroy the State" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_65_E
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
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 Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
When we ask ourselves the question, “Can states survive without fiat currency?” the answer is clearly yes.
Original Article: "Ending Fiat Money Won't Destroy the State"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Friday's jobs report was weak, but the most alarming datapoint is that real wages are plummeting.
Original Article: "Real Wages Plummet as Inflation Hits the US Recovery"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
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 the fall of the Old Republicans.
In this episode, Patrick and Tho look at how dreams of conquest in Canada, Spanish Florida, Mexico, and beyond have had tragic consequences for Americans' liberty.
Recommended Reading "The Louisiana Purchase: Jefferson's Constitutional Crisis that Risked Dissolving the Union" by Dave Benner — Mises.org/LP5_A
"Was Thomas Jefferson a Great President?" by Scott Trask — Mises.org/LP5_B
Cronyism: Liberty versus Power in Early America, 1607–1849 by Patrick Newman — Mises.org/LP_Crony
To subscribe to the Liberty vs. Power Podcast on your favorite platform, visit Mises.org/LvP.
Design & Assembly is the second pin (after Imagination) in the Economics For Business GPS system — the toolset to help entrepreneurs navigate their business environment. We talk to Brett Lindell, CEO of Pantheon Holdings (which includes Aegis Exteriors and Fortress Roofing) about his Design & Assembly approach that has helped him build a fast-growing business from scratch in the crowded, competitive, and demanding field of regional house construction. His advice: there are plenty of resources available; if you assemble the right resources to fit a system of assuring and delivering the best customer service, there’s a lot of growth to be harvested, whatever the industry.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights The entrepreneurial method uses currently available means to create the possibility of new future outcomes. The entrepreneurial method is not to try to control outcomes but to put available resources to use to explore possibilities. Brett Lindell used the method for his business launching pad:
Who am I? Experienced as a US Marine, a college student and a corporate executive in learning, planning, doing, and relationship building.
What do I know? A lot. How Marine Corps plan complex missions, and how they train inexperienced young people to implement amidst on-the-ground chaos. How the system of a global corporation puts the highly engineered products of a worldwide manufacturing web in the hands of construction site workers equipped with nothing more than hammers to produce sturdy and beautiful houses. How sandy beaches and a good climate attract residents who want to buy homes.
Whom do I know? There are companies in the construction industry craving nothing more than simple, reliable good service — which is scarce. There are young people graduating college in my region with limited job prospects who are enthusiastic and highly trainable.
Controlled downside: The entrepreneurial method controls downsides, and doesn’t pretend to control outcomes. Brett’s controlled downside was public commitment to starting, with the consequent specter of public shame if he didn’t succeed, knowing he hated the very possibility of shame.
Design is the series of steps from idea to a working system. Brett Lindell set out to design and assemble a system of systems to achieve his mission.
Geography/Market system: A magnet for homeowners (beaches, ocean, climate, beauty, great place to live) and therefore for developers and builders. Not dominated by cities and so the construction market is highly dispersed.
Labor resource system: Young people graduating college in the area face limited employment opportunities combined with high enthusiasm to stay in the area.
Organizational system: Integrate geography and labor resources via decentralized command that locates tools and decision-making autonomy in the hands of front-line customer-facing employees.
Service system: Basic research (talking to potential customers) revealed that the addressable market is for reliable service: answer the phone when they call, be on time for deliveries and appointments, keep the promises you make. Brett’s system is classic system design of simple rules: employees must (1) tell the truth, (2) pick up the phone when it rings, (3) return all phone calls, (4) customers in all directions — i.e., treat everyone like a customer and serve them as they want to be served whether they’re suppliers, colleagues, or anyone else in the system. (And for Brett, his employees are his most important customers.)
Rich knowledge encoding: Brett believes in handbooks — a belief he learned from the Marines. Handbooks encode all the knowledge of the firm on how to follow every process and implement every task. Every employee can thereby benefit from all the accumulated knowledge and experience in the firm, and the handbooks are continuously updated via new experiences and new knowledge.
Tech systems: In a relatively low-tech industry, Brett’s firm is a high-tech leader because he is always looking for and evaluating the latest technology for automation, work-reduction, and control. The technology can be in the form of apps or software or hardware, and is especially valuable when it can all be integrated together in end-to-end systems or sub-systems such as inquiry-to-order and order-to-cash. Technology integration for these sub-systems speeds up cash flow, reduces labor costs, and increases transparency, thereby enabling quick fixes and improvements. Brett would rather have too much technology than too little.
A plan: While planning can never predict or control the future, it can be an integrating theme for system design. Brett’s plans are a brief and compressed (one page) set of numbers, and those numbers are shorthand for a lot of detail. For example, if Brett’s company is to have the capacity to provide construction components and services for 50 homes in the current year and 500 the next year, then systems of procurement, logistics, sales and marketing, finance and technology must be designed to scale to handle more volume and more complexity without impeding growth. Time, resources, and personnel must be deployed appropriately.
Assembly embraces and harnesses the human element of the business system. A system combined with the right people, suitably trained, and equipped, and with the right mindset, produces the right results. When individual employees are oriented to independent problem solving and autonomous goal-driven creativity rather than central planning, the firm can cope with — and, in fact, generate — dynamic change.
Brett has injected as much humanity as he possibly can. Seeing his hires get promoted and take leadership and realize personal goals is his greatest reward. He has created a family-friendly firm where people can get home to their kids before they go to bed, and take the family on vacation without worrying about the office or the job site, knowing that the system will manage the absence. He creates jobs and makes people’s lives better. That’s the entrepreneurial society.
Additional Resources "Designing and Assembling a System for Entrepreneurial Growth" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_153_PDF1
"The Entrepreneurial Method" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_153_PDF2
Reach Brett at brett@aegisext.com
To kick off the New Year, Jeff recently had the opportunity to address a Discord channel dedicated to Austrian Economics. His talk focused on the state of economics generally, whether the profession is serving society, how economists failed us throughout the Covid hysteria, and especially the health and relevance of the Austrian school. This is a great survey of the role economics (and economists) should play in society.
Also includes questions from the audience, emceed by channel host JW Rich.
In this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan and Tho trade predictions for the year ahead. Topics include the importance of internal primaries ahead of next year's mid-terms, predictions on what the Fed will do with rising inflationary pressure, and what comes next from the covid regime.
Additional Reading "Americans May Finally Be Losing Confidence in the Woke Military" by Jose Nino: Mises.org/RR_64_A
"Could 2022 Bring the Collapse of the Euro?" by Alasdair Macleod: Mises.org/RR_64_B
"Will Senate Republicans Endorse Biden-Powell Inflation?" by Tho Bishop: Mises.org/RR_64_C
"The Fed Is Hawkish Now? I’ll Believe It When I See It." by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/RR_64_D
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
In this episode of Liberty vs. Power, Patrick and Tho look at the success of the Jeffersonians following the corruption of Hamilton's Federalist Party. With the support of Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin, the Jeffersonian Administration is able to slash the size of the federal bureaucracy. Unfortunately, the influence of Republican moderates — like James Madison — undermined a true restoration of old republican ideals.
Recommended Reading "Jefferson's Philosophy" by Murray Rothbard — Mises.org/LP4_A
"Jefferson as President: His Judicial Blunders" by Scott Trask — Mises.org/LP4_B
Cronyism: Liberty versus Power in Early America, 1607–1849 by Patrick Newman — Mises.org/LP_Crony
To subscribe to the Liberty vs. Power Podcast on your favorite platform, visit Mises.org/LvP.
Why do entrepreneurs start businesses in the first place? They have a vision for the future and seek to work with other people to bring it about. Those other people may be colleagues and employees, directors and investors, suppliers, and customers. Organizing this multivalent work is hard. Thinking of your organization as a complex adaptive system yields new understanding and a new approach to organizing that results in improved goal achievement.
Laura and Derek Cabrera of Cabrera Research Lab are dedicated to sharing research findings that enhance the capability of any organization to reach business goals. They join the Economics For Business podcast to do some sharing with the E4B community.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Systems Thinking resolves the mismatch between the way the real world works and the way firms think it works. World hunger is a wicked problem, yet there is enough food to feed the world. We don’t have the right mental model to account for all the social, economic, political, motivational, and cultural issues that shape the problem.
In the same vein, systems thinking in business is about building mental models that better align with the real world. Laura and Derek Cabrera provide an introduction in Systems Thinking Made Simple, and they mentioned some of the important changes in thinking that businesses must embrace to enter the new world of possibilities that systems thinking opens up. The first step is to recognize that LAMO thinking is inappropriate for a VUCA world.
The real world is agnostic about human endeavors
VUCA World
LAMO Thinking
The real world is non-linear
but we think in linear ways.
yet we tend to look sat things through a human-centered (anthropocentric) lens.
yet we tend to look sat things through a human-centered (anthropocentric) lens.The real world is adaptive and organic
yet we tend to think mechanistically and the metaphors we use reference machines (e.g., a universe like clockwork; mind is a computer).
The real world is networked and complex with a sprinkling of randomness
yet we think of things in ordered categories and hierarchies.
All businesses are complex adaptive systems. We have no choice in the matter. An organization is a living, breathing thing, organic — lots of individuals dynamically making decisions that roll up into the complex system. It’s not a machine.
An implication is that business executives and managers can’t operate on outcomes directly (e.g., via business “planning” or business “strategy”). Outcomes are emergent from the system and can be worked on only indirectly.
The traditional mental model for business organization is flawed. Laura and Derek capture the traditional mental model for organizational management in the acronym PCCU: Plan, Command, Control, Utilize.
Plan: Businesses create plans for the future, often in great detail, with rigorous discipline, and lots of numbers and projections. But the real world is changing too fast, and outlining detailed steps to reach a goal amidst rapid change introduces biases that can occlude opportunities for rapid and profitable adaptation to change.
Command: Hierarchical organization designs assume a military metaphor of command. Organizations are much more organic in the real world, tempered by social influence, compliance, resistance, and rebellion. Better to think of then organization as a network and a culture.
Control: Management likes to feel like it is in control, but the control paradigm is both unrealistic and unresponsive to organic change.
Utilize: The most detrimental organizational construct is the Human Resources department. Treating people like resources to be utilized is unsustainable. People are independent agents in the system who wish to co-evolve to a place where their individual goals and those of the organization are well-aligned.
