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Nation, State and Economy: Contributions to the Politics and History of Our Time (Book/ Paperback)

Product Overview

Published less than a year after Austria's defeat in World War I, "Nation, State, and Economy", examines and compares pre-war and post-war economic conditions and explicates Mises' theory that each country's prosperity supports rather than undercuts the prosperity of other countries. Mises' 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.

About the Author(s)

Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (1881-1973) was an Austrian economist, philosopher, and classical liberal who was a prominent figure in the Austrian School of economic thought. Fearing a Nazi take-over of Europe, Mises emigrated to New York in 1940. He published his magnum opus Human Action in 1949. Mises had a significant influence on the Libertarian movement that developed in the United States in the mid-20th century.