Economics

The following are a selection of chapters and extracts taken from books in the OLL collection. They have been chosen because of their special importance for understanding the principles of individual liberty, limited government, and the free market. Some of the extracts are from the books themselves and serve as a representative sample of that author’s ideas. Others are introductions written by the editors of the volume which contain important biographical information about the author and a discussion of their ideas. Links are provided to the book from which the extract was taken so the reader can pursue the subject in more depth if they are interested.

Aquinas on fraudulent dealing

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St. Thomas Aquinas

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St. Thomas Aquinas Subject Area: Economics

Source: Aquinas Ethicus: or, the Moral Teaching of St. Thomas. A Translation of the Principal Portions of the Second…

Atkinson: Protection promotes War - Free Trade promotes Peace

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Edward Atkinson Topic: Free Trade

Source: Edward Atkinson, Taxation and Work: A Series of Treatises on the Tariff and the Currency (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1892). CHAPTER XVII.: Protection Promotes War;…

Bentham on Usury

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Jeremy Bentham Defence of Usury

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Defence of Usury

Source: This biographical essay was originally written by Lauren Landsburg, the Editor of the Library of Economics and Liberty…

Boehm-Bawerk’s Theory of Capital

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Works by Böhm-Bawerk Subject Area: Economics School of Thought: Austrian School

Source: Translator's Preface to Böhm-Bawerk's The Positive Theory of Capital, trans. William A. Smart (London: Macmillan and Co.,…

Böhm-Bawerk, “On the Completion of Marx’s System (of Thought)” (1896, 1898)

Introduction

An English translation of Böhm-Bawerk's devastating review of Karl Marx's Das Kapital vol. 3 which was published posthumously in 1894 by Engels.

For more information, see:

Other works by Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk…

Böhm-Bawerk, “Zum Abschluß des Marxschen Systems” (1896)

Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, "Zum Abschluß des Marxschen Systems" (1896)
Introduction

The German original of Böhm-Bawerk's devastating review of Karl Marx's Das Kapital vol. 3 which had been published posthumously in 1894 by Engels.

For…

Cobden’s Speeches on Free Trade

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Richard Cobden Subject Area: Economics

Source: Preface to Speeches on Questions of Public Policy by Richard Cobden, M.P., ed. by John Bright and J.E. Thorold Rogers with a Preface and Appreciation by J.E. Thorold…

Cobden: An Appreciation I

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Richard Cobden Subject Area: Economics

Source: An Appreciation by Goldwin Smith in Speeches on Questions of Public Policy by Richard Cobden, M.P., ed. by John Bright and J.E. Thorold Rogers with a Preface and…

Cobden: An Appreciation II

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Richard Cobden Subject Area: Economics

Source: An Appreciation by Thorold Rogers in Speeches on Questions of Public Policy by Richard Cobden, M.P., ed. by John Bright and J.E. Thorold Rogers with a Preface and…

Condillac’s Economic Thought

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Condillac Subject Area: Economics

Source: Commerce and Government Considered in their Mutual Relationship, translated by Shelagh Eltis, with an Introduction to His Life and Contribution to Economics by Shelagh…

Coquelin on Competititon

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Essays on Economics: 19thC French Political Economy in Lalor's Cyclopedia

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Subject Area: Economics School of Thought: 19thC French Liberalism

Source: This article first appeared in the

Coquelin on Industry

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Essays on Economics: 19thC French Political Economy in Lalor's Cyclopedia

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Subject Area: Economics School of Thought: 19thC French Liberalism

Source: This article first appeared in the

Coquelin on Political Economy

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Essays on Economics: 19thC French Political Economy in Lalor's Cyclopedia

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Subject Area: Economics School of Thought: 19thC French Liberalism

Source: This article first appeared in the

Demsetz and Property Rights

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Stroup and Baden on Property Rights and Natural Resource Management Subject Area: Economics

Source: Editorial in Literature of Liberty: A Review of Contemporary Liberal Thought was published first by the Cato…

Early Republican Economic Policy

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School of Thought: The Founding Fathers of the American Constitution Subject Area: Economics John Taylor Chapter: 4: Republican Economic Policy.