The mental model for how complex adaptive systems work is Simple Rules. The great insight from complex adaptive systems thinking is that organizational behavior isn’t directed by leaders, but driven by followers. What are they following? Simple rules.
We can think of an organization as a superorganism. It self-organizes by following simple rules that guide the actions of individual agents in variable contexts. Autonomous agents follow simple rules based on what’s happening locally (that is, around them), the collective dynamics of which lead to the emergence of the complex, system-level behavior we observe: adaptiveness and robustness.
The simple rules for successful adaptive organizations are summed up as V-M-C-L. Vision: A seeing thing. Something we all see in the future, where we are headed. Not a tagline, not a statement on a website, not a corporate word salad. A vision is a shared mental model that everyone in the organization can see and articulate and align with. It’s in their hearts and minds. It gets employees excited and connected.
Mission: A doing thing. A mission is something that you do repeatedly over and over again to bring about the vision. It directs the work in the organization, with clarity about who does what. It’s clear, concise, easily understood and measurable.
Capacity: The organization must have the capacity to do the mission: the energy, the resources, the skills. Capacity is a system of systems all connected and working together, focused on, and directed towards doing the mission.
Learning: Learning is critical to expand capacity, reinforce mission and refine vision. It is the adaptive function. Organizations must love learning – seeking unvarnished feedback from the outside world as input into making the changes that are needed for improvement. This means loving reality and being brutally honest about the current state. Learning means improving mental models, and embracing the possibility that your current model is wrong.
In their book Flock Not Clock (see Mises.org/E4B_152_Book), where there is a detailed exposition and explanation of V-M-C-L, Laura and Derek cite the example of the app My Fitness Pal.
Vision: Healthy living is the new normal
Mission: Facilitate and motivate healthy behavior choices
Capacity: Build mission-critical systems: design, engineering, R&D, sales, and marketing, etc.
Learning: Feedback on whether living healthy is getting easier, whether more people are making healthy choices, whether more people are feeling joyful and powerful as a result.
Think of the elements of V-M-C-L as a pyramid you can construct from first principles: Thinking drives Learning, which drives Capacity, which drives Mission, which brings about Vision.
The emergent result of V-M-C-L is culture. Laura and Derek talk about training people to think in order to be able to learn. The first step is often unlearning the misleading mental models we’ve been taught to believe. When people start to think about mental models, they can recognize their own and those of others, and make comparisons, make changes, and find common ground.
If your mental model about your current situation is real — "brutally honest," as Derek put it — then the chance of changing that situation for the better is good. You’ll be able to identify a path out.
Culture can be built around the simple rules of vision, mission, capacity, and learning, by purposely constructing the four mental models of V-M-C-L. There is enormous organizational and economic power in the new understanding of complex adaptive systems and how they work in getting a group of disparate people to work together towards a goal as if they are a single unified organism.
Additional Resources Sign up for Laura and Derek’s Vision-Mission Bootcamp: Go.CabreraResearch.org/VMBootcamp
Visit Cabrera Research Lab online at CabreraResearch.org and on LinkedIn (Mises.org/E4B_152_LinkedIn).
"20-Point V-M-C-L Checklist" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_152_PDF1
"Constructing the VMCL System" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_152_PDF2
Flock Not Clock: Align People, Processes and Systems to Achieve Your Vision by Derek and Laura Cabrera: Mises.org/E4B_152_Book
Conservatism is allegedly grounded in a recognition of the natural limits of humanity. But when it comes to free trade, conservatives throw all that out the window.
Original Article: "Conservatives and the Free Trade Straw Man"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot chided businesses for not doing enough to protect themselves from theft. But Chicago's government does a lot to prevent private businesses from doing this.
Original Article: "What Chicago's Mayor Gets Wrong about Private Security"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Lockdowns and school closures will go down as one of the worst peacetime policy disasters of all time. Never again should the well-being of our children be sacrificed to placate the neuroses of adults.
Original Article: "Covid Lockdowns Will Be Remembered as One of the Greatest Policy Failures Ever"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
An abstract state is built on patriotism. And when patriotism becomes "the highest of all virtues and the source of all the remaining ones,” states can get away with almost anything.
Original Article: "'The State' Is an Abstract Idea. So How Is the State Also So Murderous?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
In the first Radio Rothbard of 2022, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss the regime's portrayal of the one-year anniversary of January 6.
While most Americans may care more about kitchen table issues than Washington's hysterics, already we have seen the state use last year's riot as an excuse to expand the prosecution of political minorities.
Is this a moment the American right will learn from, or will history once again be written by progressives?
Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at Mises.org/RadioRothbard.
The evidence indicates that a prevalence of slavery in an economic system is a robust predictor of subpar economic growth and a creativity deficit.
Original Article: "A Slave-Based Economy Is Nothing Like a Dynamic Capitalist One"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
The Fed admits inflation is a problem, so now begins the search to find a fix that doesn't involve a recession or anything else that might allow the economy to heal its malinvestments.
Original Article: "Welcome to a New Chapter in the Latest Boom-Bust Cycle"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
With the Constitution in place and George Washington made president, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton was empowered to make the new government in his image. Unsurprisingly, a man who celebrated the corruption of the old European order was quick to install a regime inspired by mercantilists like Jean-Baptiste Colbert.
In this episode, Patrick and Tho pinpoint the special interest that benefitted most from the Hamiltonian era, and how its failings sowed the seeds for the Jeffersonian Revolution of 1800.
Recommended Reading "The Founding Father of Crony Capitalism" by Thomas DiLorenzo — Mises.org/LP3_A
"Alexander Hamilton: Centralist and Nationalist" by Daren A. Wiseley — Mises.org/LP3_B
"Central Banking as an Engine of Corruption" by Thomas DiLorenzo — Mises.org/LP3_C
Cronyism: Liberty versus Power in Early America, 1607–1849 by Patrick Newman — Mises.org/LP_Crony
Hamilton's Curse: How Jefferson's Arch Enemy Betrayed the American Revolution—and What It Means for Americans Today by Thomas J. DiLorenzo — Mises.org/LP_Curse
To subscribe to the Liberty vs. Power Podcast on your favorite platform, visit Mises.org/LvP.
Thanks to covid shutdowns, declining productivity finally brought price inflation to the fore. But the world's governments have learned nothing and cling to the same inflationist policies.
Original Article: "Western Economies Are Self-Destructing with Inflation, Debt, and Taxes"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Economic depressions are not caused by a strong decline in the money stock, but by a depleted stock of real savings.
Original Article: "How to Avoid Depressions? Foster Saving and Investment"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Imagination is the first stage of any value generation journey — starting a development project, enhancing the customer experience, embarking on innovation, or building a business for the next year or the next decade. Imagination might sound like a fuzzy concept, but it’s a robust business tool, the engine of the entrepreneurial design process. Mark Packard joins the E4B podcast to put imagination into a business context and describe the possibilities it opens up.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Imagination is central to entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship, and to innovation and advance in all aspects of business. We see business through mental models, as a kind of a movie our minds play for us. In this movie, we remember result and experiences from the past (which requires imagination) and we create images of what might have been, or, in the future, what might be. We know these images are not real, but they play through our mental model of business reality. They inform our plans and projects. We imagine cause-and-effect relationships between imagined concepts and ideas, and between actions and outcomes.
From new product development to efficient administrative processes, every aspect of business involves — and requires — imagination.
We can use imagination in simulating possible results. Not only do we employ imagination in our regular business activity, we also use it for advanced complex modeling. We add new inputs to what we have constructed in our imagination — in the form of “what if” queries - to create a new mental model that’s different from the current one: a prospective reality that we can plan for and try to achieve.
As we try to achieve that prospective reality, we receive feedback in various forms, which we use adaptively to further adjust and improve the mental model we hold in our imagination. Imagination is dynamic, always changing.
Customers are also imagining, and entrepreneurs must imagine what they are imagining. We’ve highlighted in earlier episodes, the Value Learning Cycle that customers complete in the process of learning what to want and what to value (see Mises.org/E4E_44). The cycle begins with predictive valuation — consumers predicting to themselves how much value they’ll experience from the product or service a business is pitching to them. That’s imagination at work. If they buy and consume, value is an experience that results — and experience is a mental representation that includes imagination. Then in their post-experience valuation, customers adjust their mental model based on their new value knowledge. Future predictive valuations will be imagined with this updated knowledge.
Imagination is central to customer expectations of value and to customers’ decision-making.
Businesses use three kinds of imagination to make a value proposition. Businesses develop value propositions for customers, utilizing 3 kinds of imagination: creative imagination (imagining the design of a future product or service that will deliver a valued customer experience); empathic imagination (imagining how the customer will feel as a result of the experience); and predictive simulation (imagining what the world will be like after pursuing the contemplated action).
Creative imagination is a combination of needs knowledge (what customers want) and technical knowledge (what can be produced with available resources). In both cases, more knowledge is an aid to the imaginative process.
Similarly, empathic imagination can benefit from more knowledge about the customer’s mental model, developed through relationships and conversations.
Predictive simulation is aided by rapid learning from testing and prototyping and developing design artifacts (like landing pages and A/B tests) that enable interim simulations of customer responses.
Imagination can’t be shared but visions can. When we work on a team or in a firm, it’s productive to be aligned on the imagined future at which the group is aiming and is working towards. Strictly speaking, we can’t share imagination. Everyone’s imagination is subjective and individual. You can’t imagine what I’m imagining.
What can be shared is a vision, because it can be described in words developed from a shared language. Of course, every individual may interpret the meaning of the words differently, but with repetition, explanation and persuasive presentation, the group can get closer and closer to shared meaning. The vision becomes a cultural artifact — how we think in this firm, what we aim for in this firm, how we see the future in (and of) this firm.
Similarly, in selling value propositions to customers, businesses are trying to get those customers to share a vision. We persuade them with storytelling, whether it’s in the form of advertising, or PR or social media or the words printed on a package.
Rhetorical skills — being able to communicate in a way that enable other people to see and share a vision, and to adapt it to their own vision — are key to successful entrepreneurship.
Some people are better at imagination than others — but you can work on the skill set. Many business icons are or have been symbols of great imagination at work, such as Steve Jobs in the past and Elon Musk today. They’re better at seeing the future than others.
But everyone who understands imagination at the foundational level, as Mark Packard explained it in the podcast, can get better at it, and train others to get better at it, too.
