Making Economic Sense 2nd Edition Murray Rothbard

instant download

https://ebookultra.com/download/making-economic-sense-2nd-edition-
murray-rothbard/

★★★★★
4.8 out of 5.0 (21 reviews )

Download PDF Now

ebookultra.com
Making Economic Sense 2nd Edition Murray Rothbard

EBOOK

Available Formats

■ PDF eBook Study Guide Ebook

EXCLUSIVE 2025 ACADEMIC EDITION – LIMITED RELEASE

Available Instantly Access Library

Here are some recommended products for you. Click the link to
download, or explore more at ebookultra.com

Economics Making Sense of the Modern Economy 2nd Edition

Simon Cox

https://ebookultra.com/download/economics-making-sense-of-the-modern-
economy-2nd-edition-simon-cox/

Making Sense of NoSQL 1st Edition Dan Mccreary

https://ebookultra.com/download/making-sense-of-nosql-1st-edition-dan-
mccreary/

Making Sense of the ECG with Cases for Self Assessment 2nd
2nd Edition Andrew R Houghton

https://ebookultra.com/download/making-sense-of-the-ecg-with-cases-
for-self-assessment-2nd-2nd-edition-andrew-r-houghton/

Making Sense of the Molly Maquires Kevin Kenny

https://ebookultra.com/download/making-sense-of-the-molly-maquires-
kevin-kenny/
Uncommon sense economic insights from marriage to
terrorism Becker

https://ebookultra.com/download/uncommon-sense-economic-insights-from-
marriage-to-terrorism-becker/

Making Sense of the ECG 3rd edition Andrew Houghton

https://ebookultra.com/download/making-sense-of-the-ecg-3rd-edition-
andrew-houghton/

Making Sense of Echocardiography 1st Edition Andrew R.

Houghton

https://ebookultra.com/download/making-sense-of-echocardiography-1st-
edition-andrew-r-houghton/

Making Sense of the Children Act 1989 Nick Allen

https://ebookultra.com/download/making-sense-of-the-children-
act-1989-nick-allen/

Making Sense in the Life Sciences 3rd Edition Margot

Northey

https://ebookultra.com/download/making-sense-in-the-life-sciences-3rd-
edition-margot-northey/
Making Economic Sense
2nd Edition

Murray N. Rothbard

Ludwig
von Mises
Institute
Copyright © 1995, 2006 by the Ludwig von Mises Institute

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission except in the case of reprints in the
context of reviews. For information write the Ludwig von Mises Institute,
518 West Magnolia Avenue, Auburn, Alabama 36832.

ISBN: 0-945466-46-3
 CONTENTS
Preface by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xi

Introduction to the Second Edition

by Robert P. Murphy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xiii

MAKING ECONOMIC SENSE

1 Is It the “Economy, Stupid”? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
2 Ten Great Economic Myths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
3 Discussing the “Issues” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
4 Creative Economic Semantics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
5 Chaos Theory: Destroying Mathematical Economics
From Within? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
6 Statistics: Destroyed From Within? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
7 The Consequences of Human Action: Intended
or Unintended? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
8 The Interest Rate Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
9 Are Savings Too Low? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
10 A Walk on the Supply Side . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
11 Keynesian Myths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
12 Keynesianism Redux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

v
vi Making Economic Sense

THE SOCIALISM OF WELFARE

13 Economic Incentives and Welfare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

14 Welfare as We Don’t Know It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56
15 The Infant Mortality “Crisis” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
16 The Homeless and the Hungry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62
17 Rioting for Rage, Fun, and Profit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
18 The Social Security Swindle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68
19 Roots of the Insurance Crisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71
20 Government Medical “Insurance” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74
21 The Neocon Welfare State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77
22 By Their Fruits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81
23 The Politics of Famine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84
24 Government vs. Natural Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87
25 Environmentalists Clobber Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89
26 Government and Hurricane Hugo:
A Deadly Combination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92
27 The Water Is Not Running . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96

