Misesian Economics in Truly Private Schools

October 29, 2007 9:11 AM by Jeffrey Herbener

State interference in education usurps the child's rights and displaces the custodial role of the parents in exercising those rights. That the state would seize the custodial rights from the parents demonstrates that it has its own interests in mind. The state must resort to force because neither the child nor the parents want the natural arrangement to be overturned. Because the state rests on compulsion its activity extinguishes the very basis for the development of the personalities of children, which is freedom.

Moreover, state officials lack the knowledge of and concern for the child possessed by his parents. The state has no interest in developing the personalities of children or in catering to their interests and aptitudes. The state does not desire them to participate in the social order by their free associations. The state funds and regulates formal education to further its own interests and attain its own ends. FULL ARTICLE

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The Living Legacy of Ludwig von Mises

February 26, 2007 9:44 AM by Jeffrey Herbener

At commencement on June 8, 1957 Grove City College awarded an honorary doctorate degree to Ludwig von Mises. The 50th anniversary of this event afforded us an opportunity to consider his legacy at a conference on campus last weekend. Hans Sennholz, the man largely responsible for arranging the award, kicked off the conference on Friday with his reminiscence of Mises. And the incomparable Lew Rockwell gave a stirring assessment of Mises's legacy Saturday evening. Sandwiched in between were seven papers delivered by the top Misesian scholars working today in the fields of economics, history, and philosophy.

The quality of scholarship and the level of interest the conference generated is more evidence that the legacy of Mises is indeed alive and well.

The entire conference will be available for viewing on the web soon.

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Small States, Global Economy: A Critique of Lal

November 7, 2006 7:56 AM by Jeffrey Herbener

Deepak Lal says that empires are natural because they solve a Hobbesian problem of anarchy among independent states. A domestic Leviathan prevents the descent into a "war of all against all" by providing security essential for peace and prosperity in its own territory. But if we look at the history of trade, we observe that the Lal thesis is not supported. What is necessary for international society to develop in this case is that people have the capacity to resist the temptation to commit aggression or to suppress those who succumb to such temptation in order to gain the higher productivity of the division of labor. The suppression of criminals does not have to be monopolized in the state; the attempt to do so most often ends up creating a monopoly of criminals in the form of a Leviathan. FULL ARTICLE

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