Beyond the Boss: Protection from Business in a Free Nation
by Roderick T. Long
"The economy of a free nation will, I predict, see a complete
restructuring of ordinary business relationships. These relationships
will become more like relations among equal partners than like
relations between superior and subordinate. Employees will be
treated as independent contractors rather than as servants, and
so forth. Power structures will become horizontal rather than
vertical; communication and influence will be two-way rather
than one-way. The concept of the boss will be obsolescent."
Bureaucracy
by Ludwig von Mises
"Originally published by Yale University Press in 1944, Bureaucracy is a classic
fundamental examination of the nature of bureaucracies and free markets in juxtaposition
to various political systems. Bureaucracy contrasts the two forms of economic
management—that of a free market economy and that of a bureaucracy. In the market economy
entrepreneurs are driven to serve consumers by their desire to earn profits and to avoid
losses. In a bureaucracy, the managers must comply with orders issued by the legislative
body under which they operate; they may not spend without authorization and they may not
deviate from the path prescribed by law. Writing in an age of exuberant socialism, Ludwig
von Mises here lucidly demonstrates how the efficiencies of private ownership and control
of public good production ultimately trump the guesswork of publicly administered
“planning” through codes and “officialdom.” Although Mises aptly critiques bureaucracy
and expounds thoroughly upon the immense power of law-like codes of commissions and
administrations, he does not condemn nor dismiss bureaucracy but rather frames its proper
bounds within constitutional democratic governments."
Business in a Free Nation
by Richard O. Hammer
General remarks on the effects of market enforcement of contracts
and specific observations on the effects in the residential building
industry.
Business in a Free Nation
by Philip E. Jacobson
"The thesis is that the business climate in a free nation will
tend to encourage businesses to adopt a strategy of mutual self
interest with their customers (and with other businesses) instead
of the antagonistic one which is encouraged by state interference."
The Case for Economic Freedom
March 1997
by Benjamin A. Rogge
"I shall identify my brand of economics as that of economic freedom, and I shall define
economic freedom as that set of economic arrangements that would exist in a society in
which the government’s only function would be to prevent one man from using force or
fraud against another—including within this, of course, the task of national defense. So
that there can be no misunderstanding here, let me say that this is pure, uncompromising
laissez-faire economics. It is not the mixed economy; it is the unmixed economy."
The Characteristics of the Market Economy
by Ludwig von Mises
"The market economy is the social system of the division of labor under private
ownership of the means of production. Everybody acts on his own behalf; but everybody's
actions aim at the satisfaction of other people's needs as well as at the satisfaction
of his own. Everybody in acting serves his fellow citizens. Everybody, on the other
hand, is served by his fellow citizens. Everybody is both a means and an end in himself,
an ultimate end for himself and a means to other people in their endeavors to attain
their own ends."
The Economic Foundations of Freedom
by Ludwig von Mises
"The simple truth is that individuals can be free to choose between what they consider
as right or wrong only where they are economically independent of the government."
Economic Freedom and Interventionism
by Ludwig von Mises
"Economic Freedom and Interventionism is both a primer of the fundamental thought
of Ludwig von Mises and an anthology of the writings of perhaps the best-known exponent
of what is now known as the Austrian School of economics. This volume contains forty-seven
articles edited by Mises scholar Bettina Bien Greaves. Among them are Mises’s expositions
of the role of government, his discussion of inequality of wealth, inflation, socialism,
welfare, and economic education, as well as his exploration of the “deeper” significance
of economics as it affects seemingly noneconomic relations between human beings. These
papers are essential reading for students of economic freedom and the science of human
action."
Economic Harmonies
by Frederic Bastiat
"As we shall see, one of Bastiat's major ideas in his Harmonies — his theory and
definition of value, of which he was especially proud — is now generally held to be
somewhat pointless. That fact, of course, does not deny the soundness of his fundamental
principle that the interests of mankind are essentially harmonious and can best be
realized in a free society where government confines its actions merely to suppressing
the robbers, murderers, falsifiers, and others who wish to live at the expense of their
fellow men." Dean Russell
The Economic Point of View
by Israel M. Kirzner
"Kirzner’s The Economic Point of View is a thoughtful study of how and why
economists are successful at sorting out certain issues but less successful at others,
issues from welfare to wealth to human actions."
