The Ring of the Nibelung (Illustrated Edition) presents Richard Wagner's monumental cycle of music dramas in a form that foregrounds its mythic architecture and poetic ambition. Drawing on Norse sagas, the Nibelungenlied, and Germanic legend, the work unfolds a vast narrative of power, love, betrayal, renunciation, and world-ending transformation. Its alliterative verse, symbolic density, and fusion of epic, tragedy, and philosophical allegory place it at the center of nineteenth-century R...

The book is a unique work that combines Richard Wagner's operatic themes with E. F. Benson's storytelling. Richard Wagner's influence is evident throughout the text, particularly his operas "Die Walküre" (part of the Ring Cycle) and its themes of myth and drama. The story intertwines these elements with Benson's own narrative style, creating a rich tapestry that blends music and literature.The plot revolves around the mythical Valkyries, supernatural beings from Norse mythology who are cen...

Economists commit a category mistake when they treat democratic governments as indebted. Monarchs can be indebted, as can individuals. In contrast, democracies can't truly be indebted. They are financial intermediaries that form a bridge between what are often willing borrowers and forced lenders. The language of public debt is an ideological language that promotes politically expressed desires and is not a scientific language that clarifies the practice of public finance. Economists have ...

This book examines macroeconomic theory from an analytical framework provided by theories of complex systems, in contrast to conventional theories founded on aggregation. The resulting difference in analytical perspectives is huge: the macro level of society is notpursued through aggregation over micro entities. To the contrary, the micro-macro relation is treated as one of parts-to-whole, and this relation is approached from within an ecological scheme of thought. A society is a complex e...

James M. Buchanan and Liberal Political Economy: A Rational Reconstruction examines the contemporary meaning and significance of James M. Buchanan’s body of work. The book uses Buchanan’s past contributions to explore the present and future relevance of his scholarly contributions and insights. It seeks mainly to explain what insight for their work contemporary scholars might acquire by becoming familiar with some of Buchanan’s formulations. Buchanan was one of the most creative and prolif...

'While market activity and political activity are often analyzed independently of each other, Wagner demonstrates their interdependence. His novel analysis shows that politics has a level of complexity well beyond the way it is typically depicted in the social sciences, and shows that political activity has more in common with market activity than is commonly recognized. The book offers a wide range of insights and pushes readers to take a more nuanced view of politics.'- R...

“A fine collection of essays exploring, and in many cases extending, Jim Buchanan’s many contributions and insights to economic, political, and social theory.”– Bruce Caldwell, Professor of Economics, Duke University, USA"The overwhelming impression the reader gets from this very fine collection is the extraordinary expanse of James Buchanan's work. Everyone interested in economics and related fields can profit mightily from this book."– Mar...

"The Valkyries" is an iconic opera by Richard Wagner, with the libretto adapted by E. F. Benson. This monumental work is part of Wagner's epic cycle of four operas known as "Der Ring des Nibelungen" (The Ring of the Nibelung). It tells the mythological story of the Valkyries, female warrior deities who serve the god Odin in Germanic and Norse mythology.The opera follows the Valkyries as they gather fallen heroes from the battlefield to bring them to Valhalla, the hall of the slain....

Over the past few decades, economists have witnessed with growing uneasiness their failure to explain the ballooning of public debt in most countries. Using methodological individualism and micro-economics, this book overcomes flaws inherent in the standard macro approach, according to which governments manipulate public debt to promote systemic stability. This unique analysis is grounded in the writings of Antonio de Viti de Marco, injecting current analytical contributions and formulatio...

This volume contains the papers, along with the discussant's re marks, presented at a conference on 'Federal Fiscal Responsibility', held at The Homestead, Hot Springs, Virginia, on 26-27 March 1976. Additionally, we, the editors, have included an introductory essay which sets forth some of our background thoughts that in formed our organization of the conference and which also de scribes some of our reactions to the conference. This conference was sponsored by the Liberty Fund, Inc. of In...

Democratic political systems are often thought to be preferable to all others for supporting liberty. Around the world, nations that are more democratic tend to be freer across various aspects of life and human experience. This book undertakes a social scientific analysis of this claim and finds it to be wanting.The reality of democratic systems does not adhere to popular rhetoric. One of the key reasons for this is that our system is an entangled system, one in which the realm of ...

Federalism has generally been characterized as a system of government that is friendly to liberty. It is not obvious, though, why this should be so. Federalism is a form of government where citizens simultaneously reside in at least two governments, each of which has independent authority to tax and to regulate. By contrast, in a unitary form of government citizens face only one government with independent authority to tax and regulate. At first glance, it would seem a bit strange to claim...