Economic Policy

Ludwig von Mises was the leading exponent of the Austrian School of economics throughout most of the twentieth century. He has long been regarded as a most knowledgeable and respected economist, even though his teachings were generally outside the mainstream. He wrote twenty-five books and hundreds of articles on human action, free markets, and political economy.Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today and Tomorrow presents six concise essays that offer a coherent view of Mises's economic thought. Originally given as a series of lectures in Argentina in 1959, these pieces were designed for an audience unfamiliar with freedom of the market or individual freedom. Mises used accessible language and homespun examples to describe the truths he had observed about capitalism, socialism, interventionism, inflation, foreign investment, and economic policies and ideas. These essays could be used as a brief introductory course in economics or an overview of Mises's thought for the more advanced reader.Economist Fritz Machlup praises the book as a work that “fully reflects the author's fundamental position for which he was—and still is—admired by followers and reviled by opponents…While each of the six lectures can stand alone as an independent essay, the harmony of the series gives an aesthetic pleasure similar to that derived from looking at the architecture of a well-designed edifice.”As a resident scholar and trustee of the Foundation for Economic Education, Bettina Bien Greaves has written and lectured extensively on topics of free market economics. Her articles have appeared in such journals as Human Events, Reason, and The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty. A student of Mises, Greaves has become an expert on his work in particular and that of the Austrian School of economics in general. She has translated several Mises monographs, compiled an annotated bibliography of his work, and edited collections of papers by Mises and other members of the Austrian School.