Human Action

A Treatise on Economics

Ludwig Von Mises

Book Reviews

One of the four books that taught Charles Koch "how the world works.”

Michael Saylor recommended Human Action on his Bitcoin website, Hope.com

Book Synopsis

Human Action, written by Ludwig Von Mises, explores the fundamental principles of economics and human decision-making. With remarkable clarity and comprehensive analysis, Mises examines the relationship between human action, individual choices, and the functioning of a market economy.

Using the praxeological method, Mises argues that all human action is purposeful and aims at achieving desired ends. He delves into the concept of subjective value, emphasizing the role of individuals in determining the value of goods and services. Mises also investigates the impact of incentives, entrepreneurship, and innovation on economic development.

Throughout the book, Mises meticulously dissects key economic concepts such as money, inflation, interest rates, and the business cycle. He exposes the flaws in various economic theories and highlights the importance of allowing the free market to thrive without government intervention.

Mises warns against the dangers of socialism, pointing out the inherent flaws in centralized planning and the destruction it brings to individual freedom and prosperity. He argues that economic planning must not ignore the realities of human action and the market's ability to coordinate complex interactions.

Human Action is a tour de force in economics, providing a foundational understanding of how individual choices shape the world we live in. Mises' rigorous analysis, sharp insights, and commitment to liberty make this work a seminal contribution to the field.

Explore More Books

See All
Behave
Body by Science
The Fatal Conceit
More Than Enough
The Woman I Wanted to Be
This Is Your Brain on Music
What Technology Wants
Tao of Philosophy
Probability Theory
Deep Learning
Birth of a Theorem
An Unquiet Mind
Product Design for the Web
Brave New Medicine
The Silk Roads
Consciousness Medicine
In Patagonia
Play Bigger
The Upright Thinkers
Filters Against Folly
No Future Without Forgiveness
The New One Minute Manager
Learned Optimism
Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy
Radical Uncertainty
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics
State of the Art
Portraits of Interiors
The Constitutional Convention
American Lion
The Politics Industry
SuperFreakonomics
Born Standing Up
Frames of Mind
The Sleep Revolution
The Healing Journey
The Great Convergence
Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart
The Second Mountain
The Watchman's Rattle
One Billion Hungry
The Eden Project
The Book of Awakening
High Fidelity
My Brother Ron
Reality Is Not What It Seems
Into Thin Air
Calculus Made Easy
Tree Crops
René Girard's Mimetic Theory
She Has Her Mother's Laugh
The Status Syndrome
On the Genealogy of Morals
Shortcut
Why Information Grows
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
Jack
Economics in One Lesson
Way of the Warrior Kid 3
Breath
Everything Happens For a Reason
The Soul of the World
Water in Plain Sight
Anna Karenina
Call of the Reed Warbler
Metaphors We Live By
The Copernican Revolution
Blankie
Getting Past No
The Undercover Economist
Rick and Morty Book Three
Fooled By Randomness
Build The Life You Want
DMT: The Spirit Molecule
The Jungle Book
The Great Crash of 1929
Data-Driven Marketing
Matter
Sapiens
The Jordan Rules
Black Flags
Modern Man in Search of a Soul
We Wish To Inform You
The Reasonableness of Christianity
Beyond The Blue
Feeding the Dragon
Posterity: Letters of Great Americans to Their Children
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
A Woman Makes a Plan
Trauma
Essentialism
Humans Need Not Apply
On Grief and Grieving
The Graveyard Book
Down to Earth
Food and Nutrition
Mindware
Amusing Ourselves to Death
Rick and Morty Book One
Unravelling the Double Helix