Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought

The appearance of the famous (and massive) volumes of Rothbard's History of Economic Thought in a new edition is cause for great celebration. They have been out of print for many years, and were previously only available at a price exceeding $200 for the set. They are at last accessible again, in beautiful hardcover, and at an affordable price.

In Economic Thought Before Adam Smith, Murray Rothbard traces economic ideas from ancient sources to show that laissez-faire liberalism and economic thought itself began with the scholastics and early Roman, Greek, and canon law. He celebrates Aristotle and Democritus, for example, but loathes Plato and Diogenes. He is kind toward Taoism and Stoicism. He is no fan of Tertullian but very much likes St. Jerome, who defended the merchant class. Now, that takes us only to page 33, just the beginning of a wild ride through the middle ages and renaissance and modern times through 1870.

Classical Economics offers new perspectives on both Ricardo and Say and their followers. The author suggests that Ricardianism declined after 1820 and was only revived with the work of John Stuart Mill. The book also resurrects the important Anglo-Irish school of thought at Trinity College, Dublin under Archbishop Richard Whatley. Later chapters focus on the roots of Karl Marx and the nature of his doctrines, and laissez-faire thought in France including the work of Frederic Bastiat. Also included is a comprehensive treatment of the bullionist versus the anti-bullionist and the currency versus banking school controversies in the first half of the nineteenth century, and their influence outside Great Britain.

These are indeed the books that Mises himself longed to see: "A real history of economic thought," he said in 1955, "would have to point out the development of the doctrines and not merely list every book."

When these volumes first appeared, they were celebrated in Barron's and by top scholars around the world. They succeeded in changing the way people think about economic doctrine: the beginnings (not Adam Smith, but the Spanish theologians), the dead ends (Marx), the great triumphs (Bastiat, for example), and the truly great minds (Turgot and many others he rescued from near obscurity).

Rothbard read deeply in thinkers dating back hundreds and thousands of years, and spotted every promising line of thought — and every unfortunate one. He knew when an idea would lead to prosperity, and when it would lead to calamity. He could spot a proto-Keynesian or proto-Marxist idea in the middle ages, just as he could find free-market lines of thought in ancient manuscripts.

Many scholars believe this was his most important work. The irony is that it is not the work it was supposed to be, and thank goodness. He was asked to do a short overview of the modern era. He ended up writing more than 1,000 pages of original ideas that remade the whole of intellectual history up through the late 19th century.

Once Rothbard got into the project, he found that most all historians have made the same error: they have believed that the history of thought was a long history of progress. He found that sound ideas ebb and flow in history. So he set out to rescue the great ideas from the past and compare them with the bad ideas of the "new economics."

His demolition of Karl Marx is more complete and in depth than any other ever published. His reconstruction of 19th-century banking debates has provided enough new ideas for a dozen dissertations, and contemporary real-money reform. His surprising evisceration of John Stuart Mill is cause to rethink the whole history of classical liberalism.

Most famously, Rothbard demonstrated that Adam Smith's economic theories were, in many ways, a comedown from his predecessors in France and Spain. For example, Smith puzzled over the source of value and finally tagged labor as the source (a mistake Marx built on). But for centuries prior, the earliest economists knew that value came from within the human mind. It was a human estimation, not an objective construct.

The unfinished 3rd volume in audio

Rothbard was a pioneer in incorporating the sociology of religion into the history of economic ideas. He saw that the advent of Christianity had a huge impact on the theory of the state. He observed the rise of absolutism and theory of nationalism that came with the reformation. He traced the changes in the Western view toward lending and interest payments over the course of a thousand years.

The number of insights in these volumes are countless. Every page, every paragraph, bursts with intellectual energy and the author's fiery passion to tell the reader the remarkable story of economics. Many reviewers have remarked that Rothbard's accomplishment seems super-human. He seems to have read everything. His originality is overwhelming. His passion for liberty and integrity in science is evident. His disdain toward those who sell out to the state is manifest as well.

Rothbard worked on these volumes in the ten years before his death. He also gave a series of lectures on his ongoing research. As a result, we all had very high expectations. But nothing could have prepared us for what eventually appeared.

This set is a monument to Rothbard's genius, a resource that will be valuable to intellectuals for generations, and a great read too!

Classical Liberalism and the Austrian School

Here is the book to learn classical liberalism from the ground up, written by the foremost historian in the Austrian tradition--Ralph Raico. Every student, scholar, and freedom fan must have a copy of Classical Liberalism and the Austrian School at hand, readying them for intellectual battle!

It is indeed rare to study directly under two giants of the Austrian School. Raico wrote his dissertation under the direction of F.A. Hayek at the University of Chicago after being admitted as a high school student to Ludwig von Mises’s NYU seminar in New York. Raico and his friend and fellow Mises seminar attendee, Murray Rothbard, would turn into the modern champions of true liberalism.

Raico takes on all comers, disposing of all opponents of the market from Keynesians to Marxists and everyone in between, with crackling prose and sizzling wit. The liberal history comes alive with Raico’s pen, and at the same time quenches the reader’s thirst for detail, infusing an excitement that urges the reader to further explore.

Raico’s breadth of scholarship is on full display, combining insights and arguments from disparate points. He provides clarity to a history that is often slanted and distorted. Multiple reference lists contained in the book will serve as a classical liberal treasure trove for students and scholars for decades to come.

In his foreword, Austrian School scholar Jörg Guido Hülsmann, credits Raico with educating modern Germans about fellow countryman and forgotten liberal champion, Eugen Richter. Furthermore, the book’s preface by Raico’s friend and colleague, David Gordon, is both extensive and illuminating.

ISBN: 9781610160032
372 pages

Conceived in Liberty

The new single-volume edition of Conceived in Liberty is here! After so many years of having to juggle four volumes, the Mises Institute has finally put it altogether in a single, 1,616-page book. This makes it easier to read, and makes clearer just what a contribution this book is to the history of libertarian literature.

There's never been a better time to remember the revolutionary and even libertarian roots of the American founding, and there's no better guide to what this means in the narrative of the Colonial period than Murray Rothbard.

For anyone who thinks of Murray Rothbard as only an economic theorist or political thinker, this giant book is something of a surprise. It is probably his least known treatise. It offers a complete history of the Colonial period of American history, a period lost to students today, who are led to believe American history begins with the US Constitution.

Rothbard's ambition was to shed new light on Colonial history and show that the struggle for human liberty was the heart and soul of this land from its discovery through the culminating event of the American Revolution. These volumes are a tour de force, enough to establish Rothbard as one of the great American historians.

It is a detailed narrative history of the struggle between liberty and power, as we might expect, but it is more. Rothbard offers a third alternative to the conventional interpretive devices. Against those on the right who see the American Revolution as a "conservative" event, and those on the left who want to invoke it as some sort of proto-socialist uprising, Rothbard views this period as a time of accelerating libertarian radicalism. Through this prism, Rothbard illuminates events as never before.

The volumes were brought out in the 1970s, but the odd timing and uneven distribution prevented any kind of large audience. They were beloved only by a few specialists, and sought after by many, thanks to their outstanding reputation. The Mises Institute is pleased to be the publisher of this integrated book.

This single volume covers the discovery of the Americas and the colonies in the 17th century, the period of "salutary neglect" in the first half of the 18th century, the advance to revolution, from 1760-1775 and the political, military, and ideological history of the revolution and after.

Conceived in Liberty from Mises Media on Vimeo.

Credit Policies of the Federal Reserve System

This professionally prepared ebook is an electronic edition of the book that is designed for reading on digital readers like Nook, Kindle, iPad, Sony Reader, and other products including iPhone and Android smart phones. The text reflows depending on your font preferences and it contains links from navigation.

In this historical gem originally published in 1932, Charles Hardy examines the history of the Federal Reserve's policies and their impact on the organization of the banking system in the post-World War I period. Mr. Hardy deals with the fundamental problems of central banking policy, namely, the purposes which an organized banking system should seek to accomplish, the efficiency of the means which such a system has at its command, and the tests by which it can gauge the success of its efforts. The author provides a detailed background of central banking activities and credit control decisions for the 1920's and early 30's. Especially noted and examined is the importation and management of gold and gold certificates during this period as well as international coordination between central banks. Hardy's work is an essential review and critique of Federal Reserve policy implementation during a period which was highly influential to the Great Depression.

616 pages, originally published 1932.

Free Market Economics: A Syllabus

This little gem is a complete economics education for high-school age students. It provides lessons, study questions, activities, and an excellent list of readings for each topic under consideration. Bettina chose well because the readings all hold up, even though the syllabus came out in 1974. It still works as an excellent course in economics.

It is meant to be used alongside the book of readings also available from Mises.org. Together the set will put any student on the road to a lifetime of economic understanding.

Bettina Greaves was Mises's secretary and assistant but also an excellent economist in her own right.

Free Market Economics: A Basic Reader

Bettina Bien Greaves put this volume together as a one-stop primer in economics that includes the best economic writing she had run across. In some ways, the choices are brilliant.

They are arranged by topic to cover the division of labor, prices, profits, property, competition, saving and investment, environment, antitrust, money and banking, advertising and marketing, and more.

Authors include Read, Mises, Bastiat, Greaves, Kirzner, Watts, Hazlitt, and many other writers.

Each essay is short and to the point. It still makes a great primer!

Ideas on Liberty: Essays in Honor of Paul L. Poirot

Paul Poirot is remembered by most people as the thirty-year editor of The Freeman, the monthly journal published by the Foundation for Economic Education since 1956. But Paul Poirot was much more than just an editor. Dr. Poirot was an uncompromising proponent of the ideal concept of a free society and the Austrian economic theory perspective upon which an unhampered market process is founded. Paul Poirot and his journal, The Freeman, never wavered from advancing the cause of individual liberty and the essential absolutes of private property and monetary freedom required for the achievement of a free market order.

This festschrift reflects the legacy of Paul Poirot in his life-long pursuit of the philosophy of freedom. Compiled by Robert G. Anderson and Beth Hoffman, the essays were written upon his retirement in 1987. Almost all of the authors were long-time friends and associates of Dr. Poirot.

