Economics

F.A. Hayek on Individual Liberty

by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 2019

The rebirth of a belief in and an enthusiasm for socialism and government planning among a noticeable number of academics, intellectuals, young people, and elected officials raises many of the fundamental issues surrounding freedom and command, market competition and political control. Once more, a call is heard for doing away with free enterprise, this time in the name of a ...

The Global Economy Desperately Needs Freedom

by Richard M. Ebeling March 7, 2019

How many bureaucrats are there in the world? The global population currently numbers more than 7.5 billion people. Out of that number it is estimated that the global labor force equals almost 3.5 billion, or a half a billion less than half of all the people on the planet. While it varies very greatly from one country to another, ...

The Myth of Aggregate Demand and Supply

by Richard M. Ebeling February 28, 2019

It has been more than 80 years since the beginning of the Keynesian revolution in economics with the publication of John Maynard Keynes’ The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money in 1936. During those eight decades many defenses and criticisms, restatements and refutations have appeared, some by many of the most prominent economists of the last century. Yet, ...

Carl Menger: A Biographical Appreciation by Friedrich von Wieser

by Richard M. Ebeling February 25, 2019

Friedrich von Wieser (1851-1926) was one of the leading contributors in the “second generation” of the Austrian School of Economics. This memorial appreciation of Carl Menger, the founder of the Austrian School, was published in German not long after Menger’s passing in 1921. Wieser explains the state of economics before Menger’s writings on economic theory, the lasting importance ...

Ludwig von Mises as the Victim of Quinn Slobodian’s Intellectual Dishonesty

by Richard M. Ebeling January 16, 2019

We live at a time when one of the worst accusations that can be thrown at someone is the charge of “racist.” Have that word tied to your name and it not only results in moral condemnation, it potentially throws into discredit almost anything and everything that person has said or done. That makes it a serious matter when ...

Beyond GDP to a New Road to Serfdom

by Richard M. Ebeling December 14, 2018

It is a commonplace that there is more to life than money and the material benefits that it may provide someone. We often make trade-offs between income-earning work opportunities and more time with family or friends, or between risky but well-paying employment and a calmer and less stressful job that does not pay as well. We might decide whether ...

The Libertarian Angle: Ebeling’s Favorite Authors: Henry Hazlitt

by Future of Freedom Foundation November 28, 2018

Richard Ebeling is the BB&T Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Free Enterprise Leadership at The Citadel. He became a libertarian while still in high school and has been involved in the libertarian movement for many decades. Who did he look up to? What books have influenced him the most? Richard and FFF president Jacob Hornberger ...

The Libertarian Angle: Ebeling’s Favorite Authors: Friedrich von Hayek (video)

by Future of Freedom Foundation October 10, 2018

Richard Ebeling is the BB&T Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Free Enterprise Leadership at The Citadel. He became a libertarian while still in high school and has been involved in the libertarian movement for many decades. Who did he look up to? What books have influenced him the most? Richard and FFF president Jacob Hornberger ...

Quinn Slobodian and the Academic Attack on Mises and Hayek

by Richard M. Ebeling October 8, 2018

We are living in a world of the anti-liberal counter-attack against individual liberty, free markets and limited government. Prominent voices for the free society in the 20th century, like the Austrian economists, Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich A. Hayek, are among the targets that opponents of free market liberalism are taking aim. In doing so, the anti-liberals distort the facts ...

The Bad Economics of Short-Run Policies

by Richard M. Ebeling October 4, 2018

Bad economics can bring about or grow out of bad politics. But the question is, what are bad economics and bad politics? Unless this is clearly and correctly identified, a bad situation can be made worse, and a good situation can be turned into a bad one. So sorting this out is crucial to having a free and prosperous ...

The Libertarian Angle: Ebeling’s Favorite Authors: Ludwig von Mises

by Future of Freedom Foundation October 2, 2018

Richard Ebeling is the BB&T Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Free Enterprise Leadership at The Citadel. He became a libertarian while still in high school and has been involved in the libertarian movement for many decades. Who did he look up to? What books have influenced him the most? Richard and FFF president Jacob Hornberger ...

The Rise of Capitalism and the Dignity of Labor

by Richard M. Ebeling September 27, 2018

The market, or capitalist, economic system has transformed the material world in wondrous ways over the last 200 years. Poverty, once the natural condition of virtually all of humanity, is being lifted from people’s shoulders, not only in the Western world but also increasingly around the globe. But the criticisms of free market liberalism continue, among them the idea ...