Economic Fallacies

format_quote Quotes

"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."

— Bastiat, Frédéric event 1850

menu_book That Which Is Seen, and That Which Is Not Seen

lightbulb Economic Thinking visibility Seen and Unseen arrow_forward Consequences report Fallacies error_outline Economic Fallacies analytics Economics trending_down Unintended Consequences scatter_plot Second-Order Effects psychology_alt Critical Thinking

View Full Quote

"The General Theory was not truly revolutionary at all but merely old and oft-refuted mercantilist and inflationist fallacies dressed up in shiny new garb, replete with newly constructed and largely incomprehensible jargon."

— Rothbard, Murray event 2010

menu_book Keynes, the Man

trending_up Keynesian Economics error_outline Economic Fallacies menu_book Economic Theory

View Full Quote

"He had the tactical wit to dress up ancient statist and inflationist fallacies with modern, pseudoscientific jargon, making them appear to be the latest findings of economic science."

— Rothbard, Murray event 2010

menu_book Keynes, the Man

trending_up Keynesian Economics error_outline Economic Fallacies gavel Government Intervention

View Full Quote

auto_stories Books

That Which Is Seen, and That Which Is Not Seen

person Bastiat, Frédéric event 1850

Famous essay introducing the concept of opportunity cost and the broken window fallacy, arguing economists must consider both immediate visible eff...

error_outline Economic Fallacies visibility Seen and Unseen broken_image Broken Window Fallacy policy Public Policy

Economics in One Lesson

person Hazlitt, Henry event 1946

Classic introduction to economic thinking, demonstrating that good economics considers both the immediate effects and the longer-term effects on al...

school Economic Education report Fallacies error_outline Economic Fallacies trending_up Free Market policy Public Policy

Keynes, the Man

person Rothbard, Murray event 2010

Rothbard's critical mini-biography of John Maynard Keynes, portraying him as shifty and manipulative and arguing that his celebrated 'General Theor...

trending_up Keynesian Economics error_outline Economic Fallacies language Macroeconomics gavel Government Intervention

psychology Concepts

window

The Broken Window Fallacy

A logical error in economic reasoning first described by Frédéric Bastiat in his 1850 essay

analytics Economics report Fallacies error_outline Economic Fallacies visibility Seen and Unseen error_outline Economic Sophisms psychology_alt Critical Thinking

Learn More

currency_exchange

The Cantillon Effect

The Cantillon Effect is an economic concept explaining how newly created money does not affect everyone equally. When new money enters the economy,...