Special thanks to Gary North for making this book available again in both print and eBook format.

144 pages, paperback, ISBN: 9781610161985

vii FOREWORD

Robert G. Anderson

ix INTRODUCTION

Beth A. Hoffman

1 THE EVER-PRESENT DANGER

Robert G. Anderson

5 EBENEZER SCROOGE AND THE FREE SOCIETY

Howard Baetjer Jr.

11 FAIR PRICING: THE PERSISTENT DELUSION

Melvin D. Barger

17 THE RIGHT TO PROPERTY

Clarence B. Carson

22 “FABIANISM-IN-REVERSE”

John Chamberlain

26 INDIVIDUALISM REVISITED: A CASTLE IN THE CLOUDS

Ridgway K. Foley, Jr.

30 FREEDOM PROMOTES INTEGRITY AND MORALITY

Bettina Bien Greaves

37 TEACHERS OF LIBERTY

Perry E. Gresham

45 SPONTANEOUS ORDER AND THE CASE FOR THE FREE MARKET

Israel M. Kirzner

51 JEREMIAH’S JOB

Gary North

Contents

v

55 VOCATION

Edmund A. Opitz

61 THIS I BELIEVE . . .

William H. Peterson

64 LAW, ECONOMICS, AND FREEDOM

Sylvester Petro

73 CHILD LABOR AND THE BRITISH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Lawrence W. Reed

79 THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE PLAN

Gregory F. Rehmke

86 WHY LIBERTY AND MORALITY ARE INSEPARABLE

George C. Roche III

96 MAKE-WORK JOBS

Dean Russell

99 ETERNAL HOPE

Hans F. Sennholz

109 THE PRIMACY OF FREEDOM

Brian Summers

113 THE TRANSFORMATION OF “LIBERALISM”

John K. Williams

119 THE UNNOTICED EROSION OF THE MEANING AND

VALUE OF LIBERTY

Anne Wortham

129 ADDENDUM

HE GAINS MOST WHO SERVES BEST

Paul L. Poirot

Left and Right: A Journal of Libertarian Thought (Complete, 1965-1968)

The most influential and famous low-circulation, typewriter-typed scholarly journal of the 20th century.

Mises on Money

Before Austrian economics came on the scene, monetary theory was a hodge-podge of disjointed insights. Nobody knew how to integrate those insights into a system, much less how to integrate monetary theory with the rest of economics.

Carl Menger, founder of the Austrian School of Economics, started to unravel the mystery of money in the late 19th century. Ludwig von Mises finally cut the Gordian knot with his first magnum opus, The Theory of Money and Credit (1912), the most important single advance in monetary theory in the history of economic thought.

In that treatise, Mises erected a theory of money of astounding originality that was complete and internally integrated: as well as externally integrated with modern, subjectivist economics in general. With this book, Mises completed the victory of the "marginal revolution" by extending its conquest to the monetary realm. In doing so, Mises finally made economics whole. In his later treatise, Human Action, Mises developed his theory further, making it even more rigorous.

While Mises' monetary writings should be required reading for any educated citizen, it can be challenging to parse some of the technical language. That is where Gary North comes in. In Mises on Money, Dr. North lucidly explains all the essential tenets of Mises' monetary theory, with his inimitable incisiveness and style. He methodically walks the reader through such topics as the origin of money, Mises' "regression theorem", fractional reserve banking, and the Austrian Business Cycle Theory. He explains why money is not "neutral," and why price stabilization is a chimera. After reading this short work, you will have a firm understanding of Austrian monetary theory, and will be in prime condition to tackle Mises' own writings on the subject.

Dr. North writes:

"In summarizing Mises's theory of money, I cover five themes: the definition of money; the optimum quantity of money and its corolary, stable prices; fractional reserve banking, and how to inhibit it; and the monetary theory of the business cycle. They are closely interrelated. Mises's system was a system."

144 pages
Paperback
Published: 2012
ISBN: 9781610162487

• Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
• Money: A Market-Generated Phenomenon . . . . . . . . 15
• The Optimum Quantity of Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
• Two Myths: Neutral Money and Stable Prices . . . . . . 55
• Fractional Reserve Banking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
• The Monetary Theory of the Business Cycle . . . . . . . 99
• Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
• Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles

3rd Edition - Updated and revised.

The three years since the publication of the previous English edition of Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles have seen a continuation of the economic recession process set in motion after the 2007 financial crisis. This process has consisted of the inevitable microeconomic readjustment and realignment of a real productive structure which the credit expansion of the prior “speculative bubble” years had rendered unsustainable. Though governments’ fiscal and monetary policies have on many occasions been erratic and counterproductive, in the end, enormous growth in public deficits has brought on a sovereign public debt crisis in international markets. This crisis has been so severe that one by one, the different governments have been forced to take measures, even if timid ones, in the right direction, measures to reduce public spending, interventionism, and regulation of the economy, and to liberalize factor markets and make them more flexible, especially the labor market.

Can the market fully manage the money and banking sector?

Jesús Huerta de Soto, professor of economics at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, has made history with this mammoth and exciting treatise. He integrates sweeping history and rigorous theory to make the good-as-gold case that the institutions of money and banking can be part of the free market -- without a central bank, without bailouts, without inflation, without business cycles, and without the economic instability that has characterized the age of government control.

Such a book as this comes along only once every several generations: a complete comprehensive treatise on economic theory. It is sweeping, revolutionary, and devastating--not only the most extended elucidation of Austrian business cycle theory to ever appear in print but also a decisive vindication of the Misesian-Rothbardian perspective on money, banking, and the law.

Jörg Guido Hülsmann has said that this is the most significant work on money and banking to appear since 1912, when Mises's own book was published and changed the way all economists thought about the subject.

Its five main contributions:

• a wholesale reconstruction of the legal framework for money and banking, from the ancient world to modern times,
• an application of law-and-economics logic to banking that links microeconomic analysis to macroeconomic phenomena,
• a comprehensive critique of fractional-reserve banking from the point of view of history, theory, and policy,
• an application of the Austrian critique of socialism to central banking,
• the most comprehensive look at banking enterprise from the point of view of market-based entrepreneurship.

Those are the main points but, in fact, this only scratches the surface. Indeed, it would be difficult to overestimate the importance of this book. De Soto provides also a defense of the Austrian perspective on business cycles against every other theory, defends the 100% reserve perspective from the point of view of Roman and British law, takes on the most important objections to full reserve theory, and presents a full policy program for radical reform.

It was Hülsmann's review of the Spanish edition that inspired the translation that led to this Mises Institute edition in English. The result is astonishing: an 875-page masterpiece that utterly demolishes the case for fiat currency and central banking, and shows that these institutions have compromised economic stability and freedom, and, moreover, are intolerable in a free society.

De Soto has set new scholarly standards with this detailed discussion of monetary reform from an Austro-libertarian point of view. Huerta de Soto’s solid elaboration of his arguments along these lines makes his treatise a model illustration of the Austrian approach to the study of the relationship between law and economics.

It could take a decade for the full implications of this book to be absorbed but this much is clear: all serious students of these subject matters will have to master this treatise.

CONTENTS

• Preface to the Third English-Language Edition
• Preface to the Second English-Language Edition
• Preface to the First English-Language Edition
  
• Preface to the Third Spanish Edition
  
• Preface to the Second Spanish Edition
  
• Introduction

Chapter 1: The Legal Nature of the Monetary Irregular-Deposit Contract

• A Preliminary Clarification of Terms: Loan Contracts (Mutuum and Commodatum)and Deposit Contracts
  
• The Commodatum Contract
  
• The Mutuum Contract
  
• The Deposit Contract
  
• The Deposit of Fungible Goods or "Irregular" Deposit Contract
  
• The Economic and Social Function of Irregular Deposits
  
• The Fundamental Element in the Monetary Irregular Deposit
  
• Resulting Effects of the Failure to Comply with the Essential Obligation in the Irregular Deposit
  
• Court Decisions Acknowledging the Fundamental Legal Principles which Govern the Monetary Irregular-Deposit Contract (100-Percent Reserve Requirement)
  
• The Essential Differences Between the Irregular Deposit Contract and the Monetary Loan Contract
  
• The Extent to Which Property Rights are Transferred in Each Contract
  
• Fundamental Economic Differences Between the Two Contracts
  Fundamental Legal Differences Between the Two Contracts
  
• The Discovery by Roman Legal Experts of the General Legal Principles Governing the Monetary Irregular-Deposit Contract
  
• The Emergence of Traditional Legal Principles According to Menger, Hayek and Leoni
  
• Roman Jurisprudence
  
• The Irregular Deposit Contract Under Roman Law

Chapter 2: Historical Violations of the Legal Principles Legal Principles Governing the Monetary Irregular-Deposit Contract

• Introduction
  
• Banking in Greece and Rome
  
• Trapezitei, or Greek Bankers
  
• Banking in the Hellenistic World
  
• Banking in Rome
  
• The Failure of the Christian Callistus's Bank
  
• The Societates Argentariae
  
• Bankers in the Late Middle Ages
  
• The Revival of Deposit Banking in Mediterranean Europe
  
• The Canonical Ban on Usury and the "Depositum Confessatum"
  
• Banking in Florence in the Fourteenth Century
  
• The Medici Bank
  
• Banking in Catalonia in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries: The Taula de Canvi
  
• Banking During the Reign of Charles V and the Doctrine of the School of Salamanca
  
• The Development of Banking in Seville
  
• The School of Salamanca and the Banking Business
  
• A New Attempt at Legitimate Banking: The Bank of Amsterdam.
• Banking in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
  
• The Bank of Amsterdam
  
• David Hume and the Bank of Amsterdam
  
• Sir James Steuart, Adam Smith and the Bank of Amsterdam
  
• The Banks of Sweden and England
  
• John Law and Eighteenth-Century Banking in France
  
• Richard Cantillon and the Fraudulent Violation of the Irregular-Deposit Contract