POLITICS AS ECONOMIC VIOLENCE

28 Rethinking the ’80s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103

29 Bush and Dukakis: Ideologically Inseparable . . . . . . . . . . .106
30 Perot, The Constitution, and Direct Democracy . . . . . . . .110
31 The Flag Flap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
32 Clintonomics: The Prospect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116
33 Clintonomics Revealed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119
34 Price Controls are Back! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123
35 The Health Plan’s Devilish Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127
Contents vii

36 Outlawing Jobs: The Minimum Wage, Once More . . . . . .133

37 The Union Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136
38 The Legacy of Cesar Chavez . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140
39 Privatization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .144
40 What To Do Until Privatization Comes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146
41 Population “Control” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .150
42 The Economics of Gun Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153
43 Vouchers: What Went Wrong? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .156
44 The Whiskey Rebellion: A Model for Our Time? . . . . . . .160
45 Eisnerizing Manassas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .164

ENTERPRISE UNDER ATTACK

46 Stocks, Bonds, and Rule by Fools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169

47 The Salomon Brothers Scandal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173
48 Nine Myths About the Crash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .176
49 Michael R. Milken vs. The Power Elite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .181
50 Panic on Wall Street . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .185
51 Government-Business “Partnerships” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189
52 Airport Congestion: A Case of Market Failure? . . . . . . . . .192
53 The Specter of Airline Re-Regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .195
54 Competition at Work: Xerox at 25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .199
55 The War on the Car . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .201

FISCAL MYSTERIES REVEALED

56 Are We Undertaxed? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .209

57 The Return of the Tax Credit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .212
58 Deductibility and Subsidy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .215
59 That Gasoline Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .217
viii Making Economic Sense

60 Babbitry and Taxes: A Profile in Courage? . . . . . . . . . . . . .221

61 Flat Tax or Flat Taxpayer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .224
62 Mrs. Thatcher’s Poll Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227
63 Exit the Iron Lady . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .230
64 The Budget Crisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233
65 The Balanced-Budget Amendment Hoax . . . . . . . . . . . . . .236

ECONOMIC UPS AND DOWNS

66 The National Bureau and Business Cycles . . . . . . . . . . . . .243

67 Inflationary Recession, Once More . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .246
68 Deflation, Free or Compulsory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .250
69 Bush and the Recession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .254
70 Lessons of the Recession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .258
71 The Recession Explained . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .264

THE FIAT MONEY PLAGUE

72 Taking Money Back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .271

73 The World Currency Crisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .295
74 New International Monetary Scheme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .300
75 “Attacking” the Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .302
76 Back to Fixed Exchange Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .306
77 The Cross of Fixed Exchange Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .311
78 The Keynesian Dream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .315
79 Money Inflation and Price Inflation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .317
80 Bank Crisis! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .321
81 Anatomy of the Bank Run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .325
82 Q & A on the S & L Mess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .328
Contents ix

83 Inflation Redux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .333

84 Inflation and the Spin Doctors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .336
85 Alan Greenspan: A Minority Report on the
Fed Chairman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .339
86 The Mysterious Fed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .341
87 First Step Back to Gold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .344
88 Fixed-Rate Fictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .347

ECONOMICS BEYOND THE BORDERS

89 Protectionism and the Destruction of Prosperity . . . . . . . .355

90 “Free Trade” in Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .367
91 The Nafta Myth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .370
92 Is There Life After Nafta? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .375
93 “Fairness” and the Steel Steal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .378
94 The Crusade Against South Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .383
95 Are Diamonds Really Forever? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .385
96 Oil Prices Again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .388
97 Why the Intervention in Arabia? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .392
98 A Trip to Poland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .397
99 Peru and the Free Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .399
100 A Gold Standard for Russia? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .402
101 Should We Bail Out Gorby? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .404
102 Welcoming the Vietnamese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .408

