Customer Reviews

Power and Market: Government and the Economy

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I became familiar with this book at a symposium at the Mises Institute in the Fall of 1998. Jeff Tucker ran sessions on Power and Market for grad students in the Auburn econ department. The message of Power and Market is clear: the public goods theory of government is wrong. No market fails completely. The private sector can supply anything, albeit imperfectly, including security. Rothbard breaks intervention down into categories (autistic, binary, triangular) and examines how all types of intervention disrupt private commerce.

The publication of Power and Market was a major event in Austrian Economics. Up to this point Austrians all endorsed the minimal state. Since then Austrians have been divided between Anarchists and Minarchists. The case that Rothbard makes for comprehensive privatization is bold, especially when you consider the mindset of both professional economists and the general public in the 1960's. From a purely intellectual standpoint Power and Market is not really bold, it is just a matter of thinking critically about all forms of intervention. But when you consider the predominant ideological mindset back then, and even now, the intellectual courage exhibited by Rothbard becomes clear.

Power and Market should be read with Nozick's Anarchy State and Utopia and Sanford Ikeda's Dynamics of the Mixed Economy, and perhaps also Elinor Ostrom's Governing the Commons, Robert Caneiro's A Theory of the Origin of the State, and Higg's Crisis and Leviathan. Not everyone will embrace Rothbard's vision for a new world, but fair-minded thoughtful people should nevertheless find his book provocative and insightful. Power and Market is a major contribution to political economy, and as such it is a must read for those who seek to understand how society works, and how it might work better.

A great, in-depth, analysis of how the government is responsible for the "problems" of the free market. Assumes a small level of economics understanding. Rothbard uses some economics jargon. This was designed to be read after "Man, Economy and State", which would provide the requisite economics. However, if you've got a pretty good idea of how supply and demand works, you can definitely grasp this on its own.

Read it to the end, chapter 6 (of 7) is the best part.

This book was shipped to me in excellent, safe packaging. My order arrived very quickly, I am very happy with the service.