Copyright: This book is published online with the kind permission of…

Eugen Richter and the Critique of Socialism

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Eugen Richter, Herbert Spencer, Lord Acton, Auberon Herbert Economics Topic: Liberal Critque of Socialism School of Thought: Manchester School

Eugene Richter (1838-1906) was a member of a generation of classical…

Famous Economists and Political Philosophers

With thanks to the list of economics works and schools of thought in the Library:

Pre-Smithian Economists the Physiocrats the Classical School the Manchester School the Austrian School of Economics Socialism and the Classical…

Faucher on Property

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Essays on Economics: 19thC French Political Economy in Lalor's Cyclopedia

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Subject Area: Economics School of Thought: 19thC French Liberalism

Source: This article first appeared in the

Fetter’s Economic Thought

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Frank Fetter Subject Area: Economics School of Thought: Austrian School of Economics

Source: Frank A Fetter, Capital, Interest, and Rent: Essays in the Theory of Distribution, ed. with an Introduction by Murray…

Friedman on “I, Pencil” & the Invisible Hand

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Leonard Read, Milton Friedman Subject Area: Economics

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Invisible Hand Explanations of Society

Source: From I Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Reed (Irvington-on-Hudson, New York:…

Friedman on Capitalism and Freedom

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Economics

Source: New Individualist Review, editor-in-chief Ralph Raico, introduction by Milton Friedman (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1981). Chapter: MILTON FRIEDMAN, Capitalism and Freedom

Copyright: The…

Garnier on the Origin of the Term Laissez-faire

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Essays on Economics: 19thC French Political Economy in Lalor's Cyclopedia

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Subject Area: Economics School of Thought: 19thC French Liberalism

Source: This article first appeared in the

Garnier on the Physiocrats

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Essays on Economics: 19thC French Political Economy in Lalor's Cyclopedia

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Subject Area: Economics School of Thought: Physiocrats School of Thought: 19thC French Liberalism

Source: This article…

Grampp on the Manchester School of Economics

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School of Thought: The Manchester School Subject Area: Economics

Source: William Dyer Grampp, The Manchester School of Economics (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1960). Chapter: 1: What the School Was.

Hazlitt, The Future of Capitalism

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Works by Mises Subject Area: Economics School of Thought: Austrian School

Source: An essay in Toward Liberty: Essays in Honor of Ludwig von Mises on the Occasion of his 90th Birthday, September 29, 1971, vol. 2,…

Heyne, Economics as a Way of Thinking

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Paul Heyne Subject Area: Economics

Source: Paul Heyne, “Are Economists Basically Immoral?” and Other Essays on Economics, Ethics, and Religion, edited and with an Introduction by Geoffrey Brennan and A.M.C.…

Higgs on the Influence of the Physiocrats

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Henry Higgs School of Thought: Physiocrats Subject Area: Economics

Source: Conclusion to Higg's The Physiocrats: Six Lectures on the French Economistes of the 18th Century (London: Macmillan and Co., 1897).

Hirst on the Manchester School

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Works by Richard Cobden, John Bright
Subject Area: Economics
School of Thought: Manchester School

Source: Editor's Introduction to Free Trade and Other Fundamental Doctrines of the Manchester School, set forth…

Hutt, Reflections on the Keynsian Episode

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Subject Area: Economics

Source: An essay in Toward Liberty: Essays in Honor of Ludwig von Mises on the Occasion of his 90th Birthday, September 29, 1971, vol. 2, ed. F.A. Hayek, Henry Hazlitt, Leonrad R. Read,…

Ingram, History of the Early Austrian School of Economics

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School of Thought: Austrian Economics Subject Area: Economics

Source: From Ingram's A History of Political Economy. New and Enlarged Edition with a Supplementary Chapter by William A. Scott and an Introduction by…

Invisible Hand Explanations of Society

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Norman Barry on Spontaneous Order Forum on Spontaneous Order

Source

This essay first appeared in the journal Literature of Liberty: A Review of Contemporary Liberal Thought, vol. V, no. 2, Summer 1982, published…

Jasay, The Capitalist State

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Works by Anthony de Jasay Subject Area: Economics Subject Area: Sociology

Source: A Chapter in Anthony de Jasay, The State (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1998).

1. The Capitalist State. Violence, Obedience,…
Jevons on Richard Cantillon

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Richard Cantillon W. Stanley Jevons Subject Area: Economics

Source: Appendix to Cantillon's Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en General, edited with an English translation and other material by Henry Higgs, C.B.…

Kirzner on the Economic Point of View

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Israel Kirzner Subject Area: Economics School of Thought: Austrian School of Economics

Source: Chapter in Kirzner's The Economic Point of View: An Essay in the History of Economic Thought, ed. with an…

Kirzner, Entrepreneurship & the Market Approach to Development

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Works by Mises and Kirzner Subject Area: Economics School of Thought: Austrian School

Source: An essay in Toward Liberty: Essays in Honor of Ludwig von Mises on the Occasion of his 90th Birthday, September 29,…

