Economics is a theoretical science and as such abstains from any judgement of value. It is not its task to tell people what ends they should aim at. It is a science of the means to be applied for attainment of ends chosen, not, to be sure, a science of the choosing of ends. Ultimate decisions, the valuations and the choosing of ends, are beyond the scope of any science. Science never tells a man how he should act; it merely shows how a man must act if he wants to attain definite ends.
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Utility is our national shibboleth: the savior of the American businessman is fact and his uterine half-brother, statistics.
Utility is our national shibboleth: the savior of the American businessman is fact and his uterine half-brother, statistics.
A man is a person that will pay two dollars for a one dollar item he wants. A woman will read more
A man is a person that will pay two dollars for a one dollar item he wants. A woman will pay one dollar for a two dollar item she doesn't want.
Not understanding the process of a spontaneously-ordered economy goes hand-in-hand with not understanding the creation of resources and wealth. And read more
Not understanding the process of a spontaneously-ordered economy goes hand-in-hand with not understanding the creation of resources and wealth. And when a person does not understand the creation of resources and wealth, the only intellectual alternative is to believe that increasing wealth must be at the cost of someone else. This belief that our good fortune must be an exploitation of others may be the taproot of false prophecy about doom that our evil ways must bring upon us.
I've got a living to make, to put it plainly; there's more money in shocking and terrifying than in edifying.
I've got a living to make, to put it plainly; there's more money in shocking and terrifying than in edifying.
Based on first-hand evidence of your own senses - the improved health and later ages at which acquaintances die nowadays read more
Based on first-hand evidence of your own senses - the improved health and later ages at which acquaintances die nowadays as compared with the past; the material goods that we now possess; the speed at which information, entertainment, and we ourselves move freely throughout the world - it seems to me that a person must be literally deaf and blind not to perceive that humanity is in a much better state than ever before.
American prosperity and American free enterprise are both highly unusual in the world, and we should not overlook the possibility read more
American prosperity and American free enterprise are both highly unusual in the world, and we should not overlook the possibility that the two are connected.
...we see that there are two different kinds of...societies: (a) parasitic societies and (b) producing societies. The former are those read more
...we see that there are two different kinds of...societies: (a) parasitic societies and (b) producing societies. The former are those which live from hunting, fishing, or merely gleaning. By their economic activities they do not increase, but rather decrease, the amount of wealth in the world. The second kind of societies, producing societies, live by agricultural and pastoral activities. By these activities they seek to increase the amount of wealth in the world.
Show me the business man or institution not guided by sentiment and service; by the idea that "he profits most read more
Show me the business man or institution not guided by sentiment and service; by the idea that "he profits most who serves best" and I will show you a man or an outfit that is dead or dying.
...the only means to well-being is to increase the quantity of products. This is what business aims at.
...the only means to well-being is to increase the quantity of products. This is what business aims at.
