Conquest of Poverty [Paperback]

Henry Hazlitt (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1572460067 | ISBN-13: 978-1572460065 | Publication Date: March 1996

Capitalist production, not government programs, has been the real conqueror of poverty.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Foundation for Economic Education (March 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572460067
• ISBN-13: 978-1572460065
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,381,855 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Relevant Insight into Today's War on Poverty, December 22, 2006

By 

Keen Incite - See all my reviews

This review is from: Conquest of Poverty (Paperback)

"The Conquest of Poverty" is a typical example as to why Henry Hazlitt has become one of the most influential economists over the last half century.

In an easily readable style, Hazlitt begins by first demonstrating the difficulty of objectively defining poverty, and how that problem hasn't stopped bureaucrats from executing public policy to combat it. He then recounts how societies have tried to alleviate poverty in the past - starting with ancient Rome, moving through England's "Poor Laws," and finally to modern-day America - all the while, using sound economic principles to demonstrate why each attempt failed. This part in particular is a stark commentary on how man keeps making the same mistakes in trying to eradicate poverty by not learning from history - even by policy-makers in America today.

He then tackles several individual topics such as the minimum wage, the affect of unions, income redistribution, government job programs, socialism, etc., and analyzes why each not only fails to reduce poverty, but actually exacerbates it. Finally, he discusses what the roles of the public and private sectors should be in alleviating poverty.

Since the book was written in 1973, it doesn't expound on the major economic events that have occurred since - like Jimmy Carter's "stagflation," which put a stake through the heart of Keynesian economics, and Reagan's successful supply-side revolution, which vindicates much of Hazlitt's economic philosophy. However, Hazlitt's historical analysis of man's attempt to eliminate poverty, as well as his analysis and conclusions of America's present attempt to do so, are transcendant - applying today just as they did in the early 1970s. This is a must-read for any serious scholar of economics in general and poverty in particular.