The best way to begin to understand the functioning of the price system, and thus the full nature of the dependence of the division of labor on capitalism, is by understanding the following very simple and fundamental principle. Namely, there is a tendency in a free market toward the establishment of a uniform rate of profit on capital invested in all the different branches of industry.
Economics
Interventionism vs Capitalism: A Historical Example (3 of 4)
Analyzing interventionism during the First World War in Germany and England.
Interventionism vs Capitalism: The Price Control (2 of 4)
Let us consider one example of interventionism, very popular in many countries and tried again and again by many governments, especially in times of inflation. I refer to price control. Governments usually resort to price control when they have inflated the money...
Economics of Bitcoin (BTC): Closer to Pyramid Than a Ponzi Scheme
Bitcoin Volatility is a Feature, Not a Bug.
Four Amazing Differences (Thanks To Capitalism)
four ways in which the lives of those of us in the modern, capitalist world differ categorically from the lives of almost everyone until just a few centuries ago.
Can Capitalism Survive? 80 Years After Schumpeter’s Answer
Eighty years ago, in the midst of the Second World War, Austrian-born economist Joseph A. Schumpeter published one of his most famous books, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy (1942). A central question that he asked and tried to answer was, “Can Capitalism Survive?”
Interventionism vs Capitalism: On The Proper Role Government (1 of 4)
A famous, very often quoted phrase says: "That government is best, which governs least." I do not believe this to be a correct description of the functions of a good government. Government ought to do all the things for which it is needed and for which it was...
Socialism: Inability of Economic Calculation (4 of 4)
The fact is that economic calculation, and therefore all technological planning, is possible only if there are money prices, not only for consumer goods but also for the factors of production.
The Centenary of Ludwig Von Mises’s Critique of Socialism
Ludwig Von Mises’s devastating critique of why a socialist economic system must always be inferior to capitalism.
The Beginning of the End
We’ve reached the end of the road and found that the people who must ultimately pay for unlimited government are us. And whether through taxes or inflation, pay we will.
Capitalism and the Economic History of the United States
The development of all the institutional features of capitalism is well illustrated by the economic history of the United States.
Socialism: Central Planning vs The Freedom to Plan (3 of 4)
The socialist system, however, forbids this fundamental freedom to choose one’s own career. Under socialist conditions, there is only one economic authority, and it has the right to determine all matters concerning production. One of the characteristic features of our...
Capitalism and the Origin of Economic Institutions
Economic progress is the leading manifestation of yet another major institutional feature of capitalism: the harmony of the rational self-interests of all men, in which the success of each promotes the well-being of all.
Socialism: Class Warfare vs. Harmony of Interests (2 of 4)
In a capitalist society, there is continuous mobility—poor people becoming rich and the descendants of those rich people losing their wealth and becoming poor.
Ludwig Von Mises, Ayn Rand & Capitalism: An Interview With George Reisman
It is no exaggeration to say I have learned more about the science of economics from George Reisman than from all other economists combined.
Socialism: Freedom vs. Slavery (1 of 4)
The idea of government as a paternal authority, as a guardian for everybody, is the idea of those who favor socialism.
Capitalism and Freedom Require Government
The existence of freedom under laissez-faire capitalism requires the existence of government.
Capitalism: Capital and Wages (3 of 3)
The capitalist system was termed “capitalism” not by a friend of the system, but by an individual who considered it to be the worst of all historical systems, the greatest evil that had ever befallen mankind. That man was Karl Marx.
The Philosophical Foundations of Capitalism
The greatest era of capitalist development—the last two centuries—has taken place under the ongoing cultural influence of the philosophy of the Enlightenment.
Capitalism: Opposition from the Intellectuals (2 of 3)
In spite of all its benefits, capitalism has been furiously attacked and criticized. It is necessary that we understand the origin of this antipathy.
Capitalism: The Nature and Importance of Economics
Economics belongs alongside mathematics, natural science, history, philosophy, and the humanities as an integral part of a liberal education.
Capitalism: Mass Production and the Standard of Living (1 of 3)
The mere fact that you are living today is proof that capitalism has succeeded, whether or not you consider your own life very valuable.
Capitalism: Economics, the Division of Labor, and the Survival of Material Civilization
What makes the science of economics necessary and important is the fact that while human life and well-being depend on the production of wealth, and the production of wealth depends on the division of labor, the division of labor does not exist or function automatically.
Why Isn’t Air Travel More Comfortable When It Easily Could Be?
Passengers aren’t willing to pay for it.