Interested in learning more about classical liberal ideas? The readings below will help you to better understand the ideas of liberty.
If you would like to access readings in French, please click here.
Si vous voulez accéder à nos lectures en français, cliquez ici.
1. Classical Liberalism
- Classical Liberalism: A Primer by Eamonn Butler
- The Origin of ‘Liberalism’ by Daniel Klein
2. An Introduction to the Economic Way of Thinking
- Economics as a way of thinking by Paul Heyne
- If you’re paying I’ll have the top sirloin by Russ Roberts
- The Use of Knowledge in Society by F.A. Hayek
- The Law by Frederic Bastiat
- Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
- La moralité du capitalisme edited by Tom Palmer, translated in French by Emmanuel Martin (for ILS)
3. Public Choice Economics
- Public Choice: A Primer by Eamonn Butler
- Government Faliure: A Primer on Public Choice by Gordon Tullock
- Public Choice: The Science of Political Skepticism by Dan D’Amico
- Why Government Fails by Isaac Morehouse
- A brief explanation of The Overton Window
4. The Austrian School
- Austrian School of Economics by Peter Boettke
- Economics for Real People by Gene Callahan
- Austrian Economics: A Primer by Eamonn Butler
5. Entrepreneurship
- The Meaning of Competition by F.A. Hayek
- TANSTAAFL and Saving: Not the Whole Story by Sanford Ikeda
- Consumer Sovereignty and Getting “The Things” There by Michael Munger
- The Entrepreneur as American Hero by Walter Williams
6. Spontaneous Order
- From Smith to Menger to Hayek: Liberalism in the Spontaneous Order Tradition by Steven Horwitz
- A Marvel of Cooperation: How Order Emerges without a Conscious Planner by Russell Roberts
- I, Pencil by Leonard E. Read
- Adam Smith, Sympathy, and Spontaneous Social-Moral Order by Lauren Hall
7. Some History
- Great Myths of the Great Depression by Lawrence Reed
- Bourgeois Virtue by Deidre McCloskey
- Welfare before the Welfare State by Joshua Fulton
8. Politics
- Democracy, Markets, and the Legal Order: Notes on the Nature of Politics in a Radically Liberal Society by Don Lavoie
- The Humanitarian with the Guillotine by Isabel Paterson
- Credo by Rose Wilder Lane
9. Difficult Issues
- Price Gouging Roundup from Bleeding Heart Libertarians
- On Price Gouging by Don Boudreaux
- Safe spaces, academic freedom, and the university as a complex association by Jacob T. Levy
- Openborders.info for resources arguing both for and against open borders
10. Fiction
- Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut
- Anthem by Ayn Rand
- Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
- The Trial by Franz Kafka
11. Videos
- Fear the Boom and the Bust: Keynes vs. Hayek Rap Battle
- Fight of the Century: Keynes vs. Hayek Rap Battle Round Two
- The Hockey Stick of Human Prosperity with Don Boudreaux
- How the Division of Knowledge Saved My Son’s Life with Don Boudreaux
- 200 Years, 200 Countries, 4 Minutes with Hans Rosling
- The Magic Washing Machine with Hans Rosling
- Basic Economics with Thomas Sowell
- I, Pencil video series
- Commanding Heights (Episode One: The Battle of Ideas)
- Free to Choose with Milton Friedman
- Is Price Gouging Immoral? Should it be Illegal? with Matt Zwolinski
12. Online Courses
- Capitalism & Political Economy – Duke University
- Principles of Microeconomics – MRUniversity
- Principles of Macroeconomics – MRUniversity
- Foundational Concepts in Economics – Libertarianism.org
Looking for more?
- The Online Library of Liberty provides over 1,500 books online for free.
- Check out 50 works of fiction that libertarians should read.
- EconTalk is a weekly podcast from economist Russ Roberts.
- LearnLiberty has videos that help to explain many of the concepts you’ll come across in your readings.