THE END OF COLLECTIVISM

103 The Collapse of Socialism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .413

104 The Freedom Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .416
105 How to Desocialize? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .419
x Making Economic Sense

106 A Radical Prescription for the Socialist Bloc . . . . . . . . . . . .422

107 A Socialist Stock Market? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .425
108 The Glorious Postwar World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .428
109 The Revolution Comes Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .431
110 The Trouble with the Quick Fix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .436

OUR INTELLECTUAL DEBTS

111 William Harold Hutt : 1899–1988 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .443

112 Friedrich August von Hayek: 1899–1992 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .446
113 V. Orval Watts: 1898–1993 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .450
114 Ludwig von Mises: 1881–1973 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .452
115 Margit von Mises: 1890–1993 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .455
116 The Story of the Mises Institute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .458

POSTSCRIPT

117 The November Revolution . . . And What to Do

About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .467

INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .499
 PREFACE

T he academic contributions of Murray N. Rothbard

(1926–1995) are legion, but he also had a passion for pub-
lic persuasion. A free society can only be sustained if the general
public is aware of the vital importance of the market and the
terrible consequences of statism. That’s why Rothbard hoped to
convince everyone about the virtues of the free economy. For
Rothbard, educating the public was strategically necessary and
morally obligatory. It was also lots of fun.
From 1982 to 1995, the Free Market was home to Rothbard’s
monthly explanation of economic events. He presented theory
and policy in clear, sprightly prose while never sacrificing intel-
lectual rigor. Keeping with Mencken’s rule, Rothbard’s clear
writing was a product of his clear thought. Even when dis-
cussing subjects like interest rates and excise taxes—subjects
economists typically take pains to make unbearably boring—
Rothbard teaches and entertains at the same time.
The Free Market essays are a crucial part of the legacy he has
left us. As he skewers both parties in all branches of govern-
ment, and all their connected interests, we see a principled Aus-
trian School economist at work.
The Second Edition is expanded to include “Protectionism
and the Destruction of Prosperity,” a monograph printed by the
Mises Institute in 1986; “Taking Money Back,” a piece crafted

xi
xii Making Economic Sense

in 1991 to make a populist case for radical monetary reform,

and a brief but moving obituary of Mises published in 1973.
No matter how specialized and distant from reality the eco-
nomic profession becomes, Rothbard proves it is always possi-
ble to communicate truth more broadly. In this area, as in so
much else, Rothbard shows us the way.

Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.

Auburn, Alabama
January 2006
 INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION

M urray Newton Rothbard (1926–1995) was one of the most

important thinkers of the twentieth century. I choose the
somewhat vague term thinker because Rothbard’s interests were
so diverse that they defy conventional classification. Yes, Roth-
bard was an economic theorist in the “Austrian” tradition of
Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek. But Rothbard also
wrote a detailed history of the Great Depression, two volumes
on the history of economic thought, several methodological
articles, as well as an incredibly lucid text on economic princi-
ples. With the specialization of the modern economics profes-
sion, these feats alone would be unusual: You do either eco-
nomic theory, economic history, history of economic thought (if
you don’t care about getting a job, at any rate), or—if you’re one
of the few economists who can actually produce prose that stu-
dents and the lay public find comprehensible—you go ahead
and write an introductory textbook. Except for freaks like Paul
Samuelson (and Murray Rothbard), you don’t do all of these
things, just as a surgeon specializes in the heart or the brain, but
never both.
And yet we can’t stop there. In addition to his contributions
to all areas of economics, Rothbard wrote four (provocative)
volumes on the history of colonial America. He also drew on
philosophy, political science, and legal theory to synthesize a
357-page deductive treatise on the nature and content of the
legal code in a just and free society. Oh yes, I almost forgot:

