Economic theories and schools

A Society Living on Credit Creates Inflation and Financial Crises

A new financial crisis is on the horizon. The culprit is not a lack of regulation, but our monetary system that is based on credit, and a society that lives at the expense of the future.

Socialism Is a Seductive Idea, but It Is Incompatible with Freedom and Prosperity

Why intellectuals have often advocated socialism, and why it is incompatible with freedom. The economist and book author Kristian Niemietz of the London Institute of Economic Affairs is interviewed by Stefan Beig.

A New Era: Politicians and Central Banks Reinvent the Wishing-Table

Unbelievable national debts and deficits, direct access of politicians to the printing press and unconditional payments to citizens in the USA. The EU, for its part, is embarking on the path of massive new national debt. Can this possibly end well?

Thinking Economically: Only the Market and the Logic of Exchange Create Prosperity

Economics is not a zero-sum game. In exchange, both sides always benefit. Exchange is the soul of the market and creates added value, and does so in a way that benefits everyone involved. A plea for economic enlightenment.

“Irrational Stock Exchanges” and the Wirecard Scandal: On the Blanket Suspicion of Financial Capitalism

Joint stock companies and stock exchanges have made the upswing of modern economies possible. However, they have always been suspected of serving the greed of a few. What, then, is the function of “financial capitalism”?

Why Intellectuals Don’t Like Capitalism

Anti-capitalism is widespread among both right-wing and left-wing intellectuals. Both are united by the belief that economic and social problems can be solved primarily through state action.

“Stimulating the economy”—the destructive standard remedy promoted by the statist economists

Should the State enhance the “aggregate demand” through stimulation? Followers of Hayek still have very good arguments against that proposal, but the politicians love Keynes . . .

Philipp Bagus: “The Fear of Deflation Is Unfounded”

Many economists, policymakers, and central banks are afraid of deflation. Generally speaking, they do not even distinguish between different causes of price deflation—i.e. between price deflation caused by growth and price deflation caused by contractions in credit. In this interview, the economist Phillipp Bagus says that these fears of deflation are misguided.

The Labor of Capital: How Wealth is Created

The Catholic Church’s mistrust of free entrepreneurship is an old phenomenon. At its origin is the idea of antagonism between “Labor and Capital”, rooted in the influence of Marxist doctrine. It is time to leave this misleading dichotomy behind.

The Market and Morality: Is the Market Moral?

Individual morality (and that of small groups) differs from the morality of large systems. It is important to have good social rules that are applicable to all, and which create the right incentives for responsible economic and political behavior.

In Our Heads We Are All Marxists—How Marx’s Myths Shape Our Affluent Society

Even though few self-identify as Marxists, many of the Marx’s ideas remain in fashion. In particular, his denigration of capitalists and entrepreneurs as stealing from workers, and his failure to identify their effective beneficence, remain quite popular.