Written by Roderick Long for Formulations in 1995. The status of intellectual property rights (copyrights, patents, and the like) is an issue that has long divided libertarians. Such libertarian luminaries as Herbert Spencer, Lysander Spooner, and Ayn Rand have been strong supporters of intellectual property rights. Thomas Jefferson, on the other hand, was ambivalent on the…
Category: Free Markets
Action, Time, and the Market
Written by Jeffrey N. Herbener for Mises.org. The wellspring of all economic theory is the reality of the human condition. As a finite being, man makes a distinction between ends and means. He cannot attain his ends by an act of will alone, but must apply means to attain his ends. Man lives in an…
The Future Economic Destruction
Written by Dan Amoss for Laissez Faire Today. All government-directed economic activity grows at the expense of the private sector. And the election suggests that government coercion will drive even more U.S. economic activity in the future. This is a shame, because freely adjusting prices, competition, and innovation elevate living standards. Mandates, price controls, and…
Owning Land
Written by Jim Davies for Strike-the-Root.com. As far as I know, there is no sound and comprehensive theory of the right way to allocate control (or ownership) of the Earth’s 150 million square kilometers of land among its seven billion human inhabitants. Since conventional theorists are not even looking in the right haystack, it falls…
I, Pencil: The Movie
Guest post by CEI.
Methodological Individualism
Guest post by Warren C. Gibson. Let’s start with what methodological individualism is not. It has nothing to do with “rugged individualism.” It is not ideology at all. It is a term that describes the essential nature of human thought and action. It is a bedrock principle on which Mises grounds his entire exposition of…
Make Money, Not War!
Guest post by Lorne Strider. Originally published in The Voluntaryist, June 1988. I have argued that business people, those who create and produce wealth, are acting morally, and that people who pretend to act in the public interest, i.e., government people, are the bad guys whose actions not only create no wealth, but actually destroy…
Capitalism: Yes and No
Guest post by Clarence B. Carson. Some terms and phrases are well suited to lucid discourse and even debate. This is generally the case when they have a commonly accepted meaning, when they are generally used – or are capable of being used – with some precision, and when they are not overloaded with connotations.…
Trust Government, Not the Free Market
Guest post by Richard J. Maybury. Originally published in The Voluntaryist, June 1988. All this talk about liberty is exciting, but let’s get serious for a moment. The evidence shows clearly that liberty does not work. Many things are too important to be left to the whims of the free market. Imagine the chaos if…
Economics and the Calculation Problem
Guest post by Alex Salter. Can a rationally planned economic order outperform the market process as a means of using resources efficiently? This is the central question behind one of the most important debates in the history of economic thought. Its answer has profound implications for the material well-being of societies.Read the full thing »