Austrian School 1030 226152419 2008-07-17T01:38:26Z 75.148.6.221 c/e {{Articleissues |refimprove=August 2007 |technical=December 2007}} {{libertarianism}} The '''Austrian School''', also known as the “'''[[Vienna]] School'''” or the “'''Psychological School'''”, is a [[Heterodox economics|heterodox]]<ref name="Case & Fair">Case, C. & Fair, R. (2008). ''The principles of economics: 8<suo>th</sup> Edition''. Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.</ref> school of economics that advocates adherence to strict [[methodological individualism]]. As a result exponents of the Austrian School hold that the only valid economic theory is logically derived from basic principles of human action. Alongside the formal approach to theory, often called [[praxeology]], the school has traditionally advocated an interpretive approach to history. Proponents of praxeological method hold that it allows for the discovery of economic laws valid for all human action, while the interpretive approach addresses specific historical events. Opponents contend that it consists of [[post-hoc analysis]] and fails [[falsifiability]].<ref name = "mgtqpu">{{cite web |url=http://anti-state.com/article.php?article_id=381 |title=Why We Can't Associate Too Closely with the Austrians |accessdate=2008-05-12 |author=Joe D. |date=2003-01-31 |work= |publisher=anti-state.com}}</ref><ref name = "ovjxyg">{{cite web |url=http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-aussm.htm |title=A Critique of the Austrian School of Economics |accessdate=2008-05-10 |author=Steven R. Kangas |date= |work= |publisher=}}</ref> While often controversial, the Austrian School has been historically influential due to its emphasis on the creative phase (i.e. the time element) of economic productivity and its questioning of the basis of the behavioral theory underlying [[neoclassical economics]].{{Fact|date=May 2008}} Because many of the policy recommendations of Austrian theorists call for [[minarchism]], strict protection of private property, and support for [[individualism]] in general, they are often cited by [[conservatives]], [[laissez-faire liberal]], [[libertarian]], and [[Objectivism (Ayn Rand)|Objectivist]] groups for support, although Austrian School economists, like [[Ludwig von Mises]], insist that ''praxeology'' must be [[positive economics|value-free]]. They do not answer the question "should this policy be implemented?", but rather "if this policy is implemented, will it have [[Law of unintended consequences|the effects you intend]]?" ==History== [[Classical economics]] focused on the [[labour theory of value]]. In the late 19th century, however, attention was focused on the concepts of “marginal” cost and value. The Austrian School was one of three founding currents of the [[Marginal_revolution#The_Marginal_Revolution|marginalist revolution]] of the 1870s, with its major contribution being the introduction of the [[subjectivism|subjectivist]] approach in economics.<ref name=keizer/> Carl Menger's 1871 book, ''[[Principles of Economics]]'' was the catalyst for this development; while [[marginalism]] was generally influential, there was also a more specific school that grew up around Menger, which came to be known as the “Psychological School,” “Vienna School,” or “Austrian School.”<ref>Israel M. Kirzner (1987). "Austrian School of Economics," ''[[The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics]]'', v. 1, pp. 145-51.</ref> The Austrian School played a major role in the development of economic theory in the 20th century.<ref name=keizer>{{cite book | last = Keizer | first = Willem | title = Austrian Economics in Debate | publisher = Routledge | location = New York | year = 1997 | isbn = 9780415140546 }}</ref> Austrian economics is currently closely associated with the advocacy of ''[[laissez-faire]]'' views. Earlier Austrian economists were more skeptical compared to later economists such as [[Ludwig von Mises]] and [[Karel Engliš]], with [[Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk]] saying that he feared unbridled competition would lead to “[[anarchism]] in production and consumption”.{{attribution needed|date=January 2008}} However, the Austrian School, especially through the works of [[Friedrich Hayek]], was influential in the revival of ''laissez-faire'' thought in the 1980s.{{Fact|date=November 2007}} The school originated in [[Vienna]]. However, later adherents of the school like [[Murray Rothbard]] and others have derived the roots of the thought of the Austrian School from the Spanish [[Scholastics]] teaching at the [[University of Salamanca]] of the 15th century and the [[France|French]] [[Physiocrats]] of the 18th century.<ref>[http://www.mises.org/etexts/austrian.asp What is Austrian economics?]