Economic Controversies

After Murray Rothbard finished his theoretical magnum opus - Man, Economy, and State - he turned his attention away from pure positive theory toward dealing with the opposition to Austrian theory. The result was a long series of fantastic scholarly articles taking on every error of the day, and our day too.

Together they form a volume 2 of his great work. This is Economic Controversies. He covers the same range of topics in Man, Economy, and State. Most all have been published, but they are strewn out among journals that are hard to access or books that are out of print. Some have never been published.

Rothbard gives his all in these critiques of the opponents of Austrian theory and policy, slicing through fallacies with breathtaking virtuosity. It’s a model of intellectual combat, page after page of razor-sharp thinking and crystal-clear prose.

To have this all in one place, beautifully organized, creates a treasure in the history of economic ideas.

Gene Epstein of Barron's writes the outstanding introduction.

Introduction by Gene Epstein

Section One: Method


1. The Mantle of Science
2. What is the Proper Way to Study Man?
3. Praxeology as the Method of the Social Sciences
4. Praxeology: The Methodology of Austrian Economics
5. Praxeology, Value Judgments, and Public Policy
6. In Defense of “Extreme Apriorism”
7. Praxeology: Reply to Mr. Schuller
8. The Hermeneutical Invasion of Philosophy and Economics

Section Two: The Austrian School


9. New Light on the Prehistory of the Austrian School
10. The Present State of Austrian Economics
11. Ludwig von Mises and the Paradigm for Our Age
12. Value Implications of Economic Theory
13. The Myth of Efficiency
14. Breaking Out of the Walrasian Box: Schumpeter and Hansen
15. Professor Rolph on the Discounted Marginal Productivity Theory
16. Professor Kirzner on Entrepreneurship
17. Toward a Reconstruction of Utility and Welfare Economics

Section Three: Property and the Public Sector


18. The Politics of Political Economists
19. Justice and Property Rights
20. Law, Property Rights, and Air Pollution
21. The Fallacy of the “Public Sector”
22. Statistics: Achilles’s Heel of Government
23. How and How Not to Desocialize

Section Four: Taxation


24. The Myth of Neutral Taxation
25. The Myth of Tax “Reform”
26. The Consumption Tax: A Critique
27. The Case Against the Flat Tax
28. The Uneasy Case for Degressive Taxation: A Critique of Blum and Kalven
29. The Single Tax: Economic and Moral Implications
30. The Value-Added Tax is Not the Answer
31. A Reply to Georgist Criticisms

Section Five: Trade and Freedom


32. Freedom, Inequality, Primitivism, and the Division of Labor
33. Restrictionist Pricing of Labor
34. Mercantilism: A Lesson for Our Times?
35. Capitalism versus Statism
36. A Future of Peace and Capitalism

Section Six: Money, Banking, and Calculation


37. The Austrian Theory of Money
38. Money, the State, and Modern Mercantilism
39. Austrian Definitions of the Supply of Money
40. Gold vs. Fluctuating Fiat Exchange Rates
41. The Case For a Genuine Gold Dollar
42. Inflation and the Business Cycle: The Collapse of the Keynesian Paradigm
43. Lange, Mises and Praxeology: The Retreat from Marxism
44. Ludwig von Mises and Economic Calculation Under Socialism
45. The End of Socialism and the Calculation Debate Revisited
46. The Myth of Free Banking in Scotland
47. Aurophobia: Or, Free Banking on What Standard?

Section Seven: Criticism


48. Milton Friedman Unraveled
49. Paul Samuelson’s Economics, Ninth Edition
50. Heilbroner’s Economic Means and Social Ends
51. Buchanan and Tullock’s The Calculus of Consent

Bibliography
Index