Lecture series · recorded 1973
Austrian Economics An Introduction
Austrian Economics An Introduction is a free lecture series (4 recordings, 5.8 hours) you can stream or download at freecapitalists.org, with Murray N. Rothbard.
Rothbard introduces Austrian microeconomics to a general audience in four lectures. He covers scarcity, marginal utility and supply and demand, then applies the analysis to advertising, price controls, rationing and the energy crisis, using Nixon era examples throughout.
Cover painting: a Weeskamer official holds up a tulip bulb at the Alkmaar auction, the Netherlands, February 1637. See every painting in the art gallery.
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01
1:08:20 Download MP3
Scarcity and Choice 1973
Rothbard introduces scarcity, value scales and marginal utility using Robinson Crusoe economics. He defines land, labor and capital goods, resolves the classical value paradox of bread versus diamonds, explains comparative advantage and the division of labor, then derives market demand, supply and equilibrium price.
Read the transcript 10,070 words
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02
1:20:11 Download MP3
Supply and Demand 1973
Rothbard extends supply and demand analysis to long run adjustment, substitutes and complements. He explains the forward sloping supply curve, speculation, elasticity and total revenue, joint demand and joint supply cases like beef and hides, then attributes rising medical care and taxi fare prices to licensing restrictions and insurance subsidized demand.
Austrian Economics OverviewBusiness CyclesMoney and Banks
Read the transcript 12,678 words
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03
1:05:28 Download MP3
Advertising 1973
Rothbard defends advertising as a response to imperfect knowledge rather than wasteful manipulation. He traces the waste charge to the unrealistic perfect competition model, argues differentiated brands reflect real learned differences, contrasts market feedback with unaccountable political advertising, and rebuts Galbraith's attack on advertised wants as artificial.
Read the transcript 9,874 words
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04
2:13:15 Download MP3
Price Controls 1973
Rothbard attacks Nixon era price controls as the cause of shortages and black markets. He reviews minimum and maximum price theory, farm price supports since Hoover, wartime meat and gasoline rationing, New York rent control, and historical debacles from Diocletian to Nazi Germany, then blames the 1973 energy crisis on oil, gas and airport price controls.
Austrian Economics OverviewInterventionism
Read the transcript 22,126 words
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About this series
- Is Austrian Economics An Introduction free to listen to?
- Yes. All 4 mirrored recordings stream in the browser or download as audio, at no cost and with no signup.
- How long is Austrian Economics An Introduction?
- 4 recordings, 5.8 hours in total.
- Who lectures in Austrian Economics An Introduction?
- Murray N. Rothbard.
- When was Austrian Economics An Introduction recorded?
- 1973, per the recording dates recovered for this series.
- Is there a transcript of Austrian Economics An Introduction?
- Yes. Every lecture in the series has one, 54,748 words in total, free to read on each lecture's page and searchable in the browser.
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