[...]... the printing press As this is being written, in fact, printing money is the world’s biggest industry—if the product is measured in monetary terms But the more money is turned out in this way, the more the value of any given unit of money falls This falling value can be measured in rising prices of commodities But as most people are so firmly in the habit of thinking of their wealth and income in terms...EconOne_Prf2_Q5_to_client.qxd 3/3/2008 8:42 AM Page x x Economics in One Lesson When it came to publishing and writing, Hazlitt was a veritable machine His total bibliography contains more than 10,000 entries That is not a misprint (As you can see, those who relish Economics in One Lesson will have a lot of pleasant reading in front of them.) He was at it from the earliest age, initially making his... economists who in turn are full of schemes for getting something for nothing They tell us that the government can spend and spend without taxing at all; that it can continue to pile up debt without ever paying it off, because “we owe it to ourselves.” We shall return to such extraordinary doctrines at a later 17 EconOne_Prf2_Q5_to_client.qxd 3/3/2008 8:42 AM Page 18 18 Economics in One Lesson point Here... but corresponding purchasing power The needs of China today are incomparably greater than the needs of America But its purchasing power, and therefore the “new business” that it can stimulate, are incomparably smaller But if we get past this point, there is a chance for another fallacy, and the broken-windowites usually grab it They think of “purchasing power” merely in terms of money Now money can be... single lesson, and that lesson can be reduced to a single sentence The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate hut at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups 2 Nine-tenths of the economic fallacies that are working such dreadful harm in the world today are the result of ignoring... complex consequences resulting from the use of money, at least saw through the monetary veil to the underlying realities To that extent they were in advance of many of their EconOne_Prf2_Q5_to_client.qxd 3/3/2008 8:42 AM Page 16 16 Economics in One Lesson present-day critics, who are befuddled by money rather than instructed by it Mere inflation—that is, the mere issuance of more money, with the consequence... demand from some channels into others And a certain number of people may continue to be deceived indefinitely regarding their real economic welfare by rising wages and prices caused by an excess of printed money But the belief that a genuine prosperity can be brought about by a “replacement demand” for things destroyed or not made during the war is nonetheless a palpable fallacy EconOne_Prf2_Q5_to_client.qxd... ignored But in themselves EconOne_Prf2_Q5_to_client.qxd 3/3/2008 8:42 AM Page 6 6 Economics in One Lesson ignoring or slighting the long-run effects, they are making the far more serious error They overlook the woods in their precise and minute examination of particular trees Their methods and conclusions are often profoundly reactionary They are sometimes surprised to find themselves in accord with... years instead of being concentrated in one It also means that what is taken from the taxpayers is spread over many years instead of being concentrated into one Such technicalities are irrelevant to the main point The great psychological advantage of the public housing advocates is that men are seen at work on the houses when they are going up, and the houses are seen when they are finished People live in. .. half-truth in the “backed-up” demand fallacy, just as there was in the broken-window fallacy The broken window did make more business for the glazier The destruction of war will make more business for the producers of certain things The destruction of houses and cities will make more business for the building and construction industries The inability to produce automobiles, radios, and refrigerators during . first book on economics that just jumped out and grabbed me. I had read a few before, but they were boring. Very boring. Did I mention boring? In sharp contrast, Economics in One Lesson grabbed. veritable machine. His total bibliography contains more than 10,000 entries. That is not a misprint. (As you can see, those who relish Economics in One Lesson will have a lot of pleasant reading in front. earliest age, initially making his way in New York by working for financial dailies. Hazlitt made his public reputation as lit- erary editor for The Nation in 1930. He was interested in economics