Name: Man, economy, and state
ISBN: 9780840212238

Man, economy, and state

Rothbards great treatise and its complementary text are now combined into a single 4.5"x7" pocket edition. The full 1,500 page treatise in an easy to read and super convenient package. It might not seem possible but it is done and it works. It makes a great companion volume to Misess Human Action in pocket size, as well as the Bastiat Collection in pocket size. Murray N. Rothbards great treatise provides a sweeping presentation of Austrian economic theory, a reconstruction of many aspects of that theory, a rigorous criticism of alternative schools, and an inspiring look at a science of liberty that concerns nearly everything and should concern everyone. This edition takes this book out of the category of underground classic and raises it up to its proper status as one of the great economic treatises of all time, a book that is essential for anyone seeking a robust economic education. The captivating new introduction by Professor Joseph Salerno that frames up the Rothbardian contribution in a completely new way, and reassesses the place of this book in the history of economic thought. In Salernos view, Rothbard was not attempting to write a distinctively "Austrian" book but rather a comprehensive treatise on economics that eschewed the Keynesian and positivist corruptions. This is what accounts for its extraordinarily logical structure and depth.

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justushamalaineFeb 2025

Thanks for your answer I really enjoyed it :)

I cannot treat Mises rejecting all verification. Of course this might be due to reading his works long after seeing how world has developed. This way it is easy to downplay the faults and see the things that had insight.

To take a concrete example of supply and demand. We can logically understand that raising supply cannot raise prices. Similarly increasing demand cannot lower prices. We can reach this conclusions by just starting with axioms that humans have a priori ideas how their situation can be improved and human acts with a goal to reach ideas. This is shown by Murray Rothbard in his book Man, Economy and State.

We cannot reach the same conclusion by just calculating ratios from historical data, due these being complex phenomena that have many confounding variables. We need to have a priori ideas to be able to start unconfound variables in such historical data.

I don't really get from his writing that he mistook the perfect algebra as representation of the real world. It just that to gain actionable insight with the real world you need to process with series of logical steps to the conclusion. The real point is not that can you make up a logical chain of statements. You always can add an ad hoc proposition to save a theory (and this was his outgoing criticism against the German Historic School). The point is to tease the statements and reasoning chains so that only things that are true remain. This is the way (Von Mises saw) to get the universal laws of human actions that he hold would be as universal as the laws of motion.

I don't think that RCT in modern economics are trying to answer same questions. You need a priori theories to devise the trials and then you need to use the same a priori theories to make sense of the results. The results might force you to change your a priori before devising a next trial. And for that process you need to use the reasoning that Von Mises advocated.

Most likely he wouldn't think that Development Economics is Economics proper. It doesn't mean that it shouldn't be studied, but it is a different realm from the laws of human action that he studied. He also didn't think that a good economist shouldn't understand other sciences and shouldn't take inspiration from them.

If you look how much insight and a priori knowledge and reasoning people like Kenneth Arrow or Milton Friedman had and used, I don't see the concrete gulf between them and Von Mises so large. They have major differences and had opposite views, but I feel that it is more a difference in degree not in kind. I think that economists have a bad habit of overstating their differences and downplaying how much they agree.

But I would believe that Von Mises would have rather drank hemlock like Socrates than admit faults on his views. But this is an characteristic of many great economists :D

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timtasJun 2019

Missing is the most comprehensive treatise on economics in the 20th century, perhaps ever: “Man, Economy & State” by Murray N. Rothbard.

https://mises.org/library/man-economy-and-state-power-and-ma...

Another is Rothbard’s little book, “What Has Government Done to Our Money?” which provides a wonderfully accessible introduction to the theory and history of money.

https://mises.org/library/what-has-government-done-our-money

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yaspJun 2018

The Austrian school overall disavows empiricism as the means by which to infer economic laws and instead views economics as a field closer to philosophy. For more information on the method I recommend the pamphlet Economic Science and the Austrian Method. [0]

Re: my previous comment, that, in short, money and credit are like any other markets.

If you're interested in a gentle introduction to the Austrian school of thought I recommend the book Man, Economy, and State. Skip the final section of the book entitled Power and Market. [1]

[0] https://mises.org/library/economic-science-and-austrian-meth...

[1] https://mises.org/library/man-economy-and-state-power-and-ma...

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aaronhoffmanNov 2016

With regard to the $1T platinum coin, sounds like more people should read "Man, Economy, and State" https://mises.org/library/man-economy-and-state-power-and-ma...

There is a lack of understanding around money and currency, and how they come to exist in an economy.

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MCRedJul 2014

Sorry, while I said "I believe", I should have stated it as a fact, as I consider it essentially proven by economics.

I suggest you read Man, Economy and State by Murray Rothbard. But if you want something shorter and quicker, try Economics in One lesson by Henry Hazlitt. Both are available free online.

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lionheartedJun 2010

> I finally broke down and included my "Man, Economy, and State" by Murray N. Rothbard

Too dense for me, reading pace was too slow. It's good, but reading it is hard work. I'd recommend "Mystery of Banking" first, which is smaller in scope, easy to read, very informative.

Free here:

http://mises.org/books/mysteryofbanking.pdf

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