Topic: Economic History

The State Is a Greasy-Hand Tourist

– October 16, 2019

If you’ve ever been scuba diving or snorkeling, you probably know that swimmers aren’t supposed to touch the coral with their bare hands.

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Mises vs. Marx - The March of History

Watch Mises vs. Marx: The March of History

– October 16, 2019

Extremely pleased to announce the release of “The March of History,” a musical a project of the American Institute for Economic Research three years in the making.

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Markets Saved the Whales in the 19th Century

– September 25, 2019

The story of Moby Dick warns us of the unforeseen consequences of government intervention and point to the potency of market forces in terms of protecting the environment.

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kingcotton

The 1619 Project Resurrects King-Cotton Ideology of the Old South

– September 11, 2019

Participants of the 1619 Project evince little awareness of the deep historical deficiencies in Baptist’s work or of similar problems among the other “New Economic History scholars on whom they rest their case.

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Heinrich-Hermanns-The-Flower-Market-Amsterdam

Is Capitalism an Artificial Imposition on Human Affairs?

– September 9, 2019

Once freed from the mischaracterizations of economic theory that the new historians of capitalism have imported from Karl Polanyi, it is easy to see the foolishness of their endeavors.

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olivertwist

The Secret History of the Monopolization of Welfare by the State

– September 9, 2019

Many intellectuals called for an end to private charity and its replacement with a full government system, not due to the paucity of private benevolence, but rather due to what they considered its excessive generosity. 

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1862south

Slavery Did Not Make America Richer

– August 21, 2019

A close and careful look at the empirical record reveals that one cannot infer that America was made richer from slavery. It is even clear that America was made poorer by slavery.

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emancipation

How Capitalist-Abolitionists Fought Slavery

– August 19, 2019

A capitalist benefactor of the American abolitionist movement used his business to wage war against slavery. He ended up revolutionizing the American financial industry in the process.

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scottishthisel

Rothbard’s First Impressions on Free Banking in Scotland Were Correct

– August 18, 2019

Nothing in Rothbard’s later view manages to cast doubt on his earlier view and White’s thesis, much less refute them.

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The Anti-Capitalist Ideology of Slavery

– August 16, 2019

The anti-capitalist ideology of southern slaveholders presents a conundrum for historians who erroneously equate the plantation economy with the free market.

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cultic

The Cultic Milieu and the Rise of Violent Fringe

– August 7, 2019

The notion of the cultic milieu helps explain many aspects of today’s politics, such as the rise of movements like the alt-right, and the growth of fringe beliefs across the ideological spectrum.

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oldlondon

The Past Is a Nice Place to Visit. You Wouldn’t Want to Live There.

– July 18, 2019

Should we study and learn from the past? Of course we should. Should we yearn for the past, seek to return there, and perhaps undo the progress of the last several centuries? Of course we shouldn’t.

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