Economics

four ways in which the lives of those of us in the modern, capitalist world differ categorically from the lives of almost everyone until just a few centuries ago.

Eighty years ago, in the midst of the Second World War, Austrian-born economist Joseph A. Schumpeter published one of his most famous books, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy (1942). A central question that he asked and tried to answer was, “Can Capitalism Survive?”

A famous, very often quoted phrase says: "That government is best, which governs least." I do not believe this to be a correct description of the functions of a good government. Government ought to do all the things for which it is needed and for which it was...

Economics proves the existence of a harmony of the rational self-interests of all participants in the economic system—a harmony which permeates the institutions of private ownership of the means of production, economic inequality, and economic competition.

The fact is that economic calculation, and therefore all technological planning, is possible only if there are money prices, not only for consumer goods but also for the factors of production.

Capitalism is denounced as “an anarchy of production,” a chaos ruled by “exploiters,” “robber barons,” and “profiteers,” who “coldly,” “calculatingly,” “heartlessly,” and “greedily” consume the efforts and destroy the lives of the broad masses of average, innocent people.

Ludwig Von Mises’s devastating critique of why a socialist economic system must always be inferior to capitalism.

We’ve reached the end of the road and found that the people who must ultimately pay for unlimited government are us. And whether through taxes or inflation, pay we will.

The development of all the institutional features of capitalism is well illustrated by the economic history of the United States.

The socialist system, however, forbids this fundamental freedom to choose one’s own career. Under socialist conditions, there is only one economic authority, and it has the right to determine all matters concerning production. One of the characteristic features of our...

Economic progress is the leading manifestation of yet another major institutional feature of capitalism: the harmony of the rational self-interests of all men, in which the success of each promotes the well-being of all.

In a capitalist society, there is continuous mobility—poor people becoming rich and the descendants of those rich people losing their wealth and becoming poor.

It is no exaggeration to say I have learned more about the science of economics from George Reisman than from all other economists combined.

The idea of government as a paternal authority, as a guardian for everybody, is the idea of those who favor socialism.

The existence of freedom under laissez-faire capitalism requires the existence of government.

The capitalist system was termed “capitalism” not by a friend of the system, but by an individual who considered it to be the worst of all historical systems, the greatest evil that had ever befallen mankind. That man was Karl Marx.

The greatest era of capitalist development—the last two centuries—has taken place under the ongoing cultural influence of the philosophy of the Enlightenment.

In spite of all its benefits, capitalism has been furiously attacked and criticized. It is necessary that we understand the origin of this antipathy.

Economics belongs alongside mathematics, natural science, history, philosophy, and the humanities as an integral part of a liberal education.

The mere fact that you are living today is proof that capitalism has succeeded, whether or not you consider your own life very valuable.

What makes the science of economics necessary and important is the fact that while human life and well-being depend on the production of wealth, and the production of wealth depends on the division of labor, the division of labor does not exist or function automatically.

Passengers aren’t willing to pay for it.

Carl Menger’s Free Market Advice to an Austrian Crown Prince

A Three-Pronged Blunder, or, what Money is, and what it isn’t.