The Human Action Podcast

Kristoffer Hansen joins the show to discuss everything about interest rates, as detailed by Rothbard in Chapter 6 of Man, Economy, and State. Hansen and Jeff Deist cover the "pure" rate of interest, expressed via time preference, and why the temporal nature of production helps us understand the premium for present goods relative to future goods. Far from exploiting workers or borrowers, capitalists actually advance money today in exchange for a more risky and uncertain return tomorrow—in the process making us all wealthier based on our individual subjective preferences. At every stage of production, interest helps producers get the capital they need now to bring us, the consumer, all the goods and services we enjoy. This show explains why we can't understand the productive economy without understanding interest rates.

Use the code HAPOD for a discount on Man, Economy, and State from our bookstore: Mises.org/BuyMES.

Man, Economy, and State: Mises.org/MES

Bob Murphy's Study Guide to Man, Economy, and State: Mises.org/StudyMES

AOC and Paul Krugman are wrong: we can't just pay people money to stay home and expect "stuff" to materialize around us. This show explains why—as we cover Rothbard's Man, Economy, and State Chapter 5, "Production: The Structure," with our great friend Dr. Shawn Ritenour from Grove City College.

Don't miss a great discussion of that critical missing link in mainstream economics—capital theory—and its corollaries, from the temporal and uncertain nature of production to cost fallacies. This show also features plenty of examples from today's economy and a short but dynamic exposition of the evenly rotating economy by Dr. Ritenour.

Use the code HAPOD for a discount on Man, Economy, and State from our bookstore: Mises.org/BuyMES

Additional Resources

Dr. Joe Salerno's introduction to Man, Economy, and State: Mises.org/SalernoMES

Man, Economy, and State: Mises.org/MES

Today's solo show kicks off our reading of Rothbard's landmark Man, Economy, and State with a look at Chapter 1, "Fundamentals of Human Action." So much of what economics texts get wrong is laid out brilliantly here by Rothbard, who gives readers the basics of action, means/ends, time, ranking, factors of production, and capital in this 77 page master class. The short appendix at the end of the chapter alone is a bombshell—demystifying the correct form for economic analysis, and explaining why psychology is not praxeology. Don't miss this introduction to the book you know you need to read!

Use the code HAPOD for a discount on Man, Economy, and State from our bookstore: Mises.org/BuyMES

Man, Economy, and State: Mises.org/MES

Bob Murphy's Study Guide to Man, Economy, and State: Mises.org/StudyMES

Rothbard fans, this is the podcast you don't want to miss! Rothbard scholar Patrick Newman joins Jeff Deist to kick off a series of shows featuring Rothbard's landmark treatise Man, Economy, and State. They discuss the history and background behind this important book, how it changed the landscape, and why the concluding chapters titled "Power and Market" proved so controversial at the time–and remain so today! Dr. Newman calls Rothbard's opus "the best book I ever read," and makes a compelling case for lay readers like you to tackle it.

Use the code HAPOD for a discount on Man, Economy, and State from our bookstore: Mises.org/BuyMES.

Dr. Joe Salerno's introduction to Man, Economy, and State: Mises.org/SalernoMES

Man, Economy, and State: Mises.org/MES

We've reached the end of Human Action! Tom Woods joins the podcast to discuss Part Seven, "The Place of Economics in Society," and it's a show you don't want to miss.

Woods and host Jeff Deist enjoy an engaging and far-ranging discussion of the book's place in history, Mises's frustration with economics co-opting the methods of physical sciences, and the public's seeming inability to overcome anticapitalist propaganda. Mises concludes his great treatise with unmatched clarity and wisdom, reminding us why economics belongs at the forefront of society—and why we all should retain our unwavering sense of élan vital.

Use the code HAPOD for a discount on Human Action from our bookstore: Mises.org/BuyHA.

