Church & Society

This lesson is composed of several articles based on selected sections and chapters in Human Action. The topics that will be covered include: Introducing Ludwig von Mises Why Does Human Action Remain a Closed Book to Mainstream Intellectuals? The Monetary Credit Theory of Business Cycle Impact of Business Cycle Disproportionality Doctrines as Explanations of Business Cycle The Study of Economics, and Economics, Citizenship, and Freedom Introducing Ludwig von Mises In the Introduction to the Scholar’s Edition (October 1998) of Human Action , Jeffrey M. Herberner of Grove City College, Hans-Herman Hoppe of University of Nevada, and Joseph T. Salerno of Pace University as well as Jorg Guido Hulsmann and David Gordon introduced to us Ludwig von Mises and his magnum opus. The man was described as “uniquely prepared” to undertake the rebirth of the Austrian School of Economics by virtue of his long tenure beginning 1912 “as economic advisor and chief economist of the Vienna Chamber of Co...

In this article, I want to write a shorter version of Jesús Huerta de Soto’s essay about The Economic Effects of Pandemics: An Austrian Analysis . De Soto is Spain’s leading Austrian economist, a Senior Fellow of the Mises Institute, and serves as professor of economics at King Juan Carlos University in Spain. In his paper, before introducing to us his thesis and arguments, he first gave us a summary of the Austrian Business Cycle Theory. This is de Soto’s summary of the Austrian Business Cycle Theory. It starts with the initiative of central banks in expanding credit with the assistance of the private banking sector in the infusion of this new supply of money into the economy. Through fractional reserve, these financial institutions create money “from nothing in the form of deposits which it injects into the system via loans to companies and economic agents in the absence of a prior real increase in voluntary saving.” As a result, “the productive structure shifts artificially toward n...