A Future of Freedom and Prosperity

Civilisation flourishes when citizens take a long-term view of life – when they focus on future satisfaction rather than instant gratification. Economists refer to this as having a low time preference.

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If most citizens have low time preferences, that enables us to create pleasant, free and affluent societies. 

If we forego consumption and save for the future, we accumulate capital. This is then loaned to entrepreneurs to fund investments that make work more productive. We build a prosperous society.

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If we focus on the long-term, we look after relationships and value our reputation. We care for our children, pass on our values to them, and ensure they have a good education. We build a civil society.

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The dominant political ideology of the past century – the social democratic welfare state - has put a brake on progress. When taxes and debt are high; when more than half the citizens are net beneficiaries of government largesse; when the growth of the public sector workforce outpaces the private sector; when laws and regulations are flexible and unpredictable; then there is less incentive to work hard and take risks. Consequently, there is less productive activity and less self-reliance; and more consumption, dependency, recklessness, hedonism and crime.

But despite such wrong-headedness, human ingenuity prevails. We provide quality goods and services economically for each other. We succeed because we have learned to work within the constraints imposed by politicians and central bankers who are ignorant of the consequences of their actions. We get on with our lives, ignoring their foolish schemes and regulations as best we can. The result is that our society is more prosperous and more civilised than ever, but not as prosperous and civilised as it could be without the constraints.

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My books and my blogs are based on the tenets of Libertarian Philosophy and Austrian Economics.

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The Fragility of Freedom  provides a basic understanding of the cultural heritage of Western Civilisation and proposes a moral society based on the principle of subsidiarity.   

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The Fortunate explores the ideas which have created the free and affluent societies that we enjoy.

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My books are published by Connor Court.           CLICK HERE TO ORDER

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