Keynote Lecture by Jesús Huerta de Soto at the 8th Conference on Austrian Economics, Madrid, August 2, 2024

Introduction: The Emergence of a New Science that Revolutionizes Humanity

Economics is the youngest of all sciences and has been a major milestone in the history of Mankind. For the first time, Economics has shown how voluntary social cooperation free from institutional and systematic coercion creates a spontaneous order of prosperity and civilization which no one has designed or organized. Economics is the science of human interaction and has been expanded into a complete theory of liberty, understood as the most fundamental characteristic of human nature. Liberty means that every human interaction takes place voluntarily; that is, without any outside coercion or violence systematically imposed from above by the small group of human beings who exercise the political power.

The essence of this new science, Economics, is revolutionary. For the first time in the history of Mankind, it has been scientifically demonstrated that the state, in any of its forms, is unnecessary. It has been shown that society, understood as the process of voluntary human interactions, does not need anyone to govern it, because it spontaneously organizes itself. It has been shown that it is impossible to coordinate society based on coercive commands emanating from the state, and that any attempt to do so is doomed to failure causing violence and conflicts.

Economic Science also dismantles Thomas Hobbes: The “state of nature” was not an inevitable and dreadful situation, nor was there a “social contract” to keep order and guarantee peace. On the contrary, natural evolution has consisted precisely of the spontaneous and voluntary emergence of trade, while at the same time, states appeared as coercive institutions composed of the most antisocial, violent human beings, who wished (and wish) to live by plundering productive citizens (Oppenheimer 1926). Thus, Economics, as a new science, shows that what Étienne de La Boétie termed “voluntary servitude” is an anti-human aberration to which human beings have been subjected since time immemorial. In other words, for the first time in History, Economic Science has opened the eyes of Mankind: There is no need to go on following the custom of obeying the state; nor do governments have actually any superior prestige (indeed, they are literally devoid of any intellectually or morally superior attribute); nor are the establishment of politicians untouchable; nor must we allow ourselves to be bought, seduced, and deceived by the subsidies or perks intended to gain the loyalty of exploited human beings so they will voluntarily consent to being plundered (de La Boétie 2008). ……..

And now, to conclude: Will it be possible to dismantle the State with the teachings of true Economics? That is the great current challenge facing our Economic Science: to shake off the reactionary counterrevolution which insists on maintaining and justifying, the coercive, systematic, and monopolistic power of states and their governments; and to open up, once and for all, every area of society to voluntary cooperation and human interaction based on liberty. Even Justice, “public” order, and the prevention, suppression, and punishment of crime are to be provided by market processes based on voluntary cooperation. To scientifically demonstrate that this strategic objective is not only possible but also very useful for advancing civilization and the growing number and limitless well-being of people, is the great challenge before our Science. And our Science will continue to move forward only if it culminates its initial Great Discovery on the creative, coordinating effects of the spontaneous market order. Due to their complexity, these effects cannot be imagined, designed, or directed from above based on coercive commands from those with political power. Furthermore, the study of the most suitable transition, in each case and historical circumstance, to the proposed ideal system based on complete liberty from the state is another of the great, unavoidable challenges facing our Science at the present time. The transition must rest both on the avoidance of sudden regulatory vacuums and on the privatization and gradual, continuous, and specific dismantling (”piecemeal social deregulation”) of the entire framework of statist interventionism that today frustrates the free processes of voluntary cooperation. In short, the definitive triumph in the war of Economic Science against the “cultural statism” that today corrupts and confines it will become clear only with (first) the complete theoretical formulation and (later) practical realization of the libertarian ideal of an anarchocapitalist system. It is certain that only if we manage to culminate this ambitious scientific program will it become possible for the future of Humanity to expand exponentially, with a prosperity that today, due to its magnitude and complexity, we cannot even imagine.