The publication of a new English-Language translation of Bohm-Bawerk's monumental work on "Capital And Interest" raises an important question.  There is no doubt that Bohm-Bawerk's book is the most eminent contribution to modern economic theory.
    For every economist it is a must to study it most carefully and to scrutinize its' content with the utmost care.  A man not perfectly familiar with all the ideas advanced in these three volumes has no claim whatever to the appellation of an economist.  But what about the general reader, the man who does not plan to specialize in economics because his strenuous involvement in his business or in his profession does not leave him the leisure to plunge into detailed economic analysis?  What does this book mean to him?
    To answer this question we have to take into account the role that economic problems play in present-day politics.  All the political antagonisms and conflicts of our age turn on economic issues.
    It has not always been so.  In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the controversies that split the peoples of western civilization into feuding parties were religious.  Protestantism stood against Catholicism, and within the Protestant camp various interpretations of the gospels begot discord.  In the eighteenth century and in a great part of the nineteenth century constitutional conflicts prevailed in politics.  The principles of royal absolutism and oligarchic government were resisted by liberalism (in the classical European meaning of the term) that advocated representative government.  In those days a man who wanted to take an active part in the great issues of his age had to study seriously the matter of these controversies.  The sermons and the books of the theologians of the age of the Reformation were not reserved to esoteric circles of specialists.  They were eagerly absorbed by the whole educated public.  Later the writings of the foremost advocates of freedom were read by all those who were not fully engrossed in the petty affairs of their daily routine.  Only boors neglected to inform themselves about the great problems that agitated the minds of their contemporaries.
    In our age the conflict between economic freedom as represented in the market economy and totalitarian government omnipotence as realized by socialism is the paramount matter.  All political controversies refer to these economic problems.  Only the study of economics can tell a man what all these conflicts mean.  Nothing can be known about such matters as inflation, economic crises, unemployment, unionism, protectionism, taxation, economic controls, and all similar issues, that does not involve and presuppose economic analysis.  All the arguments advanced in favor of or against the market economy and its' opposites, interventionism or socialism (communism), are of an economic character.  A man who talks about these problems without having acquainted himself with the fundamental ideas of economic theory is simply a babbler who parrot-like repeats what he has picked up incidentally from other fellows who are not better informed than he himself.  A citizen who casts his ballot without having to the best of his abilities studied as much economics as he can fails in his civic duties.  He neglects using in the appropriate way the power that his citizenship has conferred upon him in giving him the right to vote.
    Now there is no better method to introduce a man to economic problems than that provided by the books of the great economists.  And certainly Bohm-Bawerk is one of the greatest of them.  His voluminous treatise is the royal road to an understanding of the fundamental political issues of our age.
    LUDWIG VON MISES COULD HAVE WRITTEN THIS SAME REVIEW OF HIS OWN GREAT ECONOMIC BOOK ENTITLED "HUMAN ACTION"