link to original reddit post by /u/wiz-dom
Hey everyone, long time lurker and first time poster. I recently wrapped up reading Human Action and near the end in the second to last chapter (XXXVIII. The Place of Economics in Learning) Mises emphasizes the role of economics and the citizen. A part of this section was both so well-written and timely that I thought I would share the excerpt here. Those of us who are making efforts to build and learn sound knowledge of economic theories are vital to fighting our world of statolatry. Reading this call to action, better yet call for human action, from Mises, is sobering and inspiring. 72 years after he wrote this masterpiece of a treatise, we still find ourselves in a world where the main political controversy is of the market economy versus socialism. Further, with Covid at the forefront today, the demerits of government interventionism are blatantly conspicuous.
“In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries religion was the main issue in European political controversies. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Europe as well as in America the paramount question was representative government versus royal absolutism. Today it is the market economy versus socialism. This is, of course, a problem the solution of which depends entirely on economic analysis. Recourse to empty slogans or to the mysticism of dialectical materialism is of no avail.
There is no means by which anyone can evade his personal responsibility. Whoever neglects to examine to the best of his abilities all the problems involved voluntarily surrenders his birthright to a self-appointed elite of supermen. In such vital matters blind reliance upon “experts” and uncritical acceptance of popular catchwords and prejudices is tantamount to the abandonment of self-determination and to yielding to other people’s domination. As conditions are today, nothing can be more important to every intelligent man than economics. His own fate and that of his progeny is at stake.
Very few are capable of contributing any consequential idea to the body of economic thought. But all reasonable men are called upon to familiarize themselves with the teachings of economics. This is, in our age, the primary civic duty.
Whether we like it or not, it is a fact that economics cannot remain an esoteric branch of knowledge accessible only to small groups of scholars and specialists. Economics deals with societies fundamental problems; it concerns everyone and belongs to all. It is the main and proper study of every citizen” (pp. 874-75).