This essay puts For a New Liberty into the context of its time (and our time). It shows how Rothbard shot down claims that see market competition as a social Darwinian struggle for survival, instead seeing the market as an institution enabling mutually beneficial cooperation; indicates how Rothbard wounds (perhaps mortally) utilitarian arguments; and warns against the assumption that because democracies are “better” than dictatorships, they are necessarily more peace loving.

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David Gordon is a Senior Fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute.
EconomistsEconomyFree Market EconomicsPhilosophy and Religion
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