Economics
by Dr. Mary Ruwart
The good doctor answers tough questions about the economy of
a free society.
Economics and Freedom:
Murray N. Rothbard, Power and Market: Government and the Economy
by H. George Resch
Economics in One Lesson
by Henry Hazlitt
"This primer on economic principles brilliantly analyzes the seen and unseen
consequences of political and economic actions. In the words of F.A. Hayek, there
is 'no other modern book from which the intelligent layman can learn so much about
the basic truths of economics in so short a time.'"
Economic Sophisms
by Frédéric Bastiat
"We could use more Bastiats today. We have, in fact, desperate need of them. But we
have, thank Heaven, Bastiat himself, in a new translation; and the reader of these pages
will not only still find them, as Cobden did, "as amusing as a novel," but astonishingly
modern, for the sophisms he answers are still making their appearance, in the same form
and almost in the same words, in nearly every issue of today's newspapers." Henry Hazlitt
Essays on Political Economy
by Frederic Bastiat
"My object in this treatise is to examine into the real nature of the Interest of
Capital, for the purpose of proving that it is lawful, and explaining why it should
be perpetual."
A Free and Healthy Economy
by Linda Tannehill and Morris Tannehill
Chapter 5 of The Market for Liberty.
Freedom to Work, to Earn, & to Buy
by Harry Browne
"It is almost impossible to imagine all the exciting innovations that could be just
two, three, or ten years ahead of us — provided the government gets out of the way, and
provided we once again bind the politicians down from mischief with the chains of the
Constitution."
Government Decentralization and Economic Freedom
by Walter Block
How the Free Market Works
October 27, 2009
by Daniel Krawisz
"In the great book Man, Economy, and State, Rothbard's vast compendium of
economic wisdom, we read much that has not yet been properly popularized. Rothbard's
production theory, for example, is quite different from the standard account. I have
tried to distill this theory into the following synopsis, although it is by no means the
only part of the book that warrants exposition."
Human Action: A Treatise on Economics, vol. 1,
vol. 2,
vol. 3,
vol. 4
by Ludwig von Mises
"In the foreword to Human Action: A Treatise on Economics, Mises explains complex
market phenomena as “the outcomes of countless conscious, purposive actions, choices, and
preferences of individuals, each of whom was trying as best as he or she could under the
circumstances to attain various wants and ends and to avoid undesired consequences.” It is
individual choices in response to personal subjective value judgments that ultimately
determine market phenomena—supply and demand, prices, the pattern of production, and even
profits and losses. Although governments may presume to set “prices,” it is individuals
who, by their actions and choices through competitive bidding for money, products, and
services, actually determine “prices”. Thus, Mises presents economics—not as a study of
material goods, services, and products—but as a study of human actions. He sees the
science of human action, praxeology, as a science of reason and logic, which recognizes a
regularity in the sequence and interrelationships among market phenomena. Mises defends
the methodology of praxeology against the criticisms of Marxists, socialists, positivists,
and mathematical statisticians. Mises attributes the tremendous technological progress and
the consequent increase in wealth and general welfare in the last two centuries to the
introduction of liberal government policies based on free-market economic teachings,
creating an economic and political environment which permits individuals to pursue their
respective goals in freedom and peace. Mises also explains the futility and
counter-productiveness of government attempts to regulate, control, and equalize all
people’s circumstances: 'Men are born unequal and … it is precisely their inequality that
generates social cooperation and civilization.'”
Institutional Bases of the Spontaneous Order: Surety and Assurance
by Albert Loan
A bibliographic essay about how cooperation emerges in a society of
self-interested individuals, without anybody consciously intending
to create a social order.
Liberal Economic Policy
by Ludwig von Mises
"The history of private ownership of the means of production coincides with the history
of the development of mankind from an animal-like condition to the highest reaches of
modern civilization."
Ludwig von Mises's Human Action: A 50th Anniversary Appreciation
by Richard M. Ebeling
"It is Human Action that for half a century has served as the medium through
which tens of thousands have learned these lessons of a society of peace, freedom,
and prosperity."
Man, Economy, and State
by Murray N. Rothbard
An economic treatise that explains how the unhampered market operates.
This edition includes Power and Market: Government and the Economy.
