Economics Is about Individual Choice

by | Dec 16, 2024

Economics Is about Individual Choice

by | Dec 16, 2024

“The light which the economic theorist can throw on an economic process, or on the outcome of such a process, is viewed as deriving from his ability to relate back the process to the individual acts of choice of which the process is made up. Through the theorist’s understanding of the decisions made by individuals, and of the way in which these decisions have mutual impact upon one another, and become mutually adjusted to one another, he is able to ‘explain’ the course of economic events, and to understand the probable results that will follow from given exogenous changes operating on the system.” (Emphasis added.)

Israel M. Kirzner, An Essay on Capital, 1966

Sheldon Richman

Sheldon Richman

Sheldon Richman is the executive editor of The Libertarian Institute and a contributing editor at Antiwar.com. He is the former senior editor at the Cato Institute and Institute for Humane Studies; former editor of The Freeman, published by the Foundation for Economic Education; and former vice president at the Future of Freedom Foundation. His latest books are Coming to Palestine and What Social Animals Owe to Each Other.

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