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Description
This set includes 4 books in a slipcase. Mises attributes the tremendous technological progress and the consequent increase in wealth and general welfare in the last two centuries to the introduction of liberal government policies based on free-market economic teachings, creating an economic... read more
Memorable Quotes
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“Science does not give us absolute and final certainty. It only gives us assurance within the limits of our mental abilities and the prevailing state of scientific thought. A scientific system is but one station in an endlessly progressing search for knowledge. It is necessarily affected by the insufficiency inherent in every human effort.”
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“First we must realize that all actions are performed by individuals. A collective operates always through the intermediary of one or several individuals whose actions are related to the collective as the secondary source. (...) The hangman, not the state, executes a criminal.”
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“The empirical sciences start from singular events and proceed from the unique and individual to the more universal. Their treatment is subject to specialization. They can deal with segments without paying attention to the whole field. The economist must never be a specialist. In dealing with any problem he must always fix his glance upon the whole system.”
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“The honest and conscientious truth-seekers have never pretended that reason and scientific research can answer all questions. They were fully aware of the limitations imposed upon the human mind.”
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“All races and nations have had both classic and romantic art. With all their ardent propaganda the Marxians have not succeeded in bringing about a specifically proletarian art or literature. The "proletarian" writers, painters, and musicians have not created new styles and have not established new aesthetic values. What characterizes them is solely their tendency to call everything they detest "bourgeois" and everything they like "proletarian."”
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“Reflecting about the past, say the philosophers, man becomes aware of time. However, it is not recollection that conveys to man the categories of change and of time, but the will to improve the conditions of his life.”
First Sentence
HUMAN action is purposeful behavior.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Economics and Praxeology (p. 1)
The Epistemological Problem of a General Theory of Human Action (p. 4)
Economic Theory and the Practice of Human Action (p. 7)
Resume (p. 10)
PART ONE
HUMAN ACTION
Chapter I. Acting Man
Purposeful Action and Animal Reaction (p. 11)
The Prerequisites of Human Action (p. 13)
Human Action as an Ultimate Given (p. 17)
Rationality and Irrationality; Subjectivism and Objectivity of Praxeological Research (p. 19)
Causality as a Requirement of Action (p. 22)
The Alter Ego (p. 23)
Chapter II. The Epistemological Problems of the Sciences of Human Action
Praxeology and History (p. 30)
The Formal and Aprioristic Character of Praxeology (p. 32)
The A Priori and Reality (p. 38)
The Principle of Methodological Individualism (p. 41)
The Principle of Methodological Singularism (p. 44)
The Individual and Changing Features of Human Action (p. 46)
The Scope and the Specific Method of History (p. 47)
Conception and Understanding (p. 51)
On Ideal Types (p. 59)
The Procedure of Economics (p. 64)
The Limitations on Praxeological Concepts (p. 69)
Chapter III. Economics and the Revolt Against Reason
The Revolt Against Reason (p. 72)
The Logical Aspect of Polylogism (p. 75)
The Praxeological Aspect of Polylogism (p. 76)
Racial Polylogism (p. 84)
Polylogism and Understanding (p. 86)
The Case for Reason (p. 89)
Chapter IV. A First Analysis of the Category of Action
Ends and Means (p. 92)
The Scale of Value (p. 94)
The Scale of Needs (p. 96)
Action as an Exchange (p. 97)
Chapter V. Time
Time as a Praxeological Factor (p. 99)
Past, Present, and Future (p. 100)
The Economization of Time (p. 101)
The Temporal Relation Between Actions (p. 102)
Chapter VI. Uncertainty
Uncertainty and Acting (p. 105)
The Meaning of Probability (p. 106)
Class Probability (p. 107)
Case Probability (p. 110)
Numerical Evaluation of Case Probability (p. 113)
Betting, Gambling, and Playing Games (p. 115)
Praxeological Prediction (p. 117)
Chapter VII. Action Within the World
The Law of Marginal Utility (p. 119)
The Law of Returns (p. 127)
Human Labor as a Means (p. 131)
Production (p. 140)
PART TWO
ACTION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF SOCIETY
Chapter VIII. Human Society
Human Cooperation (p. 143)
