Part of: The Collected Works of Arthur Seldon The Collected Works of Arthur Seldon, vol. 1 - The Virtues of Capitalism

The Virtues of Capitalism, lays the foundation of Seldon’s views and theories of capitalism and its alternatives. The first part, Corrigible Capitalism; Incorrigible Socialism, was first published in 1980. It explains why, Seldon believes, “private enterprise is imperfect but redeemable,” but the “state economy promises the earth, and ends in coercion to conceal its incurable failure.” .

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The second part, Capitalism, is widely considered to be Seldon’s finest work. It covers a wide range of the classical liberal thought that inspired the movement toward free-market reforms in Great Britain and intellectually opposed the collectivist tide of socialism. For reasons of copyright, only “Part II: Capitalism” is available online

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Citation

The Collected Works of Arthur Seldon, 7 vols., ed. and with Introductions by Colin Robinson (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2004-5). Vol. 1.

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Lord Ralph Harris (Author)

Lord Harris, a fellow intellectual pioneer, worked alongside Seldon at the Institute of Economic Affairs for many years.
James M. Buchanan (Author)

The public choice school of economics, of which Buchanan is a founding father, was a source of great hope for Seldon.

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The difficulty with limited government that liberals have yet to resolve is that its functions must be exercised through the imperfect political process that distorts and manipulates individual preferences. Who makes the rules that politicians are to enforce in the public interest if not the…

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