From The Austrian Economics Wiki, the global repository of classical-liberal thought
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| A '''speculator''' is a person who attempts to buy high and sell low.{{Fact}}
| | #redirect [[Speculation]] |
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| {{See also|Speculation}}
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| ==Views==
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| In doing so, he helps smooth out extreme variations in prices. Praxeologically, all actors are speculators because the future is always uncertain.<ref>{{cite book|quote=The distinctive reasoning of the speculator is an understanding of the relevance of the various factors determining future events. And — let us emphasize it even at this early point of our investigations — action necessarily always aims at future and therefore uncertain conditions and thus is always speculation.|url=http://mises.org/humanaction/chap2sec8.asp|chapter=Conception and Understanding|author=Mises, Ludwig von|title=Human Action}}</ref> There is always the potential for a [[black swan]] event to cause even "safe" investments to go bad.<ref>{{cite book|quote=In a changing economy action always involves speculation. Investments may be good or bad, but they are always speculative. A radical change in conditions may render bad even investments commonly considered perfectly safe.|title=Human Action|author=Mises, Ludwig von|chapter=The Mobility of the Investor|url=http://mises.org/humanaction/chap18sec8.asp}}</ref> Among the factors that can change are future needs and valuations, the reaction of men to changes in conditions, future scientific and technological knowledge, and future ideologies and policies.<ref>{{cite book|title=Human Action|url=http://mises.org/humanaction/chap6sec1.asp|chapter=Uncertainty and Acting|author=Mises, Ludwig von}}</ref> [[Ludwig von Mises]] notes, "The great majority of people, not knowing how to speculate successfully, and socialist writers of all shades of opinion, speak very ill of speculation."<ref>{{cite book|title=Socialism|author=Mises, Ludwig von|chapter=Speculation|url=http://mises.org/books/socialism/part2_ch10.aspx#_sec6}}</ref>
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| ==References==
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| {{reflist}}
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| ==Links==
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| * {{md|2381|The Social Function of Stock Speculators|[[Robert P. Murphy]]|November 2006}}
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| {{stub}}
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| [[Category:Economics]]
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Latest revision as of 16:26, 14 January 2013
