# Human Action *Published 1949 by Yale University Press. ~889 pages. Author: [[Ludwig von Mises]], Austrian-American economist. The magnum opus of Austrian School economics — a comprehensive treatise deriving all of economics from the axiom that humans act purposefully. The intellectual foundation that Hayek, Rothbard, and the libertarian movement built on.* Mises' grand project: rebuild economics from first principles using "praxeology" — the study of human action. All economic phenomena (prices, money, business cycles, capital) are derived logically from the axiom that individuals act purposefully to achieve goals. Government intervention in the economy is always destructive because central planners cannot replicate the information embedded in market prices (the "economic calculation problem"). *Human Action* is the bible of the [[Austrian School]] and the intellectual ancestor of the libertarian movement that feeds into [[the Thiel network]], the Koch network, and the broader right-wing economic infrastructure documented in this KB. ## See Also - [[Ludwig von Mises]] — Author - [[Austrian School]] — The economic tradition - [[The Road to Serfdom]] — Hayek's more accessible Austrian School text - [[Capitalism and Freedom]] — Friedman's [[Chicago School]] parallel - [[Movement Conservatism]] — The political tradition these ideas fed