No Policy is Good Policy: A Radical Proposal for U.S. Industrial Policy
by Walter Block, Robert W. McGee and Kristin Spissinger
Praxeology: The Methodology of Austrian Economics
by Murray N. Rothbard
"Praxeology rests on the fundamental axiom that individual human beings act, that is, on
the primordial fact that individuals engage in conscious actions toward chosen goals.
This concept of action contrasts to purely reflexive, or knee-jerk, behavior, which is
not directed toward goals. The praxeological method spins out by verbal deduction the
logical implications of that primordial fact. In short, praxeological economics is the
structure of logical implications of the fact that individuals act. This structure is
built on the fundamental axiom of action, and has a few subsidiary axioms, such as that
individuals vary and that human beings regard leisure as a valuable good. Any skeptic
about deducing from such a simple base an entire system of economics, I refer to Mises's
Human Action. Furthermore, since praxeology begins with a true axiom, A, all the
propositions that can be deduced from this axiom must also be true. For if A implies B,
and A is true, then B must also be true."
The Organization of the Economy
by Ludwig von Mises
"The history of private ownership of the means of production coincides with the
history of the development of mankind from an animal-like condition to the highest
reaches of modern civilization."
Power and Market: Government and the Economy
by Murray N. Rothbard
This book argues that every type of government intervention in the free market
is inefficient.
Problems of Market Liberalism edited by Ellen Frankel Paul, Fred D. Miller, Jr.,
and Jeffrey Paul
reviewed by Jan Narveson
"Overall, the volume stands on the cutting edge in its combination of academically
responsible yet generally down-to-earth analyses. There’s plenty to make one think,
and plenty to equip the aspiring libertarian with intellectual weapons of a badly
needed kind. By all means, read it. It won’t be a quick read, it’s high-density material,
but it will repay the effort."
Prosperity and Economic Freedom: A Virtuous Cycle
by John R. Hanson II
"Recent empirical studies support Adam Smith’s contention that economic freedom enhances
the wealth of nations. They also indicate that the reverse is true: rising prosperity
has encouraged many countries to pursue free-market policies."
The Pure Market Economy
by Ludwig von Mises
"The imaginary construction of a pure or unhampered market economy assumes that there
is division of labor and private ownership (control) of the means of production and
that consequently there is market exchange of goods and services. It assumes that the
operation of the market is not obstructed by institutional factors. It assumes that
the government, the social apparatus of compulsion and coercion, is intent upon
preserving the operation of the market system, abstains from hindering its functioning,
and protects it against encroachments on the part of other people. The market is free;
there is no interference of factors, foreign to the market, with prices, wage rates,
and interest rates."
Selected Essays on Political Economy
by Frédéric Bastiat
"Nothing illustrates this better than the celebrated title of the first essay in the
present volume. "What is seen and what is not seen in political economy!" No one has
ever stated more clearly in a single phrase the central difficulty of a rational economic
policy and, I would like to add, the decisive argument for economic freedom." F. A. Hayek
This Is Freedom?
November 2, 2002
by Pierre Lemieux
"I have much respect for Wall Street Journal’s Mary O’Grady and Heritage
Foundation’s Jerry O’Driscoll who put out the annual Index of Economic Freedom,
the next issue of which will be published next month. The CATO Institute and the Fraser
Institute, who recently published the latest issue of their own Economic Freedom of
the World index, must also be commended for their promotion of economic freedom.
However, in trying to measure it with simplistic index numbers, our friends unwittingly
betray their cause."
Three Voluntary Economies
by Philip E. Jacobson
A free nation will have a voluntary economy rather than a command economy.
But a voluntary economy could be a cash-for-profit economy, a
cash-charity economy, a labor-charity economy, or a combination of
these three.
A Treatise On Political Economy
1817
by Antoine Louis Claude, Comte Destutt de Tracy
"An important work in the development of French liberal thought during the Napoleonic and
post-Napoleonic period. Thomas Jefferson was very impressed with his writings and had
them translated in English."
A Treatise on Political Economy
1803
by Jean Baptiste Say
"One of the most influential works on Political Economy in the 19thC. It set the stage
for the development of the study of political economy in France and an early translation
into English helped make it become the most used economics textbook in the United States."
