Foreword
Preface
Chapter 1: The Nature of Man and the Human Condition: Language, Property, and Production
Property developed naturally, not artificially, as a consequence of human action. What is the philosophical justification for private property, and what does property mean for economics and justice?
Chapter 2: The Spread of Humans Around the World: The Extension and Intensification of the Division of Labor
How did man evolve to develop trade and specialization? What did that mean for the development of society?
Chapter 3: Money and Monetary Integration: The Growth of Cities and the Globalization of Trade
Money solves problems of barter and trade; good money makes global economics possible. But money is always and forever subject to corrupting monopolization by states and central banks. How do we separate money from the state, and separate trade from politics?
Chapter 4: Time Preference, Capital, Technology, and Economic Growth
Time, and our preference for present goods over future goods, informs everything we do. Low time preference, demonstrated by capital accumulation, is the key to advancing civilization. How do we encourage capital accumulation when the forces of statism work against us?
Chapter 5: The Wealth of Nations: Ideology, Religion, Biology, and Environment
How did the West get rich? What intellectual movements threaten progress, or advance it?
Chapter 6: The Production of Law and Order: Natural Order, Feudalism, and Federalism
Must law be positive rather than evolved? Who creates it, and who enforces it?
Chapter 7: Parasitism and the Origin of the State
How did we get here? How does the ruling class derive its putative legitimacy, and what can the distant origins of governance teach us about the vast managerial social welfare states we endure today?
Chapter 8: From Monarchy to Democracy
Is democracy really the great advancement in human liberty we have been taught to believe? What is the role of natural and artificial elites?
Chapter 9: State, War, and Imperialism
States are necessarily expansionist and bellicose. How do we tame their warring and intervening nature?
Chapter 10: Strategy: Secession, Privatization, and the Prospects of Liberty
Can private covenant communities replace the state? Why is a private property order morally urgent? Is secession viable? How do we move forward strategically?