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Introduction to Austrian Economics
Podcast surveying the basic concepts of Austrian Economics.
Advanced Austrian Economics
Podcast covering advanced concepts of Austrian Economics.
Filed Under: Anything Peaceful
Tags: Austrian Economics • Israel Kirzner • libertarianism • Murray Rothbard
The Calling: Remembering Rothbard
This month marks the 15th anniversary of the death of Murray Rothbard, arguably the most important libertarian theorist of the twentieth century. Although I only met him once in person, his work was influential in developing my “calling” in a number of ways, and the way he approached his scholarly and activist work for libertarianism over his life provides a number of lessons for advancing our own callings and the freedom movement more broadly.
Read Steven Horwitz’s column here.
Comment by Jacob Steelman on 15 January 2010:
Rothbard covered so many areas. He was a master of Austrian economics, libertarian philosophy, revisionist history from a libertarian and Austrian perspective, politcal activist and knowledgeable about the various ruling elites. He knew how the world worked. He was the brilliant intellectual but was also the political street fighter. He was definitely the guy we libertarians and Austrians needed in our fox hole helping us fight the statists, the interventionists, the socialists, the mercantilists, etc. and all those who are so anxious to deny us freedom and wipe out individual liberty. He called a spade a spade and a statist a statist no matter how the statist wished to be perceived in the media. Rothbard, like Ayn Rand, was not kind to the statists and made no apologies for laissez faire economics and political philosophy. He has helped those of us limited-government libertarians realize the inconsistency of such a philosophy and that limited-government libertarianism carries with it the seeds of its own philosophical destruction – a recognition of the legitimacy of government and the grant of power to power brokers who no matter how “honest” and good intentiioned will naturally tend to extend their power over other individuals directly or indirectly through compromise of principals in the course of the legislative process. Government – whether limited or omnipotent – is always a threat to individual liberty and the a laissez faire economy. While limited government is much less a threat to a large number of individuals it is nevertheless a threat since there are men and women with the power of a gun exerting power over other individuals. Someone is sure to get hurt or lose his or her life in this process. Rothbard was and is right – free individuals do not need and should not seek to create a government to provide any “services” of any type. There is nothing government can do that individuals free of government can not do better and more efficiently. For those in doubt need only ask themselves the question could free individuals make more of a mess of the economy and society than have all the world, national, state & provincial, county & district, city, municipal & local governments? I do not know about you but I will take my chances with free individuals and private associations of individuals anytime. Thanks Murray Rothbard for your great contributions to libertarian thought and Austrian economics.