[Excerpt from chapter 3 of the Bastiat Collection .] I wish someone would offer a prize—not of a hundred francs, but of a million, with crowns, medals and ribbons—for a good, simple and intelligible definition of the word “Government.” What an immense service it would confer on society! The Government! What is it? Where is it? what does it do?
[Editor’s note: In this selection, Bastiat explains the role of capital in building wealth, and why it is moral and proper that owners of capital ought to collect interest on the capital they lend out. Excerpt from chapter 5, “Capital and Interest,” in The Bastiat Collection (Auburn, AL: Mises Institute, 2011), pp. 147–58. ] 3. What Is Capital?
En el ámbito económico, un acto, un hábito, una institución, una ley, no producen sólo un efecto, sino una serie de efectos. De éstos, únicamente el primero es inmediato, y dado que se manifiesta a la vez que su causa, lo vemos . Los demás, como se desencadenan sucesivamente, no los vemos ; bastante habrá con preverlos . La diferencia entre un mal
[Nota del editor: En esta selección, Bastiat explica el papel del capital en la construcción de la riqueza, y por qué es moral y apropiado que los dueños del capital deban cobrar intereses sobre el capital que prestan. Extracto del capítulo 5, « Capital and Interest », en The Bastiat Collection (Auburn, AL: Instituto Mises, 2011), pp. 147-58. ] 3.
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.