Imagination is a simulation run through our mental model based on knowledge we possess. One important step is to improve the knowledge set available for the simulation — better quality knowledge, more accurate knowledge, more detailed or intimate knowledge.
More needs knowledge and more technical knowledge will improve creative imagination. Keep up with new technologies and with consumer trends and marketplace developments.
More customer knowledge will enhance empathic imagination. Spend more time with customers. Use qualitative research (such as the E4B contextual in-depth interview: Mises.org/E4B_151_PDF) to understand their mental model better, so that the empathic simulations you run through that mental model will improve.
Predictive simulation is an act of imagination that improves with learning about what works and what doesn’t. Run more tests and new kinds of explorations. Explore, explore, and explore more. Don’t take your own predictions too seriously; rather, expect to be wrong in ways you never imagined. Be humble, be adaptive, be agile, and recognize that you do have to predict in order to act. Triangulate with what others are doing because they’re imagining too, and they may have more and better knowledge than you. Try to reconstruct their mental models and assess whether they’d be helpful for you.
Additional Resources Elon Musk’s Imagination (Video): Mises.org/E4B_151_Video
"Subjective Value in Entrepreneurship" by Mark Packard and Per Bylund (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_151_Paper
"Empathy for Entrepreneurs: How to Understand and Identify Customer Needs and Wants from Their Perspective" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_151_PDF
"Mark Packard on The Value Learning Process" (Episode): Mises.org/E4E_44
With new mask and vaccine mandates, New York's Governor Kathy Hochul has reaffirmed the state’s status as the nation’s most zealous practitioner of covid cultism.
Original Article: "New York State Has Imposed New Covid Rituals. This Time There's Some Resistance."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Our guest is Tracy Høeg, MD, PhD, who has made remarkable research contributions pertaining to SARS-COV2 transmission in schools and to vaccine-related myocarditis. She has published her findings in the CDC’s MMWR and has given oral testimony to Congress.
SHOW NOTES Tracy Høeg, MD, PhD: Twitter
Watch the episode on the Accad & Koka Report YouTube channel
The true cost of America's wars—in lost productivity, resources, and opportunity cost—is far higher than even the official numbers of trillions spent on the Pentagon's many failures.
Original Article: "America's Wars Are Far More Costly than the Pentagon Admits"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Genuine change will likely come only through muddling through at the state and local level. That kind of work will be instrumental in the creation of decentralized alternatives to our present political order.
Original Article: "Ron Desantis Plans to Revive Florida's State Militia"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
The Human Action Podcast wraps up the year with none other than the venerable Professor Paul Gottfried!
This is our final show focused on the Old Right, the early 20th century political tradition which animated later libertarian figures like Murray Rothbard. How was this great legacy of peace and freedom on the Right—the Old Republic—lost to Cold Warriors and neoconservatives? Nobody is a better sociologist of American conservatism than Dr. Gottfried, and nobody is more compelling and erudite when it comes explaining how the Right went so horribly wrong (hint: former Commies). Lots of great names discussed, from Rothbard and Nock to Kirk, Strauss, Jaffa, Buckley, Meyer, and even Gore Vidal.
Don't miss this show!
Additional Resources Read Professor Gottfried's work on Conservatism: Mises.org/Gottfried-Book
Fauci-funded and Fauci-supported "AIDS research" consisted of running medical experiments on children, among other horrors. Through it all, Fauci profited handsomely with his many "partners" in Big Pharma.
Original Article: "Review: The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
How did a handful of colonies created by the European Old Order establish a unique nation conceived in liberty? In Episode 2 of the Liberty vs. Power Podcast, Patrick Newman and Tho Bishop discuss the lasting tension between the Spirit of 1776 and the Constitution of 1787. The results of America's successful war for independence is one of the most important victories for the cause of liberty, but the forces of power adapted to new opportunities.
Patrick and Tho also discuss the career of the infamous Robert Morris, and follow the rise of two men who are determined to mold America into the European nationalist tradition: Alexander Hamilton and James Madison.
Articles "America's Libertarian Revolution" by Murray Rothbard — Mises.org/LP2_A
"Bacon's Rebellion" by Murray Rothbard — Mises.org/LP2_B
"How the Constitutional Convention Vastly Expanded the Powers of the President" by Murray Rothbard — Mises.org/LP2_C
"The Founding Fathers' Coup d'État" by Albert Jay Nock — Mises.org/LP2_D
"Economic Determinism, Ideology, and the American Revolution" by Murray Rothbard — Mises.org/LP2_E
"Liberty and Property: the Levellers and Locke" by Murray Rothbard — Mises.org/LP2_F
Books Cronyism: Liberty versus Power in Early America, 1607–1849 by Patrick Newman — Mises.org/LP_Crony
Conceived in Liberty, Volumes I-IV by Murray Rothbard — Mises.org/LP2_G
Conceived in Liberty, Volume V by Murray Rothbard, Edited by Patrick Newman — Mises.org/LP2_H
Movie The Patriot — Mises.org/LP2_J
To subscribe to the Liberty vs. Power Podcast on your favorite platform, visit Mises.org/LvP.
The Fed may slow or eliminate new bond purchases but is not planning to sell. Meanwhile, producer prices have skyrocketed and Americans are consuming more but producing less. Get ready for entrenched price inflation.
Original Article: "The Fundamentals Point to Inflation That's Much More than 'Transitory'"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
I was astounded at how many despots the World Bank was propping up. Bankrolling tyrants is the equivalent of a Fugitive Slave Act for an entire nation, preventing a mass escape of political victims.
Original Article: "Raiding the World Bank: Exposing a Fondness for Dictators"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
"Science" is now indistinguishable from politics. As the "acid rain" hysteria showed back in the 1970s and 1980s, "follow the science" is just a political slogan, unrelated to actual science.
Original Article: "The "Acid Rain" Scare and the Science-Industrial Complex"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
We’re highlighting six of our 2021 podcasts that have special value for value creators. We invite you to listen to the special year-end podcast, and to sample each of those we’ve highlighted here, review the Key Takeaways we provide as a summary for each one, and download the free tools that accompany each podcast.
Per Bylund explains that all successful entrepreneurs are Austrians.Episode #143: Mises.org/E4B_143Resource: "Explore and Realize (and Keep Exploring): How Austrian Entrepreneurs Generate Value on the Path to Business Success" (PowerPoint): Mises.org/E4B_143_PPT
Mark Packard joins Per Bylund to explain how Austrian Value theory enables entrepreneurs to radically re-shape business thinking for greater value generation.Episode #108: Mises.org/E4B_108Resource: "The Value Generation Business Model" (Video) Mises.org/E4B_108_Video
Matt McCaffrey outlines the Austrian approach to business strategy: emergent not planned.Episode #127: Mises.org/E4B_127Resource: "Emergent Strategy Process Map" (PDF) Mises.org/E4B_127_PDF
Mark McGrath orients entrepreneurs to purposeful adaptation to emergence via the OODA loop.Episode #138: Mises.org/E4B_138Resource: John Boyd's "OODA Loop Graphic" (PPT) Mises.org/E4B_138_PPT
Ulrich Moeller provides the organization design model for the adaptive entrepreneurial firm: it’s boss-less.Episode #133: Mises.org/E4B_133Resource: "The Future Of Organization Design" (PDF) Mises.org/E4B_133_PDF
Saras Sarasvathy pulls it all together in the form of The Entrepreneurial Method.Episode #131: Mises.org/E4B_131Resource: "Better Lives and a Better Society" (PDF) Mises.org/E4B_131_PDF
Deflation empowers the citizen by allowing her modest savings to purchase more goods over time. Inflation empowers the state by reducing the size of its enormous debts in real terms—and through the inflation tax.
Original Article: "Price Deflation and the Horrors of Falling TV Prices"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Regulatory powers have enabled government agencies to push vaccine mandates in new ways. But the welfare state also offers many ways to "encourage" compliance from nearly everyone.
Original Article: "They'll Use the Welfare State to Get Compliance on Vaccine Mandates"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
The US and NATO must do as little as possible to contribute to the conflict in Ukraine. This especially includes continuing to arm Ukraine and insisting that it has a future in NATO.
Original Article: "The West Must Stop Trying To Expand NATO into Ukraine"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
The benefits of decentralization don't stop at the state level. State governments themselves must be broken up into decentralized confederations that allow for local vetoes, local sovereignty, and regional autonomy.
Original Article: "State-Level Secession Isn't Enough. The States Themselves Must Be Radically Decentralized."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
In the first episode of the Liberty vs. Power Podcast, Tho Bishop and Patrick Newman take a deep dive into the intellectual framework of Rothbardian historical analysis. This includes looking at the "conspiracy analyst" as a praxeologist, identifying what personal incentives may motivate individual actors that directly influence government policy.
Tho and Patrick also discuss the importance of history as a vital tool in what Murray Rothbard considered "the science of liberty," and look at how battles over issues like Critical Race Theory highlight the ways the progressive left have leveraged historical narrative to strengthen their political agenda.
Cronyism: Liberty versus Power in Early America, 1607–1849 by Patrick Newman — Mises.org/LP1_Crony
Important Links "The Conspiracy Theory of History Revisited" by Murray Rothbard — Mises.org/LP1_A
"Murray Rothbard and Jacksonian Banking" by Leonard Liggio — Mises.org/LP1_B
"Coming of Age With Murray" by Hans Hermann Hoppe — Mises.org/LP1_C
"The Forgotten Greatness of Rothbard’s Preface to Theory and History" by George Pickering — Mises.org/LP1_D
"The Fight over Economics Is a Fight over Culture" by Ryan McMaken — Mises.org/LP1_E
"How to Do Economic History" by Joseph T. Salerno — Mises.org/LP1_F
"The Case for Revisionism (and Against A Priori History)" by Murray N. Rothbard — Mises.org/LP1_J
Additional Reading Theory and History: An Interpretation of Social and Economic Evolution by Ludwig von Mises — Mises.org/LP1_G
The Economic Mind in American Civilization: 1606-1865, Volume One by Joseph Dorfman — Mises.org/LP1_H
To subscribe to the Liberty vs. Power Podcast on your favorite platform, visit Mises.org/LvP.
A lot of economic policy is based on "economics" which makes assumptions that have very little to do with actual reality.
