This high-school text, published in May 2000, is aimed at teaching the intelligent young reader how to think about economic problems in a manner consistent with the Austrian School tradition. Its chapters on action, preference, demand and supply, value theory, money, and price controls emphasize deductive logic, the market process, and the failures of government intervention.
As the only text of its kind, this book is engaging, funny, filled with examples, and never talks down to the student. It is perfect for homeschoolers, but every student, young or old, will benefit from it. Indeed, a student familiar with its contents will be fully prepared to see through the fallacies of the introductory economics texts used at the college level.
David Gordon is Senior Fellow at the Mises Institute and editor of the Mises Review.
Murray Rothbard entered Columbia University at age 16 and by the time he was graduated from that institution with a Ph.D. in economics, he already had done path-breaking work in economics. His legacy has only grown since then.
Birzer does not grasp the importance of states’ rights in preserving liberty against the leviathan central government. In Randolph’s words, “I love liberty; I hate equality.” However, readers will learn a great deal from reading it.
If you have time to read only one book about the American Revolution, it should be this one. It formed the basis for Rothbard’s conclusion that “in the deepest sense, the American Revolution was a conscious majority revolution in behalf of libertarianism and against power."
Auburn, Alabama: The Mises Institute, 2000. An excellent introduction to economic thinking designed for the intelligent high school student, available for purchase or fully downloadable from Mises.org.
