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"The free market is the only mechanism that has ever been discovered for achieving participatory democracy."
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"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."
"The direction of all economic affairs is in the market society a task of the entrepreneurs. Theirs is the control of production. They are at the helm and steer the ship. A superficial observer would believe that they are supreme. But they are not. They are bound to obey unconditionally the captain's orders. The captain is the consumer."
menu_book Human Action: A Treatise on Economics
View Full Quote"When buyers and sellers are free to act, and neither fraud nor force is present, the price that results from their voluntary agreement is just — for justice in commerce consists in the freedom of exchange, not in the equality of the things exchanged."
menu_book De Iustitia et Iure (On Justice and Law)
View Full Quote"If a merchant knows that goods will soon be cheaper in a particular place, or that supply will increase, he is not obliged to inform buyers of this. It is not unjust to sell at the current market price, since the price is set by common estimation, not by future conditions."
menu_book De Iustitia et Iure (On Justice and Law)
View Full Quote"A thing is worth as much as it can be sold for without fraud or coercion. The value of goods is not determined by their intrinsic nature, but by the estimation which men commonly put upon them — and this estimation varies with time, place, and circumstance."
menu_book De Iustitia et Iure (On Justice and Law)
View Full Quote"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest."
menu_book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
View Full Quote"No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable."
menu_book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
View Full Quote"He intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention."
menu_book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
View Full Quote"The just price of things is not determined by the nature or quality of things in themselves, but by the common estimation of men — that is, by what buyers and sellers commonly agree to give and receive in exchange."
menu_book De Iustitia et Iure (On Justice and Law)
View Full Quote"To sell below the just price is loss to the seller; to buy above it is loss to the buyer. The prince cannot without injustice compel men to sell below the common price, for this is to force them to give what is theirs to others without compensation."
menu_book De Iustitia et Iure (On Justice and Law)
View Full Quoteauto_stories Books
Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy
Comprehensive introduction to economic principles written for the general public, explaining how markets work and the effects of various economic p...
Read MoreCapitalism and Freedom
A seminal work arguing that economic freedom is a prerequisite for political freedom, exploring the role of capitalism in a free society
Read MoreDe Iustitia et Iure (On Justice and Law)
Luis de Molina's six-volume masterwork on justice and law, completed in 1593. Molina's most enduring economic contribution is his clear formulation...
Read MoreDe Iustitia et Iure (On Justice and Law)
Domingo de Soto's systematic treatment of justice and law, published in 1553. Soto develops a rigorous natural law analysis of property rights, the...
Read MoreEconomics in One Lesson
Classic introduction to economic thinking, demonstrating that good economics considers both the immediate effects and the longer-term effects on al...
Read MoreHuman Action: A Treatise on Economics
Ludwig von Mises' magnum opus and the most comprehensive systematic treatment of economics from the Austrian School perspective. Mises develops pra...
Read MoreI, Pencil: My Family Tree as Told to Leonard E. Read
A classic essay illustrating the concept of spontaneous order through the story of a pencil's creation, demonstrating how no single person possesse...
Read MoreAn Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
Foundational work of modern economics examining the mechanisms of free markets, division of labor, and the role of self-interest in creating prospe...
Read Moreperson Authors
psychology Concepts
Four Ways to Spend Money
Milton Friedman's framework describing four ways money can be spent, each with different incenti...
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