Man, Economy, and State (Paperback)

~ (Author) "The distinctive and crucial feature in the study of man is the concept of action..." (more)
Key Phrases: discounted marginal value product, psychic revenue, multiform pricing, New York, Ludwig von Mises, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A pillar of the Austrian School Library and the last full-blown treatise on economics. If Mises's Human Action was the culmination of the School from Menger's time, Rothbard's treatise takes Austrian thought even further in the areas of utility and welfare economics, antitrust, labor, taxation, public goods, and social insurance schemes. Inconsistencies are ironed out and the system of thought, in all its logical rigor, is unbroken.

More than any book, Man, Economy, and State taught economics to the post-Mises generation. It refutes still-common errors among the mainstream and grapples with the post-war Keynesian literature point by point. The impact of this work was also enhanced by its breathtaking logic and clarity, even in the most difficult subject areas.

Special insights along the way include a full critique of government statistics and the Fed's definitions of the money supply. Nearly twenty-five years after it first appeared in print, it remains the standard bearer for the Austrian School.

About the Author

Murray N. Rothbard (1926-1995) distinguished himself as an economist, writing a major treatise on theory, several important economic histories, and a highly praised history of economic thought. But he was also known as the pioneer thinker of libertarianism, the political philosophy that roots freedom in private property ownership and decries the state as inherently contrary to the ethics of a free society. Writing from this perspective, he gained a reputation as the most provocative and influential contributor to the anarchist tradition in our century.

Product Details

• Paperback: 987 pages
• Publisher: Ludwig Von Mises Inst; 1 edition (June 15, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0945466323
• ISBN-13: 978-0945466321
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 2.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #484,822 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Treatise on Economics ever written..., June 12, 2004

By	SK (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews

This is simply the best treatise on economics that has been written upto date in the human history. Ludwig Von Mises 'Human Action' comes close but it is too dense for a layman.

This book: Man, Economy and State, written by Murray N. Rothbard can make an economist out of layman if he puts time and efforts into reading this book and understanding all its concepts. Murray Rothbard starts with the basic axiom that: Humans Act. He further states that Humans Act to relieve some sort of unease and approach a better state of satisfaction. Based on these two axioms he builds up the entire edifice of Economics using impeccable logic and superb reasoning.

I had read Carl Menger's 'Principles of Economics' before this and thus had a basic understanding of economics. But EVEN if you do not have that, do not worry. This book starts with very basic terms and explains the concepts of Supply and Demand, Interest Rates, Profit/Loss, Production Structure etc. in a clear and thorough manner.

Murray Rothbard furthermore refutes the Socialist, Keynesian(gradual socialist) and neo-classical schools of economics. His elucidation of fallacies of Interventionist economics is so logical that one cannot help but laugh out loud on the stupidity of fools like John Keynes, Karl Marx and their disciples.

Also you will not see much mathematics in this book. Subjective valuations of goods/services by humans cannot be quantified. This seems pretty logical to most of us but many who call themselves "economists" simply miss this insight.

Read this book and you will have a far better understanding of how the world works. You will also understand economics better than most economics college professors and government-employed economists.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A refreshing antidote to mainstream Micro and Macro, January 5, 2000

By	Steven Piraino (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Man, Economy and State: A Treatise on Economic Principles (Paperback)

Man, Economy and State is more than a refined rehashing of Mises' Human Action. It includes thorough analyses of many topics Mises did not tackle, or did not tackle so well. Most notably, Rothbard exposes the logical absurdities embedded in Keynesian and monetarist theories.

I found the work both more satisfying and more intellectually invigorating than I expected. Rothbard's clear, deductive prose, aided with just a touch of humor and sarcasm, makes for some wonderful reading. I know I will read this one many, many times before I feel I have really absorbed everything this book has to offer.

I especially urge educated laymen and students of economics to give this book a good reading before mindlessly accepting the trendy mathematical scribbling that has become the code language of ivy-league economists. Purposive, motivated individual ACTION is the ultimate cause of all economic phenomena. Therefore, economics must be described in terms of cause and effect relationships originating in the attempts of individuals to employ scarce means to satisfy unlimited wants.

Economics, when described through functional equations, can never contain any meaningful insights that could not be expressed more precisely through verbal logic, as functional relationships lack information on causality. In the social sciences they are likely to be the source of false deduction and inference. The result is a hopelessly confused pseudo-science that ignores most of what makes economics useful.

Because Rothbard understands this from the get-go, he is able to give us 900 pages of meaningful logic.

Thank you, Murray Rothbard!

31 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Encyclopedia of Economics, June 30, 2002

By	John Perich (Reisterstown, MD United States) - See all my reviews

If you're at all interested in Austrian economics, Rothbard's _magnum opus_ is an essential reference. The whole of Austrian methodology and economic thought is contained in this massive text. Whether you're teaching yourself the basics of Econ, or just want to experience some of the most controversial, cutting-edge thought in the financial sciences, Man, Economy and State is one to watch out for.

PRO:
+ Assumes nothing; teaches you economics from the ground up.
+ Thorough and detailed.

+ If you find an edition with the rare last chapter, "The Economics of Violent Intervention in the Market," the book is worth its weight in gold: it's a political treatise AND economics compendium in one.

CON:
- A bit on the dry side; Rothbard's vocabulary and syntax tend towards the dense.
- Don't expect a lot of graphs. Get used to it: Austrians don't like graphs.
- Threateningly heavy.