World History

Recorded at Mises University 2005.

Natural law does not depend directly on God’s will. Natural law goes back to at least the scholastics and perhaps Thomas Aquinas. Modern Natural Rights theory began in 1625. Modern theory recognizes the institution the state. Natural law is thought to produce inalienable natural rights. They speak to the dignity of the individual and life and property. The close connection between liberty and property is part of this tradition.

The Progressive Era covered the turn of the 19th-20th centuries until about WWI. It delivered such delights as the Federal Reserve. Accelerated statism with a philosophical veneer favored experts on boards making economic decisions efficiently. This era birthed the regulatory state.

Recorded at Mises University 2003.

Murray Rothbard popularized the concept of the welfare-warfare state. He didn’t like either of them. He knew that if the state was doing anything there was plunder involved. Welfare was any handout from the government to anyone. One book that handled warfare and welfare systematically was Crisis and Leviathan by Robert Higgs.

Recorded at Mises University 2003.

Austrian economics has nothing to do with the economics of Austria. Austrian Economics (AE) began with Carl Menger in 1871. It is based on an analysis of individual action, not aggregates or groups.

The role of the intellectual is a perennial question. Why do they act the way they do? Why are they hostile to the free market? Is the state really virtuous and the market really vicious? Mises thought the anti-capitalist mentality was rooted in envy. He also thought our entire culture was soaked in contempt for money-making.

Robert Higgs critically examines how academic historians have shaped—and often distorted—our understanding of the relationship between the state and individual liberty.

Economic theory is essential for understanding history. It is difficult to interpret data without economic theory. Theory cannot come from data. All states are aggressive. All wars require economic resources. More liberal states will pursue more aggressive policies. The biggest bullies will get away with murder.