5 Quotes & Sayings By George Reisman

George Reisman is a professor of economics at Pepperdine University, where he has been a faculty member since 1979. Prior to that, he was the Richard H. Timberlake Professor of Economics at New York University. Dr Read more

Reisman was a student of Ludwig von Mises, a winner of the Nobel Prize in economics and a teacher of Henry Hazlitt and Isabel Paterson. He was also a student of Richard Ely, founder of the American Economic Association and an early supporter of Henry George's single tax philosophy. In addition to teaching economics courses at Pepperdine, he has given lectures throughout the United States as well as in Israel, Poland, Russia, Germany and other European countries.

1
Monopoly is a market, or part of a market, reserved to the exclusive possession of one or more sellers by means of the initiation of physical force by the government, or with the sanction of the government. Monopoly exists insofar as the freedom of competition is violated, with the freedom of competition being understood as the absence of the initiation of physical force as the preventive of competition. Where there is no initiation of physical force to violate the freedom of competition, there is no monopoly. The freedom of competition is violated only insofar as individuals are excluded from markets or parts of markets by means of the initiation of physical force. Monopoly is thus a market or part of a market reserved to the exclusive possession of one or more sellers by means of the initiation of physical force. It is thus something imposed upon the market from without–by the government. (Private individuals–gangsters–can initiate force to reserve markets only if the government allows it and thereby sanctions it.) Thus, monopoly is not something which emerges from the normal operation of the economic system, and which the government must control. . George Reisman
2
Liberty should be understood as freedom from the government, specifically, freedom from the initiation of physical force by the government. George Reisman
3
Whoever claims that economic competition represents 'survival of the fittest' in the sense of the law of the jungle, provides the clearest possible evidence of his lack of knowledge of economics. George Reisman
4
Under capitalism each individual engages in economic planning. George Reisman