rothbard on the state-tdl.pdf
TRANSCRIPT
-
(/)
A A
MISES DAILYThe Rothbardian Analysis of the State
SEPTEMBER 14, 2012 Thomas J. DiLorenzo
(http://mises.org/profile/thomas-j-dilorenzo)TAGS Education (/topics/education), History of the Austrian School of Economics (/austrian-school/history-austrian-school-economics)
"Taxation is theft, purely and simply, even though it is theft on a grand and colossal scale which no
acknowledged criminals could hope to match. It is a compulsory seizure of the property of the State's
inhabitants, or subjects."Murray Rothbard, The Ethics of Liberty (http://mises.org/resources/1179/The-Ethics-
of-Liberty)
The recent explosion of interest in the writings of Murray Rothbard (and of Austrian economics in general)
has focused on Rothbard's work on money, banking, and business-cycle theory. The reason for this is the
increasingly widespread understanding that it was the Greenspan Fed and other government policies
that created the housing bubble and, subsequently, the Great Recession. Only the Austrians recognized the
bubble and predicted its bursting. Mainstream economists such as Paul Krugman were totally in the dark
about it, and remain so.
But Murray Rothbard was much more than a student of money, banking, and business-cycle theory. He was
deeply educated in history and political philosophy (among other disciplines) as well as economics, and he
developed a body of literature that Hans-Hermann Hoppe calls "Austrian social theory." Austrian social theory
is an indispensable tool for understanding the nature of the state and all of its activities, a subject that
occupied Murray Rothbard's mind for his entire adult life. That is why I am offering an eight-week online
course called The State: The Rothbardian Analysis under the auspices of the Mises Academy, beginning on
Monday, September 17.
-
Rothbard's work challenges the notion of the Public Choice School that the state is somehow a voluntary
organization (the main theme of the work of Nobel laureates James M. Buchanan and George Stigler). His
work also demolishes the theory held by mainstream economists that taxation, too, is somehow voluntary.
Relying on more than just narrow economic theory, Rothbard's work explains such phenomena as the role of
the state's "ideological minions" (i.e., the Paul Krugmans and Doris Kearns-Goodwins of the world), the role of
ideology, the role of intellectuals, the nature of state coercion, and much more.
We will study libertarian class theory as it has developed over the past several hundred years, which was an
important element of Rothbard's analysis of the state. Rothbard also had a much richer understanding of the
role of government bureaucracy than the Public Choice School (or any other school of thought), and that will
be another subject of study.
Murray Rothbard was a top-flight economist and one of the few Austrians to contribute a substantial body of
literature to the subdiscipline of public finance. Consequently, several classes will be devoted to the
Rothbardian analysis of government taxing and spending, and all of its consequences. The political economy
of interventionism, socialism, central banking, and war are other topics that will be studied, utilizing the
writings of Rothbard and various Rothbardians (such as Robert Higgs on war, for instance). The week-by-
week topical outline will be as follows.
Weekly Topics
1. Rothbard's "Anatomy of the State"
2. John C. Calhoun and Libertarian Class Theory
3. Rothbardian Analysis of Bureaucracy
-
(/print/7250)7 7
0
4. Rothbardian Analysis of Government Spending
5. Rothbardian Analysis of Taxation
6. Interventionism and Socialism
7. Central Banking and the State
8. War and the State
What I hope students will get out of this class is a solid understanding of how to analyze the behavior of the
state, based on sound principles of Austrian economics, supplemented by some aspects of Murray
Rothbard's lifelong study of history and political philosophy.
(http://store.mises.org/Hamiltons-Curse-P534.aspx)
[bio] See [AuthorName]'s [AuthorArchive].
You can subscribe to future articles by [AuthorName] via this [RSSfeed].
Note: The views expressed on Mises.org are not necessarily those of the Mises Institute.
FOLLOW MISES INSTITUTE
Follow Follow @mises@mises Follow 10k
More
0LikeLike
-
Rothbard: Was the American RevolutionRadical?8 comments 6 days ago
Matthew John Hayden Red Dwarf, right? ;)
Cuban-US Relations: A Step in the RightDirection5 comments 16 days ago
Chetty664506 Since the embargo hasmade such an impressive reversal of thecommunist political system, why stop
Chinese Savings vs. American Spending6 comments 6 days ago
halliday What is this guy talking about ?Chinese savings are being exported en masseto the US as a result of the PBOC's
The WHOs Bias Against Free-MarketHealthcare84 comments 15 days ago
Cli http://polyclinic.singhealth.c...,Matt agreat article. A major flaw: the US does nothave a market in health care, let alone a
ALSO ON MISES INSTITUTE
0 Comments Mises Institute Login!
Sort by Best Share
Start the discussion
Be the first to comment.
WHAT'S THIS?
Subscribe Add Disqus to your sited Privacy%
Favorite
-
SEARCH GO
WHAT IS THE MISES DAILY
SEARCH MISES DAILY
-
The Mises Daily presents relevant short articles from the perspective of an unfettered free market and Austrian
economics. Written for a broad audience of laymen and students, the Mises Daily features a wide variety of topics
including everything from the history of the state, to international trade, to drug prohibition, and business cycles.
For information on submitting articles, click here (/about-mises/daily-article-submission-guidelines).
(https://mises.org/library/mises-weekends)
AUDIO/VIDEO (/LIBRARY/AUDIOVIDEO)
JOURNALS (/LIBRARY/JOURNALS)
MISES DAILY (/LIBRARY/MISES-DAILY)
BOOKS (/LIBRARY/BOOKS)
FEATURED AUTHORPeter G. Klein (/profile/peter-g-klein)
Peter G. Klein is Carl Menger Research Fellow of the Mises Institute and
Professor in the Division of...