A Critique of the Holistic and Metaphysical View of Society (p. 145)
The Division of Labor (p. 157)
The Ricardian Law of Association (p. 159)
The Effects of the Division of Labor (p. 164)
The Individual Within Society (p. 165)
The Great Society (p. 169)
The Instinct of Aggression and Destruction (p. 170)
Chapter IX. The Role of Ideas
Human Reason (p. 177)
World View and Ideology (p. 178)
Might (p. 187)
Meliorism and the Idea of Progress (p. 191)
Chapter X. Exchange Within Society
Autistic Exchange and Interpersonal Exchange (p. 194)
Contractual Bonds and Hegemonic Bonds (p. 195)
Calculative Action (p. 198)
PART THREE
ECONOMIC CALCULATION
Chapter XI. Valuation Without Calculation
The Gradation of the Means (p. 200)
The Barter-Fiction of the Elementary Theory of Value and Prices (p. 201)
The Problem of Economic Calculation (p. 206)
Economic Calculation and the Market (p. 209)
Chapter XII. The Sphere of Economic Calculation
The Character of Monetary Entries (p. 212)
The Limits of Economic Calculation (p. 214)
The Changeability of Prices (p. 217)
Stabilization (p. 219)
The Root of the Stabilization Idea (p. 223)
Chapter XIII. Monetary Calculation as a Tool of Action
Monetary Calculation as a Method of Thinking (p. 229)
Economic Calculation and the Science of Human Action (p. 231)
PART FOUR
CATALLACTICS OR ECONOMICS OF THE MARKET SOCIETY
Chapter XIV. The Scope and Method of Catallactics
The Delimitation of Catallactic Problems (p. 232)
The Method of Imaginary Constructions (p. 236)
The Pure Market Economy (p. 237)
The Autistic Economy (p. 243)
The State of Rest and the Evenly Rotating Economy (p. 244)
The Stationary Economy (p. 250)
The Integration of Catallactic Functions (p. 251)
Chapter XV. The Market
The Characteristics of the Market Economy (p. 257)
Capital Goods and Capital (p. 259)
Capitalism (p. 264)
The Sovereignty of the Consumers (p. 269)
Competition (p. 273)
Freedom (p. 279)
Inequality of Wealth and Income (p. 287)
Entrepreneurial Profit and Loss (p. 289)
Entrepreneurial Profits and Losses in a Progressing (p. 294)
Promoters, Managers, Technicians, and Bureaucrats (p. 303)
The Selective Process (p. 311)
The Individual and the Market (p. 315)
Business Propaganda (p. 320)
The "Volkswirtschaft" (p. 323)
Chapter XVI. Prices
The Pricing Process (p. 327)
Valuation and Appraisement (p. 331)
The Prices of the Goods of Higher Orders (p. 333)
Cost Accounting (p. 339)
Logical Catallactics Versus Mathematical Catallactics (p. 350)
Monopoly Prices (p. 357)
Good Will (p. 379)
Monopoly of Demand (p. 383)
Consumption as Affected by Monopoly Prices (p. 384)
Price Discrimination on the Part of the Seller (p. 388)
Price Discrimination on the Part of the Buyer (p. 391)
The Connexity of Prices (p. 391)
Prices and Income (p. 393)
Prices and Production (p. 394)
The Chimera of Nonmarket Prices (p. 395)
Chapter XVII. Indirect Exchange
Media of Exchange and Money (p. 398)
Observations on Some Widespread Errors (p. 398)
Demand for Money and Supply of Money (p. 401)
The Determination of the Purchasing Power of Money (p. 408)
The Problem of Hume and Mill and the Driving Force of Money (p. 416)
Cash-Induced and Goods-Induced Changes in Purchasing Power (p. 419)
Monetary Calculation and Changes in Purchasing Power (p. 424)
The Anticipation of Expected Changes in Purchasing Power (p. 426)
The Specific Value of Money (p. 428)
The Import of the Money Relation (p. 430)
The Money-Substitutes (p. 432)
The Limitation on the Issuance of Fiduciary Media (p. 434)
The Size and Composition of Cash Holdings (p. 448)
Balances of Payments (p. 450)
Interlocal Exchange Rates (p. 452)
Interest Rates and the Money Relation (p. 458)
Secondary Media of Exchange (p. 462)
The Inflationist View of History (p. 466)
The Gold Standard (p. 471)
Chapter XVIII. Action in the Passing of Time
Perspective in the Valuation of Time Periods (p. 479)
Time Preference as an Essential Requisite of Action (p. 483)
Capital Goods (p. 490)
Period of Production, Waiting Time, and Period of Provision (p. 493)
The Convertibility of Capital Goods (p. 503)
The Influence of the Past Upon Action (p. 505)
Accumulation, Maintenance and Consumption of Capital (p. 514)
The Mobility of the Investor (p. 517)
Money and Capital; Saving and Investment (p. 520)
Chapter XIX. Interest
The Phenomenon of Interest (p. 524)
Originary Interest (p. 526)
The Height of Interest Rates (p. 532)
Originary Interest in the Changing Economy (p. 534)
The Computation of Interest(p. 536)
Chapter XX. Interest, Credit Expansion, and the Trade Cycle
The Problems (p. 538)
The Entrepreneurial Component in the Gross Market Rate of Interest (p. 539)
The Price Premium as a Component of the Gross Market Rate of Interest (p. 541)
The Loan Market (p. 545)
The Effects of Changes in the Money Relation Upon Originary Interest (p. 548)
The Gross Market Rate of Interest as Affected by Inflation and Credit Expansion (p. 550)
The Gross Market Rate of Interest as Affected by Deflation and Credit Contraction (p. 566)