Original Article: "Nirvana Economics: How Treating the Real World like an Imaginary Ideal World Leads to Trouble"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Entrepreneurship is fulfilling and exciting and inspiring. It’s fun. It’s learning. It’s a sense of achievement. It’s a journey. Economics For Business loves to spotlight individual journeys to illustrate what’s possible, provide learning about how to create and grow opportunities, and to inspire new entrepreneurship. This week, we are joined by Victor Chor, who leads us on a journey from a hobby of flipping on eBay to creating a brand and orchestrating a high-energy global value generation community.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights The journey starts with action — develop your “doing skills”. Victor Chor started his journey via “flipping” on eBay: sourcing items to offer for sale, and using sales feedback (what sells, what doesn’t) to determine future offerings. He developed the “doing skill” (as opposed to a “knowing skill” that comes from formal business education) as he made more and more sales. Flipping was a hobby that became a business.
What’s the benefit? Well, it’s fun. There’s money profit. There’s a sense of achievement. And there’s learning.
Experimentation is at the heart of entrepreneurial success. How do you find out what works? You experiment. Try this, try that. Learning results. Victor learned the products that sell best. He learned scaling, as a repeatable process yielding increasing returns. He learned the best feedback loops for adaptiveness — in his case inventory management and how to keep it low through accelerated sales.
Experimentation is a learning loop: experiment, gather feedback, learn, improve, run more experiments.
Adopting customer centricity is a further advance on the journey. To a large extent, Amazon, with its “customer obsession”, led the way in making customer centricity the norm for e-commerce and internet selling. They not only continuously raise the bar for customer service excellence in terms of quality, speed, convenience, availability, and range of choice, they also introduced wide ranging competition between 3rd party sellers on their platform. Competition is a virtuous circle for customer satisfaction: if one firm establishes an advantage or a superior offering to which customers flock, then competitors must improve their offering even more to re-qualify for customer acceptability.
In this environment, entrepreneurs learn about continuous improvement and the need to create a unique customer experience that can establish some sustainable advantage. The ability to grow in sales revenues morphs into the design of unique customer experiences.
A further advance in the mastery of customer centricity is to engage customers in product and service development — what we’ve been calling co-creation of value. Through surveys and e-mail marketing and just hanging out and talking with customers, Victor’s team has developed an acute understanding of customer wants, needs and preferences.
And the technology field lets us all think like customers. Victor points out that he and his team are all customers for the products they take to market. They’re all looking for quality and convenience and technological excellence, all experiencing what inconveniences customers, and therefore even better able to serve their market.
The next level of advance on the journey is brand building — imagining, designing, assembling, and marketing a differentiated branded offering. There is a transition point where a project can become a brand. A project to develop and deliver a high-function technology product can cross into the branded perception and branded experience area. Branding is the ultimate power in delivering uniqueness. A brand can establish a sustainable and unassailable perception.
Victor Chor advanced into brand building through building his community. The people he hired into his growing business has ideas for establishing and growing a brand. Wholesaling and distribution and manufacturing partners contributed both ideas and capacity. Victor developed a very original concept of a brand as a representation of all the people involved together in the venture. His image for a brand is that “it’s a ballroom”: set it up and throw a party in which many can participate and all are welcome to help shape new products and the future of the brand.
Infinacore is the brand name around which Victor and his team have assembled their community. It’s focused on wireless charging and related high-tech convenience: the brand mission refers to “making the wonderful world we live in as simple as plug and play”. This is a brand platform with unlimited future potential, based on how customers define simplicity and plug-and-play in the future, and how they judge what they find to be wonderful.
Reaching out more and more widely expands opportunity and opens up new avenues. Early in his journey, Victor utilized the services offered via Alibaba. He made contacts, built up a buddy list, engaged in chat on the platform, and used the network to source products. Many of his contacts in manufacturing and trading companies stayed in touch over time. Some of them started their own venture and their own factories. Long term relationships developed, and links to capability and capacity multiplied and grew stronger.
Everyone in this network is on their own journey, feeling what Victor called the “shared vibe” of connection and collaboration.
Alibaba proved to be a catalyst for learning — for example, learning a shared language, learning to negotiate, learning to communicate, and learning working practices like minimum order quantities — and an opening of new avenues, such as contacts with factories that could provide white labeling opportunities and technology improvements for original products.
Ultimately, Victor was able to develop a leadership skill in entrepreneurial orchestration: pulling together and integrating resources, people and processes in a value network dedicated to the shared pursuit of high-tech brand building.
The journey is arriving at a new peak, but never ends. There’s a new product / wireless charging system launch coming up for Infinacore. It represents a new peak in both technology and brand, a unique original design with new benefits. The Infinacore community has advanced to a new higher level.
The company has refined its vision and mission, not simply as communication, but as a picture of the future around which everyone in the community can gather and in which all can invest their effort and emotional energy. It’s ingrained. There‘s shared passion and shared emotion.
This is the step that removes the anxiety of uncertainty. When the vision is shared and the mission — what the community does repeatedly every day to make progress towards the vision — is clear, then the future is not a scary unknown, but a goal towards which there is continuous advance. There’s no fear.
Additional Resources "The Evolution Of A Global High-Tech Brand" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_149_PDF
Visit Infinacore.com
Follow Infinacore on Instagram: @Infinacore
California has announced it seeks to become a "sanctuary state" for abortion should the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade. That is, the situation would return much to what it was before 1973.
Original Article: "End Roe v. Wade: It's Time to Defederalize Abortion Policy"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Human action lies at the core of the application of Austrian economics to business: how do people act and how can we develop the best understanding of why they act that way. We apply that thinking to customers, and we can also apply it to business organizations. If we are able to answer these questions well, we can develop a profitable business model and an effective management model. Our guest Diana Jones has a distinctive perspective about the management model that’s based on understanding people’s personal and private experiences rather than their place in the hierarchy or their formal role in the process.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Relationships are fundamental to all systems thinking, and to all business management. Sociometry is a tool to measure relationships. Sociometry measures relationships between people and within groups. The unit of measure is distance. People can feel close to each other and other group members, and this closeness results in certain types of behavior. People can feel distant from each other, resulting in a different kind of behavior. They can also feel close or distant to concepts, like the company mission or the annual plan, and to institutions, like the Board of Directors or the HR department or a firm’s way of pursuing innovation. They can feel close or distant to colleagues in a meeting, or to the meeting purpose and agenda. Measuring and understanding relationship distance contribute directly to performance management.
Sociometry reveals the disproportionate importance of informal structures over formal structures. It’s easy to think of the formal organization chart as the model for managing a firm. Planning descends from higher levels to lower levels, along with instructions on how to implement and what to do. It’s not how companies function in reality.
What makes companies work is relationships. People form bonds with each other, and the bonds they form shape the work that they do and how they do it. The bonds are often forged via sharing of knowledge and experiences that are private and personal rather than business and process knowledge. Productivity comes from people connecting on shared experiences, so that these personal and private relationships become more relevant to business operations than the formal structures, such as hierarchy. When relationships change, behaviors change, and vice versa. When relationships shift, the whole business system shifts.
Formal structures don’t work, at least not in the way top management thinks. And the titles associated with hierarchical position can be alienating and toxic to relationships, symbolizing and reinforcing distance rather than closeness.
Sociometry helps to focus on these informal relationships and especially on the most important ones that make a big difference: for example, to improve customer service.
There’s a role for leadership in this system of informal relationships, but it’s not the one that generally taught or written about. Leadership can emerge amidst informal relationships, but it doesn’t come from authority. Leadership is not to be confused with position in the hierarchy. Leadership entails the communication of vision and helping people understand it, share it, and do the right things to achieve it.
The informal structure and its relationships make the formal structure work. The formal structure produces cynicism, anxiety, and reactionary behavior. The informal structure can eliminate these negative tendencies, unleashing untapped talent and enabling and refreshing the firm.
Leaders help people as guardians of these informal relationships: monitoring, empathizing, and nurturing.
Many people need help working in groups. It’s typical practice in business management to assign people to groups: agile teams, project teams, product development teams, functional teams, and so on. It’s seldom questioned whether or not individuals understand how to work in groups. Usually, they don’t. They’re unsure whether to speak up or be compliant, or whether conflict is valued to arrive at consensus or is to be avoided.
This is one more element of Diana Jones’ thinking and method that tells us that the traditional thinking of business organization and management process is mostly wrong. Hierarchy and formal organizational models don’t work, titles and authoritative roles are counter-productive, and reporting relationships are irrelevant when compared to relationship distance / closeness. There’s a lot of the traditional management model blueprint we need to scrap.
The better route to exceptional team participation and team results is via empathy. In Economics For Business, which is the application of the principles of Austrian economics to business management, we allocate great importance to the use of empathy as a tool, usually in the relationship between a business or brand and its customer. For example, we use empathic diagnosis to understand a customer’s dissatisfactions and unmet wants.
In Diana Jones’s model, empathy is an internal organizational tool. She deploys it in a sophisticated way that identifies four different types of application.
Cognitive empathy: imagining and understanding how a person feels and what they might be thinking.Emotional empathy: accurately reading and sharing the feelings of another person, and reflecting on those feelings in a way that helps everyone involved.Compassionate empathy: going beyond understanding to taking action that helps people deal practically with difficult situations about which they’re emotional.Group empathy: the capacity to read the emotional tone of a group that’s sharing a challenging experience. The core competency is the ability to read people and their emotional tone or state. Diana Jones gives the skill a name: interpersonal perception. It’s a skill that can be developed in a learning loop of experience, experimentation, curiosity, and intuition.
Additional Resources "Trust-Distance Matrix: Assessing the Cost of Distance in Business Relationships" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_148_PDF
Leadership Levers: Releasing The Power Of Relationships For Exceptional Participation, Alignment, and Team Results by Diana Jones: Mises.org/E4B_148_Book
Diana-Jones.com
Joe Biden thinks that unless there's widespread government intervention in the economy, economic inequality "brews and ferments political discord and basic revolutions."
Original Article: "How Market Freedom Combats Economic Inequality"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
The huge amounts of monetary inflation of 2020 have indeed been translated into price inflation in 2021. Yet with the Fed now poised to slow things down, we might find asset inflation could suddenly go into reverse.
Original Article: "The Economy May Be Finally Peaking, and the Fed Won't Help Matters"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Easy money monetary policy only serves to weaken and destroy savings and investment. And that means weaker future economic growth.
