One of the first textbooks ever written on the subject, and still eminently readable, with clear organization, definitions and explanations. The taxation of income, capital, imports, consumption goods, etc., and the effects on wages, rents, profits, production, and consumption are major topics, along with the government’s budget constraints. Another copy of this book can be found in HTML format at our sister website Econlib.

A translation of the Icelandic saga, the main character of which is Burnt Njal, which was first written down in the 13th century.

One of the most influential works on Political Economy in the 19thC. It set the stage for the development of the study of political economy in France and an early translation into English helped make it become the most used economics textbook in the United States.

Malthus criticises a number of classical economists (such as Smith, Say, Ricardo, McCulloch). Say is given particular attention over the idea of value. Malthus then offers his own definitions of 70 economic concepts.

In one of these 3 letters to Archbishop Creighton Lord Acton makes his famous statement about “power corrupts and absolute power absolutely”. He also makes other remarks about the proper role for moral judgments in history.

One of Mozart’s most popular operas, with a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, based upon the notorious play by Beaumarchais. The play had been banned in 1786 because it questioned the legitimacy and rationality of the aristocracy by making fun of it through the eyes of a common servant, Figaro. This version is a side-by-side Italian and English edition.

In The Anti-capitalistic Mentality, the respected economist Ludwig von Mises plainly explains the causes of the irrational fear and hatred many intellectuals and others feel for capitalism. In five concise chapters, he traces the causation of the misunderstandings and resultant fears that cause resistance to economic development and social change. He enumerates and rebuts the economic arguments against and the psychological and social objections to economic freedom in the form of capitalism. Written during the heyday of twentieth-century socialism, this work provides the reader with lucid and compelling insights into human reactions to capitalism.

Spooner challenged the US postal monopoly by starting his own mail company to deliver letters and by writing a short book arguing that it was wrong on legal and constitutional grounds.

A collection of Mill’s writings on economics, including his early essays on The Impolicy of a Bounty on the Exportation of Grain, Commerce Defended, and selections from his Elements of Political Economy and his History of British India.

The great Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises provides a concise and tightly-argued one volume defense of classical liberalism, focusing on the core concepts of private property, limited government, peace, and the free market. Liberty Fund’s edition of the work in the collection “The Works of Ludwig von Mises.” See also the Reading Guide for this title available at #EconlibReads.