Is the Market a Test of Truth and Beauty‪?‬

Leland B. Yeager is one of the giants of the generation of economists after Ludwig von Mises. He was Mises's student and translator — and has made a lifetime of contributions to policy, theory, method, ethics, and aesthetics as a champion of freedom in the Austrian tradition.

This vast but affordable collection is a tribute to the range of his brilliance and erudition. Hand-picked by Yeager, many of the essays found in this volume are unavailable anywhere else.

The title essay is one of the more controversial articles ever to appear in economic literature. Yeager sets forth a general theory of market dominance and its relationship to issues of truth and beauty. He argues that we cannot use the market as the final test to determine aesthetics or the value of truth claims. These, he says, must come from outside market analytics.

The essay offers a profound clarification of the role of economics and markets. And it is an archetype of the critical thought that Yeager has published throughout his long career. He is an iconoclast, a truly independent thinker with a heroic way of approaching core issues. Even where one disagrees, he helps advance careful thinking and rigorous analysis.

The essays are unfailingly interesting, with one of them actually in the language called Interlingua (Yeager briefly served as president of the Interlingua Society). It is probably the first and only English-language book on economics to include such an interesting item.

His many students through the years have hoped for a volume with his most interesting, provocative, and thrilling essays — and here it is at last. This book will more firmly entrench his reputation as a giant within the Austrian oeuvre.