Economics

Austrian Economics, Monetary Freedom, and America’s Economic Roller Coaster

by Richard M. Ebeling September 16, 2015

For over a decade, now, the American economy has been on an economic rollercoaster, of an economic boom between 2003 and 2008, followed by a severe economic downturn, and with a historically slow and weak recovery starting in 2009 up to the present. Before the dramatic stock market decline of 2008-2009, many were the political and media pundits who were ...

The Libertarian Angle – The Intellectual Roots of Free Enterprise

by Future of Freedom Foundation September 8, 2015

Each week, FFF president Jacob Hornberger and Richard M. Ebeling discuss the hot topics of the day. This week, Jacob and Richard give a short overview of the the history of economic thought the philosophy of individual liberty. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly. Go to the podcast.

Book Review: An Enjoyable Guide to Economics

by Richard M. Ebeling September 1, 2015

Popular Economics: What the Rolling Stones, Downton Abbey, and LeBron James Can Teach You about Economics by John Tamny (Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 2015) 279 pages. It  is often pointed out that man’s improved circumstances on this Earth over the centuries has been the result of the accumulated knowledge that each generation takes from the preceding ones, to ...

Serfdom USA (video)

by Future of Freedom Foundation August 28, 2015

Serf’s up, comrade! Quit your Stalin, and like the video! A new Austrian Economics music video from the Future of Freedom Foundation, called Serfdom USA! If you like the Beach Boys and Hayek, then this is a video you won't want to Mises!

John Stuart Mill and the Dangers of Unrestrained Government

by Richard M. Ebeling August 13, 2015

One of the great voices for personal liberty was that of the British economist and political philosopher, John Stuart Mill. His essay, “On Liberty,” though penned well over 150 years ago, is a classic statement that the individual should be respected in his right of freedom of thought, speech and action. But John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) was also one of ...

An “Austrian” Economist’s Advice for Greece and the EU

by Richard M. Ebeling July 13, 2015

  For months, now, the mass media and the financial markets have anxiously watched and waited to see the outcome of a war of words, accusations, and threats that have been fought between Greece and its Eurozone and European Union partners. Over several decades Greek governments accumulated a fiscally unmanageable debt and have been unwilling to introduce any meaningful, long-term economic ...

F. A. Hayek and Why Government Can’t Manage Society, Part II

by Richard M. Ebeling June 29, 2015

It is seventy years, now, since near the end of the Second World War Austrian economist, and much later Nobel Prize winner, Friedrich A. Hayek published his most famous article, “The Use of Knowledge in Society,” in September 1945, demonstrating why it is impossible for a system of socialist central planning to effectively manage a complex and ever-changing economy ...

F. A. Hayek and Why Government Can’t Manage Society, Part I

by Richard M. Ebeling June 25, 2015

This year marks the seventieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War. On May 8th, Nazi Germany surrendered to the Allied Powers in Europe. On September 2nd, Imperial Japan surrendered to the Allies on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay, thus ending a global conflict that is estimated to have cost the lives of ...

The Libertarian Angle with Pete Boettke – Luminaries in Austrian Economics

by Jacob G. Hornberger June 2, 2015

Each week, FFF president Jacob Hornberger discusses the hot topics of the day. This week, Jacob and guest co-host Peter Boettke talks about the history of Austrian economics. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly. Go to the podcast here.

Keynesian Medicines are Not a Cure for China’s Ills

by Richard M. Ebeling June 1, 2015

Keynesians never seem to learn. Every time an economy slows down or reverses gears and “goes negative,” in terms of growth and employment, their only answer is a call for “aggregate demand” stimulus and more government spending manipulation. An example of this is a recent article by Washington Post columnist, Robert Samuelson raising the question, “China’s Coming Crash?” (May 24, ...

Why Government Deficits and Debt Do Matter

by Richard M. Ebeling May 20, 2015

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported in early May that for the month of April 2015 the Federal government ran a budget surplus, taking in more in taxes than it laid out in expenditures. Don’t be fooled by one month, especially when it was a month when people filed and paid their taxes. Government deficits and growing debt are ...

The Myth of Global Gluts and the Reality of Market Change

by Richard M. Ebeling April 29, 2015

You may not have noticed it when out buying things in the marketplace in the context of your personal budget, but according to the Wall Street Journal (April 24, 2015) the world is awash with too much stuff. We seemingly have too much of, well, almost everything: too many raw material commodities, too much capital, and too much ...