Henry Hazlitt
Economics in one lesson
The seen and the unseen.
Libertarian CapitalistOne of 729 ideologies · enter the Libertarian Capitalist hall →- Role
- Journalist & economist
- Era
- 1894–1993
- Region
- United States
- Social band
- Centre (no modifier)
- Placement
- +92 · −28 · −6
§ Where Henry Hazlitt stands
3 axesHazlitt was a near-absolute defender of the free market. Economics in One Lesson (1946) argued that tariffs, subsidies, rent and price controls, minimum wages and inflationary credit help visible groups at the hidden expense of everyone else, and The Failure of the 'New Economics' (1959) attacked Keynes's General Theory chapter by chapter. He championed the gold standard and opposed the 1944 Bretton Woods agreements.
Hazlitt was a classical liberal who wanted government confined to protecting life, liberty and property, and Man vs. the Welfare State (1969) argued that welfare programmes erode the incentives and freedoms on which prosperity depends. He was a constitutional reformer rather than an anarchist: in A New Constitution Now (1942) he even proposed a British-style cabinet system to make American government more accountable.
Hazlitt's social views were restrained and close to the centre, reflecting a secular rationalist outlook rather than religious traditionalism. In The Foundations of Morality (1964) he grounded ethics in social cooperation and long-run consequences rather than divine command, and his journalism largely kept clear of the cultural battles of his era.
How close are you to Henry Hazlitt?
Three statements, one per axis. Answer them and we’ll drop you on the compass next to them.
§ The story
HistoricalHenry Stuart Hazlitt (1894–1993) was an American journalist and economic writer who became one of the most widely read advocates of free markets in the twentieth century. Born in Philadelphia and forced by poverty to leave the City College of New York, he taught himself economics while working at The Wall Street Journal and other papers. He was literary editor of The Nation, succeeded H. L. Mencken as editor of The American Mercury in 1933, and wrote editorials on economics for The New York Times from 1934 to 1946.
Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson (1946) distilled free-market reasoning into a short primer on the hidden costs of tariffs, subsidies, price controls and inflation, and it has sold more than a million copies. He left the Times after opposing the Bretton Woods monetary system, wrote Newsweek's Business Tides column for two decades, and helped found the Foundation for Economic Education and the Mont Pelerin Society. As Ludwig von Mises's leading American champion, he carried Austrian economics to a mass audience.
Notable for
- 01'Economics in One Lesson'
- 02Newsweek & NYT columnist
- 03Co-founded FEE
Key works & moments
- 1933Succeeds H. L. Mencken as editor of The American Mercury.
- 1934Joins The New York Times as an editorial writer on economics.
- 1946Publishes Economics in One Lesson and begins Newsweek's Business Tides column.
- 1947Becomes a founding member of the Mont Pelerin Society.
- 1959Publishes The Failure of the 'New Economics', a detailed critique of Keynes.
- 1964Publishes The Foundations of Morality, his treatise on ethics.
In their own words
“The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but 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.”
§ Minds closest to Henry Hazlitt
All minds →
§ Also in the Libertarian Capitalist hall
Enter the hall →§ Common questions
4 answersWhat was Henry Hazlitt's political ideology?
Henry Hazlitt was a classical liberal and free-market economist in the Austrian tradition: on the 99ideologies three-axis compass, a Libertarian Capitalist. Economically he sat near the market extreme (+92), opposing tariffs, price controls, inflation and the welfare state. On governance he leaned libertarian (−28), wanting government limited to protecting life, liberty and property, and socially he sat close to the centre (−6), a secular rationalist who kept clear of religious and cultural crusades.
Was Henry Hazlitt left-wing or right-wing?
Right-wing on economics, and a key figure in the free-market revival that fed the post-war American right. Hazlitt opposed the New Deal, Keynesian economics and the welfare state, defended the gold standard and helped found the Foundation for Economic Education and The Freeman. He was not a social conservative or a nationalist, however: his outlook was secular, cosmopolitan and classically liberal, closer to nineteenth-century liberalism than to religious or traditionalist conservatism.
What is the one lesson in Economics in One Lesson?
The lesson is that good economics looks at the long-run effects of a policy on everyone, not just its immediate effects on one group. Hazlitt illustrated it with the broken-window fallacy, borrowed from the French economist Frédéric Bastiat: a smashed shop window creates work for the glazier, but the shopkeeper loses the suit or shoes he would otherwise have bought. Applying that reasoning, the book argues that tariffs, subsidies, price controls and make-work schemes produce visible gains at hidden, larger costs.
Which minds are closest to Henry Hazlitt?
On the 99ideologies three-axis compass, the minds closest to Henry Hazlitt are Jean-Baptiste Say (99% alike), Ludwig Lachmann (98% alike) and Carl Menger (97% alike). The furthest is Pol Pot (4% alike).