Mises

Archive for Mises

Mises >> Krugman

Jonathan MF Catalan decided I had too much time on my hands, and so claimed on his blog that Krugman is hands-down a better economist than Rothbard, and is indeed comparable to Ludwig von Mises. At Mises Canada I provide part 1 of my response, dealing with Mises vs. Krugman. Later I’ll do Rothbard vs. […]

Potpourri

==> David Gordon walks through some of the issues with praxeology, which I’ve found is the chief stumbling block people have to Misesian economics. ==> On April 11 the Mises Institute will host a seminar on “Inflation” for high school and college students. Details here. (You can apply for in-person attendance at the Institute itself […]

Blinder vs. Mises on Winners & Losers

Such is the topic of my latest Mises Canada blog post.

More on Krugman and Fiat Money

At Mises Canada I explored Krugman’s glib assertion about fiat money being “backed by men with guns” a little more deeply: Furthermore, it’s obvious that Krugman’s “explanation” would have no way of accounting for changes in either variable. For example, in the 1970s in the United States, price inflation took off dramatically, meaning the purchasing […]

Krugman: “Fiat Money…Is Backed By Men With Guns”

Wow, you really have to hand it to Paul Krugman. In the quick snippet below, he talks to Joe Weisenthal about Bitcoin. Krugman reiterates his surprise that it has lasted this long, but admits that it’s theoretically possible for an asset not backed by anything to chug along because of a self-fulfilling prophecy. However, Krugman […]

The Misesian Approach to Economic Laws

For my current course on Basics of Economics: Action and Exchange (where I go through my textbook Lessons for the Young Economist), I “pre-recorded”* one of the lectures because I was going to be in Chile that week and wasn’t sure my internet connection would allow for a live broadcast, which is the norm. Since […]

Tom Woods Talks MMT With Me

Here. Two things: (1) I misspoke early in the interview, when I confused Abba Lerner with Oskar Lange. They both advanced the “market socialist” response to Mises during the celebrated Socialist Calculation Debate, but it was Lange (not Lerner) who wrote (somewhat tongue in cheek): Both as an expression of recognition for the great service […]

Mises Admits That He Was Too Trusting of Governments

I love this from page 780 of Human Action: In dealing with the problems of the gold exchange standard all economists–including the author of this book–failed to realize the fact that it places in the hands of governments the power to manipulate their nations’ currency easily. Economists blithely assumed that no government of a civilized […]