Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today and Tomorrow

by Ludwig von Mises

This work, a transcription of six lectures Mises delivered in Argentina in 1959, is published online by Liberty Fund.

In this short work of breathtaking scope, Ludwig von Mises, the great Austrian economist who eventually settled and taught in New York, covers the basics of free-market economics, addressing such issues as why capitalism is superior to socialism, why government intervention in the economy doesn't work, how inflation operates and damages an economy, and how nations can prosper if they embrace freedom.

This book works well for one meeting. Suggested review questions follow.

Review Questions Mises

1. What is the essential difference between an "interventionist" and a "caretaker" government? (Introduction, pp. 5-6)

2. Why is it wrong to refer to business leaders in a free market as "kings?" (Capitalism, pp. 10)

3. What were the conditions of pre-capitalist Britain, and how did capitalism emerge from this? (Capitalism, pp. 10-11)

4. How did capitalism make possible growing populations with rising standards of living, and how did various historians and aristocrats distort this history? (Capitalism, pp. 12-14)

5. What is the relationship between employers, workers, and consumers? (Capitalism, pp. 14-15)

6. What is the role of savings in capitalism? (Capitalism, pp. 15-16)

7. What is wrong with Marx's notion that under capitalism the rich get richer while the poor get poorer? (Capitalism, pp. 16-17)

8. What is economic liberty, and what is its relationship to liberty in general? (Socialism, pp. 18-19)

9. In what sense are consumers the bosses within capitalism, and what are the consequences of making politicians the boss instead? (Socialism, pp. 19-20)

10. What social and political conditions allow a harmony of interests, and what conditions lead to conflict? (Socialism, pp. 21-22)

11. How does capitalism give rise to social mobility? (Socialism, pp. 22-23)

12. Why are government officials not able to "plan" a productive economy? What is the alternative? (Socialism, pp. 24-26)

13. How do business leaders use prices in deciding how to employ the factors of production? (Socialism, pp. 26-27)

14. What does the "Soviet experiment" show? (Socialism, pp. 27-29)

15. What does it mean for government to intervene in the economy? (Interventionism, pp. 30-32)

16. Why do some governments institute price controls, and what is the result? (Interventionism, pp. 32-37)

17. Why do government interventions in the economy tend to encourage more of the same? (Interventionism, pp. 37-39)

18. What is inflation, and what is its relationship to rising prices? (Inflation, pp. 40-41)

19. Why does inflation not raise price levels evenly? Whom does inflation benefit? (Inflation, pp. 41-44)

20. What political machinations typically accompany inflation, and how do they differ under a gold standard? (Inflation, pp. 44-46)

21. What is the relationship between inflation, employment, and union privilege? (Inflation, pp. 47-50)

22. Why do real wages vary in different countries, and why do wages rise? (Foreign Investment, pp. 51-53)

23. What is the basic history of foreign investment that Mises outlines? (Foreign Investment, pp. 54-57)

24. How can developing nations grow prosperous? What policies impede progress toward that end? (Foreign Investment, pp. 57-60)

25. What role do ideas play in the progress or decline of civilizations? (Politics and Ideas, pp. 61-68)

Liberty In the Books Main Page