Original Article: "Money Supply Growth Is Slowing—That Points to a Slowing Economy"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
We continue our look at leading figures from the Old Right with guest Tom Woods, who helped publish the late Murray Rothbard's The Betrayal of the American Right. Rothbard admired the courageous and revisionist voices promoting the Old Republic, and shared their antagonism for war and economic intervention. Tom and Jeff discuss great essays like Albert J. Nock's "Isaiah's Job" and Frank Chodorov's "The Ethic of the Peddler Class;" the latter a rousing defense of the merchant class against both bureaucrats and the country-club conservatism which would emerge under William F. Buckley. The old antiwar and anti-New Deal works of figures like Menken, Hazlitt, Howard Buffett, Chodorov, and Nock deserve far wider consideration, especially as the "New Right" spirals into the worst of Buckleyite foreign policy and know-nothing economics. You owe it to yourself to explore this great but underappreciated tradition.
Additional Resources Read Rothbard's important work: Mises.org/Betrayal
Albert J. Nock's "Isaiah's Job:" Mises.org/HAPNock
Frank Chodorov's "The Ethic of the Peddler Class:" Mises.org/HAPChodorov
Jeff Leskovar on "The Psychology of Human Action:" Mises.org/HAPLeskova
Tariffs and trade controls are little more than tax increases and a chance to further empower a bloated bureaucracy. Not surprisingly, Biden doesn't appear to be enthusiastic about embracing free trade.
Original Article: "Biden Has Embraced Trump's Protectionism"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
There are many reasons why activists and intellectuals oppose inequality. Envy is one of them.
Original Article: "Equality and Envy"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
If the private sector does not accept a currency as a general means of payment and a store of value, the currency becomes worthless and ceases to be money. Ultimately, it becomes useless paper.
Original Article: "When Fiat Currency Stops Being Money"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
The more the EU micromanages Polish internal affairs and punishes Poland for the simple act of exercising self-determination, more the benefits of leaving the bloc altogether will continue to increase.
Original Article: "Poland's Beef with the EU Shows the Dangers of Political Centralization"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
The Washington area was traumatized for weeks by two dimwitted psychopaths who rode around brazenly shooting people from the trunk of their ancient Chevrolet. Sadly, law enforcement officials had apparently met their match.
Original Article: "The DC Sniper Rampage: The Biggest Police Debacle of the Century?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
It took many centuries for regimes to secure the sort of prestige and power necessary to claim a monopoly over money. From the state's perspective, it has been worth it.
Original Article: "How Governments Seized Control of Money"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Capitalism is not a "legacy of colonialism" in Africa. In fact, markets and interregional trade have long been practiced on the continent. And markets today are still the answer to raising standards of living.
Original Article: "Africa's Long History of Trade and Markets"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
A big factor behind Youngkin’s electoral success in Virginia: the rural voter and their reaction to Richmond's overreach on guns, schools, and centralized political power.
Original Article: "Rural Voters, Guns, and Decentralization Sank the Democrats in Virginia"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
The Bank of Canada's stated mission is "to preserve the value of money by keeping inflation low and stable." Yet, the BOC works to inflate away the value of Canadians' purchasing power every single day.
Original Article: "The Bank of Canada's Failed Mission to 'Preserve the Value of Money'"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
For decades, countless parents have been on autopilot when it comes to letting the state manage their child's education. But over the past two years, millions of parents have begun to take control.
Original Article: "We've Only Just Begun to See the Benefits of the New Surge in Homeschooling"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Larson's principal targets are Friedman and Hayek, but Mises and Rothbard are not spared. For Larson, promarket economists aren't just wrong. They're bad people.
Original Article: "This Professor Hates the Austrian School. But He Clearly Doesn't Know Much about It."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
When prices fall as a result of rising wealth that's good news. But deflation is also good news when it follows the bursting of a financial bubble caused by money creation.
Original Article: "We're All Talking about Inflation, but Deflation May Also Be on the Way"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
James Buchanan thought the state was a voluntary institution. Murray Rothbard, on the other hand, understood the reality of state violence and coercion.
Original Article: "Murray Rothbard versus the Public Choice School"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Includes an introduction by Tom Woods. Recorded in Lake Jackson, Texas, on December 4, 2021.
Ron Paul's two campaigns for president (2008 and 2012) were watershed moments for liberty-minded people around the world. The "Ron Paul Revolution"—centered around his undiluted message of peace, property, and markets—changed the way millions thought about the American empire and the American financial system. Dr. Paul's focus on central banking and foreign policy caught politicians and pundits off guard, forcing them to scramble for explanations of our Middle East policy and Soviet-style central planning at the Fed. Politics in America has not been the same since the "Giuliani moment" and "End the Fed." The Ron Paul Revolution was both a political and cultural phenomenon.
The causes of today's skyrocketing housing prices are different in many ways from what happened in 2008. But that doesn't mean we're barreling toward a happy ending.
Original Article: "Housing Hubris: Can Home Prices Spiral upward Forever?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
In one recent thread, Weisenthal mocked the people worried about the falling purchasing power of the US dollar, and claimed that it would be immoral for currency to maintain its value over time.
Original Article: "Joe Weisenthal Thinks Debasing the Dollar Is the Moral Thing to Do"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
So oppressive was the Inca regime that it's no wonder the Spaniards found many enemies willing to help topple the empire.
Original Article: "The Inca Empire: An Indigenous Leviathan State"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Not all of America’s young men of the North bought into the federal propaganda. When the federal government was forced to resort to a military draft, many Americans resisted.
Original Article: "The Heroic Draft Dodgers of the American Civil War"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Strategic management theories and entrepreneurship theories have diverged in academia. One perspective can’t recognize the other. Yet the most promising and successful new business approaches demonstrate an agile combination of both sets of theories. Professor Mohammad Keyhani joins Economics For Business to explain this phenomenon and help us point the way to the future of strategic entrepreneurship.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights. In business school thinking, there is a dichotomy between strategic management and entrepreneurship. In management scholarship, strategic management and entrepreneurship are distinct fields of study. Professor Keyhani calls them “two logics” of business.
Both logics have gained legitimacy from their origins in economics. As business theories, they base their arguments on models from the field of economics, which, of course, is older and more mature. By importing thinking from economics, these business disciplines are able to construct generalizable theories (as opposed to, for example, a case study approach). The most famous generalizable theory in strategic management is Michael Porter’s five forces framework, which borrowed from industrial organization economics. Most strategic management theories have been based on general equilibrium models of neo-classical economics. Strategic management became a theory of structures and constraints, and of imperfections in equilibrium (such as the concept of competitive advantage).
The entrepreneurship discipline has been more varied and diverse and less dominated by economic models. Entrepreneurship scholars look to Austrian economics, which is based on verbal logic rather than mathematical models. But Professor Keyhani, in his Ph.D. dissertation, found an integration route between strategic management and entrepreneurship using the framework of game theory, adding elements of time and dynamics (both critical in Austrian theory) and adding the innovation of computer simulation (to which more and more Austrian economists are open as a way of adding computable algorithmic rigor to verbal logic).
He established a way for strategic management and entrepreneurship to communicate with each other.
Strategic management is a theory of competitive structures. Strategic management models are based on models of competition among players with similar value propositions, maybe with slightly different cost structures and other small differences, but all considered as competitors to each other. The models look at the nature of the competition, the structure of the competition, and seek insights into why some companies may have advantages over others.
Strategy becomes an approach of identifying and building on strengths, about sustaining and managing an existing system, about operations rather than innovation, and about control and prediction.
The consequence is a series of blind spots, mostly to do with the dynamics of action over time, the uncertainty that accompanies action, and the learning that results.
Entrepreneurship is a theory of dynamic value creation. The question in entrepreneurship is how to create value and how to build a value creation system in the first place. The entrepreneur faces the questions, “Am I creating any value at all? Is anyone going to pay for this innovation and be happy with it? And will I be able to get more customers?” These questions precede the models that strategy and strategic management theory have been based on. Those models start off with the entrepreneur’s questions having been answered, so they are not useful at the value creation stage.
Based on Austrian economics, the entrepreneurship literature has provided mental tools and mental models for entrepreneurial thinking and an entrepreneurial approach to business. These include the emphasis on subjective value and customer sovereignty, and on uncertainty and unpredictability in business. There is value in action in the face of uncertainty, because it creates new information, which can support better decision-making. That mechanism is totally lacking in the equilibrium models of strategy.
Theories of entrepreneurial action to generate learning are useful not only for startups but also for larger companies, to help them think and act more entrepreneurially, and to counter the defensive and anti-innovative thinking of building on strengths and defending position. Managing an existing value generation system can result in losing the long-term perspective of innovation, adding new product lines, taking advantage of opportunities, and potentially building new strengths.
“Do both!” The best approach combines strategy and entrepreneurship. Professor Keyhani argues that, ideally, firms think strategically and act entrepreneurially, and he recognizes that, in the real world of practitioners, this is what businesses do.
He uses blockchain as an example. No company can say that they have an existing strength in blockchain because it’s a new technology and the business concepts that utilize it are only just emerging. It’s a level playing field.
Are there any advantages a company could have? Maybe a company has a lot of computer scientists and mathematicians. That might be a slight strength. But getting into blockchain businesses is an entrepreneurial action, largely different than building on strengths.
The approach to innovation we support here at Economics For Business is “Explore And Expand”, and Professor Keyhani sees a good match between the explore-expand dichotomy and the entrepreneurship-strategy dichotomy. Exploration is a blind spot in strategic management theory and modeling — there is pretty much no exploration in the five forces framework or the RBV (resource-based view) framework. Exploration — acting for the learning value to open up options for more things that can be done in the future — is the entrepreneurial way of thinking.
Effectuation (covered in episode #131: Mises.org/E4B_131) is another form of entrepreneurial logic. It recognizes that the entrepreneur faces so much uncertainty that it may not be possible to set specific objectives. But the entrepreneur knows that they want to do something, that they have knowledge and resources and relationships, and that they may be able to create some value from them. Effectuation is the “fuzzy front end” of value creation.
Another way to combine entrepreneurship and strategy is speed of learning. The general capability to be more adaptive than competition, to go through the learning cycle faster, is a dynamic capability that can be strategic.
Competitive moats in the software world. Is the structure-and-constraints approach of strategic management useless in the digital era we live in? Sustainable competitive advantage seems to be inapplicable when anyone can write software (or download it from Github), and access hosting and storage at scale from AWS.
