A wide variety of Libertarian scholars contributed to the 2010 list of the top five books on advancing liberty. While backgrounds varied amongst the scholars, one predominant theme emerged: economic history. With one book focusing on a single century, and another focusing on the history of humanity, it is clear that 2010 has been a year of great scholastic contributions to the understanding of the economic past. While scholars are still trying to put the pieces together to understand current economic and social issues, this list is a reminder that the proper comprehension of any historical phenomena is the work of generations.
5. Libertarianism, from A to Z, by Jeffrey MironLibertarianism is a political philosophy that draws from many disciplines. Jeffrey Miron has sought over the years, in a series of courses, to explain libertarian concepts to his students at Harvard University. One outcome of Miron’s journey is Libertarianism, from A to Z, which is organized as an encyclopedia. The various topics are listed alphabetically and offer an overview of issues in libertarian political economics, as well as some forays into the theory of rights, social order, and related topics.
4. A Brief History of Liberty, by David Schmidtz and Jason BrennanIn A Brief History of Liberty, cultural and technological changes are aligned as causes or instantiations of negative and positive liberties. Philosophers David Schmidtz and Jason Brennan draw on a classical liberal understanding of what improves human welfare to account for the exceptional progress of the past two hundred years. The result is a sweeping overview of the evolution of human liberty throughout history.
3. The Enlightened Economy: An Economic History of Britain 1700-1850, by Joel MokyrThe old question of why the economic history of the west can be depicted as a hockey chart receives a fresh treatment in Joel Mokyr’s new volume, The Enlightened Economy. The main theme of the book is the role of creativity and innovation in constructing the unparalleled social change and economic growth that became known as Britain’s Industrial Revolution. Mokyr combines economic experimental testing of hypotheses with the clear attention to detail characteristic of an institutional historian.
2. The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves, by Matt RidleyAs you would expect from its title, The Rational Optimist makes the case against the belief that things are getting worse and worse. Capitalism has made us healthier and richer, Ridley explains, and has allowed us to experience far more than other systems. Ridley argues for the advantages of modern open economies while explaining that the mechanisms behind biological evolution could also be deployed to account for economic evolution. Gains from trade actually produce results similar to those generated by sexual reproduction. The Rational Optimist inoculates readers against a romantic view of the past, and seeks an original philosophy of social progress – all in a very readable volume.
1. Bourgeois Dignity: Why Economics Can’t Explain the Modern World, by Deirdre McCloskeyCould the economic revolution of early modernity be explained by non-economic causes? In this second installation of a six-volume series on economic history, Deridre McCloskey makes the case that the unprecedented economic growth since the 16th century was ignited by a sociological shift in the rhetoric of western societies, rather than materialistic causes. While her ambition is impressive, McCloskey’s knowledge, analytical rigor, and personal style do not fall short of readers’ expectations. Bourgeois Dignity is a powerful historical explanation for modern capitalism.
Who Voted:
Alberto Mingardi is the general Director of the Bruno Leoni Institute.
André Azevedo Alves is a political scientist at Universidade de Aveiro.
Donald Boudreaux is professor of Economics at George Mason University.
Edward Crane is the founder and president of the Cato Institute.
Fred Smith is the president and founder of Competitive Enterprise Institute.
Jason Kuznicki is a research fellow at the Cato Institute and Editor of Cato Unbound.
John Blundell is a director of the International Policy Network and Chairman of the Institute Development and Relations Committee of the board of Atlas Economic Research Foundation.
Jude Blanchette is a member of the Institute Relations team at the Atlas Economic Research Foundation in Asia.
Marius Gustavson is a Sound Money Fellow at the Atlas Economic Research Foundation and an Economic Policy Research Fellow at the Reason Foundation.
Matt Zwolinski is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of San Diego.
Michael Munger is a Professor of Economics, Public Policy and Political Science at Duke University.
Nouh El Harmouzi is the editor of MinbaralHurriyya.org(Arabic).
Pedro Albuquerque is an economist, associate professor at Euromed Management and author of the blog Incentives Matter.
Peter Boettke is the Deputy Director of the James M. Buchanan Center for Political Economy, a Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center, and a professor in the economics department at George Mason University.
Tom Palmer is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, director of the Institute’s educational division, Cato University, Vice President for International Programs at the Atlas Economic Research Foundation.
Virginia Postrel is the author of The Substance of Style and The Future and Its Enemies. She writes a column on commerce and culture for The Wall Street Journal’s Saturday “Review” section and is writing a book on glamour for The Free Press. She edits a group blog at DeepGlamour.net.
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