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Authoritative sources and quotes to counter economic fallacies with facts.
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"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 unfold only subsequently; they are not seen. Between a bad and a good economist, this is the whole difference: one confines himself to the visible effect; the other takes into account both the effect that can be seen and those effects that must be foreseen."
menu_book That Which Is Seen, and That Which Is Not Seen
View Full QuoteView Full Quote"By property I mean the right that a worker has to the value he has created by his labor."
"When a portion of wealth passes from the person who possesses it, without his consent and without compensation, to anyone who does not possess it, whether by force or by fraud, I say that property is violated, that plunder is committed."
menu_book The Law
View Full Quote"A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both."
menu_book Capitalism and Freedom
View Full Quote"The free market is the only mechanism that has ever been discovered for achieving participatory democracy."
menu_book Capitalism and Freedom
View Full Quote"Freedom is a rare and delicate plant. Our minds tell us, and history confirms, that the great threat to freedom is the concentration of power."
menu_book Capitalism and Freedom
View Full QuoteView Full Quote"That's an interesting paradox to think about. Make it legal and it's no good. Why? Because as long as it's illegal the people who come in do not qualify for welfare, they don't qualify for social security, they don't qualify for the other myriad of benefits that we pour out from our left pocket to our right pocket. So long as they don't qualify they migrate to jobs. They take jobs that most residents of this country are unwilling to take. They provide employers with the kind of workers that they cannot get. They're hard workers, they're good workers, and they are clearly better off."
View Full Quote"You cannot simultaneously have free immigration and a welfare state."
"The inheritance of property is an important factor in maintaining family unity and in providing incentives for accumulation."
menu_book Capitalism and Freedom
View Full QuoteView Full Quote"There are four ways in which you can spend money. You can spend your own money on yourself. When you do that, why then you really watch out what you're doing, and you try to get the most for your money. Then you can spend your own money on somebody else. For example, I buy a birthday present for someone. Well, then I'm not so careful about the content of the present, but I'm very careful about the cost. Then, I can spend somebody else's money on myself. And if I spend somebody else's money on myself, then I'm sure going to have a good lunch! Finally, I can spend somebody else's money on somebody else. And if I spend somebody else's money on somebody else, I'm not concerned about how much it is, and I'm not concerned about what I get. And that's government."
View Full Quote"I don't believe that we shall ever have good money again before we take the thing out of the hands of government. Because we can't take them violently out of the hands of government, all we can do is by some sly or round-about way introduce something they can't stop."
"Nothing distinguishes more clearly conditions in a free country from those in a country under arbitrary government than the observance in the former of the great principle known as the Rule of Law."
menu_book Law, Legislation and Liberty
View Full Quote"The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design."
menu_book Law, Legislation and Liberty
View Full Quote"The task of the theoretician in the realm of economy is above all to teach us to understand concrete phenomena of human economy as exemplifications of a certain regularity in the succession of phenomena, i.e., as exemplifications of laws of phenomena."
menu_book Investigations into the Method of the Social Sciences
View Full Quote"Money has not been generated by law. In its origin it is a social, and not a state institution. Sanction by the authority of the state is a notion alien to it."
menu_book On the Origin of Money
View Full Quote"Value is nothing inherent in goods and no property of them, but merely the importance we first attribute to the satisfaction of our needs, and in consequence carry over to economic goods as the exclusive causes of the satisfaction of our needs."
menu_book Principles of Economics
View Full QuoteView Full Quote"If you don't believe it or don't get it, I don't have the time to try to convince you, sorry."
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auto_stories Books
Anarchy, State, and Utopia
event 1974
Influential defense of libertarian political philosophy arguing for the minimal state limited to protection against force, theft, and fraud, and ex...
Read MoreAnatomy of the State
event 1974
Concise treatise analyzing the nature and origins of the state, arguing that the state is fundamentally an organization based on aggression rather ...
Read MoreAtlas Shrugged
event 1957
Epic novel depicting a dystopian United States where industrialists and entrepreneurs mysteriously disappear, exploring themes of individualism, ca...
Read MoreBasic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy
event 2000
Comprehensive introduction to economic principles written for the general public, explaining how markets work and the effects of various economic p...