Chapter 3: Attempts to Legally Justify Fractional-Reserve Banking

• Introduction
  
• Why it is Impossible to Equate the Irregular Deposit with the Loan or Mutuum Contract
  
• The Roots of the Confusion
  
• The Mistaken Doctrine of Common Law
  
• The Doctrine of Spanish Civil and Commercial Codes
  
• Criticism of the Attempt to Equate the Monetary Irregular-Deposit Contract with the Loan or Mutuum Contract
  
• The Distinct Cause or Purpose of Each Contract
  
• The Notion of the Unspoken or Implicit Agreement
  
• An Inadequate Solution: The Redefinition of the Concept of Availability
  
• The Monetary Irregular Deposit, Transactions with a Repurchase Agreement and Life Insurance Contracts
  
• Transactions with a Repurchase Agreement
  
• The Case of Life Insurance Contract

Chapter 4: The Credit Expansion Process

• Introduction
  
• The Bank's Role as a True Intermediary in the Loan Contract
  
• The Bank's Role in the Monetary Bank-Deposit Contract
  
• The Effects Produced by Bankers' Use of Demand Deposits: The Case of an Individual Bank
  
• The Continental Accounting System
  
• Accounting Practices in the English-speaking World
  
• An Isolated Bank's Capacity for Credit Expansion and Deposit Creation
  
• The Case of a Very Small Bank
  
• Credit Expansion and Ex Nihilo Deposit Creation by a Sole, Monopolistic Bank
  
• Credit Expansion and New Deposit Creation by the Entire Banking System
  
• Creation of Loans in a System of Small Banks
  
• A Few Additional Difficulties
  
• When Expansion is Initiated Simultaneously by All Banks
  
• Filtering Out the Money Supply From the Banking System
  
• The Maintenance of Reserves Exceeding the Minimum Requirement
  
• Different Reserve Requirements for Different Types of Deposits
  
• The Parallels Between the Creation of Deposits and the Issuance of Unbacked Banknotes
  
• The Credit Tightening Process

Chapter 5: Bank Credit Expansion and Its Effects on the Economic System

• The Foundations of Capital Theory
  
• Human Action as a Series of Subjective Stages
  
• Capital and Capital Goods
  
• The Interest Rate
  
• The Structure of Production
  
• Some Additional Considerations
  
• Criticism of the Measures used in National Income Accounting
  
• The Effect on the Productive Structure of an Increase in Credit Financed under a Prior Increase in Voluntary Saving
  
• The Three Different Manifestations of the Process of Voluntary Saving
  
• Account Records of Savings Channeled into Loans
  
• The Issue of Consumer Loans
  
• The Effects of Voluntary Saving on the Productive Structure
  
• First: The Effect Produced by the New Disparity in Profits Between the Different Productive Stages
  
• Second: The Effect of the Decrease in the Interest Rate on the Market Price of Capital Goods
  
• Third: The Ricardo Effect
  
• Conclusion: The Emergence of a New, More Capital-Intensive Productive Structure
  
• The Theoretical Solution to the "Paradox of Thrift"
  
• The Case of an Economy in Regression
  
• The Effects of Bank Credit Expansion Unbacked by an Increase in Saving: The Austrian Theory or Circulation Credit Theory of the Business Cycle
  
• The Effects of Credit Expansion on the Productive Structure
  
• The Market's Spontaneous Reaction to Credit Expansion
• Banking, Fractional-Reserve Ratios and the Law of Large Numbers

Chapter 6: Additional Considerations on the Theory of the Business Cycle

• Why no Crisis Erupts when New Investment is Financed by Real Saving (And Not by Credit Expansion)
• The Possibility of Postponing the Eruption of the Crisis: The Theoretical Explanation of the Process of Stagflation
• Consumer Credit and the Theory of the Cycle
• The Self-Destructive Nature of the Artificial Booms Caused by Credit Expansion: The Theory of "Forced Saving"
• The Squandering of Capital, Idle Capacity and Malinvestment of Productive Resources
  Credit Expansion as the Cause of Massive Unemployment
• National Income Accounting is Inadequate to Reflect the Different Stages in the Business Cycle
• Entrepreneurship and the Theory of the Cycle
• The Policy of General-Price-Level Stabilization and its Destabilizing Effects on the Economy
• How to Avoid Business Cycles: Prevention of and Recovery from the Economic Crisis
• The Theory of the Cycle and Idle Resources: Their Role in the Initial Stages of the Boom
• The Necessary Tightening of Credit in the Recession Stage: Criticism of the Theory of "Secondary Depression"
• The "Manic-Depressive" Economy: The Dampening of the Entrepreneurial Spirit and Other Negative Effects Recurring Business Cycles Exert on the Market Economy
• The Influence Exerted on the Stock Market by Economic Fluctuations
  Effects the Business Cycle Exerts on the Banking Sector
• Marx, Hayek and the View that Economic Crises are Intrinsic to Market Economies
• Two Additional Considerations
• Empirical Evidence for the Theory of the Cycle
• Business Cycles Prior to the Industrial Revolution
• Business Cycles From the Industrial Revolution Onward
• The Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression of 1929
• The Economic Recessions of the Late 1970s and Early 1990s
• Some Empirical Testing of the Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle
• Conclusion

Chapter 7: A Critique of Monetarist and Keynesian Theories

• Introduction
• A Critique of Monetarism
• The Mythical Concept of Capital
• Austrian Criticism of Clark and Knight
• A Critique of the Mechanistic Monetarist Version of the Quantity Theory of Money
• A Brief Note on the Theory of Rational Expectations
• Criticism of Keynesian Economics
• Say's Law of Markets
• Keynes's Three Arguments On Credit Expansion
• Keynesian Analysis as a Particular Theory
• The So-Called Marginal Efficiency of Capital
• Keynes's Criticism of Mises and Hayek
• Criticism of the Keynesian Multiplier
• Criticism of the "Accelerator" Principle
• The Marxist Tradition and the Austrian Theory of Economic Cycles: The Neo-Ricardian Revolution and the Reswitching Controversy
• Conclusion
• Appendix on Life Insurance Companies and Other Non-Bank Financial Intermediaries
  Life Insurance Companies as True Financial Intermediaries
• Surrender Values and the Money Supply
• The Corruption of Traditional Life-Insurance Principles
• Other True Financial Intermediaries: Mutual Funds and Holding and Investment Companies
• Specific Comments on Credit Insurance

Chapter 8: Central and Free Banking Theory

• A Critical Analysis of the Banking School
• The Banking and Currency Views and the School of Salamanca
• The Response of the English-Speaking World to these Ideas on Bank Money
• The Controversy Between the Currency School and the Banking School
• The Debate Between Defenders of the Central Bank and Advocates of Free Banking
• Parnell's Pro-Free-Banking Argument and the Responses of McCulloch and Longfield
• A False Start for the Controversy Between Central Banking and Free Banking
• The Case for a Central Bank
• The Position of the Currency-School Theorists who Defended a Free-Banking System
• The "Theorem of the Impossibility of Socialism" and its Application to the Central Bank
• The Theory of the Impossibility of Coordinating Society Based on Institutional Coercion or the Violation of Traditional Legal Principles
• The Application of the Theorem of the Impossibility of Socialism to the Central Bank and the Fractional-Reserve Banking System
• (a) A System Based on a Central Bank Which Controls and Oversees a Network of Private Banks that Operate with a Fractional Reserve
• (b) A Banking System which Operates with a 100-Percent Reserve Ratio and is Controlled by a Central Bank
• (c) A Fractional-Reserve Free-Banking System
• Conclusion: The Failure of Banking Legislation
• A Critical Look at the Modern Fractional-Reserve Free-Banking School
• The Erroneous Basis of the Analysis: The Demand for Fiduciary Media, Regarded as an Exogenous Variable
• The Possibility that a Fractional-Reserve Free-Banking System May Unilaterally Initiate Credit Expansion
• The Theory of "Monetary Equilibrium" in Free Banking Rests on an Exclusively Macroeconomic Analysis
• The Confusion Between the Concept of Saving and that of the Demand for Money
• The Problem with Historical Illustrations of Free-Banking Systems
• Ignorance of Legal Arguments
• Conclusion: The False Debate between Supporters of Central Banking and Defenders of Fractional-Reserve Free Banking

Chapter 9: A Proposal for Banking Reform: The Theory of a 100-Percent Reserve Requirement

• A History of Modern Theories in Support of a 100-Percent Reserve Requirement
• The Proposal of Ludwig von Mises
• F.A. Hayek and the Proposal of a 100-Percent Reserve Requirement
• Murray N. Rothbard and the Proposal of a Pure Gold Standard with a 100-Percent Reserve Requirement
• Maurice Allais and the European Defense of a 100-Percent Reserve Requirement
• The Old Chicago-School Tradition of Support for a 100-Percent Reserve Requirement
• Our Proposal for Banking Reform
• Total Freedom of Choice in Currency
• A System of Complete Banking Freedom
• The Obligation of All Agents in a Free-Banking System to Observe Traditional Legal Rules and Principles, Particularly a 100-Percent Reserve Requirement on Demand Deposits
• What Would the Financial and Banking System of a Totally Free Society be Like?
  An Analysis of the Advantages of the Proposed System
• Replies to Possible Objections to our Proposal for Monetary Reform
• An Economic Analysis of the Process of Reform and Transition toward the Proposed Monetary and Banking System
• A Few Basic Strategic Principles
• Stages in the Reform of the Financial and Banking System
• The Importance of the Third and Subsequent Stages in the Reform: The Possibility They Offer of Paying Off the National Debt or Social Security Pension Liabilities
• The Application of the Theory of Banking and Financial Reform to the European Monetary Union and the Building of the Financial Sector in Economies of the Former Eastern Bloc

Conclusion: The Banking System of a Free Society
Bibliography
Index of Subjects
Index of Names

Organized Crime: The Unvarnished Truth About Government

Politics and thieves, coercion and regulation, fascism and the Fed, centralization and liberty, workers and unions, trade and freedom, free-market achievements and government disasters in American history—this book covers it all!

