Man, Economy, and Liberty: Essays in Honor of Murray N. Rothbard PDF
Preview Man, Economy, and Liberty: Essays in Honor of Murray N. Rothbard
Man, Economy, and Liberty Essays in Honor of Murray N. Rothbard The Ludwig von Mises Institute and the editors of this Festschrift wish to thank the following contributors whose generosity made this volume possible: O. P. Alford, III Burton S. Blumert Dr. William A. Dunn George Edward Durell Foundation Robert D. Kephart Matthew T. Monroe Victor Niederhoffer William O. Sumner Mr. and Mrs. Donald F. Warmbier Man, Economy, and Liberty Essays in Honor of Murray N· Rothbard Edited with an Introduction by Walter Block The Fraser Institute and Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. The Lud<wig von Mises Institute The Ludwig von Mises Institute Auburn University Auburn, Alabama 36849 Copyright © 1988 by the Ludwig von Mises Institute. All rights reserved. Written permission must be secured from the publisher to use or reproduce any part of this book, except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles. Published by The Ludwig von Mises Institute, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849. Printed in the United States of America. Typesetting by Thoburn Press, Tyler, Texas. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 88-060980 ISBN 0-945466-024 Table of Contents Introduction ix Part I: Economics 1. Rothbardian Monopoly Theory and Antitrust Policy Dominick T. Armentano 3 2. Prisoner's Dilemma, Transaction Costs, and Rothbard Roger A. Arnold 12 3. Fractional Reserve Banking: An Interdisciplinary Perspective Walter Block 24 4. Gold and the Constitution: Retrospect and Prospect Gregory Christainsen 32 5. Professor Rothbard and the Theory of Interest Roger W. Garrison 44 6. From the Economics of Laissez Faire to the Ethics of Libertarianism Hans-Hermann Hoppe 56 7. Welfare Economics: A Modern Austrian Perspective Israel M. Kirzner 77 8. Why Rothbard Will Never Win the Nobel Prize! Gary North 89 9. Economic Efficiency and Public Policy E. C. Pasour, Jr. 110 10. Comparable Worth: Theoretical Foundations Ellen Frankel Paul 125 v vi Man, Economy, and Liberty 11. Three National Treasures: Hazlitt, Hutt, and Rothbard Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. 139 12. Murray Rothbard as Investment Advisor Mark Skousen 151 13. Utility and the Social Welfare Function Leland B. Yeager 175 Part II: Philosophy 14. Freedom and Virtue Revisited Douglas J.DenUyl 195 15. Particular Liberties Against the General Will Antony Flew 214 16. In Defense of Rights David Gordon 229 17. Ethics vs. Coercion: Morality or Just Values? Tibor R. Machan 236 18. Historical Entitlement and the Right to National Resources Jeffrey Paul 247 Part III: Political Science 19. The Role of Government Randall G. Holcombe 269 20. Caste and Class: The Rothbardian View of Governments and Markets David Osterfeld 283 21. The Political Importance of Murray N. Rothbard Ron Paul 329 Part IV: History 22. A Utopia for Liberty: Individual Freedom in Austin Tappan Wright's Islandia Arthur A. Ekirch, Jr. 335 Table of Contents vii 23. John Prince Smith and the German Free-Trade Movement Ralph Raico 341 24. Commentator on Our Times: A Quest for the Historical Rothbard Sheldon Richman 352 Part V: Personal 25. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum or the Reviews of "Mr. First Nighter" Justus D. Doenecke 383 26. Himself, at Sixty—With Apologies to Ogen Nash Robert Kephart and Dyanne Petersen 392 27. Rothbard as Cultural Conservative `Neil McCaffrey 395 28. My View of Murray Rothbard JoAnn Rothbard 398 29. Testimonial ÌSÁargit von l·Áises 400 Rothbard Bibliography 403 Name Index 411 Subject Index 415 Editors and Contributors 421 Introduction M urray N. Rothbard is a scholar of unique, indeed monumental achievements: the founder of the first fully-integrated science of liberty. Consider, first, his accomplishments in economics. His Ph.D. dis- sertation from Columbia University—The Panic of 1819—showed how the Bank of the United States, the Federal Reserve's ancestor, caused the first American depression. It remains the only in-depth historical account of that particular monetary debacle. In America's Great Depression, still the most definitive work on the subject, Rothbard used Austrian trade cycle theory to show that the Federal Reserve caused that economic calamity, and that other govern- ment interventions prolonged and even deepened the Depression. In addition, the first two chapters present the most clear and convincing explanation of the Austrian theory of the trade cycle in existence. Both books utilized tools drawn from the great tradition of Austrian economics—Carl Menger's theory of the development of monetary in- stitutions, Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk's theory of capital and the time- preference theory of interest, and Mises's trade cycle theory and method —perfected each, and wove them together into a systematic praxeologi- cal model. He succeeded not only in explaining cyclical fluctuations caused by central bank intervention, but also proved the case for the gold coin standard, no central bank, 100% reserves, and laissez-faire. After Rothbard's masterful integration, economists can no longer dismiss recessions and depressions as an "inevitable" part of the market process. Instead, he showed, they are caused by central bank inflation and the corresponding distortion of interest rates, malinvestment of capital, theft of savings, and price increases that go with it. Govern- ment, of which the central bank is only one arm, is the real source of business cycles. ix
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