Recently by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.: Greenbackers Smear Ron Paul

The past several years have seen a revival of interest in the Austrian School of economics. (For some background on the Austrian School, read this essay and this essay.) I’ve assembled this resource list to help beginners embark on a program of self-education in the Austrian School. I have marked a few titles with ** to indicate their importance.

Many of the books and audiobooks, in addition to all of the articles, that appear on the list below are available to read or listen to online.

An Introduction to Economic Reasoning These books, all relatively short and available online or for purchase, are an excellent starting point for an education in sound economics.

**Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt; online here and here (.pdf) Essentials of Economics by Faustino Ballve; online here (.pdf) An Introduction to Austrian Economics by Thomas C. Taylor; online here and here (.pdf) Lessons for the Young Economist (for younger readers) by Robert P. Murphy; online here, here (.pdf) and here (ebook)

Another easy-to-understand introduction to economic reasoning is Peter Schiff’s book How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes.

A useful companion to Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson is this series of videos, recorded in July-August 2008, in which various professors comment on each of the book’s chapters — explaining the argument, elaborating on it, and applying it to present conditions. (Need Windows Media Player.)

Video 1: The Lesson Video 2: The Broken Window Video 3: Public Works Mean Taxes Video 4: Credit Diverts Production Video 5: The Curse of Machinery Video 6: Disbanding Troops and Bureaucrats Video 7: Who’s Protected by Tariffs? Video 8: “Parity” Prices Video 9: How the Price System Works Video 10: Minimum Wage Laws Video 11: The Function of Profits Video 12: The Assault on Saving

Here’s an even easier way to watch these videos.

Additional Introductory Reading in Economics The Concise Guide to Economics by Jim Cox; online here and here (.pdf) Making Economic Sense by Murray N. Rothbard Free Market Economics: A Reader by Bettina Bien Greaves Free Market Economics: A Syllabus by Bettina Bien Greaves The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism by Robert P. Murphy The Church and the Market: A Catholic Defense of the Free Economy by Thomas E. Woods, Jr. Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? by Richard J. Maybury (great for homeschoolers) The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul, ch. 4

Money **What Has Government Done to Our Money? and The Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar by Murray N. Rothbard; mp3 audio **The Ethics of Money Production by Jrg Guido Hlsmann (should be read after the title above); .pdf here Gold, Peace, and Prosperity (.pdf) by Ron Paul; mp3 audio “Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve” (documentary, via Google Video) The Case for Gold by Ron Paul and Lewis Lehrman Money: Sound and Unsound (advanced) by Joseph T. Salerno; online here (.pdf) and here (ebook) The Case Against the Fed by Murray N. Rothbard (.pdf here; audiobook) End the Fed by Ron Paul The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul, ch. 6 (audiobook) The Gold Standard: Perspectives in the Austrian School, ed. Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.; .pdf here A History of Money and Banking in the United States by Murray N. Rothbard; .pdf here “The Myth of the ‘Independent’ Fed” by Thomas J. DiLorenzo Did Greenspan Deserve Support for Another Term? (.pdf) by Joseph T. Salerno (mp3 audio) “The Path to Sound Money” (mp3 audio) by George Reisman “The Economics of Inflation” (mp3 audio) by George Reisman

The Business Cycle **The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays (online here; audiobook here). Meltdown by Thomas E. Woods, Jr. America’s Great Depression, 5th ed. (html here, .pdf here) by Murray N. Rothbard Time and Money: The Macroeconomics of Capital Structure by Roger W. Garrison “Business Cycle Primer” by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. “My Reply to Krugman on Austrian Business Cycle Theory” by Robert P. Murphy “Sound Money and the Business Cycle” by John P. Cochran “Who Predicted the Bubble? Who Predicted the Crash?” (.pdf) by Mark Thornton “Mises vs. Fisher on Money, Method, and Prediction: The Case of the Great Depression” (.pdf) by Mark Thornton “Predicting Booms and Busts” (mp3 audio) by Mark Thornton “Banking and the Business Cycle” (mp3 audio) by Joseph T. Salerno

Deflation Articles and Monograph: “Deflation and Depression: Where’s the Link?” by Joseph T. Salerno “Apoplithorismosphobia” (.pdf) by Mark Thornton. (Thornton coined the term to refer to the fear of deflation.) “An Austrian Taxonomy of Deflation — With Applications to the U.S. by Joseph T. Salerno Deflation and Liberty by Jrg Guido Hlsmann; audiobook

Audio (in mp3 audio): “On Deflation” by Joseph T. Salerno “The Economics of Deflation” by Jrg Guido Hlsmann “The Gold Standard in Theory and Myth” by Joseph T. Salerno

Advanced Texts in Austrian Economics Man, Economy, and State: A Treatise on Economic Principles by Murray N. Rothbard This version also contains the book Power and Market, which had originally been intended as the concluding section of Man, Economy, and State but was released in 1970 as a separate title. The entire text is also available online here. A study guide is available for purchase and online (.pdf).

