Publisher Description

Published less than a year after Austrias defeat in World War I, "Nation, State, and Economy", examines and compares pre-war and post-war economic conditions and explicates Mises's theory that each countrys prosperity supports rather than undercuts the prosperity of other countries. Mises's humanitarian recommendations in this book, born from a classical liberal perspective, provide a striking example of how supposedly "hardnosed" economic theory, based on the reality of experience, is in fact far more supportive of human flourishing than seemingly more "idealistic" but actually impractical social theories. Specifically, Mises warned of the consequences of the punitive terms of the Treaty of Versailles by victors more interested in punishing their defeated enemies than in building a Europe that would be able to meet the challenges of the future. With the benefit of hindsight we see how different European and world history might have been.

Author Biography

Ludwig von Mises (18811973) was the leading spokesman of the Austrian School of economics throughout most of the twentieth century.

Table of Contents

Introduction; NATION AND STATE -- Nation and Nationality; The Nation as a Speech Community; Dialect and Standard Language; National Changes; The Nationality Principle in Politics; Liberal or Pacifistic Nationalism; Militant or Imperialistic Nationalism; The Nationality Question in Territories with Mixed Populations; The Migration Problem and Nationalism; The Roots of Imperialism; Pacifism; On the History of German Democracy. WAR AND THE ECONOMY -- The Economic Position of the Central; Powers in the War; War Socialism; Autarky and Stockpiling; The Economys War Costs and the Inflation; Covering the States War Costs; War Socialism and True Socialism. SOCIALISM AND IMPERIALISM -- Socialism and Its Opponents; Socialism and Utopia; Centralist and Syndicalist Socialism; Socialist Imperialism. Concluding Observations; Index.

Long Description

Essential to Mises's concept of a classical liberal economy is the absence of interference by the state. In World War I, Germany and its allies were overpowered by the Allied Powers in population, economic production, and military might, and its defeat was inevitable. Mises believed that Germany should not seek revenge for the peace of Versailles; rather it should adopt liberal ideas and a free-market economy by expanding the international division of labor, which would help all parties. "For us and for humanity," Mises wrote, "there is only one salvation: return to rationalistic liberalism." Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) was the leading spokesman of the Austrian School of economics throughout most of the twentieth century. Bettina Bien Greaves is a former resident scholar and trustee of the Foundation for Economic Education and was a senior staff member at FEE from 1951 to 1999.

Feature

Preface, translator's introduction, index.

Details