What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen
by Frédéric Bastiat
"In the economic sphere an act, a habit, an institution, a law produces not only one
effect, but a series of effects. Of these effects, the first alone is immediate; it
appears simultaneously with its cause; it is seen. The other effects emerge only
subsequently; they are not seen; we are fortunate if we foresee them."
What Is the Free Market?
by Murray N. Rothbard
"The Free market is a summary term for an array of exchanges that take place in society.
Each exchange is undertaken as a voluntary agreement between two people or between
groups of people represented by agents."
Capital and Interest: A Critical History of Economic Theory
by Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk
"Ludwig von Mises described this as a “monumental work” which “is the most eminent
contribution to economic theory”. He further stated that “a man not perfectly familiar
with all the ideas advanced in theses three volumes has no claim whatever to the
appellation of an economist”. It is a work which made the modern intertemporal theory of
interest rates possible."
Capital and its Structure
by Ludwig M. Lachmann
"A reprint of Lachmann’s 1956 classic of Austrian capital theory in which he draws upon
the work of Carl Menger, Frank Knight and Friedrich Hayek. In this book Lachmann shows
how firms invest to position capital goods with one another, thus creating the complex
capital structure. He shows how capital formation and adjustment is a continuous
transformation which is immensely complex in its combinations and heterogeneous flow,
and how it is capable of co-ordinating the ever-changing plans of individual participants."
Capital, Expectations, and the Market Process
by Ludwig M. Lachmann
"This volume consists of 17 of Ludwig Lachmann’s most important papers published during
the period 1940-73. Two of the articles appear here in translation for the first time.
Prepared especially for this volume is a new essay about the present “crisis” in economic
thought. Walter Grinder’s extended introduction analyzes Lachmann’s scholarly career in
four countries and his overall intellectual development."
Capital, Interest, and Rent
by Frank A. Fetter
"Rothbard has collected Fetter’s journal articles and book reviews from the period 1897
to 1937 which cover the general topics of capital, interest, and rent."
Investment
1891
by Thomas Mackay
"We intend, therefore, to examine the operation of investment, or, as we may term it, the
application of revenue to this less rapid form of consumption."
On Usury Laws
by Wm. Cullen Bryant
"The fact that the usury laws, arbitrary, unjust, and oppressive as they are, and
unsupported by a single substantial reason, should have been suffered to exist to the
present time can only be accounted for on the ground of the general and singular
ignorance which has prevailed as to the true nature and character of money. If men would
but learn to look upon the medium of exchange, not as a mere sign of value, but as value
itself, as a commodity governed by precisely the same laws which affect other kinds of
property, the absurdity and tyranny of legislative interference to regulate the extent
of profit which, under any circumstances, may be charged for it would at once become
apparent."
The Positive Theory of Capital
1884
by Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk
"The second volume of Boehm-Bawerk’s monumental three volume work on Capital and Interest."
Capitalism is humanity's most benign creation
May 8, 2003
by Anatole Kaletsky
"As I listened to the politicians, international officials and "civil
society" pressure groups represented in Paris, it struck me that, while
opposition to the global capitalist system is widespread, nobody has
anything remotely resembling a constructive alternative to propose."
Capitalism: The Only Possible System of Social Organization
by Ludwig von Mises
"Every examination of the different conceivable possibilities of organizing society
on the basis of the division of labor must always come to the same result: there is
only the choice between communal ownership and private ownership of the means of
production. All intermediate forms of social organization are unavailing and, in
practice, must prove self-defeating. If one further realizes that socialism too is
unworkable, then one cannot avoid acknowledging that capitalism is the only feasible
system of social organization based on the division of labor."
A Future of Peace and Capitalism
by Murray N. Rothbard
"In short, the advent of industrialism and the Industrial Revolution has irreversibly
changed the prognosis for freedom and statism. In the pre-industrial era, statism and
despotism could peg along indefinitely, content to keep the peasantry at subsistence
levels and to live off their surplus. But industrialism has broken the old tables; for
it has become evident that socialism cannot run an industrial system, and it is gradually
becoming evident that neomercantilism, interventionism, in the long run cannot run an
industrial system either. Free-market capitalism, the victory of social power and the
economic means, is not only the only moral and by far the most productive system; it
has become the only viable system for mankind in the industrial era. Its eventual
triumph is therefore virtually inevitable."