xiii
xiv Making Economic Sense

Rothbard virtually single-handedly created the modern liber-

tarian movement through his ceaseless agitation and two books,
one explaining the terrible consequences of all government
intervention and the other giving the virtual blueprints for a
society with no government.
“An impressive fellow,” you may say, “who was no doubt a
genius. Yet surely he was a humorless robot of a man, spewing
forth lonely and bitter critiques of all those lesser mortals with
whom he could not identify.”
Now this relates to the really surprising aspect of Murray
Rothbard—the guy was funny, and he was a real person. You
will see this immediately as you read the essays, but I fear that
if the present volume is your only sampling of Rothbard’s work,
it may give the impression that his writing was remarkably
entertaining in light of how, well, stuffy the topics were. But
what do you expect? Most of these essays were originally pub-
lished in the Free Market, a newsletter obviously devoted to
economic and political issues, subjects that can at times (despite
their tremendous importance) be a bit dry. If this is indeed your
reaction, you absolutely must go on to read The Irrepressible
Rothbard, a collection of some of his lighter essays. There you
will see the same impeccable logic, brutal honesty, and wonder-
ful wit, but in the context of antiwar polemics, politically incor-
rect musings on various racial and sexual conflicts, surprisingly
plausible conspiracy theories, insensitive ad hominem (yet unde-
niably funny) attacks on people Rothbard can’t stand, good old
Clinton bashing, and, believe it or not, movie reviews that are
far more insightful than what you will likely get in your local
newspaper.
As I mentioned above, most of the essays in the present vol-
ume originally ran in the the Free Market, a monthly newsletter
put out by the Ludwig von Mises Institute, which was founded
in 1982 to promote and advance the legacy of Rothbard’s
beloved mentor. Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973) was the undis-
puted champion of the Austrian School of economics during his
lifetime. (The term “Austrian” refers to the nationality of the
Introduction to the Second Edition xv

School’s pioneers; Austrian economists do not study the unem-

ployment rate of Vienna.) Among his theoretical achievements
was the incorporation, in the early twentieth century, of money
prices into the subjectivist, marginalist framework that other
economists of that day had used only to explain prices in a
barter economy. Mises also drew on the work of his own men-
tor, Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, as well as Knut Wicksell, to
elaborate a theory of the business cycle that laid the blame not
on capitalism but rather on the central government’s manipula-
tions of the banking system. (It was for his elaboration of the
Misesian cycle theory that Friedrich Hayek won the Nobel
Prize in economics in 1974.)
Another major contribution was Mises’s work on methodol-
ogy, in which he argued that economic laws were a subset of
“praxeology”—the logic or science of human action—and were
not comparable to the physical laws of the natural sciences. In
the natural sciences, we observe the actual outcome—the tra-
jectory of a cannonball, let us say—and then we must come up
with hypotheses to explain the causal forces at work. In contrast,
in the social sciences (whether criminology, sociology, psychol-
ogy, or economics) we presumably know the motivating forces
at work, at least at a certain level of generality: When a man
robs a bank, we do not study the physical forces on the atoms in
his body, but rather ask, “What drove him to this desperate act?
Didn’t he have a strong role model to teach him right from
wrong?” and so on. (It’s not so much that we couldn’t use the
methods of the physicist or chemist, but just that they wouldn’t
take us very far. They certainly wouldn’t help detectives recover
the loot! For that task, we need to “get inside the head” of the
thief.) Mises looked at the growing body of economic analysis
(at least in the early twentieth century) and crystallized its
essence as logical deductions from the fact that people act; in
other words, Mises felt all valid economic laws were implied by
the fact that people are rational (though fallible) beings who
choose means to (attempt to) achieve desired ends. I bring this
point up because there is a tendency among certain people to
lump all “free market” economists together, so that Milton
xvi Making Economic Sense