Organized Crime collection of essays in the tradition of Austrian political economy—a combination of applied economics and the study of governmental reality. Unlike “mainstream” economists who are content to spin mathematical model after mathematical model which explain little or nothing about the real world, DiLorenzo’s focus has always been just the opposite—to use economic understanding to gain a better understanding of how the political-economic world works. Austrian economics is indispensable to succeed at this task.

The book is divided into six sections: “Coercion and Regulation” analyzes various aspects of government regulation of business; “Politics and Thieves” is of course about the inherent nature of government; “Centralization versus Liberty” discusses the never-ending quest by statists to monopolize and centralize political power so as to isolate themselves as much as possible from public influence; “Money and the State” describes the myriad evils of central banking, which was always thought of by its original proponents in America as an engine of corruption; “Workers and Unions” discusses various labor union myths and superstitions that too often cloud the public’s thinking about the reality of labor markets; and “Truth and Lies about Markets” is a taxonomy of some of the main market-failure myths that have long been used to illegitimately advance the cause of economic interventionism, as well as some newer ones.

In Organized Crime: The Unvarnished Truth About Government, Thomas J. DiLorenzo strips away the vast apparatus of establishment propaganda and exposes the government smokescreen. No statist lies are safe from his scrutiny. In his straightforward and methodical approach to uncovering truths of freedom, liberty has a champion.

Introduction: Austrian Political Economy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

Section One: Coercion and Regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1. Four Thousand Years of Price Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2. The Other War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

3. Who Will Regulate the Regulators?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

4. Regulation and the Stock Market. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

5. Our Totalitarian Regulatory Bureaucracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

6. Antitrust, Anti-Truth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

7. Antitrust Luddites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

8. Socialized Healthcare vs. the Laws of Economics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Section Two: Politics and Thieves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

9. Pay to Play: Why the Fuss? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

10. Fed-ACORN Criminality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

11. Price Gouging: The Real Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

12. Farmed Robbery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

13. The Founding Father of Crony Capitalism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

14. The Curse of Instigationism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

15. The State’s Media Lapdogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Section Three: Centralization versus Liberty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

16. Freedom and Federalism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

17. The Origins of Nullification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

18. The Real Meaning of the Fourth of July . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

19. Electing U.S. Senators was a Bad Idea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

20. False Virtue: The Politics of Lying About History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

21. How (and Why) the Lincoln Myth was Invented . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

22. Centralization Lets the Worst Rise to the Top . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

23. Death by Government: The Missing Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

24. The Birth of American Imperialism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

vii

viii · Organized Crime

25. Paul Krugman’s Politically-Correct “Civil War” Delusions . . . . . . . . . . 86

26. Grand Old Tyrants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

27. Facialism: The New American System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

28. In Defense of Sedition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

29. Distorting History in the Service of the State. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Section Four: Money and the State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

30. Central Banking as an Engine of Corruption. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

31. States’ Rights vs. Monetary Monopoly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

32. How Central Banking Hides the Cost of War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

33. How the Fed Creates Unemployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

34. The Myth of a “Libertarian” Fed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

35. The Myth of the “Independent” Fed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

36. Why the Government is Responsible for the Sub-Prime

Mortgage Meltdown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Section Five: Workers and Unions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

37. The Political Economy of Government Employee Unions. . . . . . . . . . 143

38. The Inherent Violence of Unions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

39. The False Ideological Foundation of Unionism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

40. Markets, Not Unions, Give us Leisure and Safety on the Job . . . . . . . . 153

41. The Union Conspiracy Against Walmart Employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

42. How “Sweatshops” Help the Poor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Section Six: Truth and Lies about Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

43. The Truth about the “Robber Barons”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

44. The Truth about the Sherman Antitrust Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

45. The Myth of “Natural” Monopoly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

46. The Virtues of Tax “Loopholes” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

47. Macroeconomists Discover Economics and Debunk

the New Deal (Again) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

48. Will Socialism Make You Happier? The Trojan Horse of

“Happiness Research” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

49. The Canard of “Asymmetric Information” as a Source of

Market Failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

50. The Real Ethics Problem in America. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

51. The Myth of Government Job Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

52. The Myth of the Male/Female Wage Gap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Principles of Ethics: Anthology

This professionally prepared ebook is an electronic edition of the book that is designed for reading on digital readers like Nook, Kindle, iPad, Sony Reader, and other products including iPhone and Android smart phones. The text reflows depending on your font preferences and it contains links from navigation.

This two volume treatise by the classic liberal political theorist and philosopher Herbert Spencer has been considered by many to be his most influential work. The full compilation of its parts lasted almost a half century from the early 1840's to its publication in 1898. In this treatise, Spencer attempts to provide a basis for ethics built on principles of evolutionary biology. A wide array of topics are covered and explored involving conduct and the induction of ethics as well as justice, rights, and beneficence. This work is a crucial philosophical contribution to these and other subjects related to ethical conduct.

This very well may be the only eBook on the web for Herbert Spencer's Principles of Ethics!

General Preface

Preface to Vol. I

Preface to Part I: When First Issued Seperately

Part I: The Data of Ethics

Chapter I: Conduct In General

Chapter II: The Evolution of Conduct

Chapter III: Good And Bad Conduct

Chapter IV: Ways of Judging Conduct

Chapter V: The Physical View

Chapter VI: The Biological View

Chapter VII: The Psychological View

Chapter VIII: The Sociological View

Chapter IX: Criticisms And Explanations

Chapter X: The Relativity of Pains And Pleasures

Chapter XI: Egoism Versus Altruism

Chapter XII: Altruism Versus Egoism

Chapter XIII: Trial And Compromise

Chapter XIV: Conciliation

Chapter XV: Absolute And Relative Ethics

Chapter XVI: The Scope of Ethics

Appendix To Part I: The Conciliation

Part II: The Inductions of Ethics

Chapter I: The Confusion of Ethical Thought

Chapter II: What Ideas And Sentiments Are Ethical?

Chapter III: Aggression

Chapter IV: Robbery

Chapter V: Revenge

Chapter VI: Justice

Chapter VII: Generosity

Chapter VIII: Humanity

Chapter IX: Veracity

Chapter X: Obedience

Chapter XI: Industry

Chapter XII: Temperance

Chapter XIII: Chastity

Chapter XIV: Summary of Inductions

Part III: The Ethics of Individual Life

Chapter I: Introductory

Chapter II: Activity

Chapter III: Rest

Chapter IV: Nutrition

Chapter V: Stimulation

Chapter VI: Culture

Chapter VII: Amusements

Chapter VIII: Marriage

Chapter IX: Parenthood

Chapter X: General Conclusions

References

References to Vol. I

Titles of Works

-------------------------------

Preface To Vol. II

Preface to Part IV: When First Issued Seperately

Part IV: Justice

Chapter I: Animal-Ethics

Chapter II: Sub-Human Justice

Chapter III: Human Justice

Chapter IV: The Sentiment of Justice

Chapter V: The Idea of Justice

Chapter VI: The Formula of Justice

Chapter VII: The Authority of This Formula

Chapter VIII: Its Corollaries

Chapter IX: The Right To Physical Integrity

Chapter X: The Rights To Free Motion And Locomotion

Chapter XI: The Rights To The Uses Of Natural Media

Chapter XII: The Right of Property

Chapter XIII: The Right of Incorporeal Property

Chapter XIV: The Rights of Gift And Bequest

Chapter XV: The Rights of Free Exchange And Free Contract

Chapter XVI: The Right To Free Industry

Chapter XVII: The Rights of Free Belief And Worship

Chapter XVIII: The Rights of Free Speech And Publication

Chapter XIX: A Retrospect With An Addition

Chapter XX: The Rights of Women

Chapter XXI: The Rights of Children

Chapter XXII: Political Rights—So-Called

Chapter XXIII: The Nature of The State

Chapter XXIV: The Constitution of The State

Chapter XXV: The Duties of The State

Chapter XXVI: The Limits of State-Duties

Chapter XXVII: The Limits of State-Duties Continued

Chapter XXVIII: The Limits of State-Duties Continued

Chapter XXIX: The Limits of State-Duties Concluded

Part V: Negative Beneficence

Chapter I: Kinds of Altruism

Chapter II: Restraints On Free Competition

Chapter III: Restraints On Free Contract

Chapter IV: Restraints On Undeserved Payments

Chapter V: Restraints On Displays of Ability

Chapter VI: Restraints On Blame

Chapter VII: Restraints On Praise

Chapter VIII: The Ultimate Sanctions

Part VI: Positive Beneficence

Chapter I: Marital Beneficence

Chapter II: Parental Beneficence

Chapter III: Filial Beneficence

Chapter IV: Aiding The Sick And The Injured

Chapter V: Succour To The Ill-Used And The Endangered

Chapter VI: Pecuniary Aid To Relatives And Friends

Chapter VII: Relief of The Poor

Chapter VIII: Social Beneficence

Chapter IX: Political Beneficence

Chapter X: Beneficence At Large

Appendices

Appendix A: The Kantian Idea of Rights

Appendix B: The Land-Question

Appendix C: The Moral Motive

Appendix D: Conscience In Animals

Appendix E: Replies To Criticisms

References

Titles of Works Referred To

Subject Index

Review of Austrian Economics, Volume 1

RAE VOLUME 1

Murray Rothbard had long dreamed of an Austrian academic journal. In 1986, his dream came true. The Mises Institute published it, and it changed everything. The Austrians could focus on internal development, highlight the contrast with the mainstream, and show their wares to the profession and the world at large.

Rothbard was an exacting editor, and results are spectacular and historic.

The Review of Austrian Economics, was founded and edited by Murray N. Rothbard and functioned as the premier Austrian School scholarly journal between 1987 and 1997. From 1995 to 1997, it was edited by Walter Block, Hans-Hermann Hoppe, and Joseph T. Salerno. This collection of volumes 1 through 10 was published by the Mises Institute.

The individual issues have been nearly impossible to find, until now. Today you can own the entire set, learn from the pioneering articles that Murray and his co-editors saw as crucial, and see what gave the modern Austrian movement its scholarly momentum.

