Economics in One Lesson

“The economic goal of any nation, as of any individual, is to get the greatest result with the least effort” (55). This first sentence sets the chapter’s focus. All of Hazlitt’s arguments stem from this foundational point: He believes progress is about producing more with the same labor, and that the ultimate goal of economic progress is to maximize production.

Full employment is but a byproduct of this: It is the lack of involuntary idleness, which must be true if a nation has achieved maximum production. However, the opposite is not true: Full employment can be reached without full production. Unproductive tasks can be created at every turn if full employment becomes an end in itself, with no consideration for production. Hazlitt believes that this is the case of less developed countries: Their standards of living are low even though most are employed because the tasks they perform are less productive. This was also the case under Hitler’s regime: Full employment can be reached under coercion, though it may not be any more productive.

Hazlitt argues that it would be much more desirable to have a portion of the population supported in their idleness under an economy that has reached full production with a reduced workforce than to achieve full employment for the sake of employing people.