In Röpke's Crisis and Cycles, he Is critical of the boom-bust cycle created by the Federal Reserve .Keep in mind that he wrote this in 1936 this just after the Great Depression (the first one). One would think we could learn from history. Looks like we don't this time. We drove flat-out toward the precipice.
But hey,it's just debt. Let our descendants deal with it. After all, we'll all be dead by then. Not our problem, right? This is not what made America great.
The Mises Institute has gone out of its way to present this lost gem.There is. another danger of which both author and reader must beware: that of viewing the matter in the wrong per- spective; that is to say, attaching too much importance to the events of the moment and consequently failing to see things in their historical perspective. Let us not be too hasty in expressing the opinion that Providence is doing us a special favour by allowing us to witness (or even to be instrumental in introducing) a new epoch of world history, and let us remember that world history is no ephemeral growth. We must have enough historical sense to know that nothing in the world lasts for ever, not even our present social and economic system; but, on the other hand, we must also have enough historical sense to see things in their historical perspective. In a word, let us not be affected by the prevailing nervousness which in certain individuals borders already on hysteria.
Only people devoid of historical sense could so quickly forget that it is a mere matter of fifteen years since the World War brought greater suffering to humanity than the present world crisis has done, and that the alterations in the economic system which then took place (disintegration of world economic relations, national autarky, suspension of the gold standard and all-embracing economic regimentation) have been of far greater import than the changes now being brought about by the pressure of the crisis. At that time, too, there were people who were quick to assume that the war-time economy had come to stay, who talked of the " dethronement " of gold and predicted the end, once and for all, of the competitive economic system, and the definite bankruptcy of Liberalism. And yet, after the war, with almost elemental force, all that was said to be dead— world economy, the gold standard, capitalism and liberalism— came into being again, and swept away the hysteria engendered by the war as if it had been the figment of a dream! It would be well if we at the present time were to keep cool and collected, and to behave in such a way that when in days to come we look back upon the vortex of this crisis we need not blush at the recollection of any hysteria. We may venture, without undue optimism, to predict that those who have not let the outcry of loud-mouthed prophets and reformers turn them from their belief in the lasting validity of the principles which have given the economic and social system of the West all its greatness will be proved right in the end. We must at least reckon with the possibility that after this devastating crisis, as after the war, most of what is to-day being so loudly decried and reviled will come into its own again.
It's hard to say what is the most rare, most hard to find, most buried important book, in the history of the Austrian School. But this splendid and critically important treatise would certainly be among the nominees.
Until this edition, this book has been darn-near impossible to obtain short of stealing from the Library of Congress. As a matter of fact, it has been mysteriously missing off the shelves there for years, so the only copies extant have been photocopies of photocopies 50 times over.
So at last: we can present to you Crises and Cycles by one of the greats.
During the thick of the Great Depression, the same year as John Maynard Keynes came out with his treatise, Wilhelm Röpke made this contribution to macroeconomics: an excellent exposition of the Austrian Cycle theory in the tradition of Mises and Hayek.
He refutes Keynes before Keynes became popular, and also provides an argument against other prevailing theories. Röpke is not perfect: while his analysis is excellent, he recommends a reflation after deflation. Nonetheless, this is an important and much-sought-after treatise by an important member of the Austrian School.
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