In the sequence of Mises's books concerning policy, this book followed Socialism, and was the first to present a new theory of interventionism.
In Mises's view, interventionism is an inherently unstable policy because it creates new dislocations that would seem to cry out for further interventions, which, in turn, do not solve the problem. The end of interventionism is socialism, a fate which can be logically avoided only by a sharp turn towards free markets.
Along with Socialism and the Liberalism, this book stands as a masterpiece of policy logic.
Ludwig von Mises was the acknowledged leader of the Austrian school of economic thought, a prodigious originator in economic theory, and a prolific author. Mises's writings and lectures encompassed economic theory, history, epistemology, government, and political philosophy. His contributions to economic theory include important clarifications on the quantity theory of money, the theory of the trade cycle, the integration of monetary theory with economic theory in general, and a demonstration that socialism must fail because it cannot solve the problem of economic calculation. Mises was the first scholar to recognize that economics is part of a larger science in human action, a science that he called praxeology.
Kritik des Interventionismus: Untersuchungen zur Wirtschaftspolitik und Wirtschaftsideologie der Gegenwart. [Critique of Interventionism: Inquiries into Present Day Economic Policy and Ideology]. Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1929. English translation of the 1976 German new edition. Translated by Hans F. Sennholz. Revised English translation of the 1976 German new edition. Translated by Hans F. Sennholz. Irvington-on-Hudson, N.Y.: Foundation for Economic Education, 1996.
Kritik des Interventionismus: Untersuchungen zur Wirtschaftspolitik und Wirtschaftsideologie der Gegenwart. [Critique of Interventionism: Inquiries into Present Day Economic Policy and Ideology]. Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1929. English translation of the 1976 German new edition. Translated by Hans F. Sennholz. Revised English translation of the 1976 German new edition. Translated by Hans F. Sennholz. Irvington-on-Hudson, N.Y.: Foundation for Economic Education, 1996.
