Economics and Reality

Economics deals with real man, weak and subject to error as he is, not with ideal beings, omniscient and perfect as only gods could be.

Source: Ludwig Von Mises, Human Action, Chapter 4, Section 3, The Scale of Needs, 1949

On False Dogma

Hence, people concluded, the gain of one man is the damage of another; no man profits but by the loss of others. 

Source: Ludwig Von Mises, Human Action, Chapter 24, Section 1, Harmony and Conflict of Interests: The Ultimate Source of Profit and Loss on the Market, 1949

On Value

Value is not intrinsic, it is not in things. It is within us; it is the way in which man reacts to the conditions of his environment.

Source: Ludwig Von Mises, Human Action, Chapter 4, Section 2, The Scale of Value, 1949

Reciprocity

Second, the reciprocal performances of the parties must in some sense be equal in value…. We cannot here speak of an exact identity, for it makes no sense at all to exchange, say, a book or idea in return for exactly the same book or idea. The bond of reciprocity unites men, not simply in spite of their differences but because of their differences….

Source: Lon L. Fuller, The Morality of Law, pp. 23–24, 1964
Taken From: Bruce Benson, The Enterprise of Customary Law, 6/29/2007

Economic History

It is impossible to understand the history of economic thought if one does not pay attention to the fact that economics as such is a challenge to the conceit of those in power. An economist can never be a favorite of autocrats and demagogues. With them he is always the mischief-maker, and the more they are inwardly convinced that his objections are well founded, the more they hate him.

Source: Ludwig Von Mises, Human Action, Chapter 2, The Procedure of Economics, 1949

Utilty is

Utility is a subjective phenomenon, rooted in individual preference. There are no units with which to measure utility, a fact that appears to be no more than a slight annoyance to those who would measure it.

Source: Walter Block, The Privatization of Roads & Highways, 2009, Pg 129

Scarcity and Abundance

One of the strangest disparities of history lies between the sense of abundance felt by older and simpler societies and the sense of scarcity felt by the ostensibly richer societies of today.

Source: Richard M. Weaver
Taken From: Ideas Have Consequences, Introduction, Pg14, 1948

The Essence of the Market Economy

The surest way to accomplish your business goals is making service to others your primary goal. The key to success is adding value to others' lives.

Source:  Kekich Credo #87
Taken From: Internet Independence, June 27th

Economics

economics is apolitical or nonpolitical … it is perfectly neutral with regard to judgments of value, as it refers always to means and never to the choice of ultimate ends.

Source:  Ludwig von Mises, Human Action, Pg 881
Taken From:  Ralph Raico, Austrian Economics and Classical Liberalism at Mises.org, 03/04/2010

Methods

Before we can even ask how things might go wrong, we must first explain how they could ever go right.

F.A. Hayek (unsourced, Taken from a 2010 lecture at the Mises Instittue)

Money and Wealth

money is neither a consumers' good nor a producers' good and that, therefore, its quantity is irrelevant for the wealth of a nation.

Jörg Guido Hülsmann summary of David Hume, Adam Smith, and Étienne de Condillac (2003, Deflation and Liberty).

• David Hume (1752, On Money)
• Adam Smith (1776, Wealth of Nations)
• Étienne de Condillac (1795, Commerce and Government - translated title)

Economy and Debt

I, however, place economy among the first and most important republican virtues, and public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared.

Thomas Jefferson (21 July 1816, Letter to William Plumer)

Monopolists

... if we face a monopolist we are at his mercy.  And an authority directing the whole economic system would be the most powerful monopolist conceivable.

 F.A. Hayek (Road to Serfdom, 1944)

Differing Defintions

If by "capitalism" is meant an economic system which recognizes the fundamental and positive role of business, the market, private property and the resulting responsibility for the means of production, as well as free human creativity in the economic sector, then the answer is certainly in the affirmative, even though it would perhaps be more appropriate to speak of a "business economy", "market economy" or simply "free economy". But if by "capitalism" is meant a system in which freedom in the economic sector is not circumscribed within a strong juridical framework which places it at the service of human freedom in its totality, and which sees it as a particular aspect of that freedom, the core of which is ethical and religious, then the reply is certainly negative.

John Paul II (1991, Centesimus Annus)
In discussion about whether he would recommend "Capitalism" to the developing world.

Trade and Specialization

Society thrives on trade simply because trade makes specialization possible, specialization increases output, and increased output reduces the cost in toil for the satisfactions men live by.  That being so, the market place is the most humane institution.

Frank Chodorov (1959, The Rise & Fall of Society)

Competition

The competitor, like the monopolist, seeks the highest price which will yield the highest net profit.  But, because he is unable to control supply, and thus induce a scarcity, his highest price is what competition will allow him to charge, which is always lower than what he would like. ... Only in a monopoly business is there a "little extra"

Frank Chodorov (1959, The Rise & Fall of Society)

Trade and a question

...it makes no sense to attack a good customer, one who buys as much of our products as he can use and pays his bills regularly.  Perhaps the removal of trade restrictions throughout the world would do more for the cause of universal peace than can any political union of peoples separated by trade barriers; indeed, an there be a viable political union while these barriers exist?  And, if freedom of trade were the universal practice, would a political union be necessary?

 Frank Chodorov (1959, The Rise & Fall of Society)

Can America Spend Its Way Into Recovery?

Why, Obviously!

John Maynard Keynes (1934, Redbook Magazine)
The opening sentence to article he titled "Can America Spend Its Way Into Recovery?"

Spending and Investing

Spending creates a specific level of living standards at the amount commonly spent.  In addition, saving and investing reduces the future spending necessary to maintain that same living standard and allows you to then spend the same for a better living standard.  Spending more than one has will also boost the living "standard", but only so long as you can spend more than you have.

John Jolly, 09/09/2010

On the Importance of Economic Knowlege

The importance of economic knowledge to moral analysis is amply reinforced in the case of the business cycle.  Without an adequate knowledge of the causes and cures of the cycle, someone trained in moral philosophy or theology cannot be sure that he is not in fact recommending a course of action that will only exacerbate the problems he aims to solve

Thomas E. Woods, Jr. (Money and Morality: The Christian Moral Tradition and the best Monetary Regime, 2003)