Wealth

The riches of successful entrepreneurs is not the cause of anybody’s poverty; it is the consequence of the fact that the consumers are better supplied than they would have been in the absence of the entrepreneur’s effort.

Planning for Freedom, p. 135

A wealthy man can preserve his wealth only by continuing to serve the consumers in the most efficient way.

Human Action, p. 272; p. 271

No investment is safe forever. He who does not use his property in serving the consumers in the most efficient way is doomed to failure.

Human Action, p. 308; p. 312

Profit is not related to or dependent on the amount of capital employed by the entrepreneur. Capital does not “beget” profit. Profit and loss are entirely determined by the success or failure of the entrepreneur to adjust production to the demand of the consumers.

Human Action, p. 295; p. 297

No income can be made safe against changes not adequately foreseen.

Human Action, p. 391; p. 394

Seldom does mercantile and industrial wealth maintain itself in one family for more than two or three generations.

Socialism, p. 338

Fortunes invested in capital do not, as the naive economic philosophy of the common man imagines, represent eternal sources of income.

Socialism, p. 338

An eternal capital investment is as non-existent as a secure one. Every capital investment is speculative; its success cannot be foreseen with absolute assurance.

Socialism, p. 339

In capitalist enterprise there is no secure income and no security of wealth.

Socialism, p. 340

Fortunes cannot grow; someone has to increase them.

Socialism, p. 340

If, as is generally the case, the heirs are not equal to the demands which life makes on an entrepreneur, the inherited wealth rapidly vanishes.

Socialism, p. 340

It is untrue that some are poor because others are rich. If an order of society in which incomes were equal replaced the capitalist order, everyone would become poorer.

Socialism, p. 394

The wealth of the well-to-do of an industrial society is both the cause and effect of the masses well-being.

The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science, p. 113

The masses, in their capacity as consumers, ultimately determine everybody’s revenues and wealth.

The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science, p. 112