CHAPTER IV. A FIRST ANALYSIS OF THE CATEGORY OF ACTION CHAPTER SUMMARY 1. Ends and Means The end (or goal or aim) is the result sought by an actor. The means is whatever is used to attain the end. Ends and means do not exist in the physical universe, but rather are the product of a valuing mind as it surveys its physical environment. Praxeology
CHAPTER V. TIME CHAPTER SUMMARY 1. The Temporal Character of Praxeology In a logical system (such as mathematics) all of the implications are coexistent and interdependent. It is not true that the axioms of geometry “cause” its theorems to be true, even though a limited human mind must work step by step through a geometrical proof. In the sense
[This Study Guide to Human Action , Chapter VII is also available in PDF .] Chapter VII. Action Within the World Chapter Summary 1. The Law of Marginal Utility Acting man must place all ends onto a single scale of values. If he is to choose between (say) acquiring a steak or attending the opera, he must decide which outcome yields the most
[This Study Guide to Human Action , Chapter VIII is also available in PDF .] CHAPTER VIII. HUMAN SOCIETY Chapter Summary 1. Human Cooperation Society is the combination of individuals for cooperative effort. People collaborate — form social bonds — because they perceive the greater productivity afforded by the division of labor. This doesn’t mean
[This Study Guide to Human Action , Chapter XVII is also available in PDF .] CHAPTER XVII. INDIRECT EXCHANGE Chapter Summary 1. Media of Exchange and Money In direct exchange, each party intends to use the object being acquired for consumption or production. In contrast, during indirect exchange, at least one of the parties to the transaction does
[This Study Guide to Human Action , Chapter XIX is also available in PDF .] CHAPTER XIX. THE RATE OF INTEREST CHAPTER SUMMARY 1. The Phenomenon of Interest Originary interest is the discount applied to future goods versus present goods, and is ultimately due to the universal phenomenon of time preference. As chapter XVIII demonstrated, people
Chapter XVI. Prices Chapter Summary 1. The Pricing Process When two individuals trade goods as an isolated event, catallactics can only say that the exchange ratio in this act of barter will ensure that each trader gains something more valuable than what he gives up. Beyond that truism, the exchange ratio (barter “price”) could be anywhere in a
With all of the comparisons between President Obama and FDR, and especially all of the “lessons” we are told about the Great Depression, fans of the free market need a single volume to get up to speed as well as to educate their interventionist friends. I have written such a book in the newly released The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Great
Ever since the fall of 2008, interest in the Austrian theory of the business cycle has exploded. Judging from the email I receive after a Mises Daily article, or the type of people who go to a Mises Circle event, I can personally attest that it’s not just ideological students and college professors anymore. On the contrary, actual financial
I am happy to announce that the Teacher’s Manual is now available for my introductory textbook, Lessons for the Young Economist . For those readers who are unfamiliar with it, let me explain that the student text was designed with junior-high students in mind, but it is applicable for younger, precocious students, and also even for adults who
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.