Human Action: A Treatise on Economics (read online) by Ludwig von Mises Mises’ magnum opus. A study guide is available for purchase and online (.pdf). I recommend reading Man, Economy, and State first, though some disagree with me.

Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles (.pdf) by Jess Huerta de Soto A sweeping and historic contribution to the literature of the Austrian School, showing how monetary freedom avoids the disadvantages of fiat money, including inflation, business cycles, and financial bubbles.

Foreign Aid and Development Economics Equality, the Third World, and Economic Delusion by Peter Bauer From Subsistence to Exchange and Other Essays by Peter Bauer “The Marshall Plan: Myths and Realities” (.pdf) by Tyler Cowen The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists’ Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics by William Easterly “The History of Foreign Aid Programs” (mp3) by Thomas E. Woods, Jr. (These critiques of development aid are not specifically Austrian, but may be of use to those interested in Austrian economics.)

Additional Readings in Austrian Economics The Economics and Ethics of Private Property by Hans-Hermann Hoppe A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism (read online) by Hans-Hermann Hoppe Economic Science and the Austrian Method (read online) by Hans-Hermann Hoppe Praxeology and Understanding: An Analysis of the Controversy in Austrian Economics (read online) by George Selgin

Introduction to Austrian Economic Analysis: A Ten-Lecture Course This course with Professor Joseph Salerno of Pace University, courtesy of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, is available in both video and mp3 audio at the links below. Recommended supplemental reading follows each lecture.

Lecture 1: Scarcity, Choice, and Value — Audio and Video Percy L. Greaves, Jr., Understanding the Dollar Crisis, pp. 1-20, 27-54 Milton M. Shapiro, Foundations of the Market-Price System, pp. 81-113 Thomas C. Taylor, An Introduction to Austrian Economics, pp. 40-51 (ch. 4)

Lecture 2: Exchange and Demand — Audio and Video Shapiro, pp. 31-58, 115-78 Taylor, pp. 12-39 (chs. 2-3) Leonard Read, “I, Pencil”

Lecture 3: The Determination of Prices — Audio and Video Greaves, pp. 65-91 Shapiro, pp. 179-233 Taylor, pp. 52-62 (ch. 5) Murray N. Rothbard, The Mystery of Banking, pp. 15-27 (online pp. 14-23)

Lecture 4: Price Controls: Case Studies — Audio and Video

Lecture 5: Profit, Loss, and the Entrepreneur — Audio and Video Taylor, pp. 74-89 (ch. 7) Ludwig von Mises, “Profit and Loss,” in Mises, Planning for Freedom and Sixteen Other Essays and Addresses, pp. 108-30

Lecture 6: Pricing of the Factors of Production and the Labor Market — Audio Henry N. Sanborn, What, How, For Whom: The Decisions of Economic Organization, pp. 112-85 Taylor, pp. 63-73 (ch. 6) Greaves, pp. 105-32 Murray N. Rothbard, “Restrictionist Pricing of Labor,” in Rothbard, The Logic of Action Two

Lecture 7: Capital, Interest and the Structure of Production — Audio Shapiro, pp. 235-60 Mark Skousen, The Structure of Production, pp. 133-49 Richard Fink, “Economic Growth and Market Processes,” in Fink, ed., Supply-Side Economics: A Critical Appraisal, pp. 372-94

Lecture 8: Competition and Monopoly — Audio Shapiro, pp. 319-72 Sanborn, pp. 62-65 Hans Sennholz, “The Phantom Called ‘Monopoly,'” in Bettina B. Greaves, ed., Free Market Economics: A Basic Reader, pp. 162-69 Sudha R. Shenoy, “The Sources of Monopoly,” in New Individualist Review, pp. 793-96

Lecture 9: Money and Prices — Audio Greaves, pp. 141-67 Rothbard, What Has Government Done to Our Money? pp. 1-96 (online, chs. I-III; online .pdf, pp. 7-48). Rothbard, The Case Against the Fed, pp. 29-69 (or Rothbard, The Mystery of Banking, pp. 77-177; online, pp. 52-108)

Lecture 10: Banking and the Business Cycle — Audio Ludwig von Mises, et al., The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays, Read: Garrison, Introduction and Summary; Mises’s essay and Rothbard’s essay. Taylor, ch. 8 (pp. 90-95)

Additional Introductory Lectures in Austrian Economics The Mises University, the Ludwig von Mises Institute’s week-long summer instructional program in Austrian economics, amounts to a crash course on the subject. Consult the Mises University audio archive for many additional lectures.

Reprinted with permission from TomWoods.com.

The Best of Tom Woods