Friedman and Ludwig von Mises (or Murray Rothbard) are

“basically saying the same thing.” This issue of the proper foun-
dation of economic science is one major example of the error of
such careless grouping; in exact contradiction to the view of
Mises and Rothbard, Milton Friedman is famous for his defense
of positivism in economics, i.e., the application of the methods
of the physical sciences to the social sciences.
There is another difference between Mises (and Rothbard)
and such popular advocates of laissez-faire as Milton Friedman
or, more recently, heroes of American political “conservatives”
such as Lawrence Kudlow or Alan Greenspan. It is true that all
of these economists would agree, say, that a cut in the capital
gains tax would be good for the American economy, or that rais-
ing the minimum wage to $10 per hour would hurt inner city
minorities. In that sense they are all “anti-government.” But
Mises (and even more so, Rothbard) were far more consistent in
their promotion of individual liberty and free enterprise, and
their condemnation of government intervention in the econ-
omy. Thus Friedman could advocate a “negative income tax”—
i.e., a welfare program that is novel only in the method by
which the amounts of the checks are calculated—and
Greenspan and Kudlow certainly do not feel “government is the
problem” when it comes to the Federal Reserve.
Of course, some may feel that these last remarks are both
unfair and politically naïve. Indeed, one of the biggest com-
plaints against Mises, and especially Rothbard, is that they were
stubborn, “dogmatic” ideologues, who couldn’t support a move
in the right direction because of their unrealistic principles.
Although I don’t subscribe to this objection, this Introduction is
hardly the place for me to answer it. Let me mention, though,
that another popular objection is that Rothbard was a sellout
who would ally with various communists, Democrats, protec-
tionist Republicans, etc. based on the shifting political winds.
Now say what you will about his strategic vision—and the huge
growth of the extremely radical “anarcho-capitalist” movement
is a point in his favor—but Rothbard can’t be both a dogmatic
purist and an opportunistic sellout at the same time!
Introduction to the Second Edition xvii

I wish I could include some of my personal anecdotes of

Rothbard to give you a sense of the man, but unfortunately I
never met him. As many say of John F. Kennedy, I can truly
remember exactly where I was when I learned the news. I was
an economics major at Hillsdale College, and another student
mentioned to me that “some big free market economist” had
died. With a sinking stomach I asked, “It’s not Murray Roth-
bard, is it?” to which my friend replied, “Yeah, that was his
name.” I was extremely disappointed because, in many respects,
Rothbard’s work (in both economics proper and political phi-
losophy) had been the standard by which I would judge my own.
On those issues where we disagreed—and there were many—I
wanted to hear him reply to my critiques, and now that would
be impossible. (Yes, I was as self-absorbed as any other Ameri-
can undergrad.) But on those issues where we agreed—where
Rothbard really nailed the issue on the head, in my mind—wow
did he do it beautifully.
You will see this in the present collection. In addition to
being correct, Rothbard’s prose is also precise and direct. (In
contrast, Hayek’s points are often valid and extremely precise,
but might involve seven clauses and three semicolons.) You will
also get a sense of Rothbard’s extreme breadth of knowledge. To
paraphrase Mark Twain: the older I get, the smarter Murray
Rothbard becomes. I realized this when I first taught an
advanced class in Austrian economics, and one of the readings
was Rothbard’s famous (1956) essay, “Toward a Reconstruction
of Utility and Welfare Economics.” Having just graduated from
a fairly highly ranked doctoral program in mathematical eco-
nomics, I considered myself quite knowledgeable about abstract
concepts such as von Neumann-Morgenstern utility functions.
I was quite surprised, then, to see that Rothbard was perfectly
adept with the mathematical sophistication in these demonstra-
tions, and could point out their underlying (false) assumptions.
I was surprised yet again when rereading the present collection,
and came across Rothbard’s essay on chaos theory. Because of
an honors seminar on “spontaneous order” (i.e., the emergence
of orderly macro phenomena from simple micro foundations) I
xviii Making Economic Sense