Contents

Introductory Editorial

Murray N. Rothbard and Walter Block

Editorial: The Inflationary Chaos Ahead

Henry Hazlitt

1.Why Subjectivism?

Leland Yeager

2.Wages, Prices, and Employment: Von Mises and the Progressives

Lowell Gallaway and Richard K. Vedder

3.A Critique of Monetarist and Austrian Doctrines on the Utility and Value of Money

Richard H. Timberlake, Jr.

4.Breaking Out of the Walrasian Box: The Cases of Schumpeter and Hansen

Murray N. Rothbard

5.Two Forgotten Articles by Ludwig von Mises on the Rationality of Socialist Economic Calculation

William Keizer

6.Rent Seeking: Some Conceptual Problems and Implications

E.C. Pasour, Jr.

7.Some Austrian Perspectives on Keynesian Fiscal Policy and the Recovery in the Thirties

Gene Smiley

8.GNP, PPR, and the Standard of Living

Robert Batemarco

I.Review Essays

9.The Economics of Time and Ignorance: A Review

Charles W. Baird

10.Method versus Methodology: A Note on The Ultimate Resource

M.W. Sinnett

II.Reviews

11.The Evolution of Cooperation

Roger Arnold

12.Competition versus Monopoly: Combines Policy in Perspective

Roger Arnold

13.A Response to the Framework Document for Amending the Combines Investigation Act

Roger Arnold

14.Writing History: Essay on Epistemology

Edward H. Kaplan

15.The Unseen Dimensions of Wealth: Towards a Generalized Economic Theory

Edward H. Kaplan

About the Contributors

About the Editor

Review of Austrian Economics, Volume 10

RAE VOLUME 10

Murray Rothbard had long dreamed of an Austrian academic journal. In 1986, his dream came true. The Mises Institute published it, and it changed everything. The Austrians could focus on internal development, highlight the contrast with the mainstream, and show their wares to the profession and the world at large.

Rothbard was an exacting editor, and results are spectacular and historic.

The individual issues have been nearly impossible to find, until now. Today you can own the entire set, learn from the pioneering articles that Murray and his co-editors saw as crucial, and see what gave the modern Austrian movement its scholarly momentum.

I. Articles

Randall G. Holcombe

1. A Theory of the Theory of Public Goods

Jörg Guido Hülsmann

2. Knowledge, Judgment, and the Use of Property

Hans-Hermann Hoppe

3. On Certainty and Uncertainty, Or: How Rational Can Our Expectations Be?

Jeffrey M. Herbener

4. The Pareto Rule and Welfare Economics

Arthur Middleton Hughes

5. The Recession of 1990: An Austrian Explanation

II. Notes and Replies

Ivan Pongracic

6. How Different Were Röpke and Mises?

Leland B. Yeager

7. Calculation and Knowledge: Let’s Write Finis

III. Book Reviews

8. Frank M. Machovec, Perfect Competition and the Transformation of Economics Reviewed by William D. Curl

9. Paul Krugman, Pop Internationalism Reviewed by David Gordon

10. Robert Skidelsky, The Road From Serfdom: The Economic and Political Consequences of the End of Communism Reviewed by David Gordon

I. Articles

Parth Shah

1. The Option Clause in Free-Banking Theory and History: A Reappraisal

Frank Shostak

2. In Defense of Fundamental Analysis: A Critique of the Efficient Market Hypothesis

Jacqueline R. Kasun

3. Government Family Planning: Effects and Incentives

II. Notes and Replies

Richard Vedder

4. Statistical Malfeasance and Interpreting Economic Phenomena

Lowell Gallaway

5. Some Austrian Perspectives on Unintended Consequences

Harold Demsetz

6. Block’s Erroneous Interpretations

Yuri Kuznetsov

7. Fiat Money as an Administrative Good

III. Book Reviews

8. George Reisman, Capitalism: A Complete and Integrated Understanding of the Nature and Value of Human Economic Life Reviewed by Alexander Tabarrok

9. Karen I. Vaughn, Austrian Economics in America: The Migration of a Tradition Reviewed by Robert Ekelund, Jr

Review of Austrian Economics, Volume 2

RAE VOLUME 2

Murray Rothbard had long dreamed of an Austrian academic journal. In 1986, his dream came true. The Mises Institute published it, and it changed everything. The Austrians could focus on internal development, highlight the contrast with the mainstream, and show their wares to the profession and the world at large.

Rothbard was an exacting editor, and results are spectacular and historic.

The individual issues have been nearly impossible to find, until now. Today you can own the entire set as digital books, learn from the pioneering articles that Murray and his co-editors saw as crucial, and see what gave the modern Austrian movement its scholarly momentum.

Contents

1.The Economic Calculation Debate: Lessons for Austrians

Israel M. Kirzner

2.Praxeology and Understanding: An Analysis of the Controversy in Austrian Economics

G.A. Selgin

3.Competition and Political Entrepreneurship: Austrian Insights into Public-Choice Theory

Thomas J. DiLorenzo

4.Why the Austrians Are Wrong About Depressions

Gordon Tullock

5.“Social Utility” and Government Transfers of Wealth: An Austrian Perspective

David Osterfeld

6.Austrian Methodology: The Preferred Tax Type

Jeffrey Herbener

7.The Neglect of the French Liberal School in Anglo-American Economics: A Critique of Received Explanations

Joseph T. Salerno

8.The Austrian Economists and the Late Hapsburg Viennese Milieu

Arthur M. Diamond, Jr.

Notes and Replies

9.Hayek’s “The Trend of Economic Thinking”

Bruce J. Caldwell

10.Timberlake on the Austrian Theory of Money: A Comment

Murray N. Rothbard

11.Reply to Comment by Murray N. Rothbard

Richard H. Timberlake, Jr.

12.On Yeager’s “Why Subjectivism?”

Walter Block

13.Reply to Comment by Walter Block

Leland B. Yeager

14.Saving the Depression: A New Look at World War II

Mark Skousen

Book Reviews

15.The Myth of Free Banking in Scotland

Murray N. Rothbard

16.White’s Free-Banking Thesis: A Case of Mistaken Identity

Larry J. Sechrest

17.A Critique of What Do Unions Do?

Morgan Reynolds

18.The Crash and Its Aftermath: A Review Article

Clifford F. Thies

19.Berger on Capitalism

David Gordon

About the Contributors

About the Editors

Review of Austrian Economics, Volume 3

RAE VOLUME 3

Murray Rothbard had long dreamed of an Austrian academic journal. In 1986, his dream came true. The Mises Institute published it, and it changed everything. The Austrians could focus on internal development, highlight the contrast with the mainstream, and show their wares to the profession and the world at large.

Rothbard was an exacting editor, and results are spectacular and historic.

The individual issues have been nearly impossible to find, until now. Today you can own the entire set, learn from the pioneering articles that Murray and his co-editors saw as crucial, and see what gave the modern Austrian movement its scholarly momentum.

Contents

In Memory

A Tribute to W.H. Hutt

Morgan O. Reynolds

I.Articles

1.The Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle in the Light of Modern Macroeconomics

Roger W. Garrison

2.A Subjectivist Perspective on the Economics of Crime

Samuel Cameron

3.The Hermeneutical Invasion of Philosophy and Economics

Murray N. Rothbard

4.Antitrust Reform: Predatory Practices and the Competitive Process

Dominick T. Armentano

5.Why the U.S. Economy Is Not Depression-Proof

Mark Skousen

6.The Efficient-Markets Hypothesis and Entrepreneurship

E.C.Pasour, Jr.

7.Trade Unions: The Private Use of Coercive Power

W.H. Hut^†

II.Notes and Replies

8.Mises on the Evenly Rotating Economy

J. Patrick Gunning

9.Subjective Cost Revisited

William Barnett II

10.Reply to Comment by William Barnett II

Leland B. Yeager

11.Comment on Tullock’s “Why Austrians Are Wrong About Depressions”

Joseph T. Salerno

12.Reply to Comment by Joseph T. Salerno

Gordon Tullock

13.Comment on Professor Timberlake’s Squared Rule for the Equilibrium Value for the Marginal Utility of Money

William Barnett II

14.Marginal Utility Equilibrium between Money and Goods: A Reply to Professor Barnett’s Criticism

Richard H. Timberlake, Jr.

15.Professor Caldwell on Ludwig von Mises’ Methodology

J. Patrick Gunning

III.Book Review Essays

16.In Defense of Extreme Rationalism: Thoughts on Donald McCloskey’s The Rhetoric of Economics

Hans-Hermann Hoppe

17.A Look at Subjectivism, Intelligibility and Economic Understanding: Essays in Honor of Ludwig M. Lachmann on his Eightieth Birthday

Walter Block

IV.Book Reviews

18.You’ll Find It in The New Palgrave

Mark Skousen

19.The Origins of Language: A Review

David Gordon

20.The Politics of Hunger: A Review

Ralph Raico

About the Contributors

About the Editors

In Memory

A Tribute to W.H. Hutt

Morgan O. Reynolds

I.Articles

1.The Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle in the Light of Modern Macroeconomics

Roger W. Garrison

2.A Subjectivist Perspective on the Economics of Crime

Samuel Cameron

3.The Hermeneutical Invasion of Philosophy and Economics

Murray N. Rothbard

4.Antitrust Reform: Predatory Practices and the Competitive Process

Dominick T. Armentano

5.Why the U.S. Economy Is Not Depression-Proof

Mark Skousen

6.The Efficient-Markets Hypothesis and Entrepreneurship

E.C.Pasour, Jr.

7.Trade Unions: The Private Use of Coercive Power

W.H. Hut^†

II.Notes and Replies

8.Mises on the Evenly Rotating Economy

J. Patrick Gunning

9.Subjective Cost Revisited

William Barnett II

10.Reply to Comment by William Barnett II

Leland B. Yeager

11.Comment on Tullock’s “Why Austrians Are Wrong About Depressions”

Joseph T. Salerno

12.Reply to Comment by Joseph T. Salerno

Gordon Tullock

13.Comment on Professor Timberlake’s Squared Rule for the Equilibrium Value for the Marginal Utility of Money

William Barnett II

14.Marginal Utility Equilibrium between Money and Goods: A Reply to Professor Barnett’s Criticism

Richard H. Timberlake, Jr.

