This paper undertakes to make some comparative observations on the thought of Murray N. Rothbard and Leo Strauss. It hinges around Rothbard and Strauss’s different views on such subjects as the philosophy of Hobbes, Locke and Hume, the meaning of natural law, natural rights, and natural...

The paper retraces the history of the debate on the Washington Consensus according to the four-stage partition Consensus, Confusion, Contention, Conclusion, with particular attention to the criticisms evoked by the use of it as a tool for the "integrationist agenda" of the Nineties. We argue...

James M. Buchanan's contributions of 2009-2011 to the post-crisis debate in political economy emphasized the necessity to re-examine the legacy of the “Old Chicago” School. The focus of the current paper is, by following Buchanan's plea, to explore the central topoi in the 1930s debates of...

Liberty is both dependent upon and limited by the State. The State protects individuals from the coercion of others, but paradoxically, it must exercise coercion itself in doing so. Unfortunately, the reliance on the State to deter coercion raises the possibility that the State's powers of...

In this introduction I outline a logical continuity in Hayek's research program from technical economics to his political economy and social philosophy. By taking the starting point of economics as the question of the coordination of plans, Hayek's emphasis as an economist on how economic actors...

Re-reading Schumpeter's classic Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy in the present context is a curious but, I believe, sobering experience. A liberal and a capitalist, Schumpeter nevertheless believed the future lay with socialism. Following Weber, he maintained that the increasingly cartelized...

In addition to its connection with ideas of freedom, the word “liberal” is an apt descriptor of Smith’s plan in politics. Smith’s plan evinces attributes that are liberal in a non-political sense. Salient among these attributes is generosity and charity. The liberal plan, on Smith’s...

Who were Adam Smith’s lost loves? I put Smith’s love life into historical context by briefly describing the strict ecclesiastical regulation of sex as well as the expansive jurisdiction of parish churches over people’s sex lives in the Scotland of his youth. Next, I reassemble all the...

In this paper, the author analyzes Friedman's dogmatic approach towards freedom (part 2), his misuse of historical examples (part 3), and his tautological definition of freedom (part 4). In fairness to Friedman, however, this paper concludes by explaining why any attempt to define freedom is...

Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) was an economist and journalist. A member of the French Liberal School, he is best known for his free trade ideas and his philosophy of law. Mark Blaug ranks him as one of the 100 greatest economists before Keynes. Schumpeter called him a brilliant economic...