Index

abortions, 27

agriculture, 18

mental skills needed for, 90

animals

domestication of in history, 58

extinction of through overhunting, 46n.

herding of, 52

husbandry of, 52

undomesticable, 57

aprioristic laws, 17

argumentation ethics, 10

aristocracy, natural, role of, 109

aristocratic social order, natural, 106

Austrian economics, 15

Austro-Libertarianism, 17

cannibalism, 29

capital accumulation, 73

capital consumption, promotion of, 119

Carthage, 38

children

parents’ obligations toward, 64

privatization of, 60, 63

Chodorov, Frank, 12

Classical Economics, 15

cognitive development, differential, 35

collaboration, “selfishly-motivated,” 42

commerce between the sexes, 60

comparative advantage, 75

conflict, as solution to overpopulation, 84

conflict resolution

monopoly on, 104

need for, 104

role of the State in, 105

constitution, role of, 116

consumer goods

indirect and roundabout production of, 54

production of, 31n., 47

surplus of, 31n.

contingent empirical events, 16

cooperation

benefits of, 40

intra-group, biological basis for, 39

decentralizing tendencies, 131

democracy

consequences of, 122f.

effects of on the population, 120

political privileges under, 118

political robbery under, 118

power elites under, 123

transition to, 116

wealth redistribution under, 121

democratic legislatures as unbound by natural law, 118

democratic states, current predicament of, 128ff.

diffusion

cultural, 69

demic, 69

division of labor, 25, 39, 73, 75, 77

benefits of, 40f.

domestication

of dogs

as private property, 57

of horses, 58

wolves, 55f.

early uses of, 55f.

early interglacial period, 32

egalitarianism, 116

in social sciences, 100

elected officials, likely personalities of, 119f.

elite, natural, 109

empires

building of, 126

the inevitable end of, 128

environment, unappropriated (free goods), 50

envy, promotion of by intellectuals, 114

ethnicities, emergence of, 34

eugenic effects

negative (dysgenic effects), 101

positive, 101

evolution, theory of, 76

excess population, solutions to, 27

families, noble, 109

family life, 39

family, 18

establishment of, 48

invention of, 59f.

socialist attitudes to, 61n.

Fertile Crescent, 13

feudal age, natural order of, 110f.

feudalism, allodial, 112

fiat property, 105

Frankfurt school, 9

free goods (environment) vs. economic goods, 49

free love, 62

and family life contrasted, 65n.

future orientation, 119

Garden of Eden, 103

genetic and linguistic trees of descent, 36n.

global climate, changes in, 37

growing seasons, length of, 95

Habermas, Jürgen, 9

Hanseatic League, 132

hegemon, 127

history, rationally reconstructed, 17

Holocene period, 37

Homo

Australopithecus, 53

Erectus, 22, 25, 36, 53

Ergaster, 22

Habilis, 21, 53

Neanderthalensis, 22, 36

Sapiens, 53

household incomes

depending on productivity, 64

differences in, 64f.

human action, universal laws of, 15

human life, physical environment needed for, 91

humans

archaic, 22

modern, 24

hunter-gatherer lifestyle

as supplanted by the Neolithic Revolution, 70

parasitic nature of, 26, 45

hunter-gatherer societies

contact between, 34

division of labor within, 39f.

effect of technological advances on, 45

optimal population for, 42n.

solitary, 21, 40

hunter-gatherers, 21

antagonistic relations between, 30

egalitarianism of, 25n.

expanding land use by, 78

life expectancy of, 26

lifestyle of, 25

hunting skills, evolution of, 22

imitation vs. invention, 87

imperialism, 126

monetary, 127

individual abilities, variations in, 41

Industrial Revolution, 13, 18, 98

significance of, 82

infanticide, 27

inflation cartel, 127

intellectuals

court role of, 114

recruitment of by kings, 114

role of, 116

intelligence, 18

as influenced by external conditions, 90

as influenced by the natural environment, 96

evolution of among hunter-gatherers, 89

evolution of, 86ff.

geographic distribution of, 98

role of in economic success, 88

role of in history, 86ff.

judges, monopoly status of, 110

justice, universal principles of, 15

Keeley, Lawrence, 28

kings

absolute, 14

absolute, actions of, 112f.

absolute, aggression by, 113

as appliers of law, 110

as judges, 110

as makers of law, 110

medieval, role of, 111

knowledge, transmission of, 24

Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Erik von, 11

labor, average product of, 76

land

appropriation of, 47

limited availability of, 38

private ownership of, 18

language

emergence of, 22

evolution of, 23

functions of, 23

uses for, 23

languages

proliferation of, 36

reduction in the number of, 36

Last Glacial Maximum, 37

law of (diminishing) returns, 43f., 76

laws, given vs. discovered, 109

learning, role of language in, 23f.

libertarianism, 16

cosmopolitan, 17

life-style, nomadic, 25

linguistic differentiation, 35

Little Big Horn, battle of, 29

Little Ice Age, 38n.

Malthus, Thomas R., 60

Malthusian conditions, 13

Malthusian law of population, 44f., 76

Malthusian problem, 46n.

