Peter's Blog

Alan Greenspan served as Federal Reserve Chairman for nearly two decades, presiding over the US economy during a period of significant growth and turmoil. While often portrayed as a stalwart defender of free markets, a closer examination of his career reveals a more complex picture. Greenspan’s ability to adapt his views and rhetoric to suit […]

The US tax system is often praised as a means of funding essential government services and redistributing wealth. A deeper analysis reveals that it is primarily driven by envy and resentment rather than a genuine concern for the common good. By pitting different groups against each other, the tax code fuels social division and undermines […]

The current study of economics in an academic setting is extremely overrun by empiricists. Empiricism is a method of study that involves primarily driving conclusions from what can be observed rather than first principles. Empiricism links the validity of every idea back to observable points of evidence that can be used to support it. While […]

Most analysts treat economic data as the starting point for understanding the economy: if GDP rises, things are good; if it falls, things are bad. What they fail to appreciate is that data without theory is meaningless, and that any interpretation of economic data already presupposes a theoretical framework, whether the analyst knows it or […]

As Trump’s crony capitalism and socialist inroads in the Democratic Party crowd out defenders of free markets, many assume the only choice is between capitalism and socialism. But a third danger lurks — the possibility that rejecting both leads not to liberty, but to feudalism or primitivism, systems where rights collapse and poverty reigns just […]

A century ago, Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises tangled with socialists in the so-called Socialist Calculation Debate, in which Mises proved that socialism is not feasible. Today, with the power of modern computing and AI, socialists are again championing centralized control of the economy, but they misunderstand Mises’ core point: economic calculation and raw computation […]

With inflation still running hot and disastrous jobs data coming in, it’s tempting for policymakers to spread myths about the economy, particularly around the origin and nature of money. As the Austrian school demonstrates, fiat money– and all money for that matter– does not derive its value from dictates of the government. The following article […]

Last week, the Supreme Court struck down the Trump administration’s unconstitutional and economically destructive tariffs. But, as the White House seeks to impose new trade restrictions through other avenues, it’s worth reexamining why trade policy and inflationary monetary policy typically go hand-in-hand. The following article was originally published by the Mises Institute. The opinions expressed […]

One criticism of the Austrian School’s theory of recessions is that it doesn’t account for the expectations of entrepreneurs, who can anticipate central bank actions which precipitate economic busts. But, as Austrian economist Joe Salerno argues, this criticism betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of how recessions occur. The following article was originally published by the Mises […]

How does money come about? Did someone invent it, or did it spontaneously emerge as a medium of exchange? The Austrian School of economics gets this question right, and the evidence is on its side. The following article was originally published by the Mises Institute. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Peter […]