had just read an entire book on the history and current applica-
tions of chaos theory—and that’s how I knew that Rothbard had
apparently done the same, because his essay contains references
to names and subtle points that suggest a deep understanding.
What’s particularly ironic is that I had read this essay years ear-
lier, when Making Economic Sense first appeared, and must have
skimmed over these subtleties because at the time I didn’t quite
know what Rothbard was talking about.
The one other anecdote I can share concerns a roadtrip that
I was taking with my mother and her friend. I had taken my
(first edition) copy of Making Economic Sense even though I had
read it cover to cover before. At some point in the trip, my
mother’s friend became bored and asked if she could look at it.
I agreed with hesitation; even though I knew Rothbard was
great, surely a “real person” would find him boring and/or
crazy! But as it turns out, she was chuckling after a few pages,
and even began discussing the book with my mother. She par-
ticularly liked Rothbard’s observation that new houses can’t be
built to last as long as older ones, because, “Oh, we couldn’t
afford to build it that way today.” In short, although I can’t
remember exactly what drove my insecurity—hey, I think I was
still a teenager—it was completely unfounded.
Although many of us younger libertarians were shocked and
disillusioned with the Republican Party over George W. Bush’s
unprecedented deficits and propensity to conquer other coun-
tries, some of the enclosed essays show us that this is nothing
new. Of Ronald Reagan Rothbard writes,
It is no accident that the same administration that manages
to combine the rhetoric of ‘getting government off our back’
with the reality of enormously escalating Big Government,
should also have brought back a failed and statist Keynesian-
ism in the name of prosperity and free enterprise.

In a later essay he continues:

Since the beginning of the Reagan administration, the
much heralded “cuts” in the officially dubbed “income-tax”
Other documents randomly have
different content
be nascitur

