Directory of Free-Market Economics

The following is a list of books, journals, and articles which, in general, favor private property rights and free markets and oppose government intervention. Its purpose is to assist young people looking for answers to the prevailing collectivist myths.

Absolute must books are:

Milton Friedman, CAPITALISM AND FREEDOM (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962).
Well written and easy to read and understand, this book covers a broad range of important topics and is an essential beginning. People who find fault with Friedman almost always ignore the context in which he speaks; for example, he will often propose improvements to existing programs or policies that may only move us toward a free economy rather than being optimal in themselves. Friedman proposes the negative income tax as an improvement over existing programs, not as an ideal system. He has since stated that he considers a zero growth in the money supply optimal instead of the up-to-five-percent advocated in this book. Finally, recent works are tending to refute the belief that "neighborhood effects" justify intervention.

Armen A. Alchian and William R. Allen, UNIVERSITY ECONOMICS (Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company, Inc., Second Edition, 1967).
A textbook for college economics classes that is being used across the country, this is the introduction to sound economics. Read it from cover to cover including the questions and answers and you will make a giant step forward not only in understanding economics but in rational thinking and decision making. A shorter version is available in paperback that is just as good. (They simply deleted the left-over Keynesian nonsense that was needed to sell the textbook.)

JOURNALS

THE JOURNAL OF LAW & ECONOMICS (JL&E) is the foremost economics journal consistently publishing outstanding free market articles. A must set for economics major and very heavy. Students can get back copies I-X ('58-67) for a dollar a copy and Vol. XI on for $2 each. Write JL&E, University of Chicago Law School, 1111 East 60th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637.

THE NEW INDIVIDUALIST REVIEW (NIR) published its last issue in 1969. Many great articles are in back issues that can be obtained for a dollar each ($13 for 14 available issues) from J.M. Cobb, 1367 East 56th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637.

THE FREEMAN is a monthly that you can receive for any donation you wish to make. It is light and easy to read, strong on basic principles presented simply. Great for beginners. Write Foundation for Economic Education, Irvington-on-Hudson, New York 10533.

BOOKS and ARTICLES, by topic

I. USE REGULATION

A. PROPERTY RIGHTS

R.H. Coase, "The Problem of Social Cost," JL&E, Vol. III (1960), p. 1.
Classic treatment of the "neighborhood effect" argument to show property rights as a solution.

Harold Demsetz, "Toward a Theory of Property Rights," AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, Vol. LVII, No. 2 (May 1967), pp. 347-59.

John Locke, THE SECOND TREATISE ON GOVERNMENT.
Any publisher. Classic presentation of the right to private property, how it is acquired. All other discussion of politics and economics are merely a footnote to Locke.

Yale Brozen, "The Revival of Traditional Liberalism," NIR, Vol. 3, No. 4, (Spring 1965), p. 3.
Summarizes the new trend in economic research which is increasingly showing the failure of government intervention in many areas. Good overview.

B. CONSERVATION

Anthony Scott, "Conservation: Economic Aspects," INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES (New York: Macmillan and The Free Press, 1968), Vol. 3, pp. 279-90.

Scott Gordon, "Economics and the Conservation Question," JL&E, Vol. I (1958), p. 110.

These two articles show that private property rights best promote conservation.

C. OTHER

Roger W. Weiss, "The Case for Federal Meat Inspection Examined," JL&E, VII (1964) p. 107.
Refutes Upton Sinclair (THE JUNGLE) and reviews foolish regulations.

Friedrich A. von Hayek, ed., CAPITALISM AND THE HISTORIANS (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1954).
Refutes the factory exploitation myth about the Industrial Revolution.

Lester G. Telser, "Advertising: Economic Aspects," INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES (New York: Macmillan and The Free Press, 1968), Vol. I, pp. 106-11.

Scott Gordon, "The Close of the Galbraithian System," JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY, Vol. 76, No. 4, Part 1 (July-August 1963), pp. 635-44.

