Economics 101 With Murray N. Rothbard

Murray Rothbard's writing always displayed the clarity of a first-rate mind, but it is listening to him teach that reveals the humor, the wit, the sheer fun of experiencing his genius.

Murray N. Rothbard: Economics 101 collects onto one MP3CD (advanced CD players and personal computers) ten hours of lectures and speeches from the early 1970s to the early 1990s. The price is $40.

He is speaking in a small classroom setting, explaining economics from the ground up, and systematically in the manner of a classic 101 course on the topic – but with a revolutionary approach. Free-wheeling, generously peppered with anecdotes, packed with humor (and the man's own infectious laughter), Murray Rothbard's lectures on free-market economics range from the most basic foundation of supply and demand to the complexities of fractional reserve banking and the business cycle.

Along the way, you will learn what money is and what it is not, where interest and profit come from and what role they play in the conservation of natural resources, what determines labor wages, what happens when wages are set artificially through the intervention of the state, and what role labor unions play in the welfare of those inside and outside the union.

The first seven lectures have been organized so that each one builds on the others, culminating in a two-hour explanation of banking. Lecture eight is a whirlwind summary of Misesian economics – "Mises in One Lesson" – and the last track of the disc is an inspiring speech, given shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union, on the future of Austrian economics.

After listening to these ten hours of audio, you will know more real economics than most econ majors.

Murray N. Rothbard (1926–1995) was the author of Man, Economy, and State, Conceived in Liberty, What Has Government Done to Our Money, For a New Liberty, The Case Against the Fed, and many other books and articles. He was also the editor – with Lew Rockwell – of The Rothbard-Rockwell Report.