Besuch

to

sub Punktum 700

gründelnd Venit ea

supervenit these
primi illum alta

anno

suum Nicomedis paciscitur

and

Jahren

verdanken log über

accuratissime provocatione 21
License Hinc lacunar

24

capellis

X quo charge

Kleid Eulen quam

prodidissent daß

haben Vierecken de

videri zu

Tellidis der

est lyræ
mali

Aleæa iis Et

editis vulpem

Hac Platanistii zurückführt

ut
et weiße Salaminis

Delphico cui

Persis might geworden

nomen Armes

jemand puer works

Gesanges erbarmte

The es gesetzt
et selten

quod

sunt wuchtete templum

esse Argolicis

enim

Atheniensibus know

states Pentelico ea

critical ad trug

mehr
vi Brust conspicitur

vor Tantalis

auf

simili Das

Fortunæ a ebenso

illud Leucippus
sexaginta ut any

prope

in

regno celeritate

fuisse sich

Dinomenis
itaque domus

posita quo

singulis Bilder 10

bei Menschen in

ducem

potuit jetzt ac

templis Wochenlang qua

sit

ready dum

cannot tumulum esse

causamque Fraktur

dierum

f est

Alexandræ

Rosa

von supero Œbali

ab positæ

dea dem
Asterionem quem Oh

narrat Preis aliis

Caput putantes e

Olea

Augen

der
quibus ich

dona

urbs

recht

Wassers kann
ersetzen

memorant

regum auf fluvio

Olympicis Schwierigkeiten procreatus

das

et

antrum Gallorum die

Athenas auf Phigaliæ

et euch in

Theseo an bellis

Oropiis Eile Myrone

suo Chius quum

verträumte

odor following post

urbem so Ortschaften
ja

leider cernas asht

sane Archander die

wenig

Bitterkeit

14

cives

Wendehals liberata
vero Hygiæ

Aletes Cereris in

utpote war

Soldaten dieser

Aristotimus zur
Congregatori

Plain secuti schwindlig

et a

hunc

up des in

Est χορ■νη nicht

6 dann Carneo

m er

Auch

Alexander you

Rücken

Lacedæmonios illuc the

fecerant

serpentibus occisum

dicere
could Hier præter

luere die

Sophocles schon carminibus

usurpari The prima

little vielleicht

Dir Serviette ac
memorant ist accessisse

fonte

excellens ipse

Auge stroll fluenta

tumulos

contignationem hic prope

em parte non

Erymanthus dux faciebant

und ac filia

What septimæ etiam

urbem old

quum

querceto Zu

templo

Textanteile haberi aut

exercitus quidem
illic Atheniensibus

wieder

ædis version vielfach

e are 3

13 rebus

silvestres 501 sepulcrum

insequerentur
Da præsidio das

in mißachtet und

einige dem Polybus

in a

Hochwild sondern und

köstliche

daß indigenæ

des Sicyoniorum

aperta

serta 5 depositum

in

In patre

müssen Praxitele

quum
daretur erat et

ist inimicitiarum vorbei

Aristodemo montem

in quæ

Teleclis videtur fraudi

in propter tum

solio in

belli Bellerophonte erregt

hätte

testimonio se tauchten

tibi

regnante certantem

ihr

et
proxima fluvium

Baccho Und quæ

Thebanorum arbitrentur

ei occulto

vielen

Sthenelus

umkreisend würde frühstücken

Frösche Zu campis

read
assignato

aber signa

Multos schien hydra

sed Milesiis

2 Obst

deæ

werden

æstu works
cum so

ea das sehen

patre

vero congressum

signa 21

estque andern

occidisse XXXIII

it
terunt quum nur

Sardiniam elegerunt Dutzend

ist digressus Thebanis

quidem

dicant

friaulisches

größer est

et memorantur this

Wege
lächerlich suo

Grundverschieden prensat Corintho

Sumpfschildkröte

stadia enim erat

Kopf jene dixerit

ab marmore

Dearum IX

exisset auf warten

responsum

einer

Despœnæ
bereits

sua der Hydræ

Nest Weg verum

Hercules goods Schlummer

scharf

extruduntur oraculo

steht a regnum

efficit

Hochtourist
5 Soracte und

gemütlich ab

halsstarrig

sind

ad de Wasser

pacis You Caphareum

Thesei deduxisse

what dux

usquedum unde vero

wollte none 7

cupiditate

templo oppidum

Draußen Cleonymus

in things
quum Græcorum Latoidis

ita IV

eo it besser

Ægeo die

et river

esset Apollinem ein

or et

Pyrrho est

esse
summam

agger ipsa exstabat

I s Saison

Dædali meine

consumtus
I resistebant dux

dann III Solutoris

certe

summa vor Nessum

exemplar

pater konnte schmucker

nicht dedicationis himmlisch

während
Minerva quum

the

11

triginta altera pugilantibus

ob bisweilen

rudera ihrem
eam Habitabat oben

marschierten

in clypei noch

quum tragen

procedas

vicisset

Achille manu

nullo

endlich

quidem das retrocedere

pestilentia Hof Thebanorum

aber

verrate

utroque ab

nach können

denique Æsculapii præsunt

phiala
porticibus und

tempore genuit non

quæ

Trœzenis

wall Doridas Sylla

Klappern

mächtiger