II. PRICE CONTROLS

MINIMUM WAGE LAWS

Yale Brozen, "The Untruth of the Obvious," FREEMAN (June 1968), p. 328.

Yale Brozen, "The Effect of Statutory Minimum Wage Increases on Teen-Age Employment," JL&E, Vol. XII, No. 1 (April 1969), pp. 109-22.

III. ENTRY RESTRICTIONS

A. REGULATORY AGENCIES

Gabriel Kolko, RAILROADS AND REGULATION (Princeton, New Jersey: University Press, 1965) and THE TRIUMPH OF CONSERVATISM (New York: Free Press, 1963).
"Kolko shows that, beginning with Theodore Roosevelt's New Nationalism and culminating in Wilson's New Freedom, in industry after industry, e.g., insurance, banking, meat, exports, and business generally, regulations that present-day Rightists think of as 'socialistic' were not only uniformly hailed, but conceived and brought about by big businessmen." —Murray Rothbard

Mary Bennett Peterson, THE REGULATED CONSUMER, (Los Angeles: Nash Publishing, 1971).

Yale Brozen, "Is Government the Source of Monopoly?" THE INTERCOLLEGIATE REVIEW, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Winter 1968-69), pp. 67-68.
Estimates the cost of government monopoly at $50 billion a year.

Christopher D. Stone, "ICC:" Sam Peltzman, "CAB:" and Robert M. Hurt, "FCC:" NIR, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Spring 1963), pp. 3-37.
Excellent review of these regulatory agencies and their harmful effects.

Reuben A. Kessel, "Price Discrimination in Medicine," JL&E, Vol. I (1958), p. 20.
Excellent history of doctors getting government to protect them from competition and some of the consequences of this.

George J. Stigler, "Public Regulation of the Securities Markets," JOURNAL OF BUSINESS, Vol. XXXVII, No. 2 (April 1964), pp. 117-42.

R.H. Coase, "The Federal Communications Commission," JL&E, Vol. II (1959), p. 1.

Michael E. Levine, "Is Regulation Necessary? California Air Transportation and National Regulatory Policy," YALE LAW JOURNAL, Vol. LXXIV (July 1965), pp. 1416-47.

Jane Jacobs, "Why Cities Stagnate," NEW AMERICAN REVIEW, No. 6, New American Library: Signet Paperback, 1969.
Reviews the harmful effects of city planners on small entrepreneurs, especially the poor.

B. MONOPOLY

John S. McGee, "Predatory Price Cutting: The Standard Oil (N.J.) Case," JL&E, Vol. I (1958), p. 137.
Thorough debunking of the predatory price cutting myth and the myths about the business practices of the Standard Oil Trust.

Robert H. Bork, "The Supreme Court Versus Corporate Efficiency," FORTUNE, LXXVI (August 1967), p. 92.
Shows how recent decisions increasingly turn the anti-trust law against efficient sellers.

Harold Demsetz, "Why Regulate Utilities?" JL&E, Vol. XI (April 1968), pp. 55-66.
Outstanding analysis of how consumers will protect themselves from "natural monopolies" without any need for regulation.

Robert M. Hurt, "Antitrust and Competition," NIR Vol. 1, No. 4 (Winter 1962), pp. 3-12.
Shows that Antitrust has become injurious to efficiency and competition.

C. UNIONS

Albert Rees, "The Effects of Unions on Resource Allocation," JL&E, Vol. VII (1963), p. 69.

Albert Rees, THE ECONOMICS OF TRADE UNIONS, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962).

D. DISCRIMINATION

Gary S. Becker, "Discrimination, Economic," INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES (New York: Macmillan and The Free Press, 1968), Vol. 4, pp. 208-10.

W.H. Hutt, ECONOMICS OF THE COLOUR BAR (London: Institute Of Economic Affairs, 1964). Excerpts in NIR, Vol. 4, No. 3. (Spring, 1966), pp. 50-2.
Excellent history of how socialist and marxist led labor unions got Apartheid established in South Africa.

