Course Material

The course comprises 18 lectures, each based on a chapter from Principles of Economics. The primary reading material for the course is the corresponding lecture chapter, but the course also relies heavily on the additional resources listed below.

Lecture 1: Human Action
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• Ammous, Principles of Economics, Chapter 1
• Mises, Ludwig von. Human Action: The Scholar’s Edition. Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1998. Chapters 1 to 4
• Hayek, Friedrich von. “The Pretence of Knowledge.” The Swedish Journal of Economics, vol.77, no. 4, Dec 1975.
• Hayek, Friedrich von. “Scientism and the study of society [Part 1].” Economica, vol.9, no. 35, 1942.
• Rothbard, Murray. Man, Economy, and State, with Power and Market. Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1962. Chapter 1

Lecture 2: Value

• Ammous, Principles of Economics, Chapter 2
• Menger, Carl. Principles of Economics. Reprint, Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2007. Chapters I-III

Lecture 3: Time

• Ammous, Principles of Economics, Chapter 3
• Mises, Ludwig von. Human Action: The Scholar’s Edition. Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1998. Chapter 5
• Simon, Julian. The Ultimate Resource 2. Princeton University Press, 1996.
• Pooley, Gale, and Marian Tupy. “The Simon Abundance Index 2021.” Human Progress.
• The Bitcoin Standard Podcast with guest Gale Pooley.

Lecture 4: Labor

• Ammous, Principles of Economics, Chapter 4
• Mises, Ludwig von. Human Action: The Scholar’s Edition. Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1998. Chapter 7

Lecture 5: Property

• Ammous, Principles of Economics, Chapter 5
• Hoppe, Hans-Hermann. A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism. Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2010. Chapters 2 and 7
• Kinsella, Stephan. “What Libertarianism Is.” Property, Freedom, and Society: Essays in Honor of Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2009, p. 184-5.
• Mises, Ludwig von. Human Action: The Scholar’s Edition. Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1998. Chapter XXIV

Lecture 6: Capital

• Ammous, Principles of Economics, Chapter 6
• Mises, Ludwig von. Human Action: The Scholar’s Edition. Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1998. Chapters XV and XVIII

Lecture 7: Technology

• Ammous, Principles of Economics, Chapter 7
• Kinsella, Stephan. “The Case Against IP: A Concise Guide.” Mises Daily Articles, Ludwig von Mises Institute, 4 Sep 2009.
• Kinsella, Stephan. Against Intellectual Property. CreateSpace, 2001.
• McElroy, Wendy. “Contra Copyright, Again.” Libertarian Papers, vol. 3, no. 12, 2011.

Lecture 8: Energy and Power

• Ammous, Principles of Economics, Chapter 8
• Bradley, Robert. Energy: The Master Resource: An Introduction to the History, Technology, Economics, and Public Policy of Energy. Kendall Hunt Publishing, 2004.
• Smil, Vaclav. 2017. Energy and Civilization: A History. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
• Epstein, Alex. Fossil Future. Penguin, 2014.

Lecture 9: Trade

• Ammous, Principles of Economics, Chapter 9
• Rothbard, Murray. Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market. Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1962. Chapter 2
• Read, Leonard. “I, Pencil: My Family Tree as Told to Leonard E. Read.” The Freeman, Dec 1958.
• Mises, Ludwig von. Human Action: The Scholar’s Edition.Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1998. Chapter VIII

Lecture 10: Money

• Ammous, Principles of Economics, Chapter 10
• Mises, Ludwig von. Human Action: The Scholar’s Edition. Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1998. Chapter XVII
• Hoppe, Hans-Hermann. ““The Yield From Money Held” Reconsidered.” Ludwig von Mises Institute, 14 May 2009
• Rothbard, Murray. Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market. Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1962. Chapter 3
• Rothbard, Murray. Economic Controversies. Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2011. Chapter 37

Lecture 11: Markets

• Ammous, Principles of Economics, Chapter 11
• Mises, Ludwig von. Human Action: The Scholar’s Edition. Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1998. Chapter XIV-XV
• Schuettinger, Robert L., and Eamonn F. Butler. Forty Centuries of Wage and Price Controls: How Not to Fight Inflation. Heritage Foundation, 1978.

