Remembering Henry Hazlitt
Henry Hazlitt was one of a very special breed, an economic journalist who not only reported on economic and political events in clear and understandable language, but also made contributions to economics.
He was easy to approach; his manner was pleasant, not aloof or overbearing. He was of average height. His features were regular, and he wore a mustache. He dressed appropriately for a journalist working in midtown Manhattan in his day — in suit and tie. He was modest, always thoughtful of others, and one of the kindest and most gracious men I have known. FULL ARTICLE
Comments (7)
He was a great man. Perhaps he was actually helped by not going to college for very long - long enough to understand there were a lot of books out in the world, but not so long as to be brainwashed about which were the "correct" works, or how he had to write in order to pass examinations set by interventionists.
Instead Henry Hazlitt judged works by the accuracy of their facts (like most old school journalists he checked facts himself - rather than relying on others) and the quality of their arguments (not whether they were "approved" or not).
Now there is virtually no one of such opinions writing in mainstream newspapers or magazines.
Indeed even Chicago school people like the late Milton Friedman would not be acceptable now in most publications (I can remember when Friedman was forced out of "Newsweek" - even one person who was generally favourable to private property and free markets writing once every couple of weeks was to much for them).
Instead we have "objective scientific journalism" - i.e. nonsense.
Published: July 27, 2007 11:59 AM
A great article on a great man! Here's how I remember Henry Hazlitt:
I had the honor and privilege of being the editor for several of his books, at Arlington House in the Neil McCaffrey/Conservative Book Club days. He was already quite old at the time (or so it seemed to me, since I was relatively young at the time) and what fascinated me was his mental energy for someone so much older.
He would come to the restaurant table with a 3x5 card in hand. On it he had written the titles of the next DOZEN or so books he wanted to write, and we would spend our lunchtime figuring out the order in which he should pursue them!
I've always said, "I hope I have as active a mind when I'm his age." Heck, I think I now AM the age he was then!...
Published: July 27, 2007 2:12 PM
I'm currently reading through Hazlitt's excellent book, "The Inflation Crisis, and How to Resolve It".
I happened to come across this book in a nearby university library while doing a little research on the subjects of inflation and hyperinflationary periods. So far, I find it to be an outstanding and easy to understand primer on inflation.
Still need to read "Economics in One Lesson", I'm a little behind in my learning!
Thanks for sharing your comments and memories.
Published: July 27, 2007 2:43 PM
This is a great article about a great Austrian economist and libertarian written by an equally great Austrian economist and libertarian. I had the privilge many years ago to attend FEE's summer seminars - an oasis in a crazy world. At those seminars Henry Hazlitt was one of the lecturers as was Bettina Bien Graves, the wife of Percy Graves, a great Austrian economist and libertarian. Henry Hazlitt had the ability to apply the theoretical Austrian principles to the practical day to day economics events then taking place. At one summer seminar the bankruptcy of the Penn Central Railroad had just taken place, a story right out of Atlas Shrugged and one of the biggest news items of the decade.
Henry of course was able to explain what had taken place. At those seminars we had in addition to Bettina, Hans Sennholz, Percy Graves, Leonard Read (FEE's founder), Ludwig von Mises, Edmund Opitz, and many others. A bit of Galt's Gulch for a week.
Published: July 27, 2007 6:24 PM
His "Economics In One Lesson" is at the top of my list of books that I've given away most often.
Published: July 28, 2007 12:58 PM
Regarding Hazlitt's critique of Keynes: it was a real eye-opener, especially for a lad that crunched numbers without taking time to reflect on what they mean.
In the spirit of Hazlitt, I offer this satire of Keynes' theory of prices dropping if people expect them to continue dropping, because price movements are all that they care about:
"What the hell happened to you, Jones? You anorexic?"
"No. I read somewhere that a rational man, when he sees the price of something drop, withholds consumption of it until the price bottoms out. Food prices have been dropping for a couple of weeks now, so I've given up eating until they bottom out."
Published: July 28, 2007 6:50 PM
Well, consistent price deflation has certainly crippled the computer industry over the past 30 years. Naturally, I'm writing this comment using a specially adapted fax machine. I'll finally decide to buy a computer when they hit one cent. Or maybe half a cent...
Published: July 29, 2007 12:26 AM