State of Innovation

Review of Intellectual Capitalism: Practical and Philosophical Aspects of Capitalism

This is the latest review of my book Intellectual Capitalism.

Author Dale Halling is an American patent lawyer interested in the practical and philosophical aspects of capitalism, specifically regarding the way in which human wealth is created.

The first part of this book covers Intellectual Capitalism. Halling reviews the most popular theories on economics (neoclassical, Keynesian, Austrian) and highlights the flaws and irrationality that he sees in each. Then he expands on his thesis that humans are different than other living creatures because humans can invent ways to survive by changing their environment while other living creatures must adapt to the given environment through evolution. The book covers fiat money, legal tender laws, fractional reserve banking, and central banking with a goal o identifying the source of real per capita increase in wealth.

The second part of this book is Halling’s 2014 book “The Source of Economic Growth.” I reviewed that book separately.

The third part of this book is a collection of essays comparing and critiquing the ideas of Menger, Mises, Hayek, Rand, Locke, Schumpeter, Hume, Aristotle, Friedman, Smith, and others, making distinctions between ideas based on science versus pseudo-science.

I highly recommend this book to people interested in the subject matter, but be aware the book is technical and not for mainstream readers. The author’s thinking is clear and well explained in a direct and to-the-point style. Some of the ideas are outside of what people might read in mainstream economics textbooks and therefore of interest to economists.

March 20, 2017 - Posted by dbhalling | reviews | Intellectual Capitalism