15.Professor Caldwell on Ludwig von Mises’ Methodology

J. Patrick Gunning

III.Book Review Essays

16.In Defense of Extreme Rationalism: Thoughts on Donald McCloskey’s The Rhetoric of Economics

Hans-Hermann Hoppe

17.A Look at Subjectivism, Intelligibility and Economic Understanding: Essays in Honor of Ludwig M. Lachmann on his Eightieth Birthday

Walter Block

IV.Book Reviews

18.You’ll Find It in The New Palgrave

Mark Skousen

19.The Origins of Language: A Review

David Gordon

20.The Politics of Hunger: A Review

Ralph Raico

About the Contributors

About the Editors

Review of Austrian Economics, Volume 4

RAE VOLUME 4

Murray Rothbard had long dreamed of an Austrian academic journal. In 1986, his dream came true. The Mises Institute published it, and it changed everything. The Austrians could focus on internal development, highlight the contrast with the mainstream, and show their wares to the profession and the world at large.

Rothbard was an exacting editor, and results are spectacular and historic.

The individual issues have been nearly impossible to find, until now. Today you can own the entire set, learn from the pioneering articles that Murray and his co-editors saw as crucial, and see what gave the modern Austrian movement its scholarly momentum.

The Review of Austrian Economics
Volume 4

I. Articles

1.Eugen Richter and Late German Manchester Liberalism: A Reevaluation

Ralph Raico

2.Ludwig von Mises as Social Rationalist

Joseph T. Salerno

3.Banking, Nation States and International Politics:
A Sociological Reconstruction of the Present Economic Order

Hans-Hermann Hoppe

4.National Goods versus Public Goods: Defense, Disarmament, and Free Riders

Jeffrey Rogers Hummel

5.Karl Marx: Communist as Religious Eschatologist

Murray N. Rothbard

6.The Subjectivist Roots of James Buchanan’s Economics

Thomas J. DiLorenzo

II.Notes and Comments

7.The DMVP-MVP Controversy: A Note

Walter Block

8.Misconceptions about Austrian Business Cycle Theory: A Comment

James Clark and James Keeler

III.Book Reviews

9.Gary B. Madison. Understanding: A Phenomenological-Pragmatic Analysis

Reviewed by David Gordon

10.Thomas Sowell. A Conflict of Visions

Reviewed by David Gordon

11.David Conway. A Farewell to Marx

Reviewed by David Gordon

12.Richard L. Lucier. The International Political Economy of Coffee

Reviewed by E. C. Pasour, Jr.

13.Walter Block and Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., eds. Man, Economy, and Liberty

Reviewed by Hans-Hermann Hoppe

Review of Austrian Economics, Volume 5

RAE VOLUME 5

Murray Rothbard had long dreamed of an Austrian academic journal. In 1986, his dream came true. The Mises Institute published it, and it changed everything. The Austrians could focus on internal development, highlight the contrast with the mainstream, and show their wares to the profession and the world at large.

Rothbard was an exacting editor, and results are spectacular and historic.

The individual issues have been nearly impossible to find, until now. Today you can own the entire set, learn from the pioneering articles that Murray and his co-editors saw as crucial, and see what gave the modern Austrian movement its scholarly momentum.

^The Review of Austrian Economics

Volume 5, Number 1

I.Articles

1.Eighteen Problematic Propositions in the Analysis of the Growth of Government

Robert Higgs

2.An Evolutionary Contractarian View of Primitive Law: The Institutions and Incentives Arising Under Customary Indian Law

Bruce L. Benson

3.Austrian Capital and Interest Theory: Wieser’s Contribution and the Menger Tradition

A. M. Endres

4.New Classical and Old Austrian Economics: Equilibrium Business Cycle Theory in Perspective

Roger W. Garrison

II.Review Essay

5.Marxism, Capitalism and Mercantilism A Review of Traders Versus the State by Garcia Clark

David Osterfeld

III.Book Reviews

6.Israel M. Kirzner, Discovery, Capitalism, and Distributive Justice

Reviewed by David Gordon

7.Philip Mirowski, More Heat Than Light: Economics as Social Physics, Physics as Nature’s Economics

Reviewed by David Gordon

8.Robert Formaini, The Myth of Scientific Public Policy

Reviewed by David Gordon

9.Morris Silver, Foundations of Economic Justice

Reviewed by David Gordon

^The Review of Austrian Economics

Volume 5, Number 2

I. Articles

1.The Great Depression of 1946

Richard K. Vedder and Lowell Gallaway

2.Ludwig von Mises and the Austrian School of Economics

Jeffrey M. Herbener

3.The End of Socialism and the Calculation Debate Revisited

Murray N. Rothbard

4.De-Socialization in a United Germany

Hans-Hermann Hoppe

II. Notes and Replies

5.The Preferred Tax Type: Comment on Herbener

Alexander Tabarrok

6.Comment on Preferred Tax Type: Reply to Tabarrok

Jeffrey M. Herbener

III. Book Reviews

7.Bettina Bien Greaves, ed., Ludwig von Mises, Economic, Freedom and Interventionism: An Anthology of Articles and Essays

Reviewed by Roger W. Garrison

8.Donald N. McCloskey, If You’re So Smart: The Narrative of Economic Expertise

Reviewed by David Gordon

9.Jonathan Wolff, Robert Nozick: Property, Justice, and the Minimal State

Reviewed by David Gordon

Review of Austrian Economics, Volume 6

RAE VOLUME 6

Murray Rothbard had long dreamed of an Austrian academic journal. In 1986, his dream came true. The Mises Institute published it, and it changed everything. The Austrians could focus on internal development, highlight the contrast with the mainstream, and show their wares to the profession and the world at large.

Rothbard was an exacting editor, and results are spectacular and historic.

The individual issues have been nearly impossible to find, until now. Today you can own the entire set, learn from the pioneering articles that Murray and his co-editors saw as crucial, and see what gave the modern Austrian movement its scholarly momentum.

I.Articles

Joseph T. Salerno

1.The Development Of Keynes’s Economics: From Marshall To Millennialism

Murray N. Rothbard

2.How and How Not To Desocialize

Jeffrey M. Herbener

3.The Role of Entrepreneurship in Desocialization

II.Review Essay

Murray N. Rothbard

4.Aurophobia: or, Free Banking on What Standard?
A Review of Gold, Greenbacks, and the Constitution, by Richard H. Timberlake

III.Book Reviews

5.Bruce L. Benson, The Enterprise of Law Reviewed by David Gordon

Review of Austrian Economics, Volume 7

RAE VOLUME 7

Murray Rothbard had long dreamed of an Austrian academic journal. In 1986, his dream came true. The Mises Institute published it, and it changed everything. The Austrians could focus on internal development, highlight the contrast with the mainstream, and show their wares to the profession and the world at large.

Rothbard was an exacting editor, and results are spectacular and historic.

The individual issues have been nearly impossible to find, until now. Today you can own the entire set, learn from the pioneering articles that Murray and his co-editors saw as crucial, and see what gave the modern Austrian movement its scholarly momentum.

I.Articles

Paul A. Cantor

1.Hyperinflation and Hyperreality: Thomas Mann in Light of Austrian Economics

Nicolai Juul Foss

2.The Theory of the Firm: The Austrians as Precursors and Critics of Contemporary Theory

Hans-Hermann Hoppe

3.F. A. Hayek on Government and Social Evolution: A Critique

David Gordon

4.The Philosophical Contributions of Ludwig von Mises

John B. Egger

5.The Contributions of W. H. Hutt

II.Note

Kenneth K. Sanders

6.A Note on Jean-Baptiste Say and Carl Menger Regarding Value

III.Book Review

7.Mark A. Kleiman, Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results
Reviewed by Mark Thornton

I.Articles

Robert Higgs

1.Banning a Risky Product Cannot Improve Any Consumer’s Welfare (Properly Understood), with Applications to FDA Testing Requirements

Mark Thornton

2.Slavery, Profitability, and the Market Process

Hans-Hermann Hoppe

3.How is Fiat Money Possible?
—or, The Devolution of Money and Credit

Murray N. Rothbard

4.The Consumption Tax: A Critique

II.Notes and Replies

Leland B. Yeager

5.Mises and Hayek on Calculation and Knowledge

Joseph T. Salerno

6.Reply to Leland B. Yeager

Barry Smith

7.The Philosophy of Austrian Economics

David Gordon

8.Second Thoughts on The Philosophical Origins of Austrian Economics

Review of Austrian Economics, Volume 8

RAE VOLUME 8

Murray Rothbard had long dreamed of an Austrian academic journal. In 1986, his dream came true. The Mises Institute published it, and it changed everything. The Austrians could focus on internal development, highlight the contrast with the mainstream, and show their wares to the profession and the world at large.

Rothbard was an exacting editor, and results are spectacular and historic.

The individual issues have been nearly impossible to find, until now. Today you can own the entire set, learn from the pioneering articles that Murray and his co-editors saw as crucial, and see what gave the modern Austrian movement its scholarly momentum.

I. Articles

Roger W. Garrison

1.The Federal Reserve: Then and Now

Don Bellante

2.Sticky Wages, Efficiency Wages, and Market Process

Walter Block

3.Total Repeal of Antitrust Legislation: A Critique of Bork, Brozen, and Posner

Joseph T. Salerno

4.Ludwig von Mises’s Monetary Theory in Light of Modern Monetary Thought

David Gordon

5.Justice and Redistributive Taxation: James Buchanan versus Ludwig von Mises

Editorial

1.Walter Block, Hans-Hermann Hoppe, and Joseph T. Salerno

I. Articles

John B. Egger

2.Arthur Marget in the Austrian Tradition of the Theory of Money

Jesús Huerta de Soto

3.A Critical Analysis of Central Banks and Fractional-Reserve Free Banking from the Austrian Perspective

Murray N. Rothbard

4.Egalitarianism and the Elites

II. Notes and Replies

Walter Block

5.Ethics, Efficiency, Coasian Property Rights and Psychic Income: A Reply to Harold Demsetz

Nicolai Juul Foss

6.Information and the Market Economy: A Note on a Common Marxist Fallacy

III. Book Review

7. James M. Buchanan, Ethics and Economic Progress Reviewed by David Gordon

Review of Austrian Economics, Volume 9

RAE VOLUME 9

Murray Rothbard had long dreamed of an Austrian academic journal. In 1986, his dream came true. The Mises Institute published it, and it changed everything. The Austrians could focus on internal development, highlight the contrast with the mainstream, and show their wares to the profession and the world at large.

