Leading the Revival of Individualism & Self Reliance

Economics for Individuals

February 26, 2021 / by Ricky Porco

Austrian Economics is the economics of individualism.

The virtues of individualism – including independence, self-reliance, and the willingness to bear risks as well as the entrepreneurial readiness to back one’s own conviction against a majority, and the willingness to voluntary collaboration with one’s neighbors – are not highly respected today. They should be, because they rank among the most important values that energize Individual Economics, the economic system that, properly understood, empowers every individual to choose the most effective means to achieve their own subjective ends, resulting in the emergence of the best society for all.

Austrian Economists

Explore Our Economics for Individuals Collection

Our goal with this collection is to illustrate the principles of Individual Economics in the hope of encouraging their greater adoption.

Economics For Individuals: Can We Really Identify Bubbles? Only In Hindsight.

In a strange way, we reserve the derogatory term “bubble” only to those who don’t succeed. The difference between Amazon, the online retail giant we all know, and Pets.com, the obscure 1990s startup that only financial nerds now talk about, is that Amazon succeeded. In hindsight, that’s obvious; from the point of view of 1999, it wasn’t.

Economics For Individuals: Save Like A Pessimist, Invest Like An Optimist.

Compounding is easy to underestimate because it’s not intuitive, even for smart people. If the odds are in your favor and you can keep them in your favor for a long time, you shouldn’t just be an optimist. You should be a ridiculous, full-blown, giddy optimistic. Which is also what history tells us, isn’t it?

Economics For Individuals:Let’s Talk Time Preference, Democracy And The Decline Through Which We Are Currently Living.

This trend of decivilization is inevitable in a democracy. When unproductive people, such as politicians and government employees, can aspire to powerful roles in a government that has a legitimate monopoly on the transference of income and wealth to reward and reinforce non-productivity, they will seize the opportunity it represents and exploit it to the fullest.

How Entrepreneurs Build Beautiful Businesses.

“Aim to please” is the first principle of beautiful business. To attract people – customers - is simply a matter of understanding what will please them. This requires empathy – understanding people, their hopes and dreams and desires and preferences, and catering to them.
Life is Good with Individual Economics

Individual Economics Shows Each One Of Us The Pathway To The Good Life.

Every individual plays two economic roles, as consumer and producer. In these roles, every individual is involved in transactions or exchanges. What individual economics has discovered is that, for an exchange to take place, each party to it must feel that they are benefitting. An exchange is mutually beneficial. Economics is never about exploitation, and always about shared betterment.

The Mirage of Social Justice
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