But in fact, software entrepreneurs do think in terms of competitive advantage. The modern term for it is “moats”. Venture capitalists look favorably on businesses that can surround themselves with a moat to keep out competition.
The most discussed moat is network effects. This concept did not come from the neo-classical economics equilibrium models, but from the dynamic analysis of more users coming in to join existing users. The five forces framework suggests that advantages lie either in cost or differentiation, but a network effects advantage can be both.
Two-sided platforms with two-sided network effects add even more complexity. It’s strategic to achieve that status, but the theory did not emanate from traditional strategic management thinking.
Professor Keyhani introduces the next entrepreneurial strategy breakthrough: generativity. We talked in episode #104 (see Mises.org/E4B_104) about the new phenomenon of digital businesses identified by Professor Keyhani: generativity. Achieving generativity confers significant competitive advantage for any entrepreneurial firms who can develop it through technology. It’s an advantage that is not identified by existing strategy theories.
Generativity can be thought of as the automation of open innovation. Products and services can be designed to offer features that enable outsiders to innovate with them, and these outside innovations benefit the company. For example, the Google Pixel smartphone and the Apple iPhone are generative products or generative systems. With the tools these firms provide in the phones, outside developers can create new apps, that they offer on the Pixel or iPhone platform for other outsiders to use. The app developers make money, and so do Google and Apple, both from sales of outsider-developed apps in their app stores, and from in-app purchases. Google and Apple are not utilizing their own knowledge — they don’t know the problem the app is solving, or even who developed it or where they are. They don’t have to make the solution, don’t have to take the risk, and don’t have to pay salaries or development costs. Yet they profit from the innovation. It’s a huge competitive advantage for these two entrepreneurial companies.
Additional Resources "The Strategic Management Model versus the Entrepreneurial Model" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_147_PDF
"The Logic Of Strategic Entrepreneurship" by Mohammad Keyhani: Mises.org/E4B_147_Paper1
"Was Hayek an ACE?" by Nicolaas J. Vriend: Mises.org/E4B_147_Paper2
The ultimate list of tools for entrepreneurs—"Entrepreneur Tools" by Mohammad Keyhani: Mises.org/E4B_147_Tools
It is clear that there are situations in which the unions’ interests diverge from the public’s interest in transparency and good policing. But the unions’ interests also often diverge from the interests of individual members.
Original Article: "Why Don’t Police Unions Protect Whistleblowers?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Recorded in Lake Jackson, Texas, on December 4, 2021.
Ron Paul's two campaigns for president (2008 and 2012) were watershed moments for liberty-minded people around the world. The "Ron Paul Revolution"—centered around his undiluted message of peace, property, and markets—changed the way millions thought about the American empire and the American financial system. Dr. Paul's focus on central banking and foreign policy caught politicians and pundits off guard, forcing them to scramble for explanations of our Middle East policy and Soviet-style central planning at the Fed. Politics in America has not been the same since the "Giuliani moment" and "End the Fed." The Ron Paul Revolution was both a political and cultural phenomenon.
Recorded in Lake Jackson, Texas, on December 4, 2021.
Ron Paul's two campaigns for president (2008 and 2012) were watershed moments for liberty-minded people around the world. The "Ron Paul Revolution"—centered around his undiluted message of peace, property, and markets—changed the way millions thought about the American empire and the American financial system. Dr. Paul's focus on central banking and foreign policy caught politicians and pundits off guard, forcing them to scramble for explanations of our Middle East policy and Soviet-style central planning at the Fed. Politics in America has not been the same since the "Giuliani moment" and "End the Fed." The Ron Paul Revolution was both a political and cultural phenomenon.
Recorded in Lake Jackson, Texas, on December 4, 2021.
Ron Paul's two campaigns for president (2008 and 2012) were watershed moments for liberty-minded people around the world. The "Ron Paul Revolution"—centered around his undiluted message of peace, property, and markets—changed the way millions thought about the American empire and the American financial system. Dr. Paul's focus on central banking and foreign policy caught politicians and pundits off guard, forcing them to scramble for explanations of our Middle East policy and Soviet-style central planning at the Fed. Politics in America has not been the same since the "Giuliani moment" and "End the Fed." The Ron Paul Revolution was both a political and cultural phenomenon.
Includes an introduction by Jeff Deist. Recorded in Lake Jackson, Texas, on December 4, 2021.
Ron Paul's two campaigns for president (2008 and 2012) were watershed moments for liberty-minded people around the world. The "Ron Paul Revolution"—centered around his undiluted message of peace, property, and markets—changed the way millions thought about the American empire and the American financial system. Dr. Paul's focus on central banking and foreign policy caught politicians and pundits off guard, forcing them to scramble for explanations of our Middle East policy and Soviet-style central planning at the Fed. Politics in America has not been the same since the "Giuliani moment" and "End the Fed." The Ron Paul Revolution was both a political and cultural phenomenon.
HL Mencken is the writer you need to read immediately. He was savagely brilliant, caustic, and witty, but also prolific across genres in ways almost unthinkable of journalists today. His skill with the English language was virtually unmatched in the 20th century, as was his deep and abiding contempt for utopian statism in any form. And his broadsides against two world wars were incredibly courageous at the time.
Our great friend Jim Bovard joins the show to discuss Mencken's work, his complicated elitism, his Old Right politics and social views, and the magnificent pleasure of reading this master.
"H.L. Mencken, The Joyous Libertarian" by Murray N. Rothbard: Mises.org/Joyous
Mencken Wikiquote: Mises.org/HLQ
Biden's team is dominated by liberal internationalists, and just as their aggressive approach to China is the wrong one to take in the Indo-Pacific, it has long been counterproductive in eastern and southern Europe.
Original Article: "It's Time for the US To Stop Courting Conflict with Russia"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Our guest is Ben Recht, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UC Berkeley, who recently got hold of and analyzed the raw data from the Bangladesh cluster randomized control trial of masking which made headlines in September.
SHOW NOTES Ben Recht: Twitter and webpage
Ben Recht’s recent blog post: Revisiting the Bangladesh Mask RCT
Michel Accad Why N-of-1 is Enough
Ep. 97 with Peter Klein on “Evidence-Based Economics: What the Doctor Ordered?“
Watch the episode on the Accad & Koka Report YouTube channel
The fact that various electronic money transfers are taking place does not mean that we do not require cash any longer. On the contrary, the fact that the cash exists enables those transfers to take place.
Original Article: "'Going Cashless' Isn't as Easy as It Seems"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Patrick Newman is a fellow at the Mises Institute who have just published his new book. He talks about Rothbard's approach to history, whether the US revolution was libertarian, and the proper way to interpret Andrew Jackson.
Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: Patrick Newman’s new book Cronyism: Liberty vs. Power in Early America, 1607-1849Patrick’s previous appearance on ep. 49 of the Bob Murphy ShowDan Sanchez’s article on Andrew Jackson’s fight with Nicholas Biddle over the Second Bank of the United StatesBob’s review of MMT (including Andrew Jackson’s payoff of the federal debt)The YouTube version of this interview For more information, see BobMurphyShow.com. The Bob Murphy Show is also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and via RSS.
Our guest is Jenin Younes, a Litigation Counsel for the New Civil Liberties Alliance. She joins us to discuss her involvement in advocacy and in legal challenges against vaccine mandates. She holds a B.A. degree from Cornell University and a J.D. from New York University School of Law. She has been featured on several national media outlets for her commentary and she recently penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal building the case against mandatory vaccination in children.
SHOW NOTES Jenin Younes: Twitter and webpage
Watch the episode on the Accad & Koka Report YouTube channel
Vaccine mandates are not a new invention, and states have long pushed a narrative exaggerating the success of mandates in the past.
Original Article: "Smallpox: The Historical Myths behind Mandatory Vaccines"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
If there’s one political fight worth seeing through, it’s the crusade against government schooling. Many parents in Virginia may have started to see just how important the fight has become.
Original Article: "The Virginia Elections Showed Some Parents Are Seeing How Bad the Government Schools Really Are"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Ceaseless flux. Those are words Ludwig von Mises used to describe the perpetual change in business conditions that entrepreneurs experience. The consequent need, he told us, is for a process of constant adjustment. The current word for that process is adaptation. Economics For Business talks to Luca Dellanna, a leading business expert who advises companies of all sizes on managing the challenge of continuous adaptation.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Adaptation is a necessary capacity of all businesses. Adaptation is a necessity. The marketplace changes, customers change, technology changes. Change is the norm. Firms that don’t adapt will suffer and potentially die, so adaptation must become the norm for business. In complex systems theory, adaptation is the selection of strategies or actions that enhance survival or any other measure of success (or fitness, as its sometimes called) amidst swirling change. In business, adaptation means choosing your degree and pace of change.
Change will be externally imposed if it is not internally embraced. Businesses can influence the level of change impact. They can critically examine their mental models, and assess their products, processes, beliefs, and people, to evaluate their fitness for adapting to market change. To avoid change being imposed from outside the firm — to avoid negative natural selection, in the evolutionary metaphor – all layers of the firm must embrace change, and proactively adapt. Eliminate unfit products and processes, pursue the development of new ones that are better adapted, and upgrade people resources through thoughtful hiring and active learning.
Adaptation is different than responsiveness — it’s embracing harm. We talk a lot about a business’s responsiveness to customer wants and preferences, especially when those preferences are fluid and incompletely articulated and require interpretation. Responsiveness is critical — but it’s different from adaptation. It’s response to an external signal. Adaptiveness is embracing change inside the firm.
Luca Dellanna has a striking way of communicating this: he advises his clients to deliberately expose themselves to what he calls “harm” — new problems never before encountered. The exposure must not be to a problem that could overwhelm the firm, but one that can be addressed at a subsidiary level or component level or via adjustment in a shared mental model. Luca calls this “small harm” — specific problems (e.g., the price of a product or service compared to the customer’s willingness to pay). Proactively probe the problem, e.g., in a high pricing test, generate feedback and actively use the learning to adapt. Another word for “small harm” is stressors: situations that put stress on the firm. Set up systems to seek out these stressors so that adaptation is deliberate, and can be enculturated, rather than wait for a crisis that requires an emergency response.
Lack of discomfort is a problem to avoid.