Read MoreThe Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World
event 2011
Exploration of how explanatory knowledge grows and transforms our understanding, arguing that all progress comes from the quest for good explanations
Read MoreBitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System
event 2008
The foundational whitepaper introducing Bitcoin as a decentralized digital currency. Proposes a system for electronic transactions without relying ...
Read MoreCapitalism and Freedom
event 1962
A seminal work arguing that economic freedom is a prerequisite for political freedom, exploring the role of capitalism in a free society
Read MoreThat Which Is Seen, and That Which Is Not Seen
event 1850
Famous essay introducing the concept of opportunity cost and the broken window fallacy, arguing economists must consider both immediate visible eff...
Read MoreDemocracy: The God That Failed
event 2001
Controversial critique of democracy from a libertarian perspective, arguing that monarchy is economically and ethically superior to democracy, and ...
Read MoreEconomics in One Lesson
event 1946
Classic introduction to economic thinking, demonstrating that good economics considers both the immediate effects and the longer-term effects on al...
Read MoreAn Essay on the Nature of Trade in General
event 1755
Pioneering work in economic theory written around 1730, covering entrepreneurship, market pricing, monetary economics, and the circular flow, consi...
Read MoreThe Ethics of Liberty
event 1982
Comprehensive philosophical treatise establishing a natural rights foundation for libertarianism, deriving property rights from self-ownership and ...
Read MoreThe Ethics of Money Production
event 2008
Analysis of the moral implications of money production, arguing that fiat money and fractional reserve banking involve moral hazards and violate pr...
Read MoreI, Pencil: My Family Tree as Told to Leonard E. Read
event 1958
A classic essay illustrating the concept of spontaneous order through the story of a pencil's creation, demonstrating how no single person possesse...
Read MoreInvestigations into the Method of the Social Sciences
event 1883
Menger's methodological work defending the Austrian approach to economics against the German Historical School. This book established the theoretic...
Read MoreKnowledge and Decisions
event 1980
Analysis of how knowledge is used in economic decision-making, examining the role of prices, incentives, and institutions in coordinating dispersed...
Read MoreThe Law
event 1850
Influential pamphlet arguing that law should protect individual rights rather than redistribute wealth, introducing the concept of legal plunder wh...
Read MoreLaw, Legislation and Liberty
event 1973
A three-volume work exploring the relationship between law, individual liberty, and social order in free societies
Read MoreThe Myth of the Framework: In Defence of Science and Rationality
event 1994
Collection of essays defending scientific rationality and critical discussion against relativism and the idea that meaningful communication is impo...
Read MoreOn the Origin of Money
event 1892
Menger's influential essay explaining how money emerged spontaneously from barter as the most marketable commodity, without need for government dec...
Read MorePrinciples of Economics
event 1871
Menger's groundbreaking work that founded the Austrian School of Economics, introducing the theory of marginal utility and subjective value. This r...
Read MorePrinciples of Politics Applicable to All Governments
event 1815
Major work on political philosophy distinguishing between ancient and modern liberty, arguing for constitutional limits on government power and ind...
Read MoreThe Spirit of the Laws
event 1748
Influential treatise on political theory developing the concept of separation of powers and examining how laws should reflect the nature of governm...
Read MoreA Theory of Socialism and Capitalism: Economics, Politics, and Ethics
event 1989
Systematic comparison of capitalism and socialism, examining the economic and ethical foundations of different property systems and their consequen...
Read MoreTreatise on the Origin, Nature, Law, and Alterations of Money
event 1355
Medieval treatise criticizing currency debasement and government manipulation of money, one of the earliest works in monetary economics
Read MoreTwo Treatises of Government
event 1689
Foundational work of liberal political philosophy establishing natural rights, the social contract, and the right to revolution against tyrannical ...
Read MoreThe Virtue of Selfishness
event 1963
Collection of essays arguing for rational egoism as a moral foundation, challenging conventional views on altruism and self-interest
Read MoreAn Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
event 1776
Foundational work of modern economics examining the mechanisms of free markets, division of labor, and the role of self-interest in creating prospe...
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