II Criticism of Current Policy
III Conclusions
Part VI On Money and Inflation
Introduction
Chapter 1 The Long-Run Economic Outlook
Misconceptions about Inflation
The Prophecy
Chapter 2 Alleged Causes of Inflation: Corporate Monopolies
Market Power and Inflation
Can Inflation Be Cured by Making the Economy More Competitive?
Part VII On the Problems of Cities
Introduction
Chapter 1 The Problems of Cities
One Man’s Atlantis
Right Rules Promote Right Outcomes
Rule No. 1: Freedom of Exchange
Rule No. 2: Property Rights and Control
Explicit Ownership, No Zoning
Rule No. 3: Only Minimize Coercion
Nonmarket Pricing of Services
Summary: Toward the Good City
Part VIII On Education
Introduction
Chapter 1 Financing Higher Education in the United States
Statement of the Problem
The Effect of Below-Cost Pricing on Higher Education
Problems of Finance
Problems of Rationing
Problems of Motivation
Problems of Educational Efficiency
Customer Control
The Arguments for Below-Cost Pricing
The Social Benefits of Higher Education
The Egalitarian Argument
Education and Equality of Opportunity
Conclusions
Recommendations
Chapter 2 The Promise of the College
Part IX On What to Do
Introduction
Chapter 1 The Businessman and the Defense of Capitalism
Chapter 2 Reflections on the Election of 1964
Chapter 3 The Foundation for Economic Education: Success or Failure?
Index
One of the signs of advancing age in the American college professor is a tendency for him to write less and publish more. This seeming paradox is easily explained by the phenomenon of Collected Works, that is, by what on television would be described as reruns. As in television, no great public outcry is needed to bring forth the reruns; a question from his wife, a polite suggestion from a colleague, and the cut-and-paste operation is under way.
I have put together here what I believe to be the best of the rather meager output of my professional career up to this point. For reasons (mostly financial) that always seemed adequate at the moment, I have been more of a speechmaker than a writer. Thus, you will find that many of the pieces in this collection are but speeches put down on paper.
I have edited the manuscripts, but only to make them more readable and to reduce duplication of ideas and phrasings. In most cases, I successfully resisted the temptation to erase those statements that, in the light of later knowledge, would cast doubt on my omniscience (for example, some moderate words in praise of Richard Nixon, written in May 1971). The papers are grouped in categories that make sense to me, but obviously some of the papers could as easily have been placed in other groupings.
Some of those holding the markers for my intellectual debts are identified in the papers; others, just literally too numerous to mention, will have to be content with an occasional and probably very accurate, “But of course I said that long ago—and more elegantly.”
Very explicit words of appreciation need be directed to Catherine Fertig, my secretary and an expert at deciphering handwritten manuscripts; to Marise Melson, my daughter and copyeditor, who is possessed of a good sense of style in manuscripts and in life; and to my late wife, Alice, for her patient, loving, and low-key nagging of me to finish this project.
Can Capitalism Survive?
The basic ideas of this paper were expressed on a number of occasions and in various forms. It was first presented in the exotic setting of a business conference held at the Playboy Club in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. In somewhat different form, it was later presented in the Ludwig von Mises Lecture Series at Hillsdale College. I am presenting it here as the first paper because it poses the Big Questions—as identified by Joseph Schumpeter and agreed to by Ben Rogge.
Can capitalism survive? No, I do not think it can. The thesis I shall endeavor to establish is that the actual and prospective performance of the capitalist system is such as to negative the idea of its breaking down under the weight of economic failure, but that its very success undermines the social institutions