Rothbard was an exacting editor, and results are spectacular and historic.

The individual issues have been nearly impossible to find, until now. Today you can own the entire set, learn from the pioneering articles that Murray and his co-editors saw as crucial, and see what gave the modern Austrian movement its scholarly momentum.

I.Articles

Jörg Guido Hülsmann

1.Free Banking and the Free Bankers

Salim Rashid and Abdus Samad

2.Portfolio Management of the Free Banks of Illinois:
An Examination of Historical Allegations

Walter Block and Kenneth M. Garschina

3.Hayek, Business Cycles and Fractional Reserve Banking:
Continuing the De-Homogenization Process

Pascal Salin

4.The Myth of the Income Effect

Anthony de Jasay

5.Hayek: Some Missing Pieces

David W. Boyd

6.Vertical Restraints and the Retail Free Riding Problem:
An Austrian Perspective

II.Notes and Replies

Leland B. Yeager

7.Rejoinder: Salerno on Calculation, Knowledge, and Appraisement

Joseph T. Salerno

8.A Final Word: Calculation, Knowledge, and Appraisement

Hans-Hermann Hoppe

9.Socialism: A Property or Knowledge Problem?

Jeffrey M. Herbener

10.Calculation and the Question of Arithmetic

III.Review Essays

Roger W. Garrison

11.Keynes Was a Keynesian

Murray N. Rothbard

12.Intimidation by Rhetoric

IV.Book Review

13.Murray N. Rothbard, Economic Thought Before Adam Smith (vol. I) and Classical Economics (vol. II)
Reviewed by Leland B. Yeager

Dedicated to the Memory of Murray N. Rothbard

From the Editors

Peter G. Klein

1.Economic Calculation and the Limits of Organization

Pascal Salin

2.Cartels as Efficient Productive Structures

Thomas J. DiLorenzo

3.The Myth of Natural Monopoly

Jesús Huerta de Soto

4.New Light on the Prehistory of the Theory of Banking and the School of Salamanca

George Selgin and Lawrence H. White

5.In Defense of Fiduciary Media—or, We Are Not Devo(lutionists), We Are Misesians!

Roger W. Garrison

6.Central Banking, Free Banking, and Financial Crises

Richard E. Wagner

7.Who Owes What, and To Whom? Public Debt, Ricardian Equivalence, and Governmental Form

Israel M. Kirzner

8.Reflections on the Misesian Legacy in Economics

The Foundations of Morality

Here is Hazlitt's major philosophical work, in which he grounds a policy of private property and free markets in an ethic of classical utilitarianism, understood in the way Mises understood that term. In writing this book, Hazlitt is reviving an 18th and 19th century tradition in which economists wrote not only about strictly economic issues but also on the relationship between economics and the good of society in general. Adam Smith wrote a moral treatise because he knew that many objections to markets are rooted in these concerns. Hazlitt takes up the cause too, and with spectacular results.

Hazlitt favors an ethic that seeks the long run general happiness and flourishing of all. Action, institutions, rules, principles, customs, ideals, and all the rest stand or fall according to the test of whether they permit people to live together peaceably to their mutual advantage. Critical here is an understanding of the core classical liberal claim that the interests of the individual and that of society in general are not antagonistic but wholly compatible and co-determinous.

In pushing for "rules-utilitarianism," Hazlitt is aware that he is adopting an ethic that is largely rejected in our time, even by the bulk of the liberal tradition. But he makes the strongest case possible, and you will certainly be challenged at every turn.

In addition, the writing style here is unequaled. It was written in 1964 after a lifetime of writing and thinking. He poured an enormous amount of effort into it, with the goal of completing and vindicating Mises's view of ethics, one which had not been taken up by any Misesians apart from Leland Yeager. Indeed, Yeager writes the foreword.

It is not necessary that you finally agree with Hazlitt's view to appreciate his defense of freedom and the market economy, which explains in great detail how the voluntary society benefits all its members, and how the market economy deserves to be regarded as a critical component of a flourishing civilization. His attacks on logical positivism, socialism, aestheticism, and egalitarianism are dazzling. This book will inspire, provoke, and educate.

Hazlitt personally regarded it as his most important lifetime contribution.

The Foundations of Morality

Here is Hazlitt's major philosophical work, in which he grounds a policy of private property and free markets in an ethic of classical utilitarianism, understood in the way Mises understood that term. In writing this book, Hazlitt is reviving an 18th and 19th century tradition in which economists wrote not only about strictly economic issues but also on the relationship between economics and the good of society in general. Adam Smith wrote a moral treatise because he knew that many objections to markets are rooted in these concerns. Hazlitt takes up the cause too, and with spectacular results.

Hazlitt favors an ethic that seeks the long run general happiness and flourishing of all. Action, institutions, rules, principles, customs, ideals, and all the rest stand or fall according to the test of whether they permit people to live together peaceably to their mutual advantage. Critical here is an understanding of the core classical liberal claim that the interests of the individual and that of society in general are not antagonistic but wholly compatible and co-determinous.

In pushing for "rules-utilitarianism," Hazlitt is aware that he is adopting an ethic that is largely rejected in our time, even by the bulk of the liberal tradition. But he makes the strongest case possible, and you will certainly be challenged at every turn.

In addition, the writing style here is unequaled. It was written in 1964 after a lifetime of writing and thinking. He poured an enormous amount of effort into it, with the goal of completing and vindicating Mises's view of ethics, one which had not been taken up by any Misesians apart from Leland Yeager. Indeed, Yeager writes the foreword.

It is not necessary that you finally agree with Hazlitt's view to appreciate his defense of freedom and the market economy, which explains in great detail how the voluntary society benefits all its members, and how the market economy deserves to be regarded as a critical component of a flourishing civilization. His attacks on logical positivism, socialism, aestheticism, and egalitarianism are dazzling. This book will inspire, provoke, and educate.

Hazlitt personally regarded it as his most important lifetime contribution.

The Turgot Collection: Writings, Speeches, and Letters of Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune

This outstanding book was ten years in the making, but it is finally here and the result is startling. It is a pocket edition, super economical, 525 pages of Turgot – the bulk of his life’s work, all beautifully organized.

He might have been the key influence on Jefferson but, in any case, he certainly was the great French liberal of the 18th century, not only a proto-Austrian but also a fantastic defender of human liberty in every respect.

Of course the book includes his famed and pioneering "Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth." But this volume covers economics, history, social theory, philosophy, and even religion. It also includes his correspondence with Voltaire, Hume, Condorcet, and others.

You will find yourself wrapped up in his worldview and thinking like a liberal French aristocrat of the time. Murray Rothbard's brilliant essay on Turgot is the preface. David Gordon wrote the lucid and helpful introductions to each section. Here you find not only his economics but his theory of history and life itself.

Turgot might be the greatest, least known of the enlightenment liberals. This volume should certainly contribute to making a revival possible.

As Murray Rothbard writes:

"Not only was Turgot a busy administrator, but his intellectual interests were wide-ranging, and most of his spare time was spent reading and writing, not in economics, but in history, literature, philology, and the natural sciences. His contributions to economics were brief, scattered, and hasty. His most famous work, “Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth” (1766), comprised only fifty-three pages. This brevity only highlights the great contributions to economics made by this remarkable man. In the history of thought, the style is often the man, and Turgot’s clarity and lucidity of style mirrors the virtues of his thought, and contrasts refreshingly to the prolix and turgid prose of the physiocrat school.

The Turgot Collection from Mises Media on Vimeo.

Introduction by Murray N. Rothbard

PART I: ECONOMICS

1. Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth
2. Letter to l’Abbé de Cicé, since then Bishop of Auxerre, on the Replacing of Money by Paper. Also Known as the “Letter on Paper-Money”
3. Remarks on the Notes to the Translation of Josiah Child
4. Fairs and Markets
5. In Praise of Gournay
6. Observations on a Paper by Saint-Péravey
7. Observations on the Paper by Graslin
8. Value and Money
9. Plan for a Paper on Taxation
10. Extracts from “Paper on Lending at Interest”
11. Extracts from “Letters on the Grain Trade”
12. Letter to l’Abbé Terray on the “Marque des Fers"
13. Six Projects of Edicts Which Suppresses the Corvée and Decrees the Construction of Highways for a Money Price Decreeing the Suppression of Craft-Guilds Which Repeals Certain Rules Concerning Grain Products Enacting the Suppression of the Exchange of Poissy Enacting a Change and Modification of Taxes on Suet Enacting the Suppression of Offices Connected with the Ports, Quays, Stalls and Markets of Paris

PART II: PHILOSOPHY
14. A Philosophical Review of the Successive Advances of the Human Mind
15. On Universal History

PART III: SOCIAL QUESTIONS
16. On Some Social Questions, Including the Education of the Young
17. Local Government and National Education
18. Religious Liberty “Le conciliateur”
19. Religious Equality 20. Endowments

PART IV: CORRESPONDENCE
To Voltaire
To Condorcet
To David Hume
To Mlle. de Lespinasse
To Abbé Morellet
To Dr. Josiah Tucker
To Dr. Richard Price
To du Pont
Appendix: Miscellaneous Extracts Sources Index

The Wizards of Ozymandias

Western Civilization--the American version in particular--is in a very turbulent and, perhaps terminal condition. The sense of civility that helps give meaning to a "civilization" is in full retreat.

