Lecture series · recorded 1986–2006
The History of Economic Thought: From Marx to Hayek
The History of Economic Thought: From Marx to Hayek is a free lecture series (6 recordings, 6.8 hours) you can stream or download at freecapitalists.org, with Murray N. Rothbard.
Murray Rothbard died before he could write the third volume of his famous History of Economic Thought, which would cover the birth and development of the Austrian School, through the Keynesian Revolution and Chicago School. With this six-lecture course, however, the History of Economic Thought is complete.
Cover painting: Lenin speaks from an armoured car to the crowd outside Finland Station, Petrograd, April 1917. See every painting in the art gallery.
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01
1:06:35 Download MP3 · PDF
Ideology and Theories of History 1986
History is not an inevitable march upward, as concluded in the 1830s. That determinist view put the stamp of approval on everything past and present. It permeates economic history. It ignores the great moral choices. History is a race between state power and social power.
Other Schools of ThoughtPhilosophy and MethodologyWorld History
Read the transcript 11,566 words
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02
1:11:48 Download MP3 · PDF
The Emergence of Communism 2006
The roots of Marxism were in messianic communism. Marx’s devotion to communism was his crucial point. Violent, worldwide revolution, in Marx’s version made by the oppressed proletariat, would be the instrument of the advent of his millennium, communism.
Other Schools of ThoughtWorld History
Read the transcript 12,180 words
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03
1:11:56 Download MP3 · PDF
The Pre-Austrians 2006
Richard Cantillon was quite Misesian before Mises. He wrote of utility theory and the entrepreneur’s uncertainty in the 1970s. Cantillon was a great money practitioner. He became a bank and banker to the Jacobite Stuart line and to John Law who launched paper money inflation.
Other Schools of ThoughtWorld History
Read the transcript 12,152 words
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04
1:11:38 Download MP3 · PDF
Menger and Böhm-Bawerk 1986
Carl Menger, 1840-1921, founded Austrian economics. Eugen von Bohm-Bawerk was the most important student. Weiser was his brother-in-law, but was fairly pre-Keynesian. Mises was the great successor to Bohn-Bawerk.
Austrian Economics OverviewOther Schools of ThoughtWorld History
Read the transcript 11,380 words
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05
56:39 Download MP3 · PDF
Mises and Austrian Economics 2006
The essence of Austrian economics is based on the analysis of individual action. In other words, it is about individuals doing things, having purposes and goals and pursuing them. Other schools of economics deal with aggregates, groups, classes, wholes of one sort or another, without focusing on the individual first and building up from there.
Austrian Economics OverviewHistory of the Austrian School of EconomicsOther Schools of Thought
Read the transcript 9,162 words
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06
1:07:47 Download MP3 · PDF
Hayek and His Lamentable Contemporaries 2006
The Nobel award to F.A. Hayek in 1974 went directly against the tradition of that prize to go only to mathematical forecasters, left-liberals, and government central planners. Not only was Hayek’s work pioneering, but it is also the only correct analysis of business cycles past, present and future since they began in the mid-18th century.
History of the Austrian School of EconomicsOther Schools of Thought
Read the transcript 12,602 words
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Recording dates, summaries and topics for 6 of these 6 lectures come from the Mises Institute's page for The History of Economic Thought: From Marx to Hayek, checked 2026-08-04.
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About this series
- Is The History of Economic Thought: From Marx to Hayek free to listen to?
- Yes. All 6 mirrored recordings stream in the browser or download as audio, at no cost and with no signup.
- How long is The History of Economic Thought: From Marx to Hayek?
- 6 recordings, 6.8 hours in total.
- Who lectures in The History of Economic Thought: From Marx to Hayek?
- Murray N. Rothbard.
- When was The History of Economic Thought: From Marx to Hayek recorded?
- 1986–2006, per the recording dates recovered for this series.
- Is there a transcript of The History of Economic Thought: From Marx to Hayek?
- Yes. Every lecture in the series has one, 69,042 words in total, free to read on each lecture's page and searchable in the browser.
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