Control or Economic Law

Eugen von Boehm-Bawerk was a giant of the Austrian School. Finally, here is an approachable book by him.

His masterworks on interest and capital run up to 1000-plus pages. Everyone should read them, as Mises said, but of course it is a bit much to take on as your first approach to this great thinker. Until now, there haven't been any monograph-length essays in print that show off the core of his thought.

"Control or Economic Law," written in 1914, gets to the heart of the matter as regards the application of economics to politics. Either we let economic law run its course or we destroy the engine of prosperity. We must defer or we make matters worse by attempting to control society.

In short, this is a scientific but impassioned call for economic liberalization - from the grand old man who learned from Menger and then taught Mises his economics.

This essay also demonstrates that economic liberalism has long been part of the foundation of the political worldview of the Austrian tradition.