Identify the leading indicators that describe the conditions that will change the future. Lagging indicators — such as revenue — are metrics that describe the past. There are leading indicators available such as number of customer contacts (describing what the pipeline might look like in the future), and satisfaction scores (describing future repeat sales). Luca recommends pairing one lagging indicator with one leading indicator to develop a metrics system.
This is not the same as popular consultant-proposed metrics systems such as OKR (Objectives and Key Results). Objectives are not leading indicators. The best leading indicators are behaviors, because these can be easily adjusted if observed to be in need of change. Falling behind on objectives does not yield an actionable response if not linked to a causal factor. Inadequate behaviors (e.g., conducting a sales call without following the proven process) can be addressed, especially if they are clearly linked to positive outcomes.
This is the same principle as Amazon’s focus on what they call controllable inputs, and Amazon knows a lot about driving business growth.
There are several strategies to pursue adaptation. Redundancy (having more than needed): A focus on efficiency and “no waste” can be detrimental to adaptation if it leaves no resources for experimentation and exploration. Employees need time to work on new things, not just on current tasks and issues.
Bottom-up initiatives: Central command and control can’t run everything, anticipate every harm, or plan every experiment. Ensure entrepreneurial empowerment of front-line employees and functions so that they can initiate learning.
Avoid game-over: In experimenting, calibrate the risk to ensure that a negative result is not overwhelming, and, in regular operations, be aware of any possibility of a major crisis — a Black Swan event — and be sure that it will not destroy the firm or deliver a setback from which it will be hard to recover.
Never stop exploring, in a culture of anti-fragility.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb famously coined the term “anti-fragile”. The company that has the most well-developed capacity to learn from problems and harm is the most anti-fragile. The culture of anti-fragility is always to surface problems when they are encountered and address them at the source. Luca stresses that culture is built when everyone in the company can see a consistent set of actions in which the trade-offs of addressing problems are consistent with the stated vision. For example, a culture of safe operations will be reinforced when safety precautions are taken even when the cost, in time or money or both, is high.
The leading indicator is that every individual and every operation and sub-operation is following safe practices, and that the company readily commits resources when a new safety procedure or installation is proven to be effective. If the trade-off is made that the new procedure is effective but too expensive to install, the culture will be punctured because the company has acted contrary to its declared vision.
Additional Resources "The Power Of Adaptation" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_146_PDF
Read Luca Dellanna’s book, The Power Of Adaptation: Mises.org/E4B_146_Book
Another application of adaptation, Teams Are Adaptive Systems: 12 Principles For Effective Management by Luca Dellanna: Mises.org/E4B_146_Book2
Visit Luca Dellanna’s website to find more resources: Luca-Dellanna.com
E-mail Luca at luca@luca-dellanna.com
While 9/11 is mainly forgotten, a deafening trumpet announces the presence of other supposed crises, such as covid and climate change. The Leviathan is now excited and encouraged by the possibilities of new rules and new IDs.
Original Article: "The REAL ID Means a Real Leviathan"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
According to the Marxists and their fellow travelers, inflation is good because it transfers wealth from creditors to debtors, and debtors are "the 99 percent." But inflation doesn't work that way.
Original Article: "No, Inflation Is Not Good for You"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Combined with the US military’s turn toward “woke” politics, this latest episode around vaccine mandates will further help to undermine support for military institutions among conservatives and Republicans.
Original Article: "The Oklahoma National Guard Refused the Vax Mandate. The Pentagon Is Not Pleased."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Homicide rose at a remarkably fast rate in 2020. This may be a sign that the public is losing faith in the legitimacy of the regime. We see this from doubts about elections to outrage over riots and police abuse.
Original Article: "Homicide Rates in 2020 Surged to a 24-Year High. It's Another Sign of a Failing Regime."
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
"No one, including Andrew Jackson, had ever explicitly argued before [Lincoln] that the Constitution authorized or obligated full-scale invasion and coercive measures."
Original Article: "Is the Constitution Broken beyond Repair?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
The ongoing success of the cannabis nullification effort has shown the uselessness of those who repeatedly chant slogans about “federal supremacy” and “If you don’t like the (federal) law, change it.”
Original Article: "Nullification Works: Republicans Look to Legalize Marijuana as States Ignore Federal Drug War"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
After thirteen years with on average negative real returns to conservative savings, it is time to require the Federal Reserve to address its impact on savers.
Original Article: "Since 2008, Monetary Policy Has Cost American Savers about $4 Trillion"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Garet Garrett was among the most important figures from the literary, political, and laissez-faire economic traditions of the Old Right, but his name is hardly known today. In 1938 he penned "The Revolution Was," a remarkable essay about FDR's revolutionary New Deal and, more importantly, how it was accomplished. FDR's revolution had already happened, though few Americans understood it or grasped what the triumph of an administrative state would mean. The New Deal was a revolution "with the form," because the old trappings of constitutionalism and separation of powers remained intact. What had changed was the substance of American government, engineered through skillful propaganda and marked by radically increased control over the nation's capital and businesses. This essay is entirely relevant to our current politics, and explains with tremendous clarity the the ongoing revolution happening under our noses today. Ryan McMaken joins Jeff Deist for a deep exploration of the essay and its lessons for us today.
You owe it to yourself to read this masterpiece.
Read Garet Garrett's prescient essay: Mises.org/GaretWas
Contrary to popular thinking, there is no such thing as a price level that should be stabilized by the central bank in order to promote economic prosperity.
Original Article: "Is Price Stability Really a Good Thing?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
The process of learning what’s most efficient and profitable includes merging with competitors and taking over different stages of the supply chain—all tactics that would be considered in violation of current antitrust laws.
Original Article: "Antitrust Regulation Assumes Bureaucrats Know the "Correct" Amount of Competition"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
The field of medical care is so ripe for new entrepreneurial solutions. As is always the case, solution design begins with understanding subjective value, both for customers (patients) and providers (doctors) Christopher Habig of Freedom Healthworks (FreedomHealthworks.com) joins Economics For Business to explain how an Austrian, subjective-value focused approach is bringing market freedoms to medical care.
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Step 1: Like many entrepreneurs, Chris Habig started a revolutionary business from a place of familiarity and existing knowledge. The so-called effectual process in entrepreneurship begins with two straightforward questions: what do I know and who do I know? Chris Habig grew up in a family where both parents are physicians. This vantage point gave him the opportunity to observe the critical doctor-patient relationship first hand, as well as the way in which modern bureaucratized medicine imposes obstacles and complexities that strangle the value generation potential of that relationship.
Step 2: Assessing the subjective value gap. From his Austrian analytical perspective, Chris was able to identify the subjective value gap. For customers (patients) it is the loss of the positive feelings that they associate with the doctor-patient relationship. Chris summarizes them as advocacy, access and affordability: my doctor is on my side and looking out for me; my doctor is always available to me; I will not be excluded for economic reasons. These feelings are negated by bureaucratic medicine.
There’s a subjective value gap on the physician side, too. Research shows that doctors are stressed, and no longer find fulfilment in their work. Their mental health declines and there is an increasing rate of defection (leaving the industry) and even suicide. It’s a sign of a dysfunctional system to exert such an effect on its human capacity.
Step 3: Identifying the barriers to remove. Value generation often consists in the removal of barriers to the realization of the desired experience. Chris identified two major barriers: insurance and government. The current approach to medical insurance actually hampers the market for what customers truly desire, which is the positive feelings of the doctor-patient relationship. Now it’s a patient-insurer relationship: will my visit / test / procedure be covered? Will there be a big bill in the mail?
And, of course, the participation of government to enforce the current system through legislation and regulation perpetuates the barriers.
Step 4: The entrepreneurial solution. The solution is to free the system from its constraints through entrepreneurship. The physician is the entrepreneur on the supply side. Via a new business model called Direct Primary Care (DPC), the physician-entrepreneur creates a new value proposition for customers. Access is provided via a subscription model, and this financial innovation enables the thriving of a practice composed of a small number of patients to whom the physician can devote more time per visit, more attention, and more personal and individualized care. The physician is networked into a web of complementary secondary and specialist services that can be orchestrated for the individual patient’s need. All the associated business services are clustered around the DPC practice, and the physician does not need to be bound by a hospital system bureaucracy.
The new financial model enables the customer to take charge of their medical expenses, paying cash for current needs and reserving insurance for catastrophic events, which is the way it should be used. Consumer prices are lowered throughout the system.
Lives are improved on both sides of the doctor-patient relationship.
Step 5: The support system for the entrepreneurial model. We live in an age in which distributed entrepreneurship can be embedded in an enabling system of digital infrastructure. Part of the innovation that Freedom Healthworks brings to the renaissance of the doctor-patient relationship is the platform on which the DPC business model can run.
Chris has identified 158 steps for the set-up, operation, and maintenance of a DPC business model. These can all be hosted, enabled, and implemented on the physician’s behalf. Finance, technology, operations, marketing, and vendor relationships can all be systematized and partially or fully automated. The doctor can focus on the relationship component of interacting with patients.
Step 6: Scaling. Can entrepreneurs build out a fully-functioning cash-based direct care system to rival and ultimately replace the government-insurance company nexus? It’s already happening. As each DPC practice proves itself, more entrepreneurial physicians will make the transition and momentum will build.
DPC is an important example of the future of entrepreneurial economics.
Additional Resources "Enabling A Direct Primary Care Practice" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_145_PDF1
"FreedomDoc Launch Process" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_145_PDF2
Healthcare Americana podcast: Mises.org/E4B_145_Pod
Visit FreedomHealthworks.com and FreedomDoc.care
Our largest skyscrapers exist no longer physically, but in a world of ones and zeroes. The most groundbreaking technology projects springing from malinvestment may be digital the next time around.
Original Article: "Will the Next "Skyscraper Curse" Be Found in the Digital World?"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
It never ends well: to clean up mountains of bad debts, the Chinese regime has employed debt-for-equity schemes that could leave countless ordinary investors in deep trouble.
Original Article: "China's Financial Bubbles Remind Us of Scams like Britain's South Sea Bubble"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
An additional—and quick—$1 trillion spending boost in energy-intensive and material consuming industries is likely to create new problems in terms of inflation and supply shortages.
Original Article: "Biden's Infrastructure Plan Points to Even More Price Inflation"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
What would the effect of a 100 percent vaccination rate be on the virus? Contrary to claims, the virus will not disappear. The next outbreak would occur within a year with 100 percent breakthrough cases with a vaccine-resistant strain.