The Monetary or Circulation Credit Theory of the Trade Cycle (p. 571)
The Market Economy as Affected by the Recurrence of the Trade Cycle (p.575)
Chapter XXI. Work and Wages
Introversive Labor and Extroversive Labor (p. 587)
Joy and Tedium of Labor (p. 588)
Wages (p. 592)
Catallactic Unemployment (p. 598)
Gross Wage Rates and Net Wage Rates (p. 600)
Wages and Subsistence (p. 602)
The Supply of Labor as Affected by the Disutility of Labor (p. 611)
Wage Rates as Affected by the Vicissitudes of the Market (p. 624)
The Labor Market (p. 625)
Chapter XXII. The Nonhuman Original Factors of Production
General Observations Concerning the Theory of Rent (p. 635)
The Time Factor in Land Utilization (p. 637)
The Submarginal Land (p. 640)
The Land as Standing Room (p. 642)
The Prices of Land (p. 643)
Chapter XXIII. The Data of the Market
The Theory and the Data (p. 646)
The Role of Power (p. 647)
The Historical Role of War and Conquest (p. 649)
Real Man as a Datum (p. 651)
The Period of Adjustment (p. 652)
The Limits of Property Rights and the Problems of External Costs and External Economies (p. 654)
Chapter XXIV. Harmony and Conflict of Interests
The Ultimate Source of Profit and Loss on the Market (p. 664)
The Limitation of Offspring (p. 667)
The Harmony of the "Rightly Understood" Interests (p. 673)
Private Property (p. 682)
The Conflicts of Our Age (p. 684)
PART FIVE
SOCIAL COOPERATION WITHOUT A MARKET
Chapter XXV. The Imaginary Construction of a Socialist Society
The Historical Origin of the Socialist Idea (p. 689)
The Socialist Doctrine (p. 693)
The Praxeological Character of Socialism (p. 695)
Chapter XXVI. The Impossibility of Economic Calculation Under Socialism
The Problem (p. 698)
Past Failures to Conceive the Problem (p.701)
Recent Suggestions for Socialist Economic Calculation (p. 703)
Trial and Error (p. 704)
The Quasi-market (p. 705)
The Differential Equations of Mathematical Economics (p. 710)
PART SIX
THE HAMPERED MARKET ECONOMY
Chapter XXVII. The Government and the Market
The Idea of a Third System (p. 716)
The Intervention (p. 717)
The Delimitation of Governmental Functions (p. 719)
Righteousness as the Ultimate Standard of the Individual's Actions (p. 724)
The Meaning of Laissez Faire (p. 730)
Direct Government Interference with Consumption (p. 732)
Chapter XXVIII. Interference by Taxation
The Neutral Tax (p. 737)
The Total Tax (p. 738)
Fiscal and Nonfiscal Objectives of Taxation (p. 740)
The Three Classes of Tax Interventionism (p. 741)
Chapter XXIX. Restriction of Production
The Nature of Restriction (p. 743)
The Price of Restriction (p. 744)
Restriction as a Privilege (p. 748)
Restriction as an Economic System (p. 755)
Chapter XXX. Interference with the Structure of Prices
The Government and the Autonomy of the Market (p. 758)
The Market's Reaction to Government Interference (p. 762)
Minimum Wage Rates (p. 769)
CHAPTER XXXI. Currency and Credit Manipulation
The Government and the Currency (p. 780)
The Interventionist Aspect of Legal Tender Legislation (p. 783)
The Evolution of Modern Methods of Currency Manipulation (p. 786)
The Objectives of Currency Devaluation (p. 789)
Credit Expansion (p. 793)
Foreign Exchange Control and Bilateral Exchange Agreements (p. 800)
Chapter XXXII. Confiscation and Redistribution
The Philosophy of Confiscation (p. 804)
Land Reform (p. 805)
Confiscatory Taxation (p. 806)
Chapter XXXIII. Syndicalism and Corporativism
The Syndicalist Idea (p. 812)
The Fallacies of Syndicalism (p. 813)
Syndicalist Elements in Popular Policies (p. 815)
Guild Socialism and Corporativism (p. 816)
Chapter XXXIV. The Economics of War
Total War (p. 821)
War and the Market Economy (p. 825)
War and Autarky (p. 828)
The Futility of War (p. 831)
Chapter XXXV. The Welfare Principle Versus the Market Principle
The Case Against the Market Economy (p. 833)
Poverty (p. 835)
Inequality (p. 840)
Insecurity (p. 851)
Social Justice (p. 853)
Chapter XXXVI. The Crisis of Interventionism
The Harvest of Interventionism (p. 855)
The Exhaustion of the Reserve Fund (p. 855)
The End of Interventionism (p. 858)
Chapter XXXVII. The Nondescript Character of Economics
The Singularity of Economics (p. 862)
Economics and Public Opinion (p. 863)
The Illusion of the Old Liberals (p. 864)
PART SEVEN
THE PLACE OF ECONOMICS IN SOCIETY
Chapter XXXVIII. The Place of Economics in Learning
The Study of Economics (p. 867)
Economics as a Profession (p. 869)
Forecasting as a Profession (p. 870)
Economics and the Universities (p. 872)
General Education and Economics (p. 876)
Economics and the Citizen (p. 878)
Economics and Freedom (p. 879)
Chapter XXXIX. Economics and the Essential Problems of Human Existence
Science and Life (p. 881)
Economics and Judgments of Value (p. 882)
Economic Cognition and Human Action (p. 885)
Authors & Contributors
- Ludwig von Mises (Author)
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