Lecture 12: Capitalism

• Ammous, Principles of Economics, Chapter 12
• Rothbard, Murray. “The End of Socialism and the Calculation Debate Revisited.” The Review of Austrian Economics, vol.5, no. 2, 1991, p. 59.
• Mises, Ludwig von. Human Action: The Scholar’s Edition. Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1998. Chapters XVI and XXVI

Lecture 13: Time Preference

• Ammous, Principles of Economics, Chapter 13
• Hoppe, Hans-Hermann. Democracy: The God That Failed. Transaction Publishers, 2001. Chapter 1
• Ammous, Saifedean. The Fiat Standard: The Debt Slavery Alternative to Human Civilization. Saif House, 2021. Chapter 7
• Hülsmann, Jörg Guido. The Ethics of Money Production. Ludwig Von Mises Institute, 2008.
• Hülsmann, Jörg Guido. Deflation and Liberty. Ludwig Von Mises Institute, 2008.
• Salerno, Joseph. “Hyperinflation and The Destruction of Human Personality.” Studia Humana, vol. 2, no. 1, 2013, pp. 15-27.

Lecture 14: Credit and Banking

• Ammous, Principles of Economics, Chapter 14
• Mises, Ludwig von. Human Action: The Scholar’s Edition. Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1998. Chapters XVII, XVIII
• Hayek, Friedrich von. A Tiger By The Tail: The Keynesian Legacy of Inflation. Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1972

Lecture 15: Monetary Expansion

• Ammous, Principles of Economics, Chapter 15
• Mises, Ludwig von. Human Action: The Scholar’s Edition. Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1998. Chapters XIX, XX
• Garrison, Roger. Time and Money: The Macroeconomics of Capital Structure. Routledge, 2001.
• Mises, Ludwig von. The Theory of Money and Credit. 2nd ed., Foundation for Economic Education, 1971. Part Three

Lecture 16: Violence

• Ammous, Principles of Economics, Chapter 16
• Fuller, Edward W. “The Non-Aggression Principle: A Short History.” Revista Procesos de Mercado, vol. 16, no. 1, 2019, pp. 31-88.
• DiLorenzo, Thomas. “The Myth of Natural Monopoly.” The Review of Austrian Economics, 1996, pp. 43-58.
• Hoppe, Hans-Hermann. “Fallacies of the Public Goods Theory and the Production of Security.” The Journal of Libertarian Studies, vol. 9, no. 1, Winter, 1989.
• Hayek, Friedrich von. Studies in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. University of Chicago Press, 1967. Chapters 5 and 6
• Mises, Ludwig von. Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today and Tomorrow. Free Market Books, 1995.

Lecture 17: Defense

• Ammous, Principles of Economics, Chapter 17
• Rothbard, Murray. For a New Liberty. Macmillan,1973.
• Rothbard, Murray. The Ethics of Liberty
• Rothbard, Murray. Anatomy of the State
• Rothbard, Murray. Power and Market
• Hoppe, Hans-Hermann. The Private Production of Defense. Ludwig Von Mises Institute, 2009.
• Hoppe, Hans-Hermann. The Myth of National Defense: Essays on the Theory and History of Security Production. Ludwig Von Mises Institute, Auburn University, 2003
• Stringham, Edward. Private Governance: Creating Order in Economic and Social Life. Oxford University Press, 2015.
• Mises, Ludwig von. Human Action: The Scholar’s Edition. Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1998, Chapter XXVII
• Hans-Adam. The State in the Third Millennium. 1st ed., Van Eck, 2009.

Lecture 18: Civilization

• Ammous, Principles of Economics, Chapter 18
• Howden, David, and Joakim Kämpe. “Time Preference and the Process of Civilization.” International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 43, no. 4, 2016, pp. 382-99.
• Hoppe, Hans-Hermann. The Economics and Ethics of Private Property: Studies in Political Economy and Philosophy. Kluwer Academic 1993. Chapter 13.
• Glubb, John. The Fate of Empires and Search for Survival. Blackwood, 1978