Why We Need a Theory to Interpret History
Was reading a
summary of "Democracy - The God That Failed" by Hans-Hermann Hoppe and liked this list of axioms that make it possible to correctly interpret history and the possibility of future events.
…a larger quantity of a good is preferred to a smaller amount of the same good; production must precede consumption; what is consumed now cannot be consumed again in the future; prices fixed below market-clearing prices will lead to lasting shortages; without private property in production factors there can be no factor prices, and without factor prices cost-accounting is impossible; an increase in the supply of paper money cannot increase total social wealth but can only redistribute existing wealth; monopoly (the absence of free entry) leads to higher prices and lower product quality than competition; no thing or part of a thing can be owned exclusively by more than one party at a time; democracy (majority rule) and private property are incompatible.
Assuming these things are true
a priori allows one to build an accurate theory to interpret past events and predict future trends. This is the reason Austrian economics is the most accurate model we have to understand interactions between humans today.I urge you to read the summary if not the book. (I haven't read the book yet, but it is now on my list.) Hoppe argues, quite convincingly, that monarchy is better than democracy and that a "natural order", absent of a State monopoly of property protection, conflict arbitration, and peacemaking, would be the best system for peace and progress of human society.