The Causes of the Economic Crisis: And Other Essays Before and After the Great Depression

About this book

In the world before and after the Great Depression there was a lone voice for sanity and freedom: Ludwig von Mises. He speaks in The Causes of the Economic Crisis a collection of newly in print essays by Mises that have been very hard to come by and are published for the first time in this format. Here we have the evidence that the master economist foresaw and warned against the breakdown of the German mark as well as the market crash of 1929 and the depression that followed. He presents his business cycle theory in its most elaborate form applies it to the prevailing conditions and discusses the policies that governments undertake that make recessions worse. He recommends a path for monetary reform that would eliminate business cycles and provide the basis for a sustainable prosperity. In foreseeing the interwar economic breakdown Mises was nearly alone among his contemporaries. In 1923 he warned that central banks will not "stabilize" money; they will distort credit markets and generate booms and busts. In 1928 he departed dramatically from the judgment of his contemporaries and sounded an alarm: "every boom must one day come to an end." Then after the Great Depression hit he wrote again in 1931. His essay was called: "The Causes of the Economic Crisis." And the essays kept coming in 1933 and 1946 each explaining that the business cycle results from central-bank generated loose money and cheap credit and that the cycle can only be made worse by intervention. Did the world listen? The German-speaking world knew his essays well and he was considered a prophet until the Nazis came to power and wiped out his legacy. In England his student F.A. Hayek made the Austrian theory a presence in academic life. In the popular mind the media and politics however it was Keynes who held sway with his claim that the depression was the fault of the market and that it can only be solved through government planning. Just at the time he wanted to be fighting Mises had to leave Austria forced out by political events and the rising of the Nazis. He wrote from Geneva his writings accessible to too few people. They were never translated into English until after his death. Even then they were not circulated widely. The sad result is that Mises is not given the credit he deserves for having warned about the coming depression and having seen the solution. His writings were prolific and profound but they were swallowed up in the rise of the total state and total war. But today we hear him speak again in this book. Bettina B. Greaves did the translations. It is her view that in that in the essays Mises provides the clearest explanation of the Great Depression ever written. Indeed he is crystal clear: precise patient and thorough. It makes for a gripping read especially given that we face many of the same problems today. This book refutes the socialists and Keynesian as well as anyone who believes that the printing press can provide a way out of trouble. Mises shows who was responsible for driving the world into economic calamity. It was the inevitable effects of the governments monopoly over money and banking. Just as in his attack on socialism here he was brilliant and brave and prescient. Mises was there before and after. He was writing about contemporary events. He issued the warnings that the world did not heed the warnings we must heed today. Hardbound 203 pages plus index ISBN 1-933550-03-1