The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

26 THE FREEMAN Januarytrend, the less will the economicsof capitalism and the free societybe understood - "a dismal science,"for certain. Indeed, couldthe ambitions of the "scientificeconomists" be realized, dictatorshipwould be a viable political system.At the dictator's disposalwould be all the formulae, all theanswers; disregarding personalviews and choices, he would simplyrun his information through computersand thus meet productionschedules.When we grasp the point thatno man who ever lived has beenable to foresee his own futurechoices, let alone those of others,economic scientism, as it might becalled, makes no sense.Man'5 ArroganceHow did we ever get off on thisuntenable course? Perhaps we canonly speculate. A flagrant display:At one point in a recent Seminardiscussion I repeated, "Only Godcan make a tree." And then thisexclamation by a graduate student,"Up until now!" This, it appearsto me, is the reflection of a notion,so prevalent in the eighteenth andnineteenth centuries, that everyfacet of Creation, even life itself,lies within the powers of man.Merely a matter of time!To tear human action asunderand then to assign symbols orlabels to the pieces, as the scientistsproperly do with the chemicalelements, is no service to economicunderstanding. This methodmakes understanding impossiblefor the simple reason that itpresupposes numerous phases ofhuman action that can be mathematicallyor scientifically distinguishedone from the other whensuch is not the case. Why am Imotivated to write this or you toread it? Doubtless, each of us canrender a judgment of sorts but itwill not be, cannot be, in the languageof science.Political economy is as easy or,perhaps, as difficult to understandand practice as the Golden Rule orthe Ten Commandments. Economicsis no more than a study of howscarcity is best overcome, and thefirst thing we need to realize isthat this is accomplished by thecontinued application of humanaction to natural resources.Natural resources are what theyare, no more, no less - the ultimategiven! The variable is humanaction.Political economy, then, resolvesitself into the study ofwhat is and what is not intelligenthuman action. It should attemptto answer such questions as:.Is creative energy more efficientlyreleased among free or coercedmen?Is freedom to choose as much aright of one as another?