Murray Rothbard Books

In recent years, libertarian impulses have increasingly influenced national and economic debates, from welfare reform to efforts to curtail affirmative action. Murray N. Rothbard's classicThe Ethics of Libertystands as one of the most rigorous and philosophically sophisticated expositions of the libertarian political position.What distinguishes Rothbard's book is the manner in which it roots the case for freedom in the concept of natural rights and applies it to a host of practical problems. An economist by profession, Rothbard here proves himself equally at home with philosophy. And while his conclusions are radical--that a social order that strictly adheres to the rights of private property must exclude the institutionalized violence inherent in the state--his applications of libertarian principles prove surprisingly practical for a host of social dilemmas, solutions to which have eluded alternative traditions.The Ethics of Libertyauthoritatively established the anarcho-capitalist economic system as the most viable and the only principled option for a social order based on freedom. This edition is newly indexed and includes a new introduction that takes special note of the Robert Nozick-Rothbard controversies.

In this, the first of two volumes, Murray Rothbard - one of the major figures in twentieth-century Austrian economics - argues with clarity and force that economics is a deductive science based on the fundamental realities of action, scarcity and the passage of time. Such conviction is demonstrated in the first part of this book, where Professor Rothbard analyses method. The second part focuses on some of the theoretical debates within the Austrian school, including property and justice rights, welfare economics, value and efficiency. In the third section Rothbard considers the Austrian approach to money and calculation, including discussion of the definition of the supply of money, freely floating exchange rates and calculation and its role under socialism. This latest volume of Murray Rothbard's work goes some way to represent the important contributions he made to the field. The second volume of Murray Rothbard's essays on Austrian economics is also available.

LARGE PRINT EDITION! More at LargePrintLiberty.com Here is the last masterpiece by Murray N. Rothbard (1926-1995), the result of a lifetime of research and his crowning achievement.This volume is the first comprehensive treatment of classical economics from a modern Austrian perspective, an important history of nineteenth-century economic thought that discusses the key members of each school and reassesses their work.Professor Rothbard's approach offers new perspectives on both Ricardo and Say and their followers. He suggests that Ricardianism declined after 1820 and was only revived with the work of John Stuart Mill. The book also resurrects the important Anglo-Irish school of thought at Trinity College, Dublin under Archbishop Richard Whatley. Later chapters focus on the roots of Karl Marx and the nature of his doctrines, and laissez-faire thought in France including the work of Frederic Bastiat.Also included is a comprehensive treatment of the bullionist versus the anti-bullionist and the currency versus banking school controversies in the first half of the nineteenth century, and their influence outside Great Britain.

The Mises Institute presents a beautiful hardbound edition of Rothbard's influential monetary essay, which has shaped the thinking of economists, investors, and business professionals for generations. This edition includes a detailed reform proposal for a 100 percent gold dollar, written before the last remnants of the gold standard were abolished. Rothbard's plan for restoring sound money remains relevant today. Critics have noted that while he identifies issues with money, he also offers solutions, uniting problem and answer in a comprehensive whole. He explores the fundamentals of money and banking theory, tracing the dollar's decline from the 18th century to the present, while critiquing central banking, New Deal policies, Nixon's fiat money, and fixed exchange rates. Rothbard advances the theory by demonstrating how only government can destroy money on a mass scale and detailing the mechanisms behind this process. His passion for the subject shines through, engaging readers and inspiring some, like Ron Paul, to pursue political office. He elucidates how banks create money and the role of the central bank in this process, while illustrating how exchange and interest rates would function in a true free market. Rothbard's meticulous analysis of the end of the gold standard highlights the various interest groups involved. Scholars now recognize this work as one of his most significant contributions, emphasizing the necessity

A hefty tome by this master economist. Here he is communicating with the public about economic theory and policy. No economist has ever written so clearly about subjects usually wrapped in mystery. Even when discussing exchange rates, interest rates, and central banking, Rothbard is clear and persuasive. That's what makes this book so wonderful, and so dangerous to the purveyors of economic fallacy and those who enforce their ideas on the public. This wonderfully lucid work could become the next Economics in One Lesson .

In what is sure to become the standard account, Rothbard traces inflations, banking panics, and money meltdowns from the Colonial Period through the mid-20th century to show how government's systematic war on sound money is the hidden force behind nearly all major economic calamities in American history. Never has the story of money and banking been told with such rhetorical power and theoretical vigor. You will treasure this volume. From the introduction by Joseph "Rothbard employs the Misesian approach to economic history consistently and dazzlingly throughout the volume to unravel the causes and consequences of events and institutions ranging over the course of U.S. monetary history, from the colonial times through the New Deal era. One of the important benefits of Rothbard's unique approach is that it naturally leads to an account of the development of the U.S. monetary system in terms of a compelling narrative linking human motives and plans that often-times are hidden, and devious, leading to outcomes that sometimes are tragic. And one will learn much more about monetary history from reading this exciting story than from poring over reams of statistical analysis. Although its five parts were written separately, this volume presents a relative integrated narrative, with very little overlap, that sweeps across three hundreds years of U.S. monetary history."

This gives a succinct account of Rothbard’s view of the state. Following Franz Oppenheimer and Albert Jay Nock, Rothbard regards the state as a predatory entity. It does not produce anything but rather steals resources from those engaged in production. In applying this view to American history, Rothbard makes use of the work of John C. Calhoun.How can an organization of this type sustain itself? It must engage in propaganda to induce popular support for its policies. Court intellectuals play a key role here, and Rothbard cites as an example of ideological mystification the work of the influential legal theorist Charles Black, Jr., on the way the Supreme Court has become a revered institution.

A distinct correlation exists between how free a society is and how much power its government has over money. Because the United State of America was supposed to be a free country, its government was granted comparatively few` monetary powers – only to borrow and coin money, and regulate its value. Yet today the same government possesses total power over every aspect of America’s monetary system. With an octopus-like stranglehold, Washington’s control extends to gold, money, banking and much more. How and why the Founders’ limited intention was converted into omnipotent government monetary power is the subject of this book – a collection of basic materials which, if properly understood, explain what happened. The author’s thoughtful analysis leads to its concluding a constitutional amendment wholly separating government from money, the only way – permanently – to eliminate government’s power over the monetary system.

In the second volume of his collected essays The Logic of Action, Murray Rothbard again demonstrates his extraordinary range of thought. This volume considers among other issues, criticisms of some of the most influential economists and economic theories of the present and previous centuries.

Booms and busts are not endemic to the free market, argues the Austrian theory of the business cycle, but come about through manipulation of money and credit by central banks. In this monograph, Austrian giants explain and defend the theory against alternatives. Includes essays by Mises, Rothbard, Haberler, and Hayek. In his later years, Professor Haberler distributed many of these monographs to friends and associates. New edition with an introduction by Roger Garrison and an index.