The Fire of Invention: Civil Society and the Future of the Corporation by Michael
Novak
reviewed by John Hood
"Although Novak doesn't weigh in on all the issues and arguments, his book remains one
of the best introductions to the subject of the morality of the corporation that one
can find. Its brevity is an asset, not a liability; it makes The Fire of
Invention a perfect gift for that busy corporate executive you know who needs to
understand more clearly why what he does is socially beneficial and morally just."
The Firm in a Free Society: Following Bastiat's Insights
by Pascal Salin
". . . firms are the most perfect forms of associations."
Is the Corporation a Free-Market Institution?
March 2003
by Frank van Dun
Libertarians & Corporations
by Jim Russell
"Corporations are pure-bred progeny of Leviathan. You can't have one without the
other. No libertarian principle can pretend to excuse their existence. Nothing from
the lexicon of liberty can be said in defense of the corporate concept. Nevertheless,
libertarians across the land are locked in conjugal bliss with these jackanapes. To
paraphrase the wisdom of a man called Jesus, "Nothing can come from corn but corn,
nothing from nettles but nettles." Freedom cannot spring from the groin of Leviathan
or its scion, nor from libertarians wed to corporations."
Personal Freedom versus Corporate Liberties: A Libertarian Critique of Limited Liability
by Frank van Dun
The Theory of the Corporation
by Norman Barry
Discovery and Economic Freedom
September 1, 1997
by Daniel B. Klein
"If economists were to allow more attention to the discovery factors, they might find
themselves in stronger support of economic freedom. The discovery factors are all linked
in their illumination of the following two points: (a) knowledge and opportunity are
extremely local and individuated, (b) knowledge and opportunity are constantly changing.
These points humble us by telling us that the economy will always be largely unknowable,
as Friedrich Hayek argued so powerfully.
If, despite the best intellectual efforts, economic processes will remain largely unknown,
it makes little sense for the regulator, aided by the academic economist, to try to alter
outcomes by regulating citizens. The wiser course typically is simply to safeguard the
rules of property, consent, and contract, and leave citizens free to discover themselves
within that legal framework."
Economic Calculation and the Market
by Ludwig von Mises
"The distinctive mark of economic calculation is that it is neither based upon nor related
to anything which could be characterized as measurement."
Economic Calculation and the Science of Human Action
by Ludwig von Mises
"The evolution of capitalist economic calculation was the necessary condition for the
establishment of a systematic and logically coherent science of human action."
Government in Business
by Murray N. Rothbard
"Private firms are models of efficiency largely because the free market establishes prices
which permit them to calculate, which they must do in order to make profits and avoid
losses. Thus, free “capitalism” tends to set prices in such a way that goods are properly
allocated among all the intricate branches and areas of production that make up the modern
economy. Capitalist profit-and-loss calculation makes this marvel possible—and without
central planning by one agency. In fact, central planners, being deprived of accurate
pricing, could not calculate, and so could not maintain a modern mass-production economy.
In short, they could not plan. There is no way to gauge the success of a product that the
customers are compelled to buy. And every time government enters a business, it distorts
pricing a little more, and skews calculation. In short, a government business introduces
a disruptive island of calculational chaos into the economic system.
No wonder, then, that our economic problems center in government enterprises. Government
ownership breeds insoluble conflicts, inevitable inefficiency, and breakdown of living
standards. Private ownership brings peace, mutual harmony, great efficiency, and notable
improvements in standards of living."
The Impossibility of Economic Calculation Under Socialism
by Ludwig von Mises
"The paradox of “planning” is that it cannot plan, because of the absence of economic
calculation. What is called a planned economy is no economy at all. It is just a system
of groping about in the dark. There is no question of a rational choice of means for the
best possible attainment of the ultimate ends sought. What is called conscious planning
is precisely the elimination of conscious purposive action."
Monetary Calculation as a Method of Thinking
by Ludwig von Mises
"Monetary calculation is the guiding star of action under the social system of division of
labor. It is the compass of the man embarking upon production. He calculates in order to
distinguish the remunerative lines of production from the unprofitable ones, those of
which the sovereign consumers are likely to approve from those of which they are likely to
disapprove. Every single step of entrepreneurial activities is subject to scrutiny by
monetary calculation. The premeditation of planned action becomes commercial
precalculation of expected costs and expected proceeds. The retrospective establishment of
the outcome of past action becomes accounting of profit and loss."
