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William Graham Sumner

Works Published inMises Daily Article

All that we call progress is a simple enlargement of chances, and the question of personal happiness is a question of how the chances will be used.

William Graham Sumner was one of the founding fathers of American sociology. Although he trained as an Episcopalian clergyman, Sumner went on to teach at Yale University, where he wrote his most influential works. His interests included money and tariff policy, and critiques of socialism, social classes, and imperialism.

All Works

What the Social Classes Owe to Each Other

World HistoryOther Schools of ThoughtPhilosophy and Methodology

04/23/2022Mises Daily Articles
History is only a tiresome repetition of one story. Persons and classes have sought to win possession of the power of the state in order to live luxuriously out of the earnings of others.
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The Forgotten Man

EntrepreneurshipOther Schools of ThoughtPhilosophy and Methodology

11/29/2021Mises Daily Articles
He is the man who wants alcoholic liquors for any honest purpose whatsoever, who would use his liberty without abusing it, who would occasion no public question, and trouble nobody at all.
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The Conquest of the United States by Spain

Free MarketsGlobal EconomyOther Schools of Thought

10/06/2017Mises Daily Articles
A modern economist stands aghast at the economic measures adopted by Spain … inspired by some demon of folly, they were so destructive to her prosperity.
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Prosperity Strangled by Gold?

Free MarketsMoney and BanksGold StandardMonetary Theory

07/12/2010Mises Daily Articles
If banks and other credit institutions are multiplied, and if credit operations are facilitated by public security, good administration of law, etc., less money is needed.
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Austrian Paper Money: 1700 and Following

Money and BanksU.S. HistoryFiscal TheoryMonetary Theory

05/10/2010Mises Daily Articles
A government which interferes with banking exposes itself to great danger of error, and such errors cost it popular confidence sooner than any others.
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