Eamonn Butler

More Books by Eamonn

Ludwig von Mises A Primer

Ludwig von Mises was the doyen of the modern Austrian School of Economics. This short book outlines his career, writings and influence in straightforward terms. It explains his belief that personal values and the logic of choice must be the foundation of economics, his insistence on the key role of entrepreneurship and competition in a dynamic economy, and why socialist planning could never work. It also explains his understandings on capital, interest, money, inflation and particularly relevant to today the cycle of boom and bust.

Publication date: April 2010

Milton Friedman: A Guide to His Economic Thought

An easy introduction to one of the most influential of economists and founder of modern monetarism. This book explains Friedman’s opposition to the Keynesian orthodoxy, and outlines his ideas on the supply and demand for money, the nature and causes of inflation, business cycles and unemployment, and the principles of sound economic policy. It also outlines Friedman’s life and his libertarian views on public policy.

Learn more and order your copy here.
Also available on audio.

Hayek: His Contribution to the Political and Economic Thought of our Time

A short, readable introduction to the live and work of the Nobel economist and political thinker F A Hayek, one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century. This book explains Hayek’s ideas on the unplanned, ‘spontaneous’ nature of society, the superiority of markets over socialism in solving economic problems, the institutions of a liberal order, and the misunderstandings that pervade most social science.

Learn more and order your copy here.
Also available on audio.

Ludwig von Mises: Fountainhead of the Modern Microeconomic Revolution

A comprehensive but accessible survey of the life and work of the founder of the ‘Modern Austrian’ school of economics. Mises believed that mainstream economics completely missed the point of the subject, which is to understand why and how people make economic choices. The book critically reviews his economic method, and explains his innovative ideas on the nature of money, the trade cycle, the folly of government interventionism, and liberal society.

Learn more and order your copy here.
Also available on audio.

Forty Centuries of Wage and Price Controls

For 4,000 years, governments have tried to stem inflation by passing laws against price rises. This amusing book, with Robert L Schuettinger, shows how that policy has never worked. Hammurabi of Babylon set prices in stone, Emperor Diocletian imposed a death penalty, but both failed. Price fixing in revolutionary France and America were disastrous. Even today, governments try the same. But it is their own debasement of the currency makes inflation inevitable.

Learn more and order your copy here.

Eamonn’s books on IQ testing

The Sherlock Holmes IQ Book

Co-authored by Mensa secretary Dr Madsen Pirie, The Sherlock Holmes IQ Book sets the scene for each of the Sherlock Holmes stories but interjects an intriguing little IQ puzzle into each one.

Boost Your IQ

Yes, it can be done if you understand the techniquest that IQ testers use, you can be prepared and improve your performance on their tests. This book tells you how. Co-author Dr Madsen Pirie.

Test Your IQ

Co-authored with Dr Madsen Pirie, Test Your IQ allows you to check your quick-wittedness on visual, mathematical, linguistic and brain-teaser questions.

IQ Puzzlers

The comprehensive test-your-brain volume, containing Test Your IQ, Boost Your IQ, and The Sherlock Holmes IQ Book.

Some books Eamonn has contributed to

Verdict on the Crash

Accompanied by other economists, Eamonn explains that governments, not banks, caused the 2008 financial crash. It originated with bad US housing policy in the 1970s (made worse in the 1990s), and by an over-expansion of money and credit by the US and UK authorities.

British Social Welfare: Past, Present and Future

Edited by David Gladstone. A core text on the welfare state, putting it into historical context and outline the debate on where it should go from here.

The Dangers of Bus Re-Regulation

By John Hibbs. Eamonn’s chapter ‘The State Control Mess’ charts how state regulation left bus transport as an over-regulated network of route monopolists, with long-distance services dominated by a nationalised bus company and local services run for the benefit of politicians rather than customers.

Learn more and download a free copy here.