The Libertarian Standard – Page 60 – Property – Prosperity

Mises Seminar — Australia

(Austrian) Economics, Anti-Statism, Education, Libertarian Theory, Statism, The Basics

By Stephan Kinsella / November 17, 2011 / 2 minutes of reading

Austrian and libertarian ideas are spreading around the globe, thanks in large part to the work done by the Mises Institute to promote and spread these ideas. A case in point is the Mises Seminar being held November 25 and 26 in Sydney, Australia, and being put on by Aussienomics, an Austrian-Australian group, Liberty Australia, and the Macquare University Libertarian League. As the Aussienomics site notes,

On the 25-26th of November, a watershed moment in the history of Australian liberty will be occurring in Sydney: the Australian Mises Seminar. Over the past year we have collaborated with the best and brightest representatives of Austrian economics and libertarianism in Australia to bring you this incredible weekend.

The lead speaker at the event Hans-Hermann Hoppe. The event looks like it will be fantastic and soundly rooted in principled Rothbardian libertarian and Misesian-Rothbardian Austrian economics.

What really impressed me was the beautiful 108 page programme they produced (yes, 108 pages). It’s full of nice pictures and illustrations of Mises, Rothbard, and others, inspiring quotes, and an overview of the seminar. The main reason for its length, however is that it contains “Pre-Seminar Reading”. I’ve never seen this in a programme before but it’s a great idea (and possibly only because the material they drew from was from sources that do not lock down the content using state copyright law). As the programme explains:

The readings help provide a basic foundation and understanding of the core principles used to analyse the more complex issues that will be under discussion at the seminar. They will help you follow the overall themes and make informed contributions should you choose to do so. As a result, everyone gets more from attending the seminar.

The overview section first contains an article entitled A Primer on Austrian Economics by Jonathan M. Finegold Catalan which gives a brief summary of the school of thought, its history and contributions. The fundamental difference between advocates of the Austrian school and the rest of the economics profession is methodology. The second chapter of Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s book Economic Science and the Austrian Method, is On Praxeology and the Praxeological Foundation of Epistemology. This enthralling exposition highlights Mises insights and makes the case for praxeology as the ultimate foundation of all knowledge. Anatomy of the State by Murray N. Rothbard exemplifies the case as to what the state is, what it is not and why its existence should be lamented. What Libertarianism Is by Stephan Kinsella clarifies what separates libertarianism from other political philosophies.

The programme may be downloaded here. A podcast by some of the organizers discussing the Seminar may be found here.

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Wozinski: “A Priori of Justice”

(Austrian) Economics, Libertarian Theory

By Stephan Kinsella / November 17, 2011 / 2 minutes of reading

Jakub Wozinski, who previously published “Hayek and Departure from Praxeology” in Libertarian Papers, asked me to post the draft of his working paper “A Priori of Justice” (RTF; PDF; text here). His note is below. Feel free to email comments to him or leave them in the comments field below.

“A Priori of Justice” is an attempt to systematize the whole libertarian legal theory. This paper is based mostly on Hoppean and Rothbardian concepts, but I suggest some improvements. In my approach I emphasize homesteading should be understood as change of location and surety, i.e. material substratum of valid contracts. It is my view that this perspective can shed new light on the whole of libertarian theory.

Another aspect of my paper is the identification of law and ethics as one integrated theory justified by action and argumentation axioms. A libertarian legal code is presented as the only possible ethic and all other theories considered hitherto to be ethics are just beliefs which cannot be rationally proved.

I am hopeful that the reader will find in “A Priori of Justice” more than just the repetition of the old theories and will be surprised by my fresh approach.

Before publishing this paper, I would like to receive comments and other suggestions for improvement or refinement from other libertarians interested in these matters. I will be grateful for any comments (please send them to: [email protected]).

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“The mountains are high and the emperor is far away”

(Austrian) Economics, Business

By Brian Martinez / November 17, 2011 / 2 minutes of reading

Reason.com has posted an excellent article on Wenzhou, China, a city built almost entirely upon private enterprise:

For the last 30 years, private citizens in this southeastern China metropolis have largely taken over one of the least questioned prerogatives of governments the world over: infrastructure.

Driving down the cluttered and half-constructed streets of this 3-million-strong boomtown requires frequent U-turns and the patience of Buddha, but every road eventually leads back to a factory. Each factory is in turn surrounded by a maze of roads filled with hundreds of small feeder shops selling spare parts, building materials, and scraps. Every haphazard street in this town seems to have an economic purpose….

