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Economic Principles
Max Hirsch
[Significant chapters from the book by Max Hirsch,
published in Australia, 1896]
PREFACE BY MAX HIRSCH / Melbourne, 1 January, 1896
It is gradually becomining clear to most thinking men
that the political battles of the present and of the near future are
being fought and will be fought on the field of economics. Social
questions are everywhere attracting growing attention. The undue
poverty of the masses and the unmerited riches of the few are more
clearly seen to arise from laws which interfere with the natural
distribution of wealth, i.e.: "That distribution which gives
wealth to those who make it, and secures wealth to those who save
it." The same laws are also strongly suspected of reducing the
amount of wealth which otherwise would be made. It is, therefore, of
the utmost importance that the last results of Political Economy --
of the science which deals with the production, distribution and
consumption of wealth -- should be made accessible to the masses
upon whose action future political developments depend.
This little book is written for the purpose of serving as a guide
to those who intend to study Political Economy, and as a summary of
its more important results for others, who may not have time or
inclination for a detailed study. For the former, especially, it is
important to possess an exposition of guiding principles, by which
detailed arguments can be measured and their cogency tested. To the
latter it may recommend itself by its brevity.
Lest it be assumed that the definitions and conclusions here sete
forth have received the stamp of authority, I have to confess that
in many instances they differ from accepted teaching. Wherever this
is the case, I have supplied what appears to me full reasons for my
divergent view.
If this booklet causes its readers to look more hopefully into the
future; if it reveals to them a way out of the marasmus into which
modern society has fallen through its disregard of justice; if it
proves that the fullest harmony prevails between ethics and
economics, it will fulfil the dearest hopes of its author.
Chapter 1 / Definition of Terms
Chapter 6 / Consumption
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