Man, Economy, and State -- A Libertarian Review

In Rothbard's magnum opus, he takes you step-by-step from an economy consisting solely of one person--termed a Robinson Crusoe Economy--to today's economy, consisting of billions of people, showing that the same laws of economics apply equally to both scenarios. He deduces what he terms the "true laws" (1) of economics from the simple praxeological axiom that every man acts. This is done "in a logical, cause-and-effect" (1) manner.

Throughout the book, Rothbard--in a very scientific manner--shows the reader that although they may believe that a planned economy would be the most organized system, it is instead a purely free market that would result in the most efficient and beneficial economy, while socialism and interventionism by default cause chaos in an economy. He also differentiates the free market from the government-controlled market by showing that both parties to a transaction in a free market are always made better off--else they would not have entered into the transaction in the first place (6). On the other hand, all transactions in a planned economy are based on coercion and thus hurt at least one of the parties to the transaction, since that party would have preferred to not have entered into the transaction.

Other notable contributions made by Rothbard throughout his book are his analysis of the business cycle (2), the monopoly 'problem' (3), IP (4), as well as his discussion of the origins of money and prices (5).

Libertarian Take-away

This book, though quite formidable-looking to the average lay person in terms of its sheer size, can be quickly comprehended and understood. Rothbard, unlike Mises in his Human Action, assumes that the reader has no previous economic knowledge. Thus, this book is much more highly recommended to the beginner in economics than Human Action, since it is written for the layman.

By the end of the book, the reader is nearly all-knowing when it comes to economics. This is due to the fact that Rothbard dissects the economy step by step and covers almost every topic related to economics that one can imagine. If one is looking for a one-stop-shop for everything economics, they must read this book.


Citations and Links:

Book (free-online): https://mises.org/library/man-economy-and-state-power-and-market
Study Guide (free-online): https://mises.org/library/study-guide-man-economy-and-state

1. Page 786
2. Pages 852 and 994
3. Pages 651 and 688
4. Page 747
5. Page 624 (highly summarized)
6. Pages 614, 624, 946