Publications

Nation, State, and Economy

Type
Link
Cost
Paid
Published
1919
Updated
2006
Full Name
Nation, State, and Economy: Contributions to the Politics and History of Our Time

In Nation, State, and Economy, Mises takes up the question of the proper political order to sustain the peace in the age of democracy. This book examines and compares prewar and postwar political and economic conditions. He argues that each country's prosperity supports rather than undercuts the prosperity of other countries. This is also Mises's first attack on socialism, specifically war socialism. He shows that it will destroy a country and lead to complete chaos in economic organization. Also notable is Mises's pioneering theory of the relationship between language and nation. No matter what the state may attempt, our national identities preexist the political order.

“For us and for humanity,” Mises wrote, “there is only one salvation: return to rationalistic liberalism.”