</ref> It owes its name to members of the [[Germany|German]] [[Historical School]] of [[economics]], who argued against the Austrians during the ''[[Methodenstreit]]'', in which the Austrians defended the reliance that [[classical economics|classical economists]] placed upon deductive logic. Their Prussian opponents derisively named them the “Austrian School” to emphasize a departure from mainstream German thought and to suggest a provincial, [[Aristotelian]] approach. (The name “Psychological School” derived from the effort to found marginalism upon prior considerations, largely psychological.) Menger was closely followed by [[Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk]] and [[Friedrich von Wieser]]. [[Austria]]n economists developed a sense of themselves as a school distinct from [[neoclassical economics]] during the [[economic calculation debate]], with [[Ludwig von Mises]] and [[Friedrich von Hayek]] representing the Austrian position, where they contended that without monetary prices and private property, meaningful economic calculation is impossible. The Austrian economists were the first liberal economists to systematically challenge the [[Marxist]] school{{Fact|date=November 2007}}. This was part of the Austrian economists' participation in the late 19th Century ''[[Methodenstreit]],'' during which they attacked the [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel|Hegelian]] doctrines of the [[Historical School]]. Though many Marxist authors have attempted to portray the Austrian school as a ''[[bourgeois]]'' reaction to Marx, such an interpretation is implausible: Menger wrote his ''[[Principles of Economics]]'' at almost the same time as [[Karl Marx|Marx]] was working upon ''[[Das Kapital]]'', whose second and third volumes were published more than ten and twenty years, respectively, after ''Principles''. {{Or|date=January 2008}} (However, this does not refute the weaker claim that marginalism received the attention it did in the 1880s, and not earlier, in part because it was seen as an answer to Marx.{{Or|date=January 2008}}) The Austrian economists were, nonetheless, amongst the first to clash directly with Marxism{{Fact|date=November 2007}}, since both dealt with such subjects as money, [[capital (economics)|capital]], [[business cycle]]s, and economic processes. Böhm-Bawerk wrote extensive critiques of Marx in the 1880s and 1890s, and several prominent Marxists&mdash;including [[Rudolf Hilferding]]&mdash;attended his seminar in 1905&ndash;06. In contrast, the classical economists had shown little interest in such topics, and many of them did not even gain familiarity with Marx's ideas until well into the twentieth century.{{Fact|date=November 2007}} The school was no longer centered in Austria after [[Hitler]] came to power. Austrian economics was ill-thought of by most economists after [[World War II]] because it rejected observational methods{{Fact|date=November 2007}}. Its reputation has lately risen with work by students of [[Israel Kirzner]] and [[Ludwig Lachmann]], as well as a renewed interest in Hayek after he won the [[Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Meijer | first = G. | title = New Perspectives on Austrian Economics | publisher = Routledge | location = New York | year = 1995 | isbn = 9780415122832 }}</ref> However, it remains a distinctly minority position, even in such areas as capital value. Austrian economics can be broken into two general trends. One, exemplified by [[Friedrich A. Hayek]], while distrusting most neoclassical concepts (like the entire corpus of macroeconomics), generally accepts a large part of the neoclassical methodology; the other, exemplified by [[Ludwig von Mises]], seeks a different formalism for [[economics]]. The main area of contention between the mainstream and the Austrian school is on their view of the market system as a process, not only to be studied using equilibrium models, but to be viewed as an incessant process that only tends toward a constantly changing equilibrium, this difference is the root of the [[Austrian Business Cycle Theory|Austrian business cycle theory]], the economic calculation debate, and their different views of monopoly and competition. The second primary area of contention between neoclassical theory and the Austrian school is over the possibility of consumer indifference&mdash;neoclassical theory says it is possible, whereas Mises rejected it as being “impossible to observe in practice.” This is a more philosophical problem, than one directly relevant to the understanding of the operation of the market. The third major dispute arose when Mises and his students argued that utility functions are [[ordinal scale|ordinal]], and not [[cardinal number|cardinal]]; that is, the Austrians contend that one can only rank preferences and cannot measure their intensity, in direct opposition to the neoclassical view at the time. Finally there are a host of questions about uncertainty raised by Mises and other Austrians, who argue for a different means of [[risk assessment]]. These questions are directly linked to the market process approach to economic theory, since the world of probabilistic uncertainty is the equilibrium world. Only immersed in a world of genuine uncertainty the market process theory is relevant. The influence that Austrian