17. Observations on the Russian Reform Movement
The bosses of the Russian Communist Administration are disturbed by the fact that economic conditions in the countries which have not adopted the methods of the Communist International are by far more satisfactory than those in their own country.
If they could succeed in keeping their “comrades” in complete ignorance of the achievements of Western capitalism, they
16. A Hundred Years of Marxian Socialism
I.
In this year 1967, in which the University of Chicago celebrates its seventy-fifth anniversary, the present-day world’s most powerful political movement, Marxism, commemorates the two most important dates of its history.
II. Demonstrated Preference
A Statement of the Concept
Human action is the use of means to arrive at preferred ends. Such action contrasts to the observed behavior of stones and planets, for it implies purpose on the part of the actor. Action implies choice among alternatives. Man has means, or resources, which he uses to arrive at various ends; these resources may be time, money, labor energy, land, capital goods, and so on. He uses these resources to attain his most preferred ends. From his action, we can deduce that he has acted so as to satisfy his most highly valued desires or preferences.
Economists have always been envious of the practitioners of the natural and exact sciences. They have thought that introducing the methods of natural sciences such as a laboratory where experiments could be conducted could lead to a major breakthrough in our understanding of the world of economics.
But while a laboratory is a valid way of doing things in the natural sciences, it is not so in economics. Why is that so?
A laboratory is a must in physics, for there a scientist can isolate various factors relating to the object of inquiry.
15. The Clash of Group Interests
I.
To apply the term “group tensions” to denote contemporary antagonisms is certainly a euphemism. What we have to face are conflicts considered as irreconcilable and resulting in almost continual wars, civil wars, and revolutions.
14. On Equality and Inequality
I.
The doctrine of natural law that inspired the eighteenth century declarations of the rights of man did not imply the obviously fallacious proposition that all men are biologically equal.
13. Capitalism versus Socialism
I.
Most of our contemporaries are highly critical of what they call “the unequal distribution of wealth.” As they see it, justice would require a state of affairs under which nobody enjoys what are to be considered superfluous luxuries as long as other people lack things necessary for the preservation of life, health, and cheerfulness.
Volume 32, no. 11 (November 2014)
Mises Institute: How did you first become familiar with the Mises Institute?
Audrey Redford is a PhD student in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at Texas Tech and is a gradua
12. The Plight of the Underdeveloped Nations
I.
Foreign investment was an achievement of laissez-faire capitalism. It developed step by step only in the nineteenth century.