The Sociology of the Development of Austrian Economics by Joe Salerno: Mises.org/SalernoHAP

Mises's Élan Vital : Mises.org/Elan

Human Action: Mises.org/HumanAction

Bob Murphy's Study Guide to Human Action: Mises.org/Study

We continue our survey of Human Action by finishing up Part Six of the book, Mises's analysis of interventionism—or the so-called "third way" between capitalism and socialism.

Mises exposes how state intervention in the market economy makes us all poorer, even while it claims to act against poverty and inequality on behalf of social justice. That perverse "justice" takes the form of currency manipulation, confiscation of land and capital, protectionism for syndicates and unions, and civilization-destroying total wars. This is a solo episode with Jeff Deist, who enjoys Mises's demolition of the hampered market economy masquerading as laissez-faire capitalism.

Use the code HAPOD for a discount on Human Action from our bookstore: Mises.org/BuyHA.

Human Action: Mises.org/HumanAction

Bob Murphy's Study Guide to Human Action: Mises.org/Study

Professor Peter Klein from Baylor University joins the show to discuss Part Six of Human Action, where Mises presents his exposition of interventionism in all its manifestations. Mises breaks socialism down into Soviet and German versions; the first purely bureaucratic (state ownership) and the second nominally private but state-directed. He gives us a contrasting definition of laissez-faire, the choice of freedom over government omnipotence. Successive chapters take readers through taxation, restrictionism (tariffs, regulations, labor laws), and price controls (goods, wages, interest rates).

Dr. Klein is a fascinating guest with great insights into Mises and "the Hampered Market Economy." This is a conversation you don't want to miss!

Use the code HAPOD for a discount on Human Action from our bookstore: Mises.org/BuyHA.

Human Action: Mises.org/HumanAction

Bob Murphy's Study Guide to Human Action: Mises.org/Study

Ryan McMaken, an economist and editor of Mises.org, joins the show to consider Part Five of Human Action: "Social Cooperation without a Market." This section of the book provides Mises's updated exposition of socialism, the impossible project of substituting 'One Will' for the subjective actions and preferences of everyone in society. Mises gives us the history behind support for socialism, and the enduring appeal of ascribing the best intentions and omniscience to the central state.

Can a socialist system really operate using the division of labor? Can mathematical equations lead us to equilibrium, the final and static price for any good or factor? Can the managerial state make the impossible possible? This is a rewarding discussion of socialism from Mises's brilliant and radical point of view.

Use the code HAPOD for a discount on Human Action from our bookstore: Mises.org/BuyHA.

Human Action: Mises.org/HumanAction

Bob Murphy's Study Guide to Human Action: Mises.org/Study

Professor Mark Thornton and Jeff Deist finish Part Four of Human Action with a look at Chapters 21–24 of the book—a powerful exposition of how social cooperation and market exchange create far more harmony in society than state power. Here Mises explains how we all choose labor or leisure every day, and why wages are not the exploitative pittance socialists imagine. Land and rents have been misconstrued as special factors of production, when in fact market exchange helps us understand their prices just like any other good.

These chapters serve as a nice summation of several themes in the book, and set the stage for considering full socialism in Part Five.

Use the code HAPOD for a discount on Human Action from our bookstore: Mises.org/BuyHA.

Human Action: Mises.org/HumanAction

Bob Murphy's Study Guide to Human Action: Mises.org/Study

Dr. Joe Salerno joins the show for a dynamic look at Human Action Part Four, arguably the meatiest part of the book.

Chapters 18, 19, and 20 are where Mises presents the idea of pure time preference, his expanded theory of interest, and the parameters of business cycle theory and malinvestment. Salerno and Jeff Deist consider how time relates to capital; gratitude for society's accumulated wealth; convertibility of capital thanks to stock markets; why holding cash can be productive; originary interest as a ratio, the fallacious classical and Marxist notions of interest, and the boom/bust cycle created by politicians, voters, and bankers who see that inflation "works" for awhile. This is a great discussion of Mises at his best!

Use the code HAPOD for a discount on Human Action from our bookstore: Mises.org/BuyHA.

Human Action: Mises.org/HumanAction

Bob Murphy's Study Guide to Human Action: Mises.org/Study