Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book argues that criticisms of opportunity cost depend on assuming away the forward-looking nature of action and cost and also on falsely conflating different kinds of choices that actors make. It outlines a causal-realist method for deriving the key principles of demand analysis using the individual's ordinal scale of values. The book explains Rothbard's early work relied on many conventional mainstream economic assumptions and concepts in order to explain producer's activity, including perfect competition and the isolated firm. It also argues that in a free-market setting, all known risks either are accounted for through entrepreneurial judgment, or are irrelevant to acting individuals. The book examines the transaction costs literature, especially the work of Ronald Coase, in light of the two fields in which it is most successful: the economic analysis of property rights, and the theory of the firm.