The idea that political freedom can be preserved in the absence of economic freedom, and vice versa, is an illusion. Political freedom is the corollary of economic freedom.
Ludwig Von MisesRead
Laissez faire does not mean: let soulless mechanical forces operate. It means: let individuals choose how they want to cooperate in the social division of labor and let them determine what the entrepreneurs should produce.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Laissez faire emphasizes individual choice and cooperation in economic activities rather than impersonal mechanistic forces.
This quote by Ludwig Von Mises clarifies the true essence of laissez faire economics. It argues that laissez faire is not a call for unregulated, soulless market forces to dominate; rather, it advocates for the freedom of individuals to make choices in how they collaborate and engage in the division of labor. This approach empowers entrepreneurs to produce goods and services based on the preferences and needs of society, thereby fostering creativity and innovation in the economy.
Themes
Laissez FaireIndividual ChoiceCooperationDivision Of LaborEntrepreneurs
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about economic policy, to illustrate the importance of individual decision-making in markets.
More from Ludwig Von Mises
All quotes →Wars of aggression are popular nowadays with those nations convinced that only victory and conquest could improve their material well-being.
Ludwig Von MisesRead
Only stilted pedants can conceive the idea that there are absolute norms to tell what is beautiful and what is not. They try to derive from the works of the past a code of rules with which, as they fancy, the writers and artists of the future should comply. But the genius does not cooperate with the pundit.
Ludwig Von MisesRead
The most serious dangers for American freedom and the American way of life do not come from without.
Ludwig Von MisesRead
The public firm can nowhere maintain itself in free competition with the private firm; it is possible today only where it has a monopoly that excludes competition. Even that alone is evidence of its lesser economic productivity.
Ludwig Von MisesRead
Each epoch has found in the Gospels what it sought to find there, and has overlooked what it wished to overlook.
Ludwig Von MisesRead
Similar quotes
To enter by reason means to realize the essence through instruction and to believe that all living things share the same true nature, which isn't apparent because it's shrouded by sensation and delusion.
BodhidharmaRead
If you don't feel comfortable owning something for 10 years, then don't own it for 10 minutes.
Warren BuffettRead
...when everything else fails, we communicate in the language of the stars
Isabel AllendeRead
It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding; and to the open-handed the search for one who shall receive is joy greater than giving.
Khalil GibranRead
There is no worse sickness for the soul, o you who are proud, than this pretense of perfection.
RumiRead
No man understands the Scriptures, unless he be acquainted with the Cross.
Martin LutherRead