This book provides the intelligent layperson with a concise yet comprehensive overview of the theory, history, and practice of money and banking, with a focus on the United States. Although the author considers himself an Austrian school economist, most of the material in this book is a neutral presentation of historical facts and an objective description of the mechanics of money creation in today’s world.
The book is intended to be a reference for all readers, whether “Austrian” or not, and to bridge the gap by providing a crash course in the necessary theory and history while keeping the discussion tethered to current events.
— From the Introduction
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Robert P. Murphy is a Senior Fellow with the Mises Institute. He is the author of numerous books: Contra Krugman: Smashing the Errors of America’s Most Famous Keynesian; Chaos Theory; Lessons for the Young Economist; Choice: Cooperation, Enterprise, and Human Action; The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism; Understanding Bitcoin (with Silas Barta), among others. He is also host of The Human Action Podcast and The Bob Murphy Show.
Bob uses Trump’s call to ban congressional insider trading as a springboard to explain why, from an Austro-libertarian perspective, insider trading and speculation could help markets work, while still justifying special rules for government employees.
Bob discusses Javier Milei’s 2026 address to the World Economic Forum explaining the Austrian and neoclassical ideas behind Milei’s defense of capitalism.
Bob lays out California’s proposed 5% wealth tax on billionaires, using it to explain why taxes on wealth are especially destructive, how different tax structures change incentives, and what recent migration data says about people voting with their feet.
Robert P. Murphy
Published 2021 by the Mises Institute.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Mises Institute
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ISBN: 978-1-61016-740-6