school ideas have had on [[Keynesian]] [[macroeconomics]] is often overlooked{{Fact|date=November 2007}}. Keynes himself acknowledged being exposed to the Misesian notion that “nominal” values could have “real” effects. A further source of this influence is the period of time when the [[London School of Economics]] brought in Hayek and other “continental” economists. {{Fact|date=November 2007}}While their students, though initially receptive, ultimately were drawn to the new Keynesian doctrines, many of the Hayekian concepts, particularly those relating time to the value of capital and its importance, would find their way into the work of Keynesians, especially by way of [[John Hicks]] (who, while distancing himself from Keynesianism, nonetheless made the most influential attempt to formalize it).{{Fact|date=November 2007}} The former [[U.S. Federal Reserve]] Chairman, [[Alan Greenspan]], speaking of the originators of the School, said in 2000, “the Austrian school have reached far into the future from when most of them practiced and have had a profound and, in my judgment, probably an irreversible effect on how most mainstream economists think in this country.”<ref>Greenspan, Alan. "Hearings before the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Financial Services." U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Financial Services. Washington D.C.. 7/25/2000.</ref> Greenspan also said that he had attended a seminar hosted by Ludwig von Mises.<ref>[http://www.usagold.com/gildedopinion/greenspan-gold.html The Greenspan-Paul Congressional Exchanges]</ref> In more recent politics, [[Ron Paul]], a Republican U.S. Representative from [[Texas]] who is running for the 2008 American Presidency, is a strong believer in Austrian school economics. He has authored six books on the subject, and displays pictures of classical liberal economists [[Friedrich Hayek]], [[Murray Rothbard]], and [[Ludwig von Mises]] (as well as of [[Grover Cleveland]]) on his office wall.<ref>http://mises.org/story/2891</ref><!--better citation needed--> ==Analytical framework== Austrian economists reject statistical methods and artificially constructed experiments as tools applicable to economics, saying that while it is appropriate in the natural sciences where factors can be isolated in laboratory conditions, the actions of human beings are too complex for this treatment. Instead one should isolate the logical processes of human action - a discipline named "[[praxeology]]" by [[Alfred Espinas]].{{Fact|date=November 2007}} The Austrian method is based on the heavy use of logical [[deduction]] from self-evident [[axioms]], undeniable facts about human existence. ''The primary axiom from which Austrians deduce further certain conclusions is the action axiom which holds that humans take conscious action toward chosen goals''. The axiom actually affirms many other axioms such as [[existence]], [[identity]], [[consciousness]], and [[free-will]]. Austrians recognize this but focus on action and say that it is undeniable because in order to deny action, one would have to employ action in the act of denial. This is the one area where Austrians differs most significantly from other schools of economic thought. Mainstream schools such as the [[Neoclassical economics|neoclassical]] economists, the [[Chicago school (economics)|Chicago school]], the [[Keynesian]]s and [[New Keynesian economics|New Keynesians]], adopt mathematical and statistical methods, and focus on [[induction]] and empirical observation to construct and test theories; while Austrians reject this approach in favor [[deduction]] and logically deduced inferences. Austrians stress deduction because deduction, if performed correctly, leads to certain conclusions and inferences that must be true. Though Austrians do not discount induction, they hold that it does not assure certainty like deduction. Mainstream economists do not argue with this assertion, but believe the conclusions that can be reached by pure logical deduction are limited and weak.<ref name="Samuelson">{{cite book|last=Samuelson |first=Paul |title=Economics |publisher=New York: McGraw-Hill |date=1964 |edition=6th |pages=736}}</ref> Austrians view [[entrepreneurship]] as the driving force in [[economic development]], see [[private property]] as essential to the efficient use of resources, and usually (if not always) see [[government]] interference in market processes as counterproductive. In this, their views do not far differ from those of the [[Chicago school (economics)|Chicago school]]. As with neoclassical economists, Austrians reject [[classical economics|classical]] cost of production theories, most famously the [[labor theory of value]]. Instead they explain value by reference to the [[Subjective theory of value|subjective preferences of individuals]]. This psychological aspect to Menger's economics has been attributed to the school's birth in turn of the century [[Vienna]]. [[Supply and demand]] are explained by aggregating over the decisions of individuals, following