Mises Daily

We’re often told that some prices should be high, and some others should be low. But the real goal should not be high prices or low prices, but a price system that communicates what is valued in society.

In recent decades, the tech sector has brought us newer and better goods and ever-dropping prices. In an unhampered market, the same would happen across the entire economy. But, the Fed won't allow this to happen.

In this lecture from last week's Sound Money seminar at the Mises Institute, Jonathan Newman explains the basics of how the central bank's distortion of interest rates and the money supply brings booms and busts.

Largely forgotten in the English-speaking world today, French laissez-faire economist Michel Chevalier was an early opponent of patents, which he dismissed as a type of monopoly and an obstacle to technological and intellectual progress.

Since 2010 with the "General Anti Abuse Rule," it's becoming increasingly illegal in the United Kingdom to even minimize one's tax bill through what were once considered to be uncontroversial financial planning techniques.

When Mother Teresa used her Nobel Prize money to fund services for the poor, she was exhibiting "self-interest," but not selfishness. Like virtually everyone else, she used her property to achieve an end she valued, but which benefited others as well.

At his new blog, Ben Bernanke is coming up with new excuses as to why the current recovery is so weak and why mega-low interest rates — and thus a lack of options for middle-income savers seeking interest income — aren't his fault.

"Sound money and free banking are not impossible; they are merely illegal," Hans Sennholz wrote. Today, the barriers to competition in money and free-market banking are numerous, but even a few non-radical changes could open up a new world of options and competition for bankers and consumers.

In California, the price of water is set by politicians, and not by markets, so that cheap water benefits some interest groups over others. It should now surprise no one that the state is in the midst of a water crisis.

As the money supply fluctuates, so does the demand for money and for goods and services. We see this in the stock market, but the effect is not instantaneous, and we must be mindful of the time delay.