The Economics and Ethics of Private Property

The Economics and Ethics of Private Property: Studies in Political Economy and Philosophy by Hans-Hermann Hoppe was first published in 1993 followed by a second edition in 2006.

Brief summary

From the back cover of the second edition:

The topics covered by Hans-Hermann Hoppe are wide-ranging—employment, interest, money, banking, trade cycles, taxes, public goods, war, imperialism, and the rise and fall of civilizations—but the core theoretical insight uniting the entire discussion is as consistently applied here as it is neglected by the economic mainstream: the absolute inviolability of private property as a human right as the basis of continuous economic progress.
The right to private property is an indisputably valid, absolute principle of ethics, argues Hoppe, and the basis for civilizational advance. Indeed, it is the very basis of social order itself. To rise from the ruins of socialism and overcome the stagnation of the Western welfare states, nothing will suffice but the uncompromising privatization of all socialized—that is, government—property and the establishment of a contractual society (or anarchy) based on the recognition of private property rights.

Contents

Part One – Economics

Part Two – Philosophy

Appendix: Four Critical Replies

Dedication

Hoppe dedicated the original book to Murray N. Rothbard, who was Hoppe's mentor and colleague in the economics department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Publishing history

Excerpts

External links