It’s 2009 and 14 years after Murray N. Rothbard died, and one of his last plans that he had talked about with Jesus Huerta de Soto was an international conference in Salamanca, Spain, the birthplace of economics,
Gabriel Calzada, head of the Juan de Mariana Institute in Spain, pushed for this to happen this year, the 400th anniversary of Mariana’s treatise on money. And here we are today, preparing for a slew of papers on the topic of the School of Salamanca as the originator of economic theory and the precursor to the Austrian tradition. The set up so far has been marvelous. One almost can’t take it all in. Too much history. Too much tradition. I come from a country where the Alamo is considered old. This place, in contrast, is the place where one discovers the very roots of modernity.
Gabriel gave a short talk about the origin of this conference and what it means, how Rothbard’s dream is being carried out here. Recall that the most extensive treatment of the Salamanca School appear in his last book, the History of Economic Thought, 2 volumes that were unaffordable when published but now absurdly affordable.
Somehow I sense Rothbard’s presence everywhere, and also Mariana, Vitoria, Medina, and also legions of amazing thinkers who studied and theorized and cobbled together the very discipline of economics as a science. I stood in the plaza where they walked and talked. In terms of the long line of history, economics is a new science, as Mises said. But being here, you realize that the battle for freedom is steeped in history, and it is exactly as Rothbard said: the state vs the market, in every generation and in every place. In the end, nothing has changed.
But thank goodness for them. Without the liberals, the state might have strangled it all long ago. We all stand in a long line.
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Beautiful and inspirational!
Reading that reminds me of another inspirational statement taken from the start of Butler Schaffer’s book Boundaries of Order:
Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing
songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is the story of what happened on the banks. Historians are pessimists because they ignore the banks for the river.
— Will Durant
“History of Economic Thought”
I received the blue, leather-bound versions of these books for my birthday a few years ago. They are a joy to read and a valuable keepsake of knowledge for my children as they grow. For now, however, I keep them up very high on the bookshelf.
“Without the liberals, the state might have strangled it all long ago.”
The “liberals” of yesteryear stood for economic freedom in the struggle against the State, but today there is a reversal of roles. Today’s “liberals” generally want to have the State micro-manage the economy as well as the people in their vain hope to improve on the free market.
The Peruvian economist, Hernado deSoto is playing a major role in demonstrating that throughout history it has been the ordinary people–not the State–that have created economic progress. Those unsung individuals are the ones on the riverbank making good things happen while the debris in Durant’s river has always been the product of excessive government and the so-called Great Men and Wars of history.
My economic history book, “Common Genius,” celebrates those on the banks, and identifies the detritus in the river for what it is.
A major lesson of history is that financial well-being for the bulk of a citizenry only emerged under conditions of economic freedom when the common people were empowered to act with a minimum of mental, physical, or regulatory restraints. Rothbard recognized this important historical legacy and his words of wisdom are there for all to read.
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