242 Economic Theory: An IntroductionThere is no such thing as a social collective, there are simply
individual members acting. The relationship of praxeology to
economics is at the basis of Von Mises’ philosophy. Economics
deals with the physical universe, with things and tangible mate
rial objects, not with people and their actions. Value is within us.
It is how we react to the physical universe; it is in action. In a
sense, Von Mises is making economics into a moral rather than
an economic matter.
Man is a choosing animal. It is that ability to choose which
separates us from the other animals. Our moral worth exists in
that fact. Any governmental activity which limits our choices is
morally wrong. In addition, governmental interference in the
economic operation of the free market will only harm rather than
help the process— which is dependent on freely choosing indi
viduals. The market, then, is entirely the product of human
action, and all market phenomena can be traced to the decisions
of choosing individuals. Every day, every individual votes with
his purchases, and some businessmen get rich, others become
poor. The justice of the marketplace is not absolute in a moral
sense, according to merit, but rather according to how well it
satisfies the public. Those who satisfy more wants, make more
dollars. Those who satisfy fewer wants, make fewer dollars. If
one wishes to write unpopular poetry, one will be poor. Happy,
maybe, but poor. If one wishes to get rich, all one has to do is
satisfy a public want—build a better mousetrap, perhaps.
Man’s quality of insatiability is also a determining factor
which justifies the market economy. Since men are constantly
searching and wanting, their choices are always changing.
Planned economies cannot take those individual value changes
into account, and therefore cannot work. Thus, those who seek
equilibrium in an economy, however reasonable it might seem,
a) cannot attain such a goal, and b) in the attempt will throw a
wrench into a system that is meant to be dynamic, changing, and
filled with ups and downs.
Von Mises claims that the two most important forces in the
last hundred years have been socialism and state intervention
ism. He blames both for intruding on human freedom. Socialism
determines what is best for people and plans accordingly. State
interventionism is simply the use of force and coercion to control
human action. Both are wrong, both are doomed to failure. The