Austrian School

Archive for Austrian School

Don’t Trust the Experts: Not in Physics, Certainly Not in Economics

Tyler Cowen has an amusing post (with which I largely agree) where he wonders how many economists truly understand various important results in economics. One might walk away from Tyler’s post thinking, “Human knowledge has become so specialized that we can really only trust a handful of world experts in each little niche.” But that’s […]

Potpourri

==> Tom Woods reports: My paper with Phil Magness on Piketty is the #1 downloaded in the past 60 days at Social Sciences Resource Network. If only truth were a popularity contest! (Oh wait, Piketty would be right then.) BTW, I should officially say that Phil did most of the laborious wading through Piketty’s spreadsheets, […]

Austrian Economics and Math

I respond to that blog post I had earlier brought to your attention. An excerpt: I can’t think of a single prominent Austrian who ever said anything remotely like, “I hate math.”…So you can see why Albrecht’s whole premise seems foreign to me, and serves only to reassure outside critics that Austrians are a bunch […]

Yes Scott Sumner Is “the NGDP Guy”

I explain why he has been pigeonholed. For example, he has said the Fed is more powerful than God because it controls NGDP. More substantively, I produce the following chart: So yes, Scott is right that some economists foolishly thought monetary policy was tight in the Weimar Republic because nominal interest rates were high. But […]

Tom Woods and I Talk Austrian vs. Chicago, Bitcoin, Gold Standard

Here’s his blog post with various formats, below is the YouTube version.

Distinguishing “Land” from “Capital Goods”

I answer Gene Callahan’s interesting question. An excerpt: For a fanciful example, if Superman went and got an asteroid full of precious metals and brought it to the surface of the Earth, and then died in a sneak attack from Lex Luthor, the pile of metals would have the same economic status as a gold […]

Continuing My Chats With Noah Smith

Since some of you asked, I deliver. An excerpt: Now in all seriousness, Noah is actually a really sharp guy. The problem is that he’s JUST SO SURE the Austrian contribution to recent debates is so absurd, that he doesn’t even try to understand where we’re coming from. He’s like the patronizing police psychologistSilberman interviewing […]

Mises Institute USA and Canada Events

From July 20 – 26 I will be in Auburn AL at the original Mises Institute for the famous “Mises University.” This is the flagship event for the Mises Institute in which we provide a comprehensive introduction to Austro-libertarian thought. I realize a week in Alabama in July doesn’t sound appetizing, but it is truly […]