Thomas Jacobsen, "Laissez-Faire and the Chinese Persecutions in San Francisco," RAMPART JOURNAL, Vol. IV, No. 3 (Fall 1968), pp. 39-44.
Tells how the Workingmen's Party in San Francisco used public health ordinances to limit the competition that whites were getting from successful Chinese enterprises and workers.

Gordon Tullock, "The Economics of Slavery," LEFT AND RIGHT, Vol. III, No. 2, (Spring-Summer 1967), pp. 5-16.

E. MONEY, INFLATION, AND DEPRESSION

Milton Friedman, "Real and Pseudo Gold Standards," JL&E, Vol. IV (1961), p. 66.
Important clarification of what a free market monetary system would be.

Albert L. Kraus, "Is Keynes Defunct?" NEW YORK TIMES (6 November 1968), p. 53.
Announcement of the victory of Friedman's monetary theory over Keynes' fiscal theories on the basis of recent developments.

IV. THE DRAFT

See all of the articles in NIR, Vol. 4, No. 4 (Spring 1967).

John C. Miller III, ed., WHY THE DRAFT? (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1968).

V. SUBSIDIES

A. FARM SUBSIDY

D. Gale Johnson, "Government and Agriculture: Is Agriculture a Special Case?" JL&E, Vol. I (1958), p. 122.

B. URBAN RENEWAL

Martin Anderson, THE FEDERAL BULLDOZER, (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966).

VI. GOVERNMENT BUSINESSES

A. IN GENERAL

William C. Wooldridge, UNCLE SAM, THE MONOPOLY MAN (New Rochelle: Arlington House, 1970).

William S. Vicrey, "Pricing in Urban and Suburban Transport," AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, Vol. LIII, No. 2 (May 1963), pp. 452-65.
Suggests how to apply the price mechanism used already on turnpikes to roads which are not limited-access highways.

B. EDUCATION

B.A. Rogge, "Financing Higher Education," NIR, Vol. 4, No. 1 (Summer 1965), pp. 3-14.

E.G. West, "The Uneasy Case for State Education," NIR, Vol. 4, No. 2. (Winter 1966), pp. 38-49.

E.G. West, "The Political Economy of American Public School Legislation," JL&E, Vol. X (1967), p. 101.

Erica Carle, "Education Without Taxation," THE FREEMAN (March 1962), p. 48.

Armen A. Alchian, "Private Property and the Relative Cost of Tenure," in Philip D. Bradley, ed., THE PUBLIC STAKE IN UNION POWER (Charlottesville, Virginia: University of Virginia Press, 1959).

C. SOCIALIST ECONOMICS

G. Warren Nutter, "The Structure and Growth of Soviet Industry: A Comparison with the United States," JL&E, Vol. II (1959), p. 147.

Valentin Chu, TA TA, TAN TAN, (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1963).
For an excellent summary of the book see his "The Famine Makers—A Report on Why Red China is Starving," U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT (9 July 1962), pp. 64-7.

Friedrich A. von Hayek, ed., COLLECTIVIST ECONOMIC PLANNING (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1963).

Eugen von Boehm-Bawerk, KARL MARX AND THE CLOSE OF HIS SYSTEM (New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1949).
Refutes Marx's labor theory.

D. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND FOREIGN AID

Milton Friedman, "Foreign Economic Aid: Means and Objectives," YALE REVIEW (Summer 1958).

Ronald I. McKinnon and Edward S. Shaw, MONEY, FOREIGN TRADE AND TAXATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES (Oxford University Press).
Shows that the faulty internal policies of the governments of underdeveloped countries restrain economic growth.

Rod Manis is an economist conducting research for the California Medical Association. He also teaches at California State College at Hayward and was formerly a research associate at the Hoover Institution at Stanford, California.