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Summary: A masterpiece of economic reasoning
Review: "Human Action" is one of the classics of economics. It may be the greatest theoretical work of economics ever written. Mises focuses the light of his penetrating logic on just about every important subject in economics. He discusses, among other things, the theories of interest, the trade cycle, inflationism, balance of payments, wages, monopoly, and socialism. Many of the theories advanced in this book represent important breakthroughs in the history of economic thought. His theory of the impractibility of pure socialism, which he introduced in the Spring of 1920, and his monetary theory of the trade cycle (the only trade cycle theory, incidentally, that adequately accounts for both the Great Depression and the current stock market bubble and imminent crash), represent two of the most important theoretical discoveries in modern economics. For his work on these two theories alone Mises deserves a place among the greatest economists of all time.But although "Human Action" is a masterwork of economic thought, it would be a mistake to regard every word of it as gospel truth. "Human Action," just like many another great book, is hardly perfect. It has a number of flaws, one of which can be regarded as serious. This one serious flaw is a consequence of Mises' extreme rationalism. Mises believed that because economics cannot be an experimental science like physics or chemistry (since economic variables cannot be isolated for experimental purposes), it therefore follows that uniformities in economic phenomena can only be validated through logical reasoning. This view, known as Misesian apriorism, is only partially correct. Economics, if it is to tell us anything about the real world of fact, cannot be just a theoretical science. True, theory is necessary for the reason mentioned above (i.e., inability to isolate variables), but empiricism is also necessary to keep theories from straying too far from the facts of reality. In addition, it is important to keep mind that economic theories are approximations only and not exact descriptions of empirical facts. Economic theories, including the economic theories presented in "Human Action," are deductions from over-simplified observations of economic reality. Reality being so much more complicated than our theories about it ever can be, it would be the height of folly to regard conclusions reached through logical reasoning alone as being anything but approximations. Yet this is how uncritical admirers of Mises, including some of his most famous students and followers (e.g., Rothbard, Riesman, Hans-Hermann Hoppe), regard the theories presented in "Human Action." Those eager to get the most out of this book will seek to avoid this error of rationalism, always keeping in mind that theories must conform to facts, not facts to theories.
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Summary: the book has found you
Review: "An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force." As a "ring finds it's bearer"(from Lord of the Rings) this book find it's reader. Unfortunately until this book finds you, you live in a state of "intellectual inertia". As with any great discovery, this book explicitly throws light at issues we believe are to be logical! If you are seeing this review and have not yet read the Human Action, then my friend the book has found you......
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Summary: The Bible of Economics
Review: A masterful volume. The breadth and scope of this work leaves one breathless. Oh, if only the world would read and understand this - we'd all be better off...
Rating:
Summary: The Bible of Economics
Review: A masterful volume. The breadth and scope of this work leaves one breathless. Oh, if only the world would read and understand this - we'd all be better off...
Rating:
Summary: Magnificent economics text
Review: A thick economics text that starts from the basic fact that individuals act. From this simple axiom, Mises attempts to explain economic activity. From supply and demand to the role of prices to economic fluctuations, Mises covers it with precision and intelligence.
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Summary: The best economic treatise ever written.
Review: Although not for the novice (especially you Socialists out there who have never even bothered to study basic economics), this economic treatise is the first of the two greatest economic treatises ever written (the other being Murray Rothbard's "Man, Economy and State."). If you believe in the sovereignty of the individual; if you believe in the freedom of association between individuals; if you believe in the freedom of contract between individuals; and if you DON'T believe in people such as Hitler, Stalin, Roosevelt, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, etal, then this book is required reading. Take note, a basic understanding of economics is essential. May I suggest Carl Menger's "The Principles of Economics" as a good start.
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Summary: Mixed Bag
Review: As shown by the reviews below, Human Action is the object of a libertarian cult, and regarded by some right-wingers as the greatest economic text of the 20th century (if not of all time). In reality, it's a mixed bag. Buried within the 800+ pages of text are worthwhile sections on entrepreneurship, monetary theory, inflation, and the business cycle. There's even an interesting section on monopoly, an issue that most right-wing economists gloss over. Unfortunately, to find these sections, the reader has to wade through hundreds of pages of repetitive, disorganized text, dubious historical asides, ponderous philosophizing, tirades against math (was Mises innumerate?), tirades against non-libertarian economists (was Mises jealous of their professional success?), and sheer nonsense. One example of the latter is on pg. 314, where Mises rants that public education can't help the poor to get ahead in life because successful entrepreneurs learn their craft on the job and thus don't need schooling. (It's good to know that Harvard Business school grads aren't in demand in the marketplace.) There's more hilarity just eight pages later, where Mises argues that a ban on the advertising of quack medicines will lead to government regulation of religion and free speech. (Sure, that's what happened after the Food and Drug Act was passed.) And throughout the book Mises asserts that economics is an a priori science like logic or mathematics, as if markets or firms were concepts we analyze rather than things we find in the world. If Mises had thought of economics as an empirical discipline, about real-world institutions, he might have been inspired to do real empirical research. To judge by Human Action, he never did. It's too bad that cranky stuff is found on almost every page of the book, since it undermines the force of the good sections (and makes the book twice as long as it needs to be). But the truth is that anyone with even an undergraduate knowledge of economics will have trouble taking seriously the whole Mises package. To my knowledge, Human Action isn't taught in any leading economics department in the country. Libertarians see this non-attention as a conspiracy to repress Mises' views. Just read a few sections of Human Action at random and you'll understand the real reason.