The Problem of Economic Calculation
by Ludwig von Mises
"Technology and the considerations derived from it would be of little use for acting man
if it were impossible to introduce into their schemes the money prices of goods and
services."
Insider Trading: The Moral Issue
by Ridgway K. Foley, Jr.
". . . this essay seeks to consider, in cursory fashion, the essential ethical or moral
standards which are assumed, seldom enunciated, and virtually never understood under
the “insider trading” rubric."
Stimulate Economy Through Deregulation
by Clyde Wayne Crews and Ryan Young
"The tax-and-spend stimulus model has failed repeatedly under presidents from both
parties. A deregulatory stimulus, by clearing unnecessary obstructions to doing
business, would kick-start growth and pave the way for job creation."
Back to More Business Bashing
December 5, 2005
by Tibor R. Machan
"When so many influential people still believe that business ethics is an oxymoron, it's
no wonder that journalists and even those in the business community begin to let the
notion go unchallenged."
Business and Morality in a Free Society
by Edward W. Younkins
"Under capitalism a business transaction takes place by mutual agreement for
perceived mutual advantage. Through voluntary exchange buyers and sellers can
promote their own interests only by serving the interests of others. By protecting
individual choice, capitalism not only generates enormous wealth, but also creates
an environment in which virtue can flourish. In the end, capitalism is not only the
most productive and efficient economic system. It is also the most moral economic system."
Business is Ethically Superior to Politics: The Power to Serve is Better than the Power
to Coerce
by Christian Michel
Capitalism and Greed
by James L. Doti
"Not only do I believe that self-interest benefits society, but I also contend that
it is the only efficient way goods can be produced and distributed in a modern
economic system."
Capitalism Under the Test of Ethics
by Arthur Shenfield
Caring versus Uncaring
by Walter Williams
"Self-interest and the free market system may not be perfect, but they're the closest
we've come to perfection."
Economic Growth: What’s Love Got to do With It?
April 1, 2000
by Paul A. Cleveland
"Some minimal level of genuine and practical virtue on the part of the participants of
society is indispensable for the existence and continuation of the free-market. Apart
from such moral behavior, a free society cannot exist for government will inevitably be
used to promote the immoral ends of the politically powerful."
How to Re-lay a Moral Foundation
February 28, 2005
by Neil Lock
"Those who try to balance egoism against altruism have also ignored the very system
which can and does provide such a balance - the free market. In a free market, if you
start getting too egoist and treating your customers or suppliers badly, you will lose
them eventually. And you will get a bad reputation, which will make it harder for you
to find new customers or new suppliers. This is an example of what I call common-sense
justice. A truly free market balances self and others, by treating individuals in the
long term as they treat others."
The Humanity and Resilience of Commerce
by Charles H. Featherstone
"I do not like the words "illegal business." No honest work – work that doesn’t defraud,
harm or coerce– should ever be "illegal." No one seeking to make an honest living by
selling a good or providing a service should ever have to get the state’s permission
to do business. That just feels so wrong, so inhuman.
You want an illegal activity? Government."
The Invisible Hand Is a Gentle Hand:
What would a truly free society look like?
A speech by Sharon Harris
"There are built-in incentives in the marketplace for service, courtesy, respect. The
invisible hand becomes a friendly handshake between cooperating adults. As John Stossel
pointed out in his ABC special, "Greed," notice how — when you purchase something at a
store — the clerk says, "Thank you," and you say "Thank you" as well? It's a mutually
beneficial exchange, and both parties are better off."
Liberty leaves moral system to free choice
August 31, 2004
by Tibor R. Machan
"The regime of liberty does not declare any moral system correct, not in any official
way. But it is committed to one particular principle that every moral system must accept
to be a moral system proper. This is that doing whatever is deemed to be the right thing
to do, by whatever moral system one believes is correct, must be a matter of free choice."
Moral Capital and Commercial Society
by Suri Ratnapala
"Commerce coevolves with moral rules and leads not only to prosperity but also to the
accumulation of moral capital—the disposition to moral conduct—as Adam Smith and David
Hume observed. How can societies enhance their stocks of moral capital?"
