Search results for ""liberty fund inc.""

"When democracy turns, as it often does, into a corrupt plutocracy, both national decadence and social revolution are being prepared." So wrote the Irish-born historian, W E H Lecky (1838-1903) in this devastating assault on mass democracy. Lecky spoke for the landed gentry and the upper middle classes of late Victorian England when he warned his countrymen that an unfettered democracy would destroy the balance of interests in the community and thereby undermine the Constitution. "A tendency to democracy," said Lecky, "does not mean a tendency to parliamentary government, or even a tendency toward greater liberty." Indeed, the type of democracy emerging in Britain seemed to be the rudiment of socialism.

Read more less

Though almost forgotten today, Herbert Spencer ranks as one of the foremost individualist philosophers. His influence in the latter half of the nineteenth century was immense. Spencer's name is usually linked with Darwin's, for it was he who penned the phrase: survival of the fittest. Today in America he is most often admired for his trenchant essays in 'The Man Versus the State'. But Spencer himself considered THE PRINCIPLES OF ETHICS to be his finest work. In the second volume, under 'Justice', is his final statement on the role of the state. His formula for justice is summed up in these words: "Every man is free to do that which he wills, provided he infringes not the equal freedom of any other man."

Read more less

A Distinguished Service Professor and Chair in the Economics Department at The University of Chicago in the 1950s, and a Professor in the Economics Department at UCLA since the 1980s, Arnold C Harberger has been a dominant force in the development of global economic policies. From India to Chile, from Panama to Azerbaijan, Harberger's research and on-the-ground engagement with leaders of finance, industry, and government have shown the efficacy and wide-ranging importance of his approach to economics. Continually focused on the professionalism of his chosen discipline, Harberger is an exemplar of its application, and he remains a highly respected and relevant economist in the twenty-first century. Approximate running time: 92 minutes.

Read more less