In an economy, value is created from a substitution of less-preferable circumstances for more preferable circumstances. Individuals structure their actions and organize amongst themselves in a manner by which they can achieve desired goals. The free market often leads to prosperity precisely because it facilitates the value creation process rather than impeding it.

For many Americans, even lovers of American history, myself included, there are certain blank spots and gaps in knowledge. While we can appreciate that history can be and is used propagandistically to affirm certain narratives—usually by emphasis and deemphasis—it is also often the case that time constraints and desire to focus on other events helps create these gaps. One common gap is the period between the American Revolution and the Philadelphia Convention.

You earn more than your parents did, maybe significantly more. Yet, somehow, the life they built—the house, the retirement account, the sense of getting ahead—feels further away than ever. You’re not imagining it. Something is actually broken.

People generally believe that economics is of interest only to businessmen, bankers, and the like and that there is a separate economics for every group, segment of society, or country. As economics is the latest science to have been developed, it is no wonder that there are many erroneous ideas about the meaning and content of this branch of knowledge.

For over two centuries, Adam Smith has been celebrated as a founding figure of modern economics; The Wealth of Nations, first published in 1776, is still described as the first comprehensive system of political economy. Yet, from an Austrian perspective, that legacy is not a clean inheritance but a poisoned one.