Why Wages Rise

01/01/1957 F.A. Harper

Tags: Money and Banks

From Harper's Introduction:

Wages are of prime importance in any advanced economy such as ours. They affect us all far more than seems evidenced in our concern about them.

I shall deal with the wage problem in a manner that may seem oversimplified. Basic principles always have a way of seeming simple. Yet if they be principles, they can no more be oversimplified than can the law of gravity or the listing of chemical elements be oversimplified. What is needed in our complex society of millions of products sold by millions of business units to over a hundred million traders through billions of transactions each year is to get back to simple economic principles. These are working tools for solving problems that seem more complex than they really are.

Meet the Author

F.A. Harper

Floyd Arthur "Baldy" Harper (1905–1973) was a Cornell University professor and member of the Mont Pelerin Society. He helped start up the Foundation for Economic Education, codirected the William Volker Fund, and founded the Institute for Humane Studies. At Harper's death, Murray Rothbard wrote, "Ever since he came to the Foundation for Economic Education in 1946 as its chief economist and theoretician, Baldy Harper, in a very real sense, has been the libertarian movement. For all these years, this gentle and lovable man, this wise and Socratic teacher, has been the heart and soul and nerve center of the libertarian cause."

Read Rothbard's memorial: Floyd Arthur 'Baldy' Harper, RIP.

Democracy and Liberty

09/24/2022 Mises Daily F.A. Harper

It is generally accepted that a government can enslave the citizens — unless it is a democratic government. Mistake!

Liberty Defined

12/20/2021 Mises Daily F.A. Harper

[ This address was given before the Mont Pelerin Society at St. Moritz, Switzerland, on September 4, 1957.] There are times when one's humility seems to go on vacation, as it did for me when Professor...

This Way Toward Equality

03/26/2019 Mises Daily F.A. Harper

Another enticing sign along the road toward serfdom is "equality." It is one of the most appealing enticements of all, and therefore holds great danger to liberty and freedom.

View F.A. Harper bio and works

References

Irvington, NY: FEE, 1957.

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