It’s obvious that Justin Trudeau, his Liberals, the bureaucratic State, and even many of your friends and neighbors have a hard time with economics. Many of us, despite knowing that Trudeau and his cronies are wrong, lack confidence in our own understanding of economics.
Economics can be an intimidating subject and it’s easy to get confused when you hear Tiff Macklem, Governor of the Bank of Canada, talking about the how to manage the economy or “engineer a soft landing.”
Per Bylund is an Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at Oklahoma State University and a Senior Fellow at The Mises Institute. He joins us to talk about his new book called How to Think About the Economy, A Primer.
“[The economy] is all of our actions. It’s all of us economizing, trying to figure out how to get as much as possible out of the little we have. . . It’s about getting as high a standard of living as possible, leading as good lives as possible. . . The goal is to maximize how people can get better lives on their own terms.” -Per Bylund
Once we understand what an economy is, that it is the aggregate on human action, of choice, of mutually beneficial transactions and cooperation, it’s easy to understand how Justin Trudeau and Tiff Macklem confuse people. They don’t even know what an economy is!
Regulatory and monetary interventions only distort the real economy. They are just another way to redistribute wealth, usually at the expense of the working class and poor. Per explains how politicians don’t create any value at all. They just want to take what others create and distribute it in a way that they think is better.
What politicians think is better is whatever will get them more votes.
It’s more important now than ever to have a solid understanding of economics. Real economics. Austrian economics.
You don’t need to take on Mises’ Human Action or Rothbard’s Man, Economy, and State right this minute. Just take a couple hours and read Per Bylund’s How to Think About the Economy. It’s an intentionally short and easy to read primer on economics and is sure to give you the momentum you need to take on some heavier titles.
There’s also an excellent recommended reading list at the end.
Episode #31 with Per Bylund