Malthusian trap, 45, 53, 83f., 85, 98

as described by Mises, 77n.

man

anatomically modern, 21

behaviorally modern, 21

Marginal Revolution in economics, 15

Menger, Carl, 15, 49

Middle Ages, 106

migration, 31

as solution to overpopulation, 84

military superiority, 71

military-industrial complex, rise of, 125

minerals, lack of in tropical soil, 93

Mises, Ludwig von, 9, 15, 30, 50, 76, 84

monarchy

absolute, 115

as better than democracy, 11, 118f.

constitutional, 115

money, political role of, 127

natural order, defined, 112

Neanderthals, 24, 25

Neolithic Revolution, 13, 18, 46n., 47, 78, 98

as intellectual achievement, 53

diffusion of, 69

population expansion possible after, 54n.

Nock, Albert J., 12

objectified arguments, 24

old biological order (agrarian age), 72

one-world government, 128

Oppenheimer, Franz, 12

original appropriation, 104

overhunting, 46

overpopulation, 59

Malthusian consequences of, 83

peaceful life, basis for, 31n.

people, “absolute,” 14

per capita incomes, 18

period of production, extended, 97

period of provision, extended, 97

planning horizon, lengthened, 89, 96

plants

cultivation of, 54

domesticated varieties of, 55

plutocrats, 123

popular migrations

due to climate, 32ff.

genetic results of, 34

process of, 34

population control, 73

population density, 27

praxeology, 15, 17

present age, relative wealth of, 106

primitive communism, 48

primitive sexual practices, 61

primitive societies, causes of death in, 28

primitive warfare, nature of, 28

private law, 16

private ownership

establishment of, 104

role of, 104

private property, 25

origin of, 13

privileges, functional, in democracy, 117

procreation

costs and benefits of, 62

incentives of, 62f.

privatization of, 60

production methods, indirect and roundabout, 74

production, nonparasitic mode of, 79

property rights

anarcho-Lockean, 10

private, 84, 85

property collective, 48

fiat, 105

fiat, defined, 113

nature of, 50

transfer of, 104

prostitution, function of, 68n.

proto-language, human, 35

public officials, privileges of, 117f.

Rawls, John, 107

redistribution

direction of, 121

group warfare under, 122

perverse incentives under, 122

relativism

empirical, 14

ethical, 14

resource limitations as cause of war, 29

revisionist history, 17

Robinson Crusoe, 73

Roman law, 16

Rothbard, Murray, 9, 16, 84

Rousseau’s noble savage, 28

Sahul, continent of, 33

saving, 74

savings

plain, 87

productive, 87

Scholastic law, 16

seasonal changes, 94f.

anticipation of, 94

sedentary life, circumstances favorable to, 99

sedentary society, 56

unequal wealth in, 56

serfdom, 112

sexual behavior, moral restraint in, 63

sexuality, socialist attitudes to, 61n.

social conflict

most acceptable solutions to, 107

sources of, 107f.

social contract, 115

sociological studies, 14

sociology, “scientific,” 14

specialization, 75

State, the

capture of by plutocrats, 123

functions of, 105

historical development of, 106

origin of, 14

role of under Malthusian conditions, 101

role of under post-Malthusian conditions, 101

stationary society, 77

Stoics, 16

Tahiti, income levels in, 85n.

taxation under feudalism, 111

technological innovation, 77

temperate regions, carrying capacity of, 93

territorial monopoly, 112

time preference, 75, 87

role of in economic success, 88

tools, evolution of, 22

tropical soil, carrying capacity of, 92

UNLV, 10

unowned land, appropriation of, 51f.

wars

conduct of under democracy, 124f.

monarchical, 124

plutocrats’ motives for, 125

world per capita income (chart), 82

world population growth (chart), 80

World War I, 28

World War II, 28

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hans-Hermann Hoppe was born on September 2, 1949, in Peine, West Germany. He attended the Universität des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken, the Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt/M, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, for studies in Philosophy, Sociology, History, and Economics. He earned his Ph.D. (Philosophy, 1974) and his “Habilitation” (Sociology and Economics, 1981), both from the Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main.

He taught at several German universities as well as at the Johns Hopkins University Bologna Center for Advanced International Studies, Bologna, Italy. In 1985, he moved from Germany to the United States, to study under Murray Rothbard. He remained a close associate of Rothbard until his death in January, 1995.

An Austrian school economist and libertarian/anarcho-capitalist philosopher, he is currently Professor Emeritus of Economics at UNLV, Distinguished Fellow with the Mises Institute, former editor of the Journal of Libertarian Studies (1995–2009), and founder and president of The Property and Freedom Society (2006–present).

Professor Hoppe has written extensively, some of his publications include: Democracy: The God That Failed; The Myth of National Defense; The Economics and Ethics of Private Property; A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism; Handeln und Erkennen; The Great Fiction; Kritik der kausalwissenschaftlichen Sozialforschung; Eigentum, Anarchie und Staat; Wettbewerb der Gauner; and numerous articles on philosophy, economics and the social sciences. His writings have been translated into thirty languages.

He is married to economist Dr. A. Gülçin Imre Hoppe and resides with his wife in Istanbul.