oldfart
Older than dirt
A poll of the delegation revealed enough interest to support a real discussion about the Austrian School. Most of those expressing an opinion are critics of the Austrians but I am sure that some adherents will want to join the discussion too. I'll start things off with a few comments which I encourage responses to.
First I believe we need to park current political ideology at the door. Most posters will admit to some good things and some bad things about the Austrian School. So apologetics, flame wars, and defenses of political ideology won't advance the discussion. This is about economics. That said, people get very passionate about their view of "homo economicus" and their view of the world. I anticipate some chiding (some of which will directed at me!) to keep things on track.
Second, we are going to have to agree on a working definition of the "Austrian School". As a first approximation, I think it starts with Carl Menger, Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, Frank Fetter, and Frederich Wieser at the turn of the twentieth century. It includes the next generation taught by these individuals: Friedrich Hayek, Henry Hazlitt, Ludwig von Mises, & Joseph Schumpeter, continuing to Murray Rothbard and contemporary living authors.
Prominent areas of inquiry include: Austrian business cycle theory, creative destruction, the "Economic calculation problem", roundaboutness, the subjective theory of value, methodological individualism, and theories of interest, inflation, mal-investment, and depression; and of course the Marginal Revolution. Many of these ideas have merged into the neo-classical mainstream; so contrasting the Austrians as different in all respects from the mainstream neo-classical school is a fallacy committed by authors on both sides.
A controversy has arisen over Hayek, who many count among the Austrians because of his writings on the economic role of government, but others point to his acceptance of most of the neo-classical model. Today the Austrian School seems to have two branches, the Hayekians and the Rothbard/Mises branch.
So I invite everyone to tell me what I have missed and to answer the question: "Do Hayek and Rothbard/Mises represent the same school?"
NEXT POSTS: Origins, naming, and capital theory of the Austrian School.
Utility, demand, and the Marginal Revolution.
First I believe we need to park current political ideology at the door. Most posters will admit to some good things and some bad things about the Austrian School. So apologetics, flame wars, and defenses of political ideology won't advance the discussion. This is about economics. That said, people get very passionate about their view of "homo economicus" and their view of the world. I anticipate some chiding (some of which will directed at me!) to keep things on track.
Second, we are going to have to agree on a working definition of the "Austrian School". As a first approximation, I think it starts with Carl Menger, Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, Frank Fetter, and Frederich Wieser at the turn of the twentieth century. It includes the next generation taught by these individuals: Friedrich Hayek, Henry Hazlitt, Ludwig von Mises, & Joseph Schumpeter, continuing to Murray Rothbard and contemporary living authors.
Prominent areas of inquiry include: Austrian business cycle theory, creative destruction, the "Economic calculation problem", roundaboutness, the subjective theory of value, methodological individualism, and theories of interest, inflation, mal-investment, and depression; and of course the Marginal Revolution. Many of these ideas have merged into the neo-classical mainstream; so contrasting the Austrians as different in all respects from the mainstream neo-classical school is a fallacy committed by authors on both sides.
A controversy has arisen over Hayek, who many count among the Austrians because of his writings on the economic role of government, but others point to his acceptance of most of the neo-classical model. Today the Austrian School seems to have two branches, the Hayekians and the Rothbard/Mises branch.
So I invite everyone to tell me what I have missed and to answer the question: "Do Hayek and Rothbard/Mises represent the same school?"
NEXT POSTS: Origins, naming, and capital theory of the Austrian School.
Utility, demand, and the Marginal Revolution.
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