Lachmann and the Subjective Paradigm

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Ludwig Lachmann Subject Area: Economics School of Thought: Editor's Introduction to Austrian School of Economics

Source: Ludwig Lachmann, Capital, Expectations, and the Market Process: Essays on the Theory of the…

Lachmann, The Significance of the Austrian School

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Ludwig Lachmann Subject Area: Economics School of Thought: Austrian School of Economics

Source: Essay in Ludwig Lachmann, Capital, Expectations, and the Market Process: Essays on the Theory of the Market Economy,…

Lalor’s Cyclopedia - 19thC French Political Economy

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Lalor's Cyclopedia School of Thought: 19thC French Liberalism Subject Area: Economics

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Another HTML copy of this work is available at our sister website Econlib

Source: Cyclopedia of…

Lalor’s Cyclopedia - Preface and Table of Contents

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Another HTML copy of this work is available at our sister website Econlib

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Lalor's Cyclopedia Subject Area: Economics

Updated: August 10, 2018

Source: Cyclopedia of Political Science,…

Marshall on The Growth of Free Industry and Enterprise

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Alfred Marshall Subject Area: Economics

Source: Appendix to Marshall's Principles of Economics (London: Macmillan and Co. 8th ed. 1920).

APPENDIX A. THE GROWTH OF FREE INDUSTRY AND ENTERPRISE.

8sect; 1. The…

Martineau on Property & Slave Labour

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Illustrations of Political Economy, 9 vols. Subject Area: Economics

Source: From Martineau's Tale "Demerara" in Illustrations of Political Economy (3rd ed) in 9 vols. (London: Charles Fox, 1832). Vol. 2.

Martineau’s Primer on Laissez-Faire Economics

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Harriet Martineau Subject Area: Economics

Source: Harriet Martineau, Illustrations of Political Economy (3rd ed) in 9 vols. (London: Charles Fox, 1832).

Harriet Martineau was a professional writer and…

McCulloch on Smuggling

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Lalor's Cyclopedia Economics

Source: Cyclopedia of Political Science, Political Economy, and of the Political History of the United States by the best American and European Authors, ed. John J. Lalor (Chicago:…

McCulloch on the Balance of Trade

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Lalor's Cyclopedia Economics

Source: Cyclopedia of Political Science, Political Economy, and of the Political History of the United States by the best American and European Authors, ed. John J. Lalor (Chicago:…

McCulloch on the Corn Laws

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Lalor's Cyclopedia Economics

Source: Cyclopedia of Political Science, Political Economy, and of the Political History of the United States by the best American and European Authors, ed. John J. Lalor (Chicago:…

O'Driscoll, Spontaneous Order and Coordination

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Invisible Hand Explanations

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Subject Area: Economics Topic: Spontaneous Order

Source: New Directions in Austrian Economics, ed. Louis M. Spadaro (Kansas City: Sheed Andrews and McMeel, 1978).

Polanyi and Spontaneous Ordering

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“invisible hand” explanations

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Works by Adam Ferguson, David Hume, Adam Smith. School of Thought: Scottish Enlightenment School of Thought: the Austrian School

This essay first appeared as an…

Political Ideas of the Classical Economists

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School of Thought: The Classical School Subject Area: Economics Adam Smith David Hume John Stuart Mill

Source: William Dyer Grampp, Economic Liberalism (New York: Random House, 1965). vol. 2 The Classical View.…

Rae on the publication of the Wealth of Nations (1776)

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Works by Adam Smith, John Rae School of Thought: Scottish Enlightenment

Source: John Rae, Life of Adam Smith (London: Macmillan, 1895).

CHAPTER XVIII. "THE WEALTH OF NATIONS" 1776.

THE Inquiry into the…

Richard Cobden’s “I have a Dream” speech (1846)

Friday 17 February 2012

In a speech he gave in the House of Commons in January 1846 Richard Cobden (1804-1865) gave what is in effect his version of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech in which he outlined what his vision of…

Rothbard on the Prehistory of the Austrian School

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Subject Area: Economics School of Thought: Austrian School of Economics

Source: Chapter in The Foundations of Modern Austrian Economics, ed. with an Introduction by Edwin G. Dolan (Kansas City: Sheed and Ward,…

Rothbard on the Public Sector

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Economics

Source: New Individualist Review, editor-in-chief Ralph Raico, introduction by Milton Friedman (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1981). Chapter: MURRAY N. ROTHBARD, The Fallacy of the “ Public Sector ”

Say on Colonial Slave Labor

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Works by J.B. Say School of Thought: 19thC French Classical Liberalism Subject Area:

Source: A Treatise on Political Economy; or the Production, Distribution, and Consumption of Wealth, ed. Clement C. Biddle,…

Say on Markets

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Essays on Economics: 19thC French Political Economy in Lalor's Cyclopedia

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Jean-Baptiste Say Subject Area: Economics School of Thought: 19thC French Liberalism

Source: This article first…

Say on Property Rights

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Works by J.B. Say School of Thought: 19thC French Classical Liberalism Subject Area:

Source: A Treatise on Political Economy; or the Production, Distribution, and Consumption of Wealth, ed. Clement C. Biddle,…

Selgin on Free Banking

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George Selgin Topic: Money and Banking

Source: George A. Selgin, The Theory of Free Banking: Money Supply under Competitive Note Issue (Lanham, MD.: Rowman & Littlefield, 1988). PART ONE: Setting the Stage.

Sennholz, The Chicago Monetary Tradition

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Economics

Source: Essay in Toward Liberty: Essays in Honor of Ludwig von Mises on the Occasion of his 90th Birthday, September 29, 1971, vol. 2, ed. F.A. Hayek, Henry Hazlitt, Leonrad R. Read, Gustavo Velasco,…

Sirc, Problems of Economic Resposibility

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Economics

Source: Essay in Toward Liberty: Essays in Honor of Ludwig von Mises on the Occasion of his 90th Birthday, September 29, 1971, vol. 1, ed. F.A. Hayek, Henry Hazlitt, Leonrad R. Read, Gustavo Velasco,…

Smart on Boehm-Bawerk

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Boehm-Bawerk Subject Area: Economics

Source: Editor's Introduction to Capital and Interest: A Critical History of Economic Theory, trans. William A. Smart (London: Macmillan, 1890).

Translator's Preface

My…

Smart on Wieser’s theory of value

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Friedrich von Wieser Subject Area: Economics School of Thought: Austrian School of Economics

Source: Editor's Introduction to Wieser's Natural Value, edited with a Preface and Analysis by William Smart (London:…

The Economic and Ethical Thought of Paul Heyne

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Paul Heyne Subject Area: Economics

Source: Paul Heyne, “Are Economists Basically Immoral?” and Other Essays on Economics, Ethics, and Religion, edited and with an Introduction by Geoffrey Brennan and A.M.C.…

The Manchester School of Economics by William Grampp

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School of Thought: The Manchester School Subject Area: Economics

Source: William Dyer Grampp, The Manchester School of Economics (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1960). Bibliography.

Copyright: This book…

Tullock and Scientific Inquiry

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Subject Area: Economics

Source: Gordon Tullock, The Selected Works of Gordon Tullock, vol. 3 The Organization of Inquiry, ed. and with an Introduction by Charles K. Rowley (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2005).

Tullock, Application of Economics in Biology

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Works by Mises and Gordon Tullock

Source: An essay in Toward Liberty: Essays in Honor of Ludwig von Mises on the Occasion of his 90th Birthday, September 29, 1971, vol. 2, ed. F.A. Hayek, Henry Hazlitt, Leonrad…

Viner on International Trade

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Jacob Viner Subject Area: Economics

Source: Appendix to Viner's Studies in the Theory of International Trade (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1965).

Appendix. A NOTE ON THE SCOPE AND METHOD OF THE THEORY OF…
Walker on Public Revenue (1899)

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Lalor's Cyclopedia Economics

Source: Cyclopaedia of Political Science, Political Economy, and of the Political History of the United States by the best American and European Authors, ed. John J. Lalor (New York:…

Walker on the Wage Fund (1899)

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Lalor's Cyclopedia Economics

Source: Cyclopaedia of Political Science, Political Economy, and of the Political History of the United States by the best American and European Authors, ed. John J. Lalor (New York:…

Walker on Wages (1899)

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Lalor's Cyclopedia Economics

Source: Cyclopaedia of Political Science, Political Economy, and of the Political History of the United States by the best American and European Authors, ed. John J. Lalor (New York:…

Wicksteed on the Psychology of Choice

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Philip Wicksteed Subject Area: Economics School of Thought: Austrian School of Economics

Source: Introduction to Wicksteed's The Commonsense of Political Economy, including a Study of the Human Basis of Economic…

Yeager & Smith on Central Banking

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Vera Smith Topic: Money and Banking Subject Area: Economics

Source: Preface to The Rationale of Central Banking and the Free Banking Alternative, Foreword by Leland Yeager (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1990).

Other collections of material from the OLL which are useful places to begin exploring these ideas are the following:

Further Reading

Selected Chapters and Introductions from the Collection