ECONOMIC CLASSICS
This economic classic is intended to inform Members
and staff about the early economic wisdom of Frederic Bastiat. Bastiat
was widely known for his wit and logic. His chief method of argument was
the method of exaggeration. This piece focuses on increasing economic prosperity
by decreasing the government's involvement. Top of Page
It is remarkable that in the face of all available
evidence, many Americans, especially "opinion makers," remain wedded to
the "interventionist" school of economic thought. It is even more remarkable
that in 1947, about fifty years ago, the great free-market thinker Ludwig
von Mises could have refuted the flawed basis of this ideology in clear,
cogent, and concise argument. Read this today and wonder where the world
was then. Top of Page
Excerpted from the 1957 classic, this piece highlights
what is becoming clear for all to see in 1995--that the welfare state fosters
dependency and drains public resources, creating powerful incentives for
central governments to debase their currency in order to prop up unsustainable
welfare states. Reading this piece puts today's policy debates into perspective
while creating respect for the author's perceptive foresight. Top
of Page
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