For MBA Students And Aspirants

I have often lectured at B-Schools throughout India, including IIMs, and found the students woefully ignorant of basic economics. Yet, these bright and hard-working students only attend B-Schools to learn about The Market.

For all those who are preparing for CAT exams and are planning to do an MBA, I thought that these words of Ludwig von Mises from his magnum opus, Human Action: A Treatise on Economics, would inspire them to see things as they truly are. This is from Chapter 15, titled – you guessed it – “The Market”:

It is often asserted that the poor man’s failure in the competition of the market is caused by his lack of education. Equality of opportunity, it is said, could be provided only by making education at every level accessible to all. There prevails today the tendency to reduce all differences among various peoples to their education and to deny the existence of inborn inequalities in intellect, will power, and character. It is not generally realized that education can never be more than indoctrination with theories and ideas already developed. Education, whatever benefits it may confer, is transmission of traditional doctrines and valuations; it is by necessity conservative. It produces imitation and routine, not improvement and progress. Innovators and creative geniuses cannot be reared in schools. They are precisely the men who defy what the school has taught them.

In order to succeed in business a man does not need a degree from a school of business administration. These schools train the subalterns for routine jobs. They certainly do not train entrepreneurs. An entrepreneur cannot be trained. A man becomes an entrepreneur in seizing an opportunity and filling the gap. No special education is required for such a display of keen judgment, foresight, and energy. The most successful businessmen were often uneducated when measured by the scholastic standards of the teaching profession. But they were equal to their social function of adjusting production to the most urgent demand. Because of these merits the consumers chose them for business leadership.

If you want, you can read this Chapter 15 by following the link below to the PDF file of Human Action:


[This PDF file of Human Action is very well indexed and easily searchable.]

It is a very long chapter, but you will learn everything you need to know about “The Market” – and by “everything” I truly mean everything. You will be much better prepared for an MBA.

And, if you study the entire book, you will be better educated than any MBA in the entire world.