This set of review questions is part of the Liberty In the Books
program, a monthly discussion group. The questions cover Henry
Hazlitt’s classicEconomics In One Lesson, 1979 edition. Reading
I: Through Page 70, Chapter IX: Disbanding Troops ** Preface **
1. What is Hazlitt’s purpose in writing this book? 2. What is
Hazlitt’s view of novelty in economic theory? 3. Hazlitt
addresses fallacies in their popular form, not their academic
form. Can Hazlitt do this and be fair to the theories in their
more sophisticated forms? What does Hazlitt’s view say about the
relationship between academics and popular culture? 4. In his
preface, Hazlitt discusses his use of statistics. Likewise, in
Chapter VII, he writes [page 54], “Statistics and history are
useless in economics unless accompanied by a basic deductive
understanding of the facts.” What is Hazlitt’s basic view of the
use and status of statistics? ** Chapter I: The Lesson ** 5. Why
is economics especially beset by fallacies? 6. What does Hazlitt
mean by the “spe