The Moral Element In Free Enterprise
July 1962
by F. A. Hayek
"It is, on the one hand, an old discovery that morals and moral values will grow only
in an environment of freedom, and that, in general, moral standards of people and
classes are high only where they have long enjoyed freedom—and proportional to the
amount of freedom they have possessed. It is also an old insight that a free society
will work well only where free action is guided by strong moral beliefs, and, therefore,
that we shall enjoy all the benefits of freedom only where freedom is already well
established. To this I want to add that freedom, if it is to work well, requires not
only strong moral standards but moral standards of a particular kind, and that it is
possible in a free society for moral standards to grow up which, if they become general,
will destroy freedom and with it the basis of all moral values."
The Morality of the Market
by Jerry Z. Muller
"Many of the moral advantages and conceptions of selfhood that those in capitalist
societies take for granted are due in no small part to capitalism itself."
The Morals of Trade
1859
by Herbert Spencer
"When that abhorrence which society now shows to direct theft, is shown to theft of all
degrees of indirectness; then will these mercantile vices disappear. When not only the
trader who adulterates or gives short measure, but also the merchant who overtrades, the
bank-director who countenances an exaggerated report, and the railway-director who
repudiates his guarantee, come to be regarded as of the same genus as the pickpocket, and
are treated with like disdain; then will the morals of trade become what they should be."
On the Moral Justification of Capitalism
by Jan Narveson
"Capitalism can make a remarkable claim: that the morality by which it is justified
actually does have the property wrongly ascribed to communism by Karl Marx: namely,
that it is generically human, universal, in the strict sense of the term. The moral
basis of capitalism is very simple: respect for other people. More precisely: we do
not proceed by simply ignoring or trampling on the interests of other people in the
pursuit of our own. Rather, we concede to them the right to be the sort of people
they are and do the sort of things they do – provided only that they in turn concede
those rights to others. This is basically a proscription against violence, a right
to any and all peaceful activity."
Ten Ethical Objections to the Market Economy
by Murray N. Rothbard
"There are two types of ethical criticisms that can be made of the free-market system.
One type is purely existential; that is, it rests on existential premises only. The other
type advances conflicting ethical goals and protests that the free market does not attain
these goals."
Which economic system is just?
by Roy Halliday
Chapter 7 of Enforceable Rights:
A Libertarian Theory of Justice.
Profit is the source of all prosperity
October 9, 2003
by Dr Jim Harris
"According to an old dictionary, advantage or benefit – the excess of returns over
expenditure – the pecuniary gain in a transaction or occupation – is called profit. Yet
nowadays many think profit a dirty word and few understand it as the source of all
human growth and prosperity."
Profits vs Society: Must We Choose?
August 4, 2003
by Stephen W. Carson
"The Scholastics demonstrated that a concern for the poor and for
mercy on the unfortunate does not require spurning the market. In
fact, it was these very concerns that led them to study carefully
the nature of property and market exchange. They found that the
market is a powerful institution for improving the lot of the common
worker and respect for private property provides opportunities for
charity. They had nothing but contempt for those who used government
privilege to violently interfere with the market for their personal
gain.
One can only hope that the clergymen of today will cease their war
on the market and learn that compassion is made more effective when
grounded in economic truth."
Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit
1921
by Frank H. Knight
"This careful work investigating the nature of profits also includes material on the
institutional structure of firms and the distribution of residuals, particularly in
Part III, Chapter IX-X. It contains an interesting discussion of the difference between
risk and uncertainty."
Entrepreneurship and the Market Approach to Development
1971
by Israel M. Kirzner
"Instead of seeing how the entrepreneur has disturbed the placid status quo. we must see
how the status quo is nothing but a seething mass of unexploited maladjustments crying
out for correction. Instead of seeing entrepreneurship as jerking the system out of
equilibrium, we must see it fulfilling the tendencies within the system towards
equilibrium."
Oil Prices Are Rigged? It Just Ain’t So!
June 2009
by Robert P. Murphy
"In reality, all prices are determined by supply and demand, properly defined. Outside
investors with lots of money can certainly influence prices, but there are always risks."
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This page was last updated on November 5, 2009.