Butler Shaffer has, over the course of several years, written 51 wonderful essays observing the dissolution of Western culture and civilization. They have been assembled in the The Wizards of Ozymandias a captivating work full of entertaining epigrams and anecdotes, as well as enlightening commentary on current events, and historical episodes, that will keep you engaged and immersed from the first to last page. Shaffer's intellectual prowess and deep well of life experience enlightens and rouses introspection at every turn. It is immediately evident that the author has been writing on law, economics, and history for decades. This book will challenge you to more deeply contemplate the ideals of liberty. The title may be foreboding, but for all that, the book is an uplifting and gratifying read.

In his great poem "Ozymandias" Percy Shelley pictures for us the eponymous tyrant whose arrogance of power could not save him from historical oblivion. Ozymandias is a reminder of the fragile nature of every system—be it biological, institutional, or cosmic in character. As we are learning from the advanced course in history in which we seem now to be enrolled, this precariousness also applies to civilizations. It is difficult for intelligent minds to doubt that this current system is in the process of joining Ozymandias in the dust-bin of history.

Western culture has produced material and spiritual values that have done so much to humanize and civilize mankind. Unfortunately, it has also produced highly-structured institutions and practices that not only impede, but reverse these life-enhancing qualities. Is it possible for us to energize our intelligence in order to rediscover, in the debris of our dying civilization, the requisite components for a fundamentally transformed culture grounded in free, peaceful, and productive systems that sustain rather than diminish life?

In the introduction Shaffer describes how civilizations are created by individuals. In following chapters, he explains how they are destroyed by collectives which are good for little more than the destruction of what others have created. Seen in the sharp contrasts between market economies and state socialism; the fundamental struggles are between the creative energies unleashed by liberty, and the repressive forces of politics. Shaffer explores the impact that institutionalism may have on the decline of civilization.

Shaffer methodically takes the reader through the rise and decline of Western civilization using references that range from the construction of an Islamic cultural center a few blocks from the site of the former World Trade Center, to the BP disaster, to the 1951 motion picture, The Day the Earth Stood Stilland on to experiments in removing road signs and traffic lights.

What is likely to follow from this imminent “decline and fall?” Might the remnants of our terminal culture—like an estate bequeathed us by a rich benefactor—provide the foundations for a fundamentally transformed culture; one that does not cannibalize itself?

Can conditions of peace and liberty replace the wars, coercive regulation, and worship of violence that have combined to destroy our present civilization? The book ends with such questions, and invites the reader to contemplate how such a life-centered culture might arise.

If after reading this book you are not convinced that the fall of western civilization is upon us, don't grieve just yet! Shaffer is optimistic that such a collapse could be the turning point for a social transformation toward a society that embraces individual liberty and private property, and that is free from collectivism and institutionalization. Shaffer can already see the seeds of such a transformation.

"The new renaissance that seems to be emerging is fostered, in large part, by exponential increases in our capacities for communicating information to one another. Indeed, “information” may prove to be the “instrument of expansion” that will underlie a new culture."

Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

Ozymandias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xv

1. On the Decline and Fall. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 1
2. The Life and Death of Civilizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
3. Consuming Our Capital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .23
4. A World Too Complex to be Managed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .33
5. The Common Good = Collectivism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .37
6. The Dysfunctional Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
7. The Silence of Institutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .49
8. Law as “Reason” or as “Violence”? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
9. Lest We Forget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
10. We’re Going Away!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
11. Fighting for Freedom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69
12. Orwell Lives!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73
13. The Siege of San Francisco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75
14. Suicide and the Insanity of War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .79
15. Vonnegut on War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .83
16. How We Lost Our Souls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85
17. The Wee Ones Revisited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .89
18. Resisting the Deadly Virus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .91
19. Structuring the Instruments of Expansion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97
20. Why TSA, Wars, State Defi ned Diets, Seat-Belt Laws, the War on Drugs, Police Brutality, and Efforts to Control the Internet, are Essential to the State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
21. Saving Our Brave, New World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 107
22. “Klaatu barada nikto!”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
23. “Support the Shopping Mall Killers” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 117
24. Politics and War as Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
25. Can Liberty Be Advanced Through Violence?. . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
26. When the World Went Bankrupt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
27. Civilization in Free-Fall. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
28. Obama Revives a Tradition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 145
29. The Irrelevance of the State. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
30. The Hitler Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
31. Impeach the American People! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 159
32. What Did bin Laden “Deserve”? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
33. Wind Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
34. Life is Destroying the Planet! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 175
35. The Real World Order is Chaotic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
36. Blogs or Blotto?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
37. Bring Back Discrimination. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
38. Saving a Dying Corpse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
39. The Slave Mentality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 203
40. Running on Empty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
41. A Black Hole on $10 Billion a Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 215
42. The New Geometry and the New Math . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 219
43. What Is Anarchy?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
44. Anarchy in the Streets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
45. An Outbreak of Order in NYC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 235
46. The Virtues of Smallness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 241
47. Increase Your Carbon Footprint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 247
48. Overcoming Barriers to Killing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
49. What is to Become of the State? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 259
50. Civilization Collapsing, or Transforming? . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . . . 265
51. A Cost/Benefit Analysis of the Human Spirit:

The Luddites Revisited. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 279

War Collectivism

War Collectivism: Power, Business, and the Intellectual Class in World War I

More than any other single period, World War I was the critical watershed for the American business system. It was a "war collectivism," a totally planned economy run largely by big-business interest through the instrumentality of the central government, which served as the model, the precedent, and the inspiration for state corporate capitalism for the remainder of the century.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• War Collectivism in World War I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
• World War I as Fulfillment:
• Power and the Intellectuals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
• Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
• Piestism and Prohibition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
• Women at War and at the Polls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
• Savings Our Boys from Alcohol and Vice . . . . . . . . . .74
• The New Republic Collectivists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83
• Economics in Service of the State:
• The Empiricism of Richard T. Ely. . . . . . . . . . . . . .94
• Economics in Service of the State:
• Government and Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104
• Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127

War Collectivism in World War I
This is reprinted from A New History of Leviathan, Ronald Radosh and Murray N. Rothbard, eds. (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1972), pp. 66– 110.

World War I as Fulfillment: Power and the Intellectuals
1 An earlier version of this paper was delivered at a Pacific Institute Conference on “Crisis and Leviathan,” at Menlo Park, Calif., October 1986. It appeared in print in the Journal of Libertarian Studies 9, no. 1 (Winter, 1989). It was reprinted in John V. Denson, ed., The Costs of War: America’s Pyrrhic Victories (New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1997). The title of this paper is borrowed from the pioneering last chapter of James Weinstein’s excellent work, The Corporate Ideal in the Liberal State, 1900–1918 (Boston: Beacon Press, 1968). The last chapter is entitled, “War as Fulfillment.”

What Has Government Done to Our Money?

When this gem first appeared in 1963, it took the form of a small paperback designed for mass distribution. We've conjured up that spirit again with this special edition of Rothbard's primer on money and government.

Innumerable economists, investors, commentators, and authors have learned from this book through the decades. After fifty years, it remains the best book in print on the topic, a real manifesto of sound money.

Rothbard boils down the Austrian theory to its essentials. The book also made huge theoretical advances. Rothbard was the first to prove that the government, and only the government, can destroy money on a mass scale, and he showed exactly how they go about this dirty deed. But just as importantly, it is beautifully written. He tells a thrilling story because he loves the subject so much.

The passion that Murray feels for the topic comes through in the prose and transfers to the reader. Readers become excited about the subject, and tell others. Students tell professors. Some, like the great Ron Paul of Texas, have even run for political office after having read it.

Rothbard shows precisely how banks create money out of thin air and how the central bank, backed by government power, allows them to get away with it. He shows how exchange rates and interest rates would work in a true free market. When it comes to describing the end of the gold standard, he is not content to describe the big trends. He names names and ferrets out all the interest groups involved.

Since Rothbard's death, scholars have worked to assess his legacy, and many of them agree that this little book is one of his most important. Though it has sometimes been inauspiciously packaged and is surprisingly short, its argument took huge strides toward explaining that it is impossible to understand public affairs in our time without understanding money and its destruction.

This volume's contents include:

• Preface by Jörg Guido Hülsmann
• I. Introduction by Murray Rothbard
• II. Money in a Free Society
  • 1. The Value of Exchange
  • 2. Barter
  • 3. Indirect Exchange
  • 4. Benefits of Money
  • 5. The Monetary Unit
  • 6. The Shape of Money
  • 7. Private Coinage
  • 8. The Proper Supply of Money
  • 9. The Problem of Hoarding
  • 10. Stabilize the Price Level?
  • 11. Coexisting Moneys
  • 12. Money-Warehouses
  • 13. Summary
• III. Government Meddling With Money
  • 1. The Revenue of Government
  • 2. The Economic Effects of Inflation
  • 3. Compulsory Monopoly of the Mint
  • 4. Debasement
  • 5. Gresham's Law and Coinage
  • 6. Summary: Government and Coinage
  • 7. Permitting Banks to Refuse Payment
  • 8. Central Banking: Removing the Checks on Inflation
  • 9. Central Banking: Directing the Inflation
  • 10. Going Off the Gold Standard
  • 11. Fiat Money and the Gold Problem
  • 12. Fiat Money and Gresham's Law
  • 13. Government and Money
• IV. The Monetary Breakdown of the West
  • 1. Phase I: The Classical Gold Standard, 1815-1914
  • 2. Phase II: World War I and After
  • 3. Phase III: The Gold Exchange Standard (Britain and the United States) 1926-1931
  • 4. Phase IV: Fluctuating Fiat Currencies, 1931-1945...
  • 5. Phase V: Bretton Woods and the New Gold Exchange Standard (the United States) 1945 1968
  • 6. Phase VI: The Unraveling of Bretton Woods, 1968-1971
  • 7. Phase VII: The End of Bretton Woods: Fluctuating Fiat Currencies, August-December, 1971
  • 8. Phase VIII: The Smithsonian Agreement, December 1971-February 1973
  • 9. Phase IX: Fluctuating Fiat Currencies, March 1973-?