100 books like Man, Economy, and State

This is the rare book that is as eye-opening for the novice in economics as it is stimulating for the professional economist. Hazlitt will show you why economics is the golden key to unlocking an endless series of social mysteries.

If you really take his classic 1946 “Lesson” to heart, you can outthink many professional economists who have mistaken mathematical pyrotechnics for economic insight. 

Mises was often referred to as the “godfather of Austrian Economics” for his voluminous contributions to economic science. This book is his most well-known and hefty treatise. 

Mises expertly walks the reader through his explanation of economics being a branch of praxeology, the study of the implications of human action. With a passionate writing style, Mises pulls no punches on his critics while providing the reader with a graduate-level economic education without the often-confusing technical jargon academic courses often impose on students.

Mises uses explanatory language rather than mathematical equations and graphs to make his points. The book is not light reading, however, and should not be attempted without first gaining some understanding of the Austrian School of Economics. And weighing in at nearly 900 pages, expect to set aside some time to get through it. But it will be time well spent.

Those who want to understand the origins of business cycles and how to prevent them should read this book.

One of the most pressing, if not the most pressing, problem of our societies today is our monetary and financial system. This book explains why and offers a solution.

I believe that it is the most complete Austrian treatise on money and banking. It is interdisciplinary looking at law and history as well. I have used it as a textbook for years in class and I have translated it into German. Every serious student of money and banking has to have mastered this book.

This book contains some of the most important articles written by Jesús Huerta de Soto, one of the leading Austrian economists.

I have come to live in Spain to study with Jesús Huerta de Soto. The quality of each one of these essays is extraordinary. I recommend to everyone interested in Austrian economics to study this book in depth.

Huerta de Soto is one of the leading Austrian economists living. His works are very creative and this book gives an overview of his impressive work on a wide range of subjects.

Bohm-Bawerk is too often overlooked when discussing influential Austrian School economists. This is a shame because his work included significant insights and new contributions to economic science. This book, written in 1888, is no exception. 

In this book, Bohm-Bawerk uncovers the origin of the phenomena of interest to be man’s time preference. That is, humans value present goods more than future goods. Thus, the important implications of the passage of time in the production process are examined in this book, including a discussion of why this concept refutes Marx’s labor theory of value and his conclusion that capitalism exploits workers. 

Often credited as the book that launched the “Austrian School,” Menger’s 1871 masterpiece marked a revolutionary correction in the widely accepted theory on the source of economic value prevailing at the time. Menger convincingly made the case that the economic value of goods comes from the mind of the individual–not from the labor inputs used to make it.

Menger further explained that people evaluate the value of goods on the margins–that is, of the next marginal unit–and not just of a good in general. This insight was so profound that it kicked off what was called the “marginal revolution” in economic science. 

Menger also covers price theory, the role of time in production, and the origin of money. This book is a must-read for anybody wanting a thorough primer on the Austrian School of Economics. 

Written over a century ago, this is a book for the ages.

I read this book early in my career, and it provided a basis for understanding money that helped form my current economic theories. Mises reveals how money originated in the market and how its value is based on its efficacy as a commodity in exchange.

Mises concisely lays out the case for sound money with no inflation and introduces the beginnings of a full-scale business cycle theory. 

I am an economist by training. I taught economic courses at Rutgers University for two decades but the only economic framework I consider useful for real-world managers is the classical school known as Austrian Economics, of which Murray Rothbard was one of the more eloquent and accessible voices. Mainstream economists busy themselves with complex mathematical models that are in the end utterly useless in explaining the world, or worse, are utterly wrong in predicting the consequences of policies but are provided by “court economists” to support ideologies. Murry Rothbard, in contrast, lays down the principles of economic theory that will guide your investment/competitive strategies based on the most solid and realistic economic reasoning around. The book is not easy to read, but it will change your understanding of the world. It inspired me to get a Ph.D. 

This is the indispensable book if you want to know what libertarianism is and where it came from. It is filled with more entertaining eccentrics than a Dickens novel. My book focuses on philosophical arguments for a minimal state, but I couldn’t get very deep into the historical background: who was making those arguments and what moved them to do it. One of the pleasures of intellectual history is encountering minds that are weird and surprising (not necessarily in a bad way), and Doherty offers a lot of them.

Ask ten different people to define economics, and you’ll get ten different answers. Does it have something to do with money, finance, the “economy”? Is it about wealth creation? Worse, does it assume people are self-centered greed monsters who care only about maximizing their own happiness, which is assumed to be achievable solely through material acquisition? Worse still, does economics justify or condone such behavior?

Kirzner’s book, which was his dissertation written under the guidance of Ludwig von Mises, shows us the way out of this mess. Read this book to learn why economics is the best tool we have for making sense of the social world. Plus, no unrealistic assumptions about humans are needed!