Other Schools of Thought

The abolitionist would blister his thumb pushing a button that would abolish the state immediately, writes Murray N. Rothbard (1926–1995).

Articles like Heilbroner's "Putting Economics in Its Place" remind me of why I am an Austrian. Those who can properly be considered Austrians are at the forefront of economic — more accurately, praxeological — science. Everybody else, with time, will come to us.

If you give government a job to do, even one that seems justified in the abstract, it will use its power to make a terrible mess in practice.

Milk in its natural state — raw milk — is consumed by very few Americans, because it is illegal in many states and thoroughly discouraged by federal health organizations, regulators, and the Big Dairy lobby. Its dangers are minimal, and those are due to its prohibition.

Governments and their intellectual front men believe that nothing unites a population like a war. Actually, that's not quite true. If you truly want to unite a population, here is a key: drive the dictator out of the country. The fleeing of a despot always leads to unparalleled and authentic celebration.

[Excerpted from chapter 4 in part 1 of the The Turgot Collection

In the standard Austrian theory of the business cycle, the question is not "How do we get out of a recession?" Rather, the question is "How do we avoid the boom?" According to the Mises-Hayek theory, the preceding boom makes the corrective bust <i>inevitable</i>.

Here is an archetype of disgusting protectionism — benefiting special interests, pillaging consumers, and impoverishing foreigners.