In Delusions of Power, economic historian Robert Higgs calls into question our ingrained notions concerning the nature of the state and democracy. Higgs uproots the foundation stone upon which the state’s powers have rested and grown unchecked by the public.Beginning with the Founding Fathers and moving forward, Higgs reassesses the world wars, the Great Depression and the New Deal, and the financial debacle that began in 2008 with the view of demonstratin...

Other books exist that warn of the dangers of empire and war. However, few, if any, of these books do so from a scholarly, informed economic standpoint. In Depression, War, and Cold War , Robert Higgs, a highly regarded economic historian, makes pointed, fresh economic arguments against war, showing links between government policies and the economy in a clear, accessible way. He boldly questions, for instance, the widely accepted idea that World War II was the chief reason the Dep...

Para entender por qué el tamaño de los Estados no para de crecer, hay que comprender cómo se produce esa expansión. ¿Cuándo tiene lugar? ¿A qué se debe? ¿Es nuestro destino que el Estado asuma cada vez más funciones y gastos? ¿Por qué nos resignamos a que sea así?En este libro ya clásico, que aporta una original perspectiva sobre uno de los grandes problemas de nuestro tiempo, el historiador de la economía Robert Higgs da una explicación coherente del fenómeno y crea un marco analí...

Renowned economist and historian Robert Higgs has pioneered a whole new understanding of the causes, means, and effects of government power and the need to deconstruct statism and re-establish institutions that protect and advance liberty, prosperity, and peace.In the course of his work, he has completed seminal work on such issues as health care, the environment, law and economics, urban development, race discrimination, agriculture, immigration, war and peace, ec...

Environmental quality has been a major public concern since the first Earth Day in 1970, yet the maze of environmental laws and regulations enacted since then has fostered huge government bureaucracies better known for waste and failure than for innovation and success.Can we do better than this failed environmental bureaucracy? The noted contributors to this volume answer with a resounding "yes."Re-Thinking Green exposes the myths that have contrib...

Crisis and Leviathan is Higgs' masterwork on how government grows in size, scope, and power in response to real or imagined "crises." From war to economic upheavals, government overreach endures long after each crisis has passed, impinging on civil liberties and fostering extensive corporate welfare.Few topics are as timely as the growth of government. To understand why government has grown, Robert Higgs asserts, one must understand how it has grown. This ...

What is fundamentally wrong with government today? In Against Leviathan, economist and historian Robert Higgs, offers an unflinching critical analysis of government power.Against Leviathan combines an economist’s analytical scrutiny, an historian’s respect for the facts, and a refusal to accept the standard excuses and cruelties of government officialdom. Topics include Social Security, the paternalism of the FDA, the “War on Drugs,” the nature of...

Is Classical Liberalism Still Vital?The quest for freedom has always been as much a battle of ideas as it is a popular struggle. Classical liberal pioneers such as John Locke and Adam Smith stressed the inherent worth of the individual, inalienable rights, and the benevolent consequences of the cooperative, peaceful pursuit of one’s own happiness. These ideas became the intellectual scaffolding for much of the West’s most fundamental institutions and achievements. ...

Crisis and Leviathan is Higgs’s masterwork on how government grows in size, scope, and power in response to real or imagined “crises.” From war to economic upheavals, government overreach endures long after each crisis has passed, impinging on civil liberties and fostering extensive corporate welfare.Few topics are as timely as the growth of government. To understand why government has grown, Robert Higgs asserts, one must understand how i...

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety," wrote Benjamin Franklin. Attempting to gain security by sacrificing liberty is also a foolish action because it only increases the potential for harm.In Neither Liberty Nor Safety: Fear, Ideology, and the Growth of Government, economist and historian Robert Higgs illustrates the false trade-off between freedom and security by showing how ...

Exploring the politics and morality that pulled the United States into wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, this collection of essays, stories, and satirical pieces lambasts the highest officials in the executive branch for incompetence and moral blindness.Immediately after 9/11, government officials and commentators claimed that the terrorist attacks had "changed everything." In contrast, economist and historian Robert Higgs warned that history would likely repeat itself...

For over half a century, Robert Higgs has been a trailblazer in the fields of economics and political economy, challenging the conventional paradigm of government intervention with incisive critique and rigorous theoretical and historical analysis. As the founding editor of The Independent Review, Higgs carved out an intellectual space for a freer exploration of pressing issues in political economy and policy. Over the course of a distinguished academic career, including professorships at ...