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Summary: The master work of Ludwig von Mises
Review: At some time, anyone who seeks an understanding of economics must read this master work by Ludwig von Mises. Mises' goal in this work is to found the science of economics on a priori principles of human action (hence the title). It is important to understand exactly what this means, or we will fall into error in our evaluation of Mises' great contribution to economics. It is not the case that 'empirical' enquiry is irrelevant; Mises recognises the important role of what he calls 'economic history'. However, IF his foundational principles are sound, then *they* must be used to understand 'empirical' phenomena, not the other way around. If we know that five plus five is ten, then we cannot allow an 'empirical' phenomenon to 'test' this knowledge; a case in which five plus five appeared to be eight would merely require further explanation. By analogy with Mises' terminology, the a priori knowledge would belong to 'mathematical science' and the apparent counterexample to 'mathematical history'. Whether Mises' foundational principles *are* sound is a matter I shall leave to the reader to determine. However, even if they should require some adjustment, that fact alone would not invalidate Mises' general method nor show it to be incomplete or one-sided.
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Summary: The most important treatise on human affairs to ever appear
Review: I agree completely with Lewellyn Rockwell, who writes on The Daily Objectivist website: "It is unquestionably the single most important scientific treatise on human affairs to appear in this century. But given the state of the social sciences, and the timelessness of Mises's approach to economics, I believe it will have an even greater impact on the next century. Indeed, it is increasingly clear that this is a book for the ages. When you read Human Action, what you get is not a running commentary on the turmoil of the time, but rather a pristine theoretical argument that seems to rise above it all. To be sure, Mises addresses the enemies of freedom in these pages-and they happen to be the same enemies of freedom that surround us today. But much more remarkable is the way he was able to detach himself from the rough and tumble of daily events, and write a book restating and advancing a pure science of economic logic, from the first page to the last. It contains not a word or phrase designed to appeal to the biases of the world around him.. Instead, he sought to make a case that would transcend his generation." You can read the rest of this review at The Daily Objectivist, but let me tell you, it's a brilliant book!
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Summary: Utterly amazing; this book may change your life
Review: I find Ludwig von Mises to be a tragic figure. Why? 1. He expresses himself in direct and to the point language; when speaking of syndicalism, "in short, it is nonsense." 2. He writes about things that are terribly important, today and always, yet not so easy to understand. 3. He can't help but judge nonsensical ideas on the merits. No half-measures here. Don't expect him to go easy on your favorite ideology. 4. He expresses himself in old-fashioned language ("men" instead of "persons" or "people" or...) and uses expressions that no sane author would use today ("the white man") And he says what he thinks: Western society is superior to Eastern society because... 5. He sneaks in little quotations in Latin and Greek here and there and uses words not in some dictionaries. (Look up at least 'autarky,' 'praxeology,' 'catallactics,' 'epigone,' 'apodictic' before reading this book.) In short, very few people today will ever read "Human Action." I am sure there are people that will refuse to read it because von Mises calls homosexuality a "perversion" (why he says that, I don't know, but it has no effect on the economic arguments) And that's too bad. Very much too bad. Mises clearly strongly believes he's right. It certainly colors his writing. But try as you may, you won't find it coloring his reasoning. His personal opinions on economic matters are clearly the *product* of his reasoning, not the other way around. There are a lot of people that believe that government intervention is necessary for a healthy economy. If you are one of them, you have to read this book. Once you have read and understood Mises's arguments, if you still believe that the government has any constructive role to play by "fixing" things wrong in the economy, I want to hear about it. (F. A. Hayek, of all people, once believed in socialism, too. Until he read Mises's "Socialism.") Mises's argument goes like this: First, capitalism clearly works. The more capitalistic a country is, the wealthier it is---you could even say, the more capitalistic a country is, the wealthier its *poor* are. Secondly, socialism worked in small, self-sufficient medieval households, but it can't possibly work in a large industrial society. Why? Because the planners can't plan adequately without the help of a marketplace to set prices. Thirdly and lastly---and this is the nail in the coffin for the wannabe socialists that get their opinions splattered all over the newspapers---any "in between" attempt at combining socialistic ideals with a capitalistic society must inevitably fail. Why? Because any interference with the market has the opposite effects to what the interferers themselves wanted!
(Fiasco policies that fall into this category are rent control, minimum wages, overtime rules, compulsory insurances of different kinds, Keynesian printing of money, etc. etc.---in short, almost every measure that "progressive" politicians use to "help" us.) Mises is famous for having started the "socialist calculation debate," and there's even a book about it out there now. Critics of Mises's position in the calculation debate *must* read "Human Action." The basic point that Mises makes here---and he never makes it entirely explicitly---is that prices are ephemeral one-time phenomena that are controlled by buyers and sellers (their "human action"); prices are historical data, past information; prices do not control people, they are controlled by people. It's utterly impossible to predict the future price of any good better than that of any other good. The reason is that we don't know today what people will want tomorrow. The idea of a "demand curve" is just an abstraction useful for teaching the simplest principles of supply and demand to college students. Once you understand this simple but subtle point, Mises's position becomes clear. The planners can't plan, not because they can't calculate today's prices in order to satisfy today's demands, but because they can't figure out how to rig the prices so as to meet the consumers of today and those of ten years from now and everybody inbetween! The same idea of the unpredictability of prices applies to Mises's argument that macroeconomic indicators (such as the CPI) are totally useless: either they tell you nothing at all, or else they tell you what's completely obvious. Using the CPI to answer the question "has Sam's purchasing power increased over the last year" is a bit like trying to answer the question "is it hot in Los Angeles" by referring to the average temperature in the United States. In short, this book collects a remarkable set of truly amazing insights. Everyone that can handle it should---must!---read it, and read it carefully. I hope history remembers this book, because yes, it may one day, when everyone understands its contents, be considered one of the most important of the 20th century. If civilization survives that long, that is.
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