A film version of Ayn Rand’s novel, Atlas Shrugged, is going to be released on April 15. Given the size of the novel, this movie is not going to cover it all. Two more parts are planned.
For those of us who live in
Philosophy 
6 Comments
Subjective Value versus Positivism: An Application of Methodological Issues to the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster
“It is universally deemed one of the tasks of legislation and government to protect the individual from himself.” –Ludwig von Mises, Liberalism: The Classical Tradition, p. 30
The nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, has become one news topic that my friends
3 Comments
Notes from Prague
This weekend, I am attending the Prague Conference on Political Economy. It’s being held at the Cevro Institut, which is housed in a beautiful court-yard structure. The Institut’s director, Josef Sima, describes it as a free market college where students can explore
... read more2 Comments
The State and Altruism
Some people may make the argument that the government has “our best interests at heart”. For this reason, the logic goes, we should accept government policy, take what politicians say as true, and, more generally, have faith in our leaders.
... read more3 Comments
The Middle Class and the Welfare State
Aristotle maintained that the best state we could, as a practical matter at least, hope for was a mixed regime. Usually translated as “polity”, this regime combines elements of elite and majority rule in the distribution of the government’s decision
... read more8 Comments
Conservatism vs. Libertarianism
There have been a number of thought provoking papers and lectures thus far at the Austrian Scholars conference being held at the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama. Especially compelling was a presentation by Gerard Casey, a professor at
... read moreNo Comments
Whether Hayek Should Have Been an Anarchist
Among the great thinkers in the Austrian tradition, Friedrich Hayek lies on that part of the continuum which is most tolerant of the government’s role in society. Ludwig von Mises was willing to live with a minimal government restricted to the safeguarding of personal security, life,
... read more2 Comments
What Economics Is Not
The most common misunderstanding about economics is that it is only about money and commerce. The next step is easy: I care about more than money, and so should everyone, so let’s leave economics to stock jobbers
... read more3 Comments
Capitalism, Happiness, and Beauty
The following was excerpted from The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality
Critics level two charges against capitalism: First, they say, that the possession of a motor car, a television set, and a refrigerator does not make a man happy. Secondly, they add that there
1 Comment
Action Aversion
If I just straight out told you that there is a model within the conventional economic theory that implies most of us would prefer a world in which we would not be acting humans, you would probably tell me that
... read more