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While people who “prep” for disaster (called preppers) are ridiculed by political elites and their media, their actions are perfectly rational. In this article, economist Mark Thornton explains why prepping for natural disasters makes economic sense.

Original article: The Economics of Prepping

Modern progressives are obsessed with collective guilt, demanding that Americans pay reparations for slavery even though it ended in the US 160 years ago. However, by employing collective guilt and collective punishment, those seeking reparations violate natural law.

Original article: Slavery and Collective Guilt

The political theorist Anthony de Jasay takes on the left‘s ideas of equality, and David Gordon is there to agree—and disagree. Jasay likens the left‘s view of equality to the Indian Rope Trick.

Original article: The Indian Rope Trick

Using state power to enforce social orthodoxy is always a recipe for disaster. Radical Republican governments in the post-war South attempted to do just that, sowing seeds of hatred and discord in the process.

Original article: Lessons from Reconstruction

Tariffs don‘t just raise consumer prices. They also affect capital flows and, on numerous occasions, have triggered stock market crises. What tariffs don‘t bring is prosperity.

Original article: A Brief History of Tariffs and Stock Market Crises

For nearly 30 years, the Fed has pursued an easy-money policy that has made the economy increasingly dependent upon the next round of “stimulus.” Reversing that policy will mean, at least in the short run, a stiff recession before the economy rebounds, which is a non-starter today.

Original article: Markets Made of Glass—How the Fed Destroyed Economic Resilience

The darling of America‘s political elites, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, now touts a “Five-Point Plan” that surely will extend the war and ultimately make his country even worse off. It is time to end this farce.

Original article: “Victory Plan” or Deadly Delusion? Zelensky’s Perilous Five-Point Plan

The Fed lowers interest rates ostensibly to “stimulate” the economy. But while the Fed claims it is strengthening the economy, it actually weakens it through its easy-money policies.

Original article: Does the Fed’s Lowering the Interest Rates Strengthen Economic Growth?

Capitalism is characterized by the private ownership of capital, coming from Lockean homesteading principles, and not from state coercion and force.

Original article: What “Capitalism” Really Means

Supporters of intellectual property laws claim that people will not innovate unless they are protected by such legislation. In reality, people are more likely to be innovative when they encounter real free markets, not markets characterized by artificial scarcity.

Original article: How Intellectual Property Laws Stifle Innovation

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. 

Original article: The Establishment Media Is Unaware of Its Growing Irrelevance

While it is tempting to think of state power as being maintained by sheer force, it still needs a “theological” justification, be it secular or religious. The US state is no exception.

Original article: The Political Theology That Maintains State Power

Capitalism is characterized by the private ownership of capital, coming from Lockean homesteading principles, and not from state coercion and force.

Original article: Nine Months of Javier Milei as President of Argentina: A Critical Assessment

Contrary to anti-freedom myths, "greedy" business owners don't decide what prices will be for goods and services. 

Original article: Why Austrian Business Cycle Theory Is Better than Keynesianism

As the Federal Reserve engineers one financial bubble after another, we are reminded that the Austrian Business Cycle Theory explains what is happening and how there is a better way. 

Original article: Why Austrian Business Cycle Theory Is Better than Keynesianism

Contrary to anti-freedom myths, "greedy" business owners don't decide what prices will be for goods and services. 

Original article: Don’t Knock Nock

In his failed 1896 presidential campaign, inflationist William Jennings Bryan declared that he would “not crucify mankind on a cross of gold.” But at least even Bryan favored silver money. Today‘s political candidates will crucify us on a cross of paper.

Original article: Today’s Pols Are All Bryanites

So-called economic moderates claim to support free-market capitalism, but then say that markets still need “some” government oversight. Free markets, however, don't need government-based rules because markets effectively regulate themselves.

Original article: Free Markets Don’t Need Government Regulation

The iconic Hermès Birkin bag helps illustrate Carl Menger’s “Theory of the Good,” and Ludwig von Mises’s explanation of human action.

Original article: The Secret Economic Theory Behind the $100,000 Birkin Bag

Nicolaus Copernicus is best known for his observation that the sun was at the center of our solar system, but he also made a number of astute observations about economics. 

Original article: Copernicus Was Also Right in Economics

As with any other government-controlled institution, a high level of public skepticism about elections is healthy.

Original article: It’s Good to be Skeptical of Elections

While men like Murray Rothbard and Ludwig von Mises believed in “just” war, nonetheless, they did not believe that wars lead to “just” outcomes, as war leads to destruction of civilization. The outcome of the American war of secession proved that point eloquently.

Original article: Peace as a Prerequisite for Civilization

One of the oldest and most harmful economic fallacies is the belief that, at best, economic exchange is a zero-sum activity. However, free exchange in an unhampered market is always positive.

Original article: Exchange is Not a Zero-Sum Game

Voting is controversial among Austro-Libertarians for many reasons. However, if one does choose to vote, one should understand that the state is never constrained by the voters and cannot be “reformed.”

Original article: How to Vote for Liberty

Had Republicans not vastly expanded federal criminal law during the infamous Wall Street prosecutions 40 years ago, lawfare would not have become such a potent political weapon.

Original article: If Republicans Are Against Lawfare, They Shouldn’t Have Unleashed It

Long before there was Alan Greenspan to turn the Federal Reserve into Casino Central, there was John Law, France's minister of finance.

Original article: The Birth of “Irrational Exuberance”

David Gordon takes another look at Thomas Nagel's Equality and Partiality. While he finds some of Nagel's arguments appealing, they still are inferior to Murray Rothbard's systematic interpretation of natural rights.

Original article: Nagel on Libertarianism and Other Things

One of the important points made by Carl Menger in his 1871 Principles is that people ordinally rank their preferences, valuing some things more than others. While this seems to be a common-sense principle, it actually has important implications for economic theory.

Original article: Why People Pay Higher Prices for Some Goods Relative to Others

In this review of Scott Horton's book, Enough Already, we see that the wars the US has waged for the past quarter century in the Middle East have been a disaster. Millions of deaths and a massive refugee crisis later, the unmistakable verdict is in.

Original article: Ten Lessons on US Foreign Policy from Enough Already

There are numerous critics of the Austrian School of economics, but when their disparagements are closely examined, the so-called experts themselves are wrong. Austrians can do a better job of setting the record straight.

Original article: Answering the Confused Critics of Austrian Economics

Kamala Harris claims that she simply wants food prices to be lower. However, her de facto price fixing scheme would create food shortages and raise the real price of food. Of course, when that happens, Harris simply will blame capitalism.

Original article: Kamala Harris’s Price-Fixing Scheme Would Lead to Food Shortages

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

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 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

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

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

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?

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

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

Original article: Survey Says: Disconnects Abound in School Opinions and Knowledge

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

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

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

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

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

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