The latest "Liberty Matters" forum is online. The lead essay is by Roderick Long on “Gustave de Molinari’s Legacy for Liberty” [the centennial of his death was last year]. Long concludes that “for all his shortcomings, Molinari remains not only an interesting historical thinker, but also a vital lodestar for the liberty movement today.” There will be response essays shortly by Gary Chartier, “If Not Labor Exchanges, Then What?”; David D. Friedman, “Comment on Roderick T. Long on Gustave de Molinari”; David M. Hart, “Historical Reflections on Molinari’s Legacy”; Matt Zwolinski, “Two Cheers for Pessimism”. See the Archive of "Liberty Matters".

"LIBERTY MATTERS" A FORUM FOR THE DISCUSSION OF MATTERS PERTAINING TO LIBERTY   Introduction "Liberty Matters" is devoted to the discussion of ideas pertaining to liberty. We have asked leading scholars and invited guest commentators to reflect upon how some of the authors whose works are part of the Online Library of Liberty have defended individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace over the past 300 years. The OLL has many scholarly collections which can be drawn upon for this purpose. See below for details about our collections of the works of key figures and the founders of the American Republic. For a sampling of what some of the authors in the OLL collection have thought about important topics see our collection of quotations which have been organized thematically.

"LIBERTY MATTERS" A FORUM FOR THE DISCUSSION OF MATTERS PERTAINING TO LIBERTY   JAMES BUCHANAN: AN ASSESSMENT (March, 2013) James M. Buchanan (1919-2013)  

In June 2015 we celebrate the 800th anniversary of the signing of one of the key legal documents in English political history, the “Great Charter” (Magna Carta). When a group of disgruntled Barons forced King John to sign a document in June 1215 at Runnymede near Windsor, listing his political and legal powers (and thus explicitly limiting himself to those defined powers) little did they realise that they would begin a tradition of thinking about the “rights of Englishmen” which would echo down the centuries to our present day. In this Liberty Matters discussion we have invited four leading historians to explain what Magna Carta was, why it has appealed to so many people over the years, the impact it has had on the development of Anglo-American legal and political institutions, and its relevance for us today. The Lead Essay is by Justin Champion, Professor of the History of Early Modern Ideas at Royal Holloway, University of London; with comments by Richard Helmholz, the Ruth Wyatt Rosenson Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago; Nicholas Vincent, Professor of Medieval History at the University of East Anglia; and David Womersley, the Thomas Warton Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford. See the Archive of "Liberty Matters".

The Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) was one of the most widely read authors before the American Revolution and had a profound impact on the formation of the American Republic. In this discussion of his economic thought, in particular his ideas about the need for sumptuary laws in republics, Henry Clark of Dartmouth College investigates this little appreciated aspect of Montesquieu’s thinking and concludes that, before the theory of natural rights became better established, “Sumptuary law is scarcely more than a blip on our historical radar screens, but it manages to remind us of what a mottled, murky landscape the history of liberty really is”. Henry Clark is joined in the discussion by David Carrithers at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, Paul A. Rahe at Hillsdale College, Michigan, and Stuart D. Warner of Roosevelt University, Chicago. See the Archive of “Liberty Matters”.

The Anglo-Hungarian economist Anthony de Jasay turns 90 in 2015. To celebrate this event we have organized a Liberty Matters discussion of his work as an economic and political theorist which came to public attention with the publication of the seminal work The State in 1985. Since then he has written several other books and has had a monthly column for the Econlib website since 2002. We have invited the editor of his collected works, Hartmut Kliemt, who is a professor of philosophy and economics at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management to lead the discussion. He will be joined by Christopher Coyne who is an Associate Professor of Economics at George Mason University, Michael C. Munger who is a professor of political science, and economics and public policy at Duke University, and Edward Stringham who is a professor of Economic Organizations and Innovation at Trinity College, Hartford. Special Offer: The Independent Institute has kindly offered to supply a complimentary copy of their Summer "Symposium on Anthony de Jasay" to any reader of this online forum. If you would like a free copy, please send your details (name and snail mail address) to . See below for details. See the Archive of "Liberty Matters".

In this month's Liberty Matters online discussion we reassess the economic ideas of John Stuart Mill as found in his classic work Principles of Political Economy (1st ed. 1848, 7th ed. 1871) and other writings. In the Lead Essay by Steven Kates of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology it is argued that in the light of the evident failures of Keynesian economics to solve the problems of the boom and bust cycle, and that of ongoing high unemployment and economic stagnation, that we should go back to Mill's "Four Propositions on Capital" for enlightenment. In Kates's view there is "more insight into the operation of an economy than any of the Samuelson clones that have been published to explain what Keynes meant in trying to raise aggregate demand." The commentators are Nick Capaldi, the Legendre-Soulé Distinguished Chair in Business Ethics at Loyola University New Orleans; Richard M. Ebeling, the BB&T Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Free Enterprise Leadership at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina; and Sandra J. Peart, who is dean of the Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond. See the Archive of "Liberty Matters".

The first 10 Liberty Matters Online Discussions are available as a single file in a variety of ebook formats. This version has quite a few corrections, mainly updating the links to conform to the new OLL website’s format. It is just over 260,000 words and 400 pages long. The pictures on the title page are of some books we have in the archive room in the Liberty Fund Library.

2014 was the 100th anniversary of the death of the economist Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk (1851-1914). In this Liberty Matters discussion we want to evaluate his contributions as one of the founders of the Austrian school of economic theory with his theoretical work at the University of Vienna, a leading critic of Marxism, and a the Minister of Finance in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is unusual for a scholar who was at the forefront of the development of high theory to also have direct experience of the day-to-day problems of managing the tax policies of an important political and economic power such as Austria-Hungary. The Lead Essay is by Richard M. Ebeling who is the BB&T Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Free Enterprise Leadership at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. He has written and lectured widely on the Austrian school and has edited a three volume collection of Ludwig von Mises's writings for Liberty Fund. Our other contributors include Roger Garrison who is a professor of economics at Auburn University and adjunct scholar of the Mises Institute; Joseph Salerno is academic vice president of the Mises Institute, professor of economics at Pace University, and editor of the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics; and Peter Lewin is Clinical Professor in the Jindal School of Management, University of Texas, Dallas. See the Archive of "Liberty Matters".

Aurelian Craiutu argues that Tocqueville was not just an observer of democracy in America but also a theorist of democracy who wanted to create “a new science of politics” suitable to the new world which was beginning to take shape at that time. Craiutu points out four dimensions of Tocqueville’s new science of politics that might help us better understand his thinking. The first is that Tocqueville’s new science of politics is fundamentally cross-disciplinary, at the intersection of political science, sociology, anthropology, history, and philosophy. He then goes on to discuss the other dimensions such as its comparative, normative, and political dimensions. He concludes that his works must therefore be seen as belonging to a larger French tradition of political engagement and political rhetoric in which the writer enters into a subtle and complex pedagogical relationship with his audience, seeking to convince and inspire his readers to political action. This thesis is discussed by Daniel J. Mahoney of Assumption College, Filippo Sabetti of McGill University, and Jeremy R. Jennings of King's College London. See the Archive of "Liberty Matters".