Basic Liberalism Course

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Last updated : 2026-06-06

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The topics of the Basic Liberalism Course are shown, which include: history of liberalism, ethical base, philosophical base, the basic concepts of political institutions, main economic schools and main concepts of Austrian economics.

Module 1: Mandatory foundational topics

• Ideas / Ideology
• Weaknesses of our brain

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Module 2: Liberalism and its ethical foundations

Definitions and ethical bases

• Definition of Liberalism
• Liberal ethical currents
• Ethical base of liberalism
• Principles of liberalism
• Origins of liberalism

Thinkers and schools of philosophy

• Aristotle (384-322 BC)
• IusNaturalism
• The School of Salamanca
• The Whigs

• John Locke (1632-1656)

• Optional reading from module 2

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Module 3: Political Institutions

• The State
• Evolution and justification of the State
• The Republic
• Federalism
• Democracy
• Representativeness
• Parliamentary System vs Presidentialist
• Optional reading from module 3

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Module 4: Main Schools of Economics

• Classical School of Economics
• Neoclassical School of Economics
• Austrian School of Economics
• Chicago School

• Comparison of economic schools

• Keynesianism, Marxism and other schools are seen in the intermediate course, not here.

Classical School

• Adam Smith (1723-1790)

Austrian School

• Carl Menger (1840–1921)
• Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
• Friedrich Hayek (1899-1992)
• Murray Rothbard (1926–1995)
• Robert Nozick (1938-2002) (He was a philosopher, not an economist)

Chicago School

• Milton Friedman (1912–2006)

Optionals

• Optional reading from module 4

Module 5: Notions of Austrian Economics

• Poverty and Wealth
• The Malthusian Trap

Concepts of Austrian Economics

• Praxeology (human action)

Related to the Theory of value

• Marginal Utility (Diminishing)
• Subjective Theory of Value

The price mechanism

• Dispersed Knowledge and Spontaneous Order
• Economic Calculation
• The relationship between Dispersed Knowledge, Economic Calculation and Spontaneous Order
• Price Mechanism
• Central Planning
• I, Pencil

International Trade

• Theory of Comparative Advantage

Related to the Interest Rate

• Time Preference
• Interest Rate
• The Problem of the Economic Cycle and the Austrian Solution
• Malinvestment

Related to inflation

• The Gold Standard
• Inflation
• The Quantity Theory of Money

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Module 6: Free Market Economy

Free Market Economy

"Free market" has the same meaning as "Pure Capitalism", "Market Economy", "Free Market Economy" or "Free Market Capitalism" and perhaps even "Anarcho-capitalism". However, since the word "Capitalism" has been distorted, we will clarify the topic in this module.

• Definition of Free Market
• The efficiency of the Free Market
• Achievements of the Free Market

Module 7: Distortions of the Free Market

Distortion -> Mercantilism

"Mercantilism" is basically everything that leftists call "Capitalism", there is nothing related to the "Free Market" in "Mercantilism".

• Bullionism
• Montaigne's Fallacy
• Mercantilism: Colonialism and Slavery

Distortion -> Low State Intervention

• Low State Intervention

Distortion -> Medium State Intervention

• Protectionism
• Minimum Wage

Distortion 2 : High State Intervention

• Price Controls
• Other high state interventions

Communist Distortions

• War Communism
• The GOSPLAN and the Holodomor
• The Great Leap Forward

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Last updated : 2026-06-06

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