Biographies

"Do you think Alan might basically be a social climber?"—Ayn Rand

The fact is that, exactly as Mark Lilla fears, when people distrust authority in a generalized way and start thinking for themselves, often without much relevant information to guide them, they'll make many decisions that they'll later regret. But whose decisions are they to make?

It is natural to wonder what scholar today has inherited the mantle of Rothbard. To me this is the wrong way to look at it. Rothbard vastly broadened that mantle so that hundreds, thousands, and millions of people can wear it. 

"His widely published 'Letter to Washington' described the party of Hamilton as 'disguised traitors' who were 'rushing as fast as they could venture, without awakening the jealousy of America, into all the vices and corruptions of the British Government'."

To put it differently, morally significant action has to be freely chosen, not mere proper behavior.

Roosevelt solidified trends toward centralization that had been at work since the 1860s and institutionalized what amounted to a revolution in the American form of government.

With Man, Economy, and State, Mises concluded, "Rothbard joins the ranks of the eminent economists."

But because of his interaction with Robert LeFevre in Colorado in the '50s and '60s, libertarian ideas were among those he toyed with and dramatized in certain of his stories.

"The typical ploy of preserving 'standards of quality' meant that competition was hobbled, production and imports limited, and prices kept high."

Austrians offer a distinct and valuable approach to basic economic questions, an approach that should be central to research on theoretical and applied topics in economics and business administration.