Henry Hazlitt was uniquely qualified to write the first and only novel in which the problem of economic calculation provides the central plot theme. He was literary editor of the Nation from 1930 to 1933 and a highly regarded critic. He also understood Mises’s argument against socialism and how it went to the very core of the economic problem. Time Will Run Back — which has been out of print for a very long time but which is now available both online (in PDF) and from our new print-on-demand store — is unique in other respects. FULL ARTICLE
Source link: http://blog.mises.org/6409/time-will-run-back/
Time Will Run Back
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Looks interesting. I wonder what the youngest age is that could be expected to read it? Might be good for my oldest child.
Thanks for posting the introduction. Hazlitt is a very sharp man and I think that I am going to try and find his book.
Until now, whenever I pictured mises explanation of the impossibility of socialist calculation, I wouldn’t think in terms of time, but profit and loss tests made sense because of idea of subjective (and spontaneous) value. Now after this article I see how much more completely absurd and chaotic socialist planning is when I consider changing needs and conditions passing over time in my picture (I know the passage of time is one of the most important tenets to the profit and loss test, but I didn’t put it all together until now) What a truly wonderful insight by Hazlitt, and I’m sure the novel will be just as insightful.
It’s a good critique of Socialism, but a terrible novel.
If you don’t feel like shelling out $170-$244 (the current price on Amazon) for the book you can always download the PDF right here on mises.org. However, I’m afraid I have to agree with Geech: IMHO, Hazlitt’s fiction writing skills are not the greatest.
I always thought the fiction was ok, not terrible. The story line was great, though. I often thought about the novel as having a plot as good as that of Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged”, although not as dense.
And the story line is quite libertarian.
It’s amazing how Peter manages to reconstruct hundreds of years of western philosophy in a few years, all while serving as head of state of a world-spanning empire. No wonder they elected him president at the end!
Libertarianism tends to attract rational type of people – who tend to use logic, not emotions.
So there’s little surprise that they are poor writers and entertainers. The good ones appeal to emotions, convincinly to the point of convincing themselves – which is an anathema to a thinking man.
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