The Struggle for a Better World

A collection of Boettke’s addresses, lectures and papers from more than two decades, arguing that political economy is a moral science: economics is worth doing because it tells us which institutions let ordinary people cooperate and flourish, and the discipline loses its point when it forgets that. The through-line is the mainline tradition from Smith through Mises, Hayek, Buchanan and Ostrom — economics as the study of how free people solve their own problems.

Why it’s on the list: It sits in the Capitalism, Morality, and Culture section as the case that markets are defensible on moral grounds rather than merely efficient ones, read next to Weber on where the moral disposition came from in the first place.

Where I saw it: On Brendan McCord’s Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List, in the section on Capitalism, Morality, and Culture, saved to Kyle’s “Books To Read” Apple Note. The full 211-entry transcription lives on The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List.

Connections

• Economics — the discipline the book argues about.
• Institutions — what it says economics is really for studying.
• Capitalism — the system it defends on moral grounds.
• The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List — the list this came from.