Audio Mises Wire

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?  

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  

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    

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    

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  

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?  

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  

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  

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

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  

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    

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    

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. Order a free copy of Murray Rothbard's What Has Government Done to Our Money? at Mises.org/Money . 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. Order a free copy of Murray Rothbard's What Has Government Done to Our Money? at Mises.org/Money . Original Article: Thanks to Government Animal Control, Stray Animals Rule My Neighborhood    

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. Order a free copy of Murray Rothbard's What Has Government Done to Our Money? at Mises.org/Money . Original Article: How EU Law Has Made the Internet Less Fr...

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. Order a free copy of Murray Rothbard's What Has Government Done to Our Money? at Mises.org/Money . Original Article: Mises in Argentina:...

The attempt by the mainstream economics profession to create economic literacy has turned into a movement to promote economic illiteracy. Order a free copy of Murray Rothbard's What Has Government Done to Our Money? at Mises.org/Money . Original Article: Economic Education Has Become Economic Disinformation

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. Order a free copy of Murray Rothbard's What Has Government Done to Our Money? at Mises.org/Money . Original Article: What Is the Purpose of Economic Theory?    

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    

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    

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    

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    

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    

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    

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.