The official channels of financing and investment are routinely bypassed, replaced by local institutions with their own governance and lending rules. It all works, if a bit haphazardly:

Gray-market lenders are often established, though technically illegal, financial institutions that lend primarily working-capital loans at rates as high as 10 percent a month. Contacts often modify interest rates based on how well you know them. Forms of repayment enforcement differ. Weng points out that in a community so dependent on guanxi—relationships—defaulting on a contact’s loan could blackball you from future business opportunities….

Lending also takes place through a number of formal lending institutions that have become informal depositing institutions. Pawnshops in Wenzhou are very different from those in the West. The shops can give out loans of millions of dollars backed by property and stocks, and they can pay depositors interest rates three to four percentage points higher than the official lending rate at banks.

It’s a vivid example of what can be achieved when the central planners are too far away to have much influence and local bureaucrats learn to simply get out of the way. If only U. S. bureaucracy was so ineffective!

“The mountains are high and the emperor is far away” Read Post »

TLS Podcast Picks: Government Food Subsidies, Unbecoming British, American Privateers, and more

Anti-Statism, Podcast Picks

By Stephan Kinsella / November 16, 2011 / 2 minutes of reading

Recommended podcasts:

Government Subsidies and Our Food Bills, KERA Think, November 15, 2011 (“Do we really know the how and why behind government subsidies? Who do they benefit and why were they created in the first place? We’ll talk this hour with writer Thomas M. Kostigen, author of the new book The Big Handout: How Government Subsidies and Corporate Welfare Corrupt the World We Live In and Wreak Havoc on Our Food Bills);
Unbecoming British, KERA Think, November 10, 2011 (“Along with its revolutionary political independence, how did the United States of America gain cultural and social differentiation from its former colonial master Great Britain? We’ll talk this hour with Yale University Historian Kariann Akemi Yokota, author of the new book Unbecoming British: How Revolutionary America Became a Postcolonial Nation“);
Shipwrecks, Treasure and Cannon Fire: The True Story of an American Privateer, Reason.tv (“Compared with better-known stories of the Founding Fathers who, author and regular Reason contributor Jackson Kuhl note, “don’t do much,” the story of privateer Samuel Smedley is brimming with action. His new book, “Samuel Smedley, Connecticut Privateer,” delves into this true-life tale of revolution, shipwrecks, treasure and cannon fire. … Reason.tv’s Nick Gillespie sat down with the author to talk about Smedley, America’s fascination with Revolutionary War biographies and Kuhl’s desire for a film franchise.”)
Van Gogh: The Life, KERA Think, November 14, 2011 (“He’s famous for both his incredible art and his notorious instability, but what was life really like for one of the greatest artists in history? We’ll spend this hour with Pulitzer prize-winning author Steven Naifeh. His new book, co-written with Gregory White Smith is Van Gogh: The Life“);
Evolutionary Psychologist Gad Saad on Consumerism, Sex, Advertising, and Human Nature, Reason.tv, Nov. 15, 2011 (“The Ferrari is exactly the same in the human context,” says evolutionary psychologist Gad Saad, “as the peacock’s tail is on the peacock.” Saad is an evolutionary behavioral scientist at Concordia University and author of the book The Consuming Instinct: What Juicy Burgers, Ferraris, Pornography, and Gift Giving Reveal about Human Nature, in which he argues that most consumer behavior can be explained by evolutionary psychology. … Reason.tv’s Zach Weissmueller sat down with Saad to discuss why most Ferrari owners are men, whether or not advertising executives manipulate our minds, the strong political opposition to the evolutionary sciences from across the spectrum, and the evolutionary significance of Sir Mix-a-lot’s “Baby Got Back.””);
Interview with Eric Ries, Triangulation #30 (author of The Lean Startup).

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Antitrust Aggressor Loses

Business, Victimless Crimes

By Stephan Kinsella / November 16, 2011 / 1 minute of reading

As reported in the Wall Street Journal, memory chip manufacturer Rambus has lost its antitrust case against competitors Micron Technology Inc. and Hynix Semiconductor Inc.

Rambus had sought $4 billion in direct damages for the harm it allegedly suffered in the case, an amount that can be instantly tripled under California law. It also asked for punitive damages.

Rambus, a Silicon Valley designer of technology used in memory chips, accused Micron and Hynix of violating antitrust laws by conspiring to prevent Rambus technology from gaining traction in the market and fixing the price of memory chips.

The jury deliberated 8 weeks after a 3-month trial. Good result!

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