A false guide for central bank monetary policy.
Economics
Economic Ideas: Karl Marx’s Misconceptions about Man and Markets
Though it may seem strange, Karl Marx was not always a communist. As late as 1842, when Marx was in his mid-20s, he actually said he opposed any attempt to establish a communist system. In October 1842, he became editor of the Rheinische Zeitung [the Rhineland Times],...
James Mill, David Ricardo and the Triumph of Free Trade
The nineteenth century victory of free trade over Mercantilism and Protectionism represented one of the great triumphs in the history of classical liberalism.
David Ricardo on Wealth, Inflation, and Freedom (Economic Ideas)
David Ricardo (1772-1823) was one of the most influential economic theorists of the first half of the nineteenth century.
Thomas Malthus on Population, Passions, Property and Politics (Economic Ideas)
This escape from poverty originated in Western Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with the coming of the Industrial Revolution and the freeing of men and markets from the heavy-handed regulations and commercial restrictions of government.
Adam Smith on Free Trade, Crony Capitalism, and the Benefits from Commercial Society: Economic Ideas
Adam Smith’s central contribution to economic understanding was surely his demonstration that under an institutional arrangement of individual liberty, property rights, and voluntary exchange the self-interested conduct of market participants could be shown to be consistent with a general betterment of the human condition.
Adam Smith on Moral Sentiments, Division of Labor and the Invisible Hand: Economic Ideas
In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith applied Francis Hutcheson’s idea of “natural liberty” in formulating a conception of the meaning of individual freedom and the role and functions of limited government in a free society.
Economics Ideas: David Hume on Self-Coordinating and Correcting Market Processes
Hume presented a devastating criticism of Mercantilist thinking on trade and commerce, while at the same time, demonstrating the self-regulating and “balancing” forces of the market process.
Economic Ideas: Adam Ferguson and Society as a Spontaneous Order
One of the most cherished misunderstandings, if not delusions, of the social engineer – the individual who would presume to attempt to remake society through conscious and planned design – is the confident belief that he (and those like him) can ever know enough to successfully remold mankind and human institutions.
Economic Ideas: Adam Ferguson and Society as a Spontaneous Order
Society was not created by design to provide safety and security, but, instead, freedom and rights emerged and evolved out of more primitive forms of tribal and collective association as responses to considered injustices and abusive power.
Economic Ideas: Francis Hutcheson and a System of Natural Liberty
Adam Smith was one of Hutcheson’s students in Glasgow, and his influence on Adam Smith was singularly significant, from everything from the importance of division of labor and the role of private property, to the normative notion of a free society based on a “system of natural liberty.”
Economic Ideas: Bernard Mandeville and the Social Betterment Arising from Private Vices
The “moral” that Mandeville drew from his tale was that prosperous, wealthy and great societies only arise from men’s self-interested desires, and that is what made for successful civilizations:
Inflation, Price Controls and Collectivism During the French Revolution: Economic Ideas
When governments find it impossible to continue raising taxes or borrowing funds, they have invariably turned to printing paper money to finance their growing expenditures. The political economy of the French Revolution is a tragic example of this.
The French Physiocrats and the Case for Laissez-Faire: Economic Ideas
The best policy for government to follow is “laisser passer, laisser faire” — let goods pass and leave men alone to their own decisions.
Mercantilism as Monarchy’s Planned Economy: Economic Ideas
Mercantilism developed in the emerging nation-states under the kings, especially, in France and Spain and in Great Britain, as a set of economic tools to assist in bringing about the centralization of political power and control.
The Church, “Just Price” and Interest: The Institutions and Economics of the Middle Ages, Part 2
The Catholic Church had a set of fundamental beliefs and principles that set it apart from the Greek and Roman views that had preceded it, and which were to have importance in the future in terms of their economic impact.
Manorial and Guild Systems: The Institutions and Economics of the Middle Ages, Part 1
Political, social, and economic life in the Middle Ages revolved around two sets of institutions.
An Introduction to Austrian Economics (Part 9 of 9): Booms and Busts
An Introduction to Austrian Economics (Part 8 of 9): Government Intervention
The Ancient Romans: From Rule of Law to Price Controls
The area in which the Ancient Romans did leave a body of thought, and one that has had lasting influence and significance for future generations, especially in the West up until our own time was in the area of law and contract.
Video: An Introduction to Austrian Economics (Part 7 of 9): Everything Takes Time: Savings, Investment, and Prosperity
Video: An Introduction to Austrian Economics (Part 6 of 9): Why Socialism Was and Always Will Be “Impossible”
Aristotle and Economics
Political-Economic Ideas of The Greeks, Part 3
Video: An Introduction to Austrian Economics (Part 5 of 9): Economic Calculation, Profit and Loss
Austrian Economics is the most powerful explanation of why governments, no matter how well-intentioned, lack the knowledge, wisdom and ability to direct the lives of multitudes of people better than those people can do for themselves.
Like this content? Subscribe to support our work — it's free.
Read by students, professors, and citizens, Capitalism Magazine provides over 9,000 free to read articles and essays from pro-reason, individual rights perspective. 100% independent.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.