Table Of ContentThe
Wisdom
HENRY
HAZLlW
SEPROHIBE
an co«3 o^^.««- ; , ,', wAtoa
The Wisdom of
Henry
Hazlitt
The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc.
Irvington-on-Hudson, New York 10533
045442
Published March 1993
ISBN 910614-83-0
Q^pyright C by
The Foundation forEconomicEducation, Inc.
. 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION -3
HansF. Scnnholz
TRIBUTES
1. AManforManySeasons 1
BettinaBienGreaves
• 2. ATruePolymath 32
EdmundA. Opitz
• 3. IndefatigableLeader 35
LudwigvonMises
HAZLITTRESPONSES
s 4. Reflectionsat70 39
, 5. TheArtofThinking 49
OFTHEMARKETORDER
6. TheABCofaMarketEconomy 75
7. PrivateOwnership: AMust 82
8. Rights 89
9. TheCasefortheMinimalState 98
10. TheSphereofGovernment: Nineteenth-Century
Theories 109
11. HowShouldPricesBeDetermined? 122
12. MarketPricesvs. CommunistCommands 132
13. TheDistributionofIncome 137
THEROADNOTTAKEN
14. TheRoadNotTaken 155
15 TheTorrentofLaws 164
16. FromSpencer's 1884toOrwell's 1984 174
17. "Planning"vs. theFreeMarket 183
18. PrivateProperty,PublicPurpose 193
19. KeynesianisminaNutshell 208
m
iv /
INTRODUCTION
Introduction
It was in 1954 that I first met Henry Hazlitt. I was a young
instructor at lona College in New Rochelle, New York, lecturing on
theprinciplesofeconomicsandconductingaseminarinGermancon-
versation.InbothmyassignmentsIreliedheavilyonFEEpublications
whichIdistributedinlargequantitiestomystudents,suchasClipping
ofNoteandsmallpamphletscalled/«Brief.Inmylanguagecolloquium
I spoke ofGerman philosophers and economists and frequently re-
ferred to Ludwig von Mises' Omnipotent Government, which FEE
made available at bargain prices. When, upon Leonard Read's invita-
tion, I attendedthe fall Boardmeeting andreported aboutmyuse of
FEE material, Henry Hazlitt questioned me with great interest and
insight. He was a seniormemberofthe Boardhavingparticipated in
the very inception ofFEE. In the world ofthe written word he was
the renowned associate ofNewsweek and the columnist of"Business
Tides."
I watched with awe and admiration how Henry Hazlitt, in the
years that followed, never failed to fmd eloquent words and lucid
composition to dwell upon economic subjects. He, more than any
otherEnglish writerI knew, wrote as the commonpeople speak, but
thought as wise men do. Proper writing, to Mr. Hazlitt, was but a
differentnameforlucidconversation.Hisguidewastruthwhichmade
him write powerfully, naturally, andconvincingly. Hewrote until he
was four-score-and-ten because he liked to write and liked himself
betterwhenhedid.
Thespokenwordsoonperishes;thewrittenwordremains;itmay
survive for many decades or even centuries. Henry Hazlitt's writing
may point the way for generations to come. Ofall that he wrote, he
wrote mostcandidlyandforcefullyforTheFreeman. Afterall, hewas
instrumentalinthe rebirthofthejournalafterWorldWarII. Hehad
read it with great interest ever since it made its first appearance in
1920,editedbyAlbertJayNock,thegreatlibertarianjournalist.Ithad
folded,asmostnewperiodicalsdo,afewyearslater;re-emergedunder
theeditorshipofSuzanneLaFollettein 1929,andperishedagaindur-
4 / The WisdomofHenryHazlitt
ing the Great Depression in 1931; reappeared in 1938 and folded
again during World War II. In 1950, Henr\' Hazlitt together v\ith
SuzanneLaFollette andJohnChamberlainre\ivedTheFnenum again
like the Phoenix ofEgv^ptian m\tholog\', lifting it rene^^'ed from the
ashestostartanotherlonglife.Whenitagainranintoeconomicturbu-
lence, theysteered ittoLeonard Read's Foundation uliich became its
soleownerin 1954anditspublisherin 1956.WithFEEastheperma-
nentbase. TheFreemanwastosoartonewheights.
Henry Hazlitt's name is fore\'ercarved in the annals ofTheFret-
man. He served it as co-editor and then editor-in-chieffrom 1950 to
1954; when it joined the Foundation, he became its most illustrious
andindustriouscontributor. Hepennedsixt)'majoressa^-sandarticles
aswellasdozensofbookre\'iews. Allalong, hewroteimmortalbooks
whicharethefull-length mirrorsofhisactivemind.
He was still an editorial v^-riter for the New Tark Times when he
wrote his most popular and influential book,Economiain OneIxssan.
Since its firstprinting in 1946 itsold morethancmc million copies in
numerouseditionsandcontinuestosell at a rateofsoeralthousanda
year. It is probably the best "little book** on the fallacies ofpopular
economicnotions and policiese\erwritten.
One source ofthe numerous fallacies which haunt ccontxnics, ac-
cordingto Hazlitt, is the endless pleadingsofself-interest. Everv-eco-
nomicgroup has interests which are antagtmistic to tfKweofall other
groups. Many of these groups argue plausibly and persistenth' for
special policies which benefit them at the expenseofallothergroups.
Theyeitherconvince the public that the special policies are sound, or
sobefuddle itthatconfusion pre\aiLs.
Another source ofthe countless fallacies which plague economics
more than any other field ofknowledge is the persistent rendenc>' to
see only the immediate, short-run etVects of a polia- and ignore its
long-run effects. Hcnr\' Hazlitt was convinced that this inclination is
animportantdifference bervscen gcxxleconcxnics and bad.
Economics in OneLesson cxpkxies both fallacies. From automation
and unemploNTnent to rent contn)l and price fixing, it confronts and
refutes them all. Ba.sed on classical economic pnnciples, the bookwas
hailed around the world as the best "lesson" in economics for an>'one
whoseekstruthfulanswerstotheburningeconomicissuesofourtime.
Despite the popularity' ofEamomta in One Lesson the search for
