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Western
Culture Knowledge Center > Online Library Capitalism reflects the deepest ideals and values of Western culture, and, therefore, only economists who champion capitalism can be considered truly Western. Many of the most important Western economists are Ludwig von Mises, George Reisman, Jean-Baptiste Say, Henry Hazlitt and Adam Smith. Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) Economist and social philosopher Ludwig von Mises is one Western culture’s greatest intellectuals and advocates of capitalism. His teachings on the vices of socialism and the virtues of capitalism have been proven completely correct by the fall of the former Soviet Union and by the significant adoption of capitalism in China, Russia and the rest of the former Soviet Empire. In addition, some of his ideas have been advocated by Nobel prizewinners F.A. Hayek and Milton Friedman. Mises demonstrated how the division of labor is the basis of material civilization and leads to greater productivity and wealth. And he showed how the division of labor’s existence and functioning require capitalism. He also demonstrated that capitalism is not for a rich few who function against the interests of the majority of people. Instead, he showed how capitalism achieves the material self-interest of all, including the non-capitalists or working class.
Mises also
showed that all of the indictments made against capitalism (such
as that it exploits labor, leads to coercive monopolies, causes
depressions, poverty and racism) are either groundless or should
be directed against government intrusion, which undermines the
operation of capitalism. Many
of Mises’s works are online and available free.
George Reisman George Reisman’s book Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics is arguably the greatest treatise on economics ever written and the most compelling and comprehensive treatise advocating capitalism. His book is at once an introductory, intermediate and advanced text on economics and also provides a wealth of information and insight on contemporary economic and political topics. Reisman integrates truths previously discovered by other writers with numerous original contributions made by Reisman himself. Within economic theory, the book integrates leading ideas of the Austrian school with doctrines of the British classical school. It further integrates this material with essential elements of Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism. On the foundation of these integrations, Reisman develops numerous major, original contributions that the book presents on the subjects of profits, wages, saving, capital accumulation, aggregate economic accounting, monopoly, and natural resources, among other subjects. Based on the same foundation, the book presents powerful critiques of Marx, Keynes, the pure-and-perfect competition doctrine as well as environmentalism. In his book, Reisman consistently demonstrates the natural harmony of the rational self-interests of all individuals under capitalism—of businesspeople and wage earners, of consumers and producers, of people of all races and nationalities, including immigrants and the native born, and of competitors of all levels of ability—harmony most will find astonishing, given the current misunderstandings of capitalism. Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics is online and available free here. Click here for George Reisman's blog. Jean-Baptiste Say (1767-1832) Jean-Baptiste Say has been described as a revolutionary, an author of scholarly books and popular tracts, a social philosopher and a successful entrepreneur. He is best known as author of the law of markets, known as Say's law, and as the first to coin the term "entrepreneur." Say's concern with the average interested citizen and his zeal for economic education for the masses is most apparent in his classic work, A Treatise on Political Economy. Readers will see that Say is without doubt a luminary of classical economics. He single-handedly revived the study of political economy from its decline and kept it alive during a difficult period of opposition to liberal ideas. Say believed that society is best served if the principles of political economy are widely disseminated and understood by the citizenry. His organization of the Treatise's subject matter—production, distribution, and consumption of wealth—continues to guide authors of economic textbooks to this day. His treatment of the role of the entrepreneur as a contributor to production, different from that of either the manager or the capitalist, was the most advanced of his times. A Treatise on Political Economy is online and available free here. Henry Hazlitt (1894-1993) Henry Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson is a concise and highly readable introduction to economics. The "One Lesson" is stated in Part 1 of the book: “The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.” Each of the book’s 25 concise chapters demonstrates the truth of the lesson by revealing the fallacy of commonly held economic beliefs. This is an excellent book for a beginner. Economics in One Lesson is online and available free here. Adam Smith (1723-1790) Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (or simply The Wealth of Nations) was published in 1776. It is considered to be the, or one of the, first modern works in the field of economics and is a defense of free markets. The Wealth of Nations can be fairly easily grasped, even for the modern reader. The Wealth of Nations is online and available free here.
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