Economics

Ideas on Economic Freedom

ABSTRACT

Businesspeople and other civil-society decision makers read works of six twentieth-century thinkers—Ludwig von Mises, F. A. Hayek, James Buchanan, Milton Friedman, Ayn Rand, and Julian Simonto—to examine the intellectual case for economic freedom and market capitalism.

READING LIST

From Liberty Fund

Democracy in Deficit

by By James M. Buchanan and Richard E. Wagner
Foreword by Robert D. Tollison

Democracy in Deficit is one of the early comprehensive attempts to apply the basic principles of public-choice analysis to macroeconomic theory and policy.

According to Robert D. Tollison in the foreword, “The central purpose of the book was to examine the simple precepts of Keynesian economics through the lens of…

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Planning for Freedom

by By Ludwig von Mises
Edited by Bettina Bien Greaves

In this anthology, Mises offers an articulate and accessible introduction to and critique of two topics he considers especially important: inflation and government interventionism. Mises believes inflation, that is monetary expansion, is destructive; it destroys savings and investment, which are the basis for production and prosperity. Government controls and economic…

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Additional Readings

Bastiat, Frédéric, “What Is Seen and What Is not Seen” In The Libertarian Reader: Classic and Contemporary Readings from Lao-Tzu to Milton Friedman, edited by David Boaz, 342-354. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997, 2015.

Boettke, Peter. Living Economics: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. Oakland: The Independent Institute, in cooperation with Universidad Francisco Marroquin, 2012.

Brittan, Samuel, “Capitalism and the Permissive Society” In The Libertarian Reader: Classic and Contemporary Readings from Lao-Tzu to Milton Friedman, edited by David Boaz, 448-461. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997, 2015.

Buchanan, James M. “Afraid to be free: Dependency as desideratum.” Public Choice 124 (2005): 19-31.

Buchanan, James M. “Public Choice: Politics Without Romance.” Policy Magazine 19, no. 3 (Spring 2003): 13-18.

Doherty, Brian. Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement. New York: PublicAffairs, 2007.

Ebenstein, Lanny. Milton Friedman: A Biography. New York: Palgrave McMillan, 2007.

Friedman, Milton. Capitalism and Freedom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962, 2002.

Friedman, Milton and Rose Friedman. Free to Choose: A Personal Statement. San Diego: Harcourt Inc., 1980, 1990.

Hayek, F. A., “The Use of Knowledge in Society” In The Libertarian Reader: Classic and Contemporary Readings from Lao-Tzu to Milton Friedman, edited by David Boaz, 277-290. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997, 2015.

Madison, James, “Federalist No. 10” In The Libertarian Reader: Classic and Contemporary Readings from Lao-Tzu to Milton Friedman, edited by David Boaz, 15-23. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997, 2015.

Mill, John Stuart, “Objections to Government Interference” In The Libertarian Reader: Classic and Contemporary Readings from Lao-Tzu to Milton Friedman, edited by David Boaz, 30-32. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997, 2015.

Mises, Ludwig von, “Socialism and Intervention” In The Libertarian Reader: Classic and Contemporary Readings from Lao-Tzu to Milton Friedman, edited by David Boaz, 355-370. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997, 2015.

Rand, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged. New York: Signet, 2007.

Rand, Ayn., “What Is Capitalism?” In Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, New York: Signet (New American Library), 1967. Page(s): 11-34.

Simon, Julian. The Ultimate Resource 2. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996.

Smith, Adam, “A Man of System" and "The Simple System of Natural Liberty” In The Libertarian Reader: Classic and Contemporary Readings from Lao-Tzu to Milton Friedman, edited by David Boaz, 270-271, 340-341. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997, 2015.

Sowell, Thomas. A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles. New York: Basic Books, 2007.

White, Lawrence H. The Clash of Economic Ideas: The Great Policy Debates and Experiments of the Last Hundred Years. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.