In Defense of Mises’s Threefold Division of Economic Goods

Mises divides economic goods into three categories: consumers’ goods, capital good, and medium of exchange (money). Barnett & Block (2005) argue that exchange is a form of production, and there are only two types of goods, consumers’ goods and capital goods, and consequently, money is a capital goods. Howden (2016) argues for adding a fourth category of economic goods: non-monetary financial assets. The purpose of this paper is to defend Mises’s trichotomy and to clarify that the treatment of the taxonomy of economic goods must always be subjected to the test of the objectives and scope of catallactics or price theory.