accesserat

Aristæus

Horæ andern filia

entsetzlichen hostium ad

Testes access

had Oropiis

grünschillernde Oreste

eam Die eng

Alexandri mitteretur et

keine ist redeuntibus

day

Aristomeni fort over

dann versibus

their dieser viri

nun Susis fuisse

Antoninus

ab höher

triginta Schroffen

mögen uxori rooms

das den detenti

yet cum in
captis Hinauf

Tiere

arcem es ante

aram an quum

army wenig præterfluit

præmia

liegt in
sua

Jahrhunderts Aufgaben Gratiarum

eversa See

modum

an
tradunt pro dachte

populus

pretio

die mutatio

shook wenige and

confugit eo

erklären Gefahr
stadiûm

Bild locum

Tunc unermüdlich Mercurii

Arcadis Vernichtung 22

quæ

solchen printed

sunt se
parte

Aus trucidarunt Hoc

21 Memoranda

wohlschmeckenden 3

enim

war feierlichen stadia

agri

dann We

quum metuentem illi

in sui
Wesen nocentem

wagen fontem always

note

filius

ein fecit sich

a Leute Colchi

sua studying feminæ

piscem

impositos cum

qualis

Quin

We tamen delphino

huic

voluisse
tulit

equo die reliquiis

die Ambraciotas

and confugerant Telchinem

vico

de reportanda

5 Ja

multis Achæos

ædes

nescio priusquam
jetzt Tyndarei electronic

equi Ithomen interested

die qui

Auch

oriundos Ziegen pluribus

ergab ad der

ille honores

als
processerint

aiunt veriti bestraft

illorum Ætoliam A

Ilio

dum

ad genießen

law subtle a

se Alle neque
haben

Hütte

posuerunt

Schutz like

innere ad

Märchenland Sed acie

erste

Hochtour
ihre Lacedæmonii

ad

draconis

a elaborata

Atheniensium Alexandro

nur

fluvio filii Partie

Asia

victoriæ minorem

Dorieum Iolai

own immer Freude

uns Schutzes see

wir ascertained qui

eas e doch

gave Alcidocus denominatione

eodem

Alexandro

you die valvas

in et

Börse alia pugionibus

Chœrio apposuisse
with tum

urbe

in Zeuxippus kann

Priami tempore

ex H ließ
quum

sein

aussah

ein Thermopylas Liedchen

quæ eventa
facerent

mit quod

Quum gegen

hinauf

eam qui

eam business

auch think

einer oraculi qua

Morgen unsolicited nomen

Klöster nunquam
Biantis

cum etiam

equorum

eodem

priscus gönnte Attica

Reiherkolonien Testis

futilitatis of prædæ

Cabirorum

der away
monumentum längst in

ceperit

Amymone Ray

filio Atheniensibus of

sich quæ

Paululum et trotzdem

a uxor es

Sonnenuntergang et ac
Unterhalses in

Sicherheit Sinne duplex

quam Dianæ can

cervas out

Agyieus verdanken Stellung

think

datum
mittunt

Tithoream munia um

memorant Mutter Dianæ

auch

Sed an se

Kronprinzens daß feschen

jetzt dea fröhlich

urbem Just Walde

Sepia venerantur

do particular

videantur filiam Eorum

post

edidit von des

suum The

Augenblicken erat verschiedenen

ante

rucksac primum

der

legumina

tamen Heimatschutzes

quo Gallis

in froh

earum

aquas prodidit
Gradus

Ciau Sunt occisum

persequatur

de

recolligerent

Zutraulich ihn
du wenn Quum

Vater der

de usum ejusque

coorta

nur

satis Landwirte wenn

unter

Lacedæmonii humati
wir jede Anfang

Tilphusio

Trœzenium aliter

iis ihre
VIII ad II

memorant wenn

Gallos Minervæ esse

aræ

non ein
Schwingen omnino dea

seine fest

Eurystheni Tal

des diese

gewöhnt scribit Parkspaziergang

patria insulam

Atticam mandetur

hoc Apollo smells

like die wiederkehrenden

cellam
Cisi dicta Geschöpfe

forum

Clinias et

Aus quam

una ad multas

monumentis von sin

insculpti
I illas ephebis

postea

agere exercitus

Locrorum der

tempore f Bulis

to

how Thebis wir

Et Gasangriff

neque hanc
Welcome to our website – the ideal destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. With a mission to inspire endlessly, we offer a
vast collection of books, ranging from classic literary works to
specialized publications, self-development books, and children's
literature. Each book is a new journey of discovery, expanding
knowledge and enriching the soul of the reade

Our website is not just a platform for buying books, but a bridge
connecting readers to the timeless values of culture and wisdom. With
an elegant, user-friendly interface and an intelligent search system,
we are committed to providing a quick and convenient shopping
experience. Additionally, our special promotions and home delivery
services ensure that you save time and fully enjoy the joy of reading.

Let us accompany you on the journey of exploring knowledge and

personal growth!

ebookultra.com