Abstract of a Lecture on
Capitalism by Ludwig Von Mises:
The author, an extensive writer on Economics, Socialism and
related fields, very conducively explains capitalism and its emergence into the world. According to him, a simple economic policy is by far the one that gives its citizens the freedom to do what they want. This freedom gives them an incentive to grow as entrepreneurs, leaders and contributors to society. Also, the “ideal government” must be a caretaker of its nation’s people. Protect, regulate, control and then also leave them to pursue their own interests.
Developing this attitude entices them to save and invest in productive work. And in the end, it is the nation’s economy that benefits from such activities.
To illustrate this more clearly, the author talks of the emergence of capitalism in developing countries and the extent of revolution caused by capitalism in these nations. For this purpose, European and Indian economies in the
eighteenth century and later are quoted.
Developing nations like India had feudalism at its peak in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. The time was also when proletarians or outcasts were not known to be dealt with. Their number continued to increase and it outgrew the land available to cultivate. Fundamentally, there was lack of raw materials and therefore the infringement of the rules of power was taking place. They had to be either thrown into work houses or poor houses. Some of these outcasts became leaders and started to set up small units of production that catered to the basic needs of the large outcast population. These new entrepreneurs in the making proved that this was the beginning of capitalism and the free market economy. The slogan “the customer is always right” was in the making and the relinquishment of the descriptions of the upper class consumers as the lords of the economy. It came to be popularly known that economic development lay in the hands of these future leaders.