thumb|Human Action www.mises.org Human Action: A Treatise on Economics betragtes som den østrigske økonom Ludwig von Mises’ hovedværk. I det præsenterer han det laissez faire-kapitalistiske system som et udslag af praxeologien, eller den rationelle analyse af menneskelige handlinger, og viser dermed, hvordan den østrigske skoles økonomiske teori er funderet.
Mises' pointe er, at hele det økonomiske system ikke fungerer som et udslag af statslig kontrol eller styring, men derimod alene som et resultat af almindelige menneskelige handlinger. For Mises er menneskelige handlinger og valg, samarbejde, konkurrence og handel grundlaget for det komplekse marked, og han forklarer med udgangspunkt heri, blandt andet hvordan priser dannes, løn fastsættes, renter falder og stiger og hvorfor økonomien oplever konjunkturcyklusser. Fordi Mises fokuserer på årsagen til at økonomiske fænomener opstår, afviser han af samme årsag brugen af positivistiske argumenter indenfor økonomien.
Ifølge Mises var det den økonomiske ulighed mellem mennesker, som var hovedårsagen til, at et samfund kunne hænge sammen:
The liberal champions of equality under the law were fully aware of the fact that men are born unequal and that it is precisely their inequality that generates social cooperation and civilization. Equality under the law was in their opinion not designed to correct the inexorable facts of the universe and to make natural inequality disappear. It was, on the contrary, the device to secure for the whole of mankind the maximum of benefits it can derive from it.... Equality under the law is in their eyes good because it best serves the interests of all. It leaves it to the voters to decide who should hold public office and to the consumers to decide who should direct production activities.Ludwig von Mises, Human Action, s. 841-842
Mises argumenterer for, at en fri markedsøkonomi ikke blot er mere effektiv end en blandings- eller planøkonomi, men at markedsøkonomien også er grundlaget for den menneskelige civilisation. I sit tidligere værk Socialisme havde Mises argumenteret for, at en hvilken som helst socialistisk økonomi altid ville være mindre efficient end en kapitalistisk.
Human Action blev udgivet på tysk i 1940 under titlen Nationalökonomie: Theorie Des Handelns und Wirthschaftens.
Indhold Part One: Human Action I. Acting Man II. The Epistemological Problems of the Sciences of Human Action III. Economics and the Revolt Against Reason IV. A First Analysis of the Category of Action V. Time VI. Uncertainty VII. Action Within the World Part Two: Actions Within the Framework of Society VIII. Human Society IX. The Role of Ideas X. Exchange Within Society Part Three: Economic Calculation XI. Valuation Without Calculation XII. The Sphere of Economic Calculation XIII. Monetary Calculation as a Tool of Action Part Four: Catallactics or Economics of the Market Society XIV. The Scope and Method of Catallactics XV. The Market XVI. Prices XVII. Indirect Exchange XVIII. Action in the Passing of Time XIX. The Rate of Interest XX. Interest, Credit Expansion, and the Trade Cycle XXI. Work and Wages XXII. The Nonhuman Original Factors of Production XXIII. The Data of the Market XXIV. Harmony and Conflict of Interests Part Five: Social Cooperation Without a Market XXV. The Imaginary Construction of a Socialist Society XXVI. The Impossibility of Economic Calculation Under SocialismPart Six: The Hampered Market EconomyXXVII. The Government and the Market XXVIII. Interference by Taxation XXIX. Restriction of Production XXX. Interference with the Structure of Prices XXXI. Currency and Credit Manipulation XXXII. Confiscation and Redistribution XXXIII. Syndicalism and Corporativism XXXIV. The Economics of War XXXV. The Welfare Principle Versus the Market Principle XXXVI. The Crisis of InterventionismPart Seven: The Place of Economics in Society XXXVII. The Nondescript Character of Economics XXXVIII. The Place of Economics in Learning XXXIX. Economics and the Essential Problems of Human Existence
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Eksterne henvisninger Frit tilgængelig udgave af Human Action af Ludwig von Mises (PDF 4. udgave)
Kategori:Formidling af økonomi Kategori:Klassisk liberalisme Kategori:Liberalisme