The Usefulness of Austrian Economics (/library/usefulness-austrian-economics)Peter G. Klein explains how Austrian Economics offers unique insights.
-
(http://mises.org/events)
MORE (/PROFILE-TYPE/COLUMNIST)
Its the Economics that Got Small (/library/it%E2%80%99s-economics-got-small)Sure, economists can use randomized controlled trials to learn more about why some people prefer red to blue, or
why...
MEET OUR COLUMNISTS
Peter St. Onge (/profile/peter-st-onge)
Peter St. Onge is an assistant professor at Taiwan's Fengjia University College
of Business. He blogs at...
TOPICS
-
Lessons for the Young Economist (/library/lessons-young-economist)
Murphy's textbook prepares the student for both conventional economic studies in the future, and provides the...
BROWSE EDUCATION (/TOPICS/EDUCATION)
LIBRARY
-
The WHOs Bias Against Free-Market Healthcare (/library/who%E2%80%99s-bias-against-free-market-healthcare)
Many advocates for socialized medicine point to the World Health Organization's claim that US healthcare ranks...
BROWSE LIBRARY (/LIBRARY)
Our Enemy The Fed (/library/our-enemy-fed-0)
MISES VIEW
-
Glenn Jacobs explains why understanding the Federal Reserve System is one of the most important tasks facing
Americans.
BROWSE MISES VIEW (/LIBRARY/MISES-VIEW)
Mises University 2011 (http://academy.mises.org/courses/virtualmu/)
This resource is for students who have been accepted to and are attending Mises University in 2011.
COURSES
-
BROWSE COURSES (/EDUCATION?TYPE=COURSE)
TOPICS
Big Government (/topics/big-government)
Biographies (/topics/biographies)
Booms and Busts (/topics/booms-and-busts)
Corporate Welfare (/topics/corporate-welfare)
Education (/topics/education)
Financial Markets (/topics/financial-markets)
Free Markets (/topics/free-markets)
Global Economy (/topics/global-economy)
Health (/topics/health)
Legal System (/topics/legal-system)
-
Media and Culture (/topics/media-and-culture)
Money and Banks (/topics/money-and-banks)
Taxes and Spending (/topics/taxes-and-spending)
The Entrepreneur (/topics/entrepreneur)
The Environment (/topics/environment)
The Fed (/topics/fed)
The Police State (/topics/police-state)
U.S. Economy (/topics/us-economy)
U.S. History (/topics/us-history)
War and Foreign Policy (/topics/war-and-foreign-policy)
World History (/topics/world-history)
AUSTRIAN SCHOOL
Austrian Economics Overview (/austrian-school/austrian-economics-overview)
Business Cycles (/austrian-school/business-cycles)
Calculation and Knowledge (/austrian-school/calculation-and-knowledge)
Capital and Interest Theory (/austrian-school/capital-and-interest-theory)
Entrepreneurship (/austrian-school/entrepreneurship)
Fiscal Theory (/austrian-school/fiscal-theory)
Gold Standard (/austrian-school/gold-standard)
History of the Austrian School of Economics (/austrian-school/history-austrian-school-economics)
Interventionism (/austrian-school/interventionism)
Monetary Theory (/austrian-school/monetary-theory)
Money and Banking (/austrian-school/money-and-banking)
Monopoly and Competition (/austrian-school/monopoly-and-competition)
Other Schools of Thought (/austrian-school/other-schools-thought)
Philosophy and Methodology (/austrian-school/philosophy-and-methodology)
Political Theory (/austrian-school/political-theory)
Praxeology (/austrian-school/praxeology)
Prices (/austrian-school/prices)
Private Property (/austrian-school/private-property)
Production Theory (/austrian-school/production-theory)
Subjectivism (/austrian-school/subjectivism)
Value and Exchange (/austrian-school/value-and-exchange)
-
BROWSE LIBRARY
Who is Ludwig von Mises? (/profile/ludwig-von-mises-0)
What is the Austrian School of Economics? (/about-
mises/what-austrian-economics)
Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics (/library/quarterly-
journal-austrian-economics)
The Free Market (/library/free-market)
Mises Daily (/library/mises-daily)
Mises Weekends (/library/mises-weekends)
Mises View (/library/mises-view)
Journals & Publications (/library/journals)
Homeschool Resources (/homeschool-resources)
Resources for the Economist (/resources-economist)
ABOUT THE MISES INSTITUTE
What is the Mises Institute? (/about-mises/what-is-the-mises-
Institute)
Fellowship & Independent Research (/about-
mises/independent-research-visits)
Mises Events (/events)
Press Room (/press-room)
Mises Publications (/library/institute-publications)
Online Learning (http://academy.mises.org)
Mises Bookstore (http://store.mises.org)
Support Mises (/giving)
Faculty & Staff (/faculty-staff )
Finances and Board (/about-mises/add-board-and-finance)
Subscribe to Email Lists (/about-mises/subscribe)
Contact Us (/contact)
GET NEWS AND ARTICLES IN YOUR INBOX (/about-mises/subscribe)
CONTACT US
518 West Magnolia AvenueAuburn, Alabama 36832-4501
PHONE 334.321.2100 (tel:1-334-321-2100) | FAX 334.321.2119
Email Us (/contact)
STAY CONNECTED
(http://mises.org/about/social/media/vimeo)(http://mises.org/about/social/media/instagram)(http://mises.org/about/social/media/rss-
feed)
(http://mises.org/about/social/media/google-
plus)
(http://mises.org/about/social/media/facebook)(http://mises.org/about/social/media/picasa)(http://mises.org/about/social/media/youtube)(http://mises.org/about/social/media/twitter)(http://mises.org/about/social/media/itunes)
Mises Institute is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions are tax-deductible to the full extent the
law allows.