More Praise for *Choice*, Part 3 of 3
For a different project (details forthcoming), I had to type up the blurbs that praise my book on Mises, namely Choice: Cooperation, Enterprise, and Human Action. I suspect that some of you are thinking, “I’m sure it’s a fine book, but I feel no reason to order it.”
Well, that would be a serious mistake. So over the next few days I’ll run some of the blurbs here, to prod you into human action.
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“In Choice, Robert P. Murphy’s achievement is extraordinary. He not only makes Human Action more easily understandable, but also does what Mises could not do. He relates Mises’ ideas to late twentieth and early twenty-first century developments in economics and other fields and shows how these ideas are so vitally important for both economists and the general public alike.” – Mario J. Rizzo, Professor of Economics and Director of the Program on the Foundations of the Market Economy, New York University
“Robert P. Murphy is a gifted expositor and one of the greatest teachers of Austrian School economics…Murphy’s thorough, engaging, and funny book Choice will help spread Mises’ message far and wide.” – Peter G. Klein, Professor of Applied Social Sciences, University of Missouri
“Economics is never a dismal science when Robert P. Murphy writes about it.” – Lawrence W. Reed, President, Foundation for Economic Education.
“Choice also provides an excellent introduction to the Austrian School in general. It deserves to be read, and read widely, and will contribute significantly to fulfilling Mises’ own desire that everyone should know economics, not just experts.” – Steven G. Horwitz, Charles A. Dana Professor and Chair, Department of Economics, St. Lawrence University
“I expect [Choice] will be the go-to text used by the next generation of students to discover the importance of market processes for human flourishing.” – Robert A. Lawson, Jerome M. Fullinwider Chair in Economic Freedom, O’Neal Central for Global Markets and Freedom, Southern Methodist University
“Well, this is a delight. After some 65 years of failed attempts to present Ludwig von Mises’ grand treatise Human Action in a digestible and accessible format, Robert P. Murphy has finally succeeded.” – Jeffrey A. Tucker, Founder and Chief Liberty Officer, Liberty.me; former Editorial Vice President, Ludwig von Mises Institute
Alright, I’m sold. Can’t wait to get my eyeballs on it!
Finally purchased. Kindle edition. About to get on an airplane. Expectations are running high.
Bob’s book helped me a lot, and I doubt I would have made it through Human Action.
Hopefully it does find popularity as a textbook, especially when you consider the last chapter Economics and Public Opinion. I know this is drifting off topic but I followed this link from ZH:
https://extranewsfeed.com/i-listened-to-a-trump-supporter-49a41a9a99de
First point: there’s nothing remotely kind or compassionate about Hillary Clinton, but that’s besides the point because I’m talking about Economics and Public Opinion. So the article describes a landscaping business that did reasonably well during the great housing boom but hit the skids in the downturn, and has struggled with too much debt ever since. Then there’s the dreadful hand wringing about how Bernie Sanders is a great guy but he just can’t win, if only there was a chance… blah blah.
Now I don’t know whether this story is true, or just made up as election propaganda, but for illustrative purposes that probably doesn’t matter. Enough of the readers will believe it’s true so let’s run with that.
Wasn’t the housing boom created partly by the Fed and partly by government giving privileged protection to companies like Fannie Mae, as well as the moral hazard of banks knowing their deposits are guaranteed and they are too big to fail? I seem to remember that Krugman went out and called for an artificial housing boom to create some sort of wealth effect. Don’t people understand that this is the core of the current Keynesian paradigm?
But wait, growing a business on debt right into the boom, and then not understanding why the same business would be unworkable afterwards, sounds a lot like a perfect real world example to fit the Austrian narrative where the unsustainable boom causes mal-investment and ultimately a crash. They found someone who is living this exact scenario but sadly who knows nothing about Austrian economics.
We can argue about the rest of that stuff like “I asked about Trump wanting to deport Muslims.” which is all lies, and can easily be fact checked. Trump wanted to temporarily stop Muslim immigration, and he wanted to deport people in the country illegally they are mixing up two separate issues, as the media conveniently enjoy doing… but that’s another story, somewhat unrelated to the economic side of things (not totally unrelated).
The main point being that a lot of people need to know Austrian economics right now, and they need every opportunity to get a grasp of the theory. They may not 100% agree with it, we can worry about all those details later, but each person should at least have the chance to sit down and think about how this relates to their own observations and maybe alter their perspective somewhat.
“I doubt I would have made it through Human Action.”
Considering the amount of time and energy you put into all the blogging and rationalizing this info, I’m surprised to hear that from you. I read it as fast as I could, which wasn’t all that fast. Took me about 2 months, but I loved it.
And, along with Homo Iracundus, the second (and most perceptive) person to comment on Scott’s unconvincing anti-Trump post, I am banned from Scott Alexander’s blog almost certainly purely due to my being pro-Trump. Had I said the same things and been a left-winger, I would not have been banned. Look at TheWorst and Jill. They’re still around. I’m not. Scott’s surrendering to the left-wing trolls. I didn’t even call anyone foul names.
“Well, this is a delight. After some 65 years of failed attempts to present Ludwig von Mises’ grand treatise Human Action in a digestible and accessible format, Robert P. Murphy has finally succeeded.” – Jeffrey A. Tucker, Founder and Chief Liberty Officer, Liberty.me; former Editorial Vice President, Ludwig von Mises Institute
What were the failed attempts?
Rothbard’s Man, Economy, and State comes to mind. Don’t get the wrong impression, now; it’s a fabulous work in its own right, but Rothbard set out to make an easier version of Human Action before eventually changing course, and in this regard it can certainly be held to be a “failure.”