by Neville Kennard, preaching and practising capitalist

Economics.org.au is a welcome addition to the scene of economic and philosophic discourse in Australia. To date such analysis and discussion on Free-Market Economics and Personal Liberty has been lead by such Think Tanks as The Centre for Independent Studies and The Institute for Public Affairs. These fine institutes do a good job in disseminating ideas, but they are compromised by a need to please their financial supporters and thus can’t offer views and ideas which are too far from the mainstream. CIS and IPA both involve themselves in “Policy”, and associate with politicians; this tends to legitimise governments and the gross violations of personal freedom that governments perpetrate on their citizens. These Think Tanks have, unfortunately, become part of the Mainstream. They are no longer fresh and new.

Benjamin Marks, a serious student of radical free-market Austrian economics, of anarcho-capitalist philosophies, of Mises, Hayek, Rothbard, Hoppe and of Mencken intends with Economics.org.au to offer fresh views and radical opinions and alternative references.

As a long-time Think Tank supporter, first Chairman of CIS and enthusiastic proponent of un-fettered markets and “extreme” personal liberty, I welcome this new entrant to the debate. I hope it will challenge the conservative/classical liberal views of many and will promote a robust debate over “degrees of freedom”. As former US Presidential Candidate Barry Goldwater said “Extremism in the defence of liberty is no vice.”

I wish this new venture well and encourage debate and discussion on its pages and blogs.

Further reading:

  1. Opening Salvo — Summary from week one of Economics.org.au.
  2. Think Tanks Don’t Work — another article by Neville Kennard.