Original Article: "Why Biden's Vaccine Mandate Hasn't Delivered the Promised Results"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Support for federal conscription is contrary to principles of decentralization or a "limited republic." Early Americans would have viewed this Jacobin-inspired scheme with dismay and fear.
Original Article: "Military Conscription Is a Tool for Centralization, State Building, and Despotism"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
The US military's turn to "wokeness" is a result of decades of high military spending and public deference toward military "experts." That gave us a military that is overfunded and highly political.
Original Article: "A Fat, Comfortable Military Is a "Woke" Military"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Pursuing one’s dreams without a degree requires more self-discipline than serving four years on campus. One of Nietzsche’s best lines offers a warning: “He who cannot obey himself will be commanded.”
Original Article: "Is College Worthwhile? A Two-Time Dropout’s Take"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
The Nigerian central bank uses all the same tools as other central banks. And it uses them a lot.
Original Article: "How Nigeria's Central Bank Inflates the Money Supply"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Tho Bishop, guest-hosting A Neighbor's Choice, interviews Jonathan Newman, author of The Broken Window.
Tho and Jonathan discuss the supposedly transitory aspect of inflation, the overshadowing of economics by central planning, Keynesian economics, and more.
Purchase The Broken Window online at Mises.org/BWindow.
China's industrial policy has been marked by many failures and few successes. Rather, China's real growth has been fueled by the regime's limited turn to markets.
Original Article: "Industrial Policy—a.k.a. Central Planning—Won't Make America Great"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
In an economy where the ruling party controls enormous portions of the economy, attempts to redistribute some of that state-owned wealth isn't necessarily a move against the private sector.
Original Article: "Cronyism, Not Welfare, Is China's Big Problem"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Every company starts as an innovation. Thereafter, the unceasing challenge is to keep innovating because the market continues to change, technology continues to advance and, crucially, customer expectations continue to rise. Economics For Business speaks with Joe Matarese, Executive Chairman of Medicus Healthcare Solutions, about how to build the culture of continuous innovation and overcome the countervailing forces of the status quo.
How to understand consumer expectations and build organizational culture that rewards continuous innovation: Mises.org/E4B_144_PDF.
Key Takeaways And Actionable Insights Every company starts as an innovation. The challenge is to continue — and ideally accelerate — innovation without pause. As Joe Matarese puts it, innovation gets you into the game. It’s how every company starts. There’s the identification of a gap in the marketplace and the operationalizing of a new innovation to fill the gap, better than any other competitor or rival entrant.
Innovation is seldom a great new invention or unprecedented leap. It’s more often the day-to-day incremental changes and improvements in products and processes to meet customers’ changing expectations.
The great challenge is to continue or even accelerate innovation as the company grows and expands.
Continuous innovation combines mindset, processes, technology, empathy, and organizational empowerment. The world is complex and ever-changing. Innovation is necessary for all businesses to keep up or even move ahead. Innovation is not simple, and it’s not easy — in fact it’s a continuous struggle against opposing forces. Joe Matarese has directed innovation from three vantage points: big corporate, startup, and large growth company. To achieve the goal of continuous innovation requires attention to multiple factors:
Mindset: Innovation must be the commitment for everyone in the company. That means always asking the question, “How can we do better?” Such a mindset requires both tolerance of discomfort — since there’s never any rest — and humility in the face of feedback. Innovative companies hire people with these characteristics and cultivate constant vigilance throughout the firm.
Processes: Things get done through the implementation of processes. Innovative are always seeking to improve their processes — make them faster, lower cost, and more efficient in their use of inputs, especially the use of people’s time. Innovation itself is a process, and process improvement is a form of innovation.
Technology: Irrespective of how innovative any one company may be, technology is progressing at an increasing rate of change with potential to render all processes faster, lower cost, and capable of higher quality and fewer errors. One way to ensure continuous innovation is the rapid adoption and early implementation of new technologies as they become available.
Empathy: Even more powerful than technology is the capacity to tap in to customers’ expectations. This is the source of knowledge about future requirements. Customers are experiencing new technology, are absorbing innovation from other firms in the market (whether they are firms that are competitive to yours or simply adjacent), are experiencing change, and their expectations are changing and becoming more demanding by the moment. By sensing their changing expectations, the innovative firm is in position to be a first responder or an innovator before the expectation has even hardened or matured. Being ahead of expectations is a powerful place to be.
Empowerment: People in front line sales and service functions are closest to customers and their expectations. Line operatives are closest to process implementation. Supply chain managers are closest to business partners and vendors. It is these front-line positions that are best placed to deliver information about expectations and what’s changing. They are also best placed to sense dissatisfaction and unease, and to make real-time changes and adjustments. If they are empowered to make changes and to both suggest and implement improvements — even if what they try doesn’t work — they will be more highly motivated and more likely to serve as an internal engine of innovation.
Tools: Joe shares how his company, Medicus, has developed tools for innovation. Internally, all employees have access to communications tools that ensure the customer data they collect, and the ideas they generate as a result, are widely circulated and responded to. Externally, doctor whom Medicus reimburses for services have access to a tool to record their time that is administratively simple and generates fast payment, addressing two measures of unease.
Our Econ4Business.com platform curates many tools for entrepreneurs. One example relevant to this episode is the "Continuous Customer Expectations Monitor" (see Mises.org/E4B_144_PDF2). It guides entrepreneurs through the continuous process of tracking and keeping up with changing customer expectations.
There is a constant counterforce to innovation that the innovative company must recognize and overcome. There is an innate human resistance to innovation and change. Consider this from a leading brain scientist and psychologist:
When information streams in through our sensory systems, it first stops off at our amygdalae, which are there to ask the question, “Am I safe?” We feel safe in the world when enough of the sensory stimulation coming in feels familiar. When something does not feel familiar, however, our amygdalae tend to label that unfamiliar thing as dangerous, and they respond by triggering our fight-flight-or-play-dead fear response. —Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D., Whole Brain Living (Mises.org/E4B_144_Book)
It’s natural in humans to resist change. It may not be safe. It may threaten my job, or my comfortable routine, or generate unwanted uncertainty. Fear of change is real. The function that exercises the fear response in companies is bureaucracy. Bureaucracy exists to ensure compliance with existing rules, and their consistent and uniform implementation. Bureaucracy is anti-innovation.
When a business leader commits to improving a product or process, he or she is undoing what someone else in the firm had championed and nurtured and maintained. It’s a constant battle that must be waged between change and the maintenance of the status quo.
The adoption of new technologies is an effective technique of innovation, but it can also trigger a fear response. Technology is the continuous innovator’s weapon. It advances at its own pace, as a form of evolutionary advance. Every technological innovation spurs new applications in the marketplace. The adoption of these new technology applications is a catalyst for continuous innovation in the firm, supporting both product and service improvements and the incremental efficiency of processes — faster, leaner, lower cost.
The fear mechanism exhibits itself as employees worrying about their jobs. Perhaps the application of technology will reduce the number of people supporting a particular process from 5 to 4 to 3 or 2 or even one or none. They fear that progress will punish them. They adopt a defensive mindset. The innovator’s goal is to change the mindset to one of anticipation of rewards for progress.
Basic economics tells us that resources which are no longer utilized in a process that is rendered more efficient are thereby released for higher and more productive uses. Innovation leaders can communicate that, and make sure employees know they will be rewarded for progress via new and better opportunities for them to contribute more through the higher productivity that innovation brings.
The greatest resource for continuous innovation comes from customer intimacy and empathy that senses customers’ escalating expectations. When we talk about a changing marketplace, we are really talking about customer expectations. Innovation elevates customer expectations and thereby triggers the next round of innovation in a never-ending cycle.
For example, now that many people carry iPhones and other smartphones, they’ve become used to unprecedented levels of convenience, interconnection, functionality, and intuitiveness. Their expectations for every other piece of technology they encounter, and every interface they navigate, are raised to a new level. There’s a marketplace of expectations and every new technology raises the bar.
The way to keep pace, and to have any chance of anticipating and meeting the next level of raised expectations is to get as close to the customer as possible, to be with them when they’re using your product or service or technology and listen and empathize when they express a wish (or expectation) that the experience could be easier, better, faster, less frustrating, more enabling. “I wish it were as easy as my iPhone” is the expression of an expectation that everything should be as easy as the iPhone.
Innovating firms build in mechanisms that make continuous innovation not only possible but likely. There’s a quote in the book Working Backward, about continuous innovation at amazon, to the effect that “Good intentions don’t work, mechanisms do”. The intent to improve a process or product is not enough; people already had good intentions in the first place. Mechanisms turn intentions into actions and achievements. Some of the mechanisms Joe Matarese recommended are:
Mechanisms for taking in data from and about customers: Customer intimacy has a mechanism, in the form of frictionless and unstructured data collection. Give front line employees and the technology they use the unfiltered capacity to gather customer information about their dissatisfactions and report it back.
Let people experiment: The E4B technique of explore and expand applies to everyone in the organization. Elevate experimentation over compliance. That’s the way learning happens.
Eliminate bureaucracy that is not mission-supportive: Every company eventually builds bureaucracies in order to support consistent application of business rules. Innovators differentiate between bureaucracy that is mission-supportive and bureaucracy that is mission-obstructive. HR is often a department where bureaucracy grows. If HR is helping to recruit talented people who will contribute to innovation, then the bureaucracy is mission-supportive. If HR imposes rules that unnecessarily impede innovation, then that part of the bureaucracy should be shut down. The goal is to liberate the value-generating creativity of everyone in the organization, and not to impede it.
Decentralization and entrepreneurial empowerment: Decentralization is a mechanism of innovation. The goal is for your organization to consist of hundreds of individuals thinking creatively and solving problems for customers. You want them all to think and to learn! They must know that the firm cheers them on for doing so.
Additional Resources "Designing An Organization For Continuous Innovation" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_144_PDF
"Continuous Customer Expectations Monitor" (PDF): Mises.org/E4B_144_PDF2
Medicus Healthcare Solutions: MedicusHCS.com
Econ4Business.com
Whole Brain Living: The Anatomy of Choice and the Four Characters That Drive Our Life by Jill Bolte Taylor: Mises.org/E4B_144_Book
In an age of growing productivity and technological advancement, goods would be getting cheaper every year. This is a reason why price inflation rises more slowly than money supply inflation.
Original Article: "In a Free Economy, Prices Would Be Going down, Not Up"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.