the precepts of [[methodological individualism]], which asserts that only individuals and not collectives make decisions, and [[marginalist]] arguments, which compare the costs and benefits for incremental changes. Contemporary neo-Austrian economists claim to adopt [[economic subjectivism]] more consistently than any other school of economics and reject many neoclassical formalisms. For example, while neoclassical economics formalizes the economy as an [[economic equilibrium|equilibrium]] system with supply and demand in balance, Austrian economists emphasize its dynamic, perpetually dis-equilibrated nature. The core of the Austrian framework can be summarized as taking a subjectivist approach to marginal economics, and a focus on the idea that logical consistency of a theory is more important than any interpretation of empirical observations. Austrians focus completely on the [[opportunity cost]] of goods, as opposed to balancing downside or disutility costs. It is an Austrian assertion that everyone is ''better off'' in a mutually voluntary exchange, or they would not have carried it out.<ref>[http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/essays/margrev/oppcost.htm The Opportunity Cost Doctrine]</ref>. Mainstream economists point out that this is not necessarily true if there are [[external costs]]. This focus on opportunity cost alone means that their interpretation of the [[time value]] of a good has a strict relationship: since goods will be as restricted by scarcity at a later point in time as they are now, the strict relationship between investment and time must also hold. A factory making goods next year is worth as much less as the goods it is making next year are worth. This means that the business cycle is driven by miscoordination between sectors of the same economy, caused by money not carrying incentive information correct about present choices, rather than within a single economy where money causes people to make bad decisions about how to spend their time. ==Contributions== Some contributions of Austrian economists: *A theory of distribution in which factor [[price]]s result from the [[imputation (economics)|imputation]] of prices of consumer goods to goods of "higher order", that is goods used in the production of consumer goods (goods of the first order). *An emphasis on the forward-looking nature of choice, seeing time as the root of uncertainty within economics (see also [[time preference]]). *A fundamental rejection of mathematical methods in economics seeing the function of economics as investigating the essences rather than the specific quantities of economic phenomena. This was seen as an evolutionary, or "genetic-causal", approach against the stresses of [[economic equilibrium|equilibrium]] and [[perfect competition]] found in mainstream Neoclassical economics (see also [[praxeology]]). *[[Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk]]'s critique of [[Karl Marx|Marx]] centered around the untenability of the [[labor theory of value]] in the light of the [[transformation problem]]. There was also the connected argument that capitalists do not exploit workers; they accommodate workers by providing them with income well in advance of the revenue from the output they helped to produce. *[[Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk]]'s capital theory, which equates [[capital intensity]] with the degree of [[roundaboutness]] of production processes. *[[Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk]]'s demonstration that the law of marginal utility, as formulated by [[Carl Menger|Menger]] necessarily implies the classical law of costs and hence the vast majority of the conclusions of the British [[classical economists]]. This discovery was later fully developed and its implications traced by a student of [[Ludwig von Mises|von Mises]], [[George Reisman]], in his book, ''Capitalism''. *An emphasis on [[opportunity cost]] and reservation demand in defining [[marginal theory of value|value]], and a refusal to consider supply as an otherwise independent cause of value. (The British economist [[Philip Wicksteed]] adopted this perspective.) *The Mises-Hayek [[business cycle]] theory, which explains depression as a reaction to an intertemporal production structure fostered by [[monetary policy]] setting [[interest rate]]s inconsistent with individual time preferences. *Hayek's concept of [[intertemporal equilibrium]]. ([[John Hicks]] took over this theory in his discussion of temporary equilibrium in ''Value and Capital,'' a book very influential on the development of neoclassical economics after World War II.) *Mises and Hayek's view of prices as permitting agents to make use of [[dispersed knowledge|dispersed tacit knowledge]]. *The [[time preference theory of interest]], which explains interest rates through [[intertemporal choice]] - the different time preferences of the borrower or lender - rather than as a price paid for a [[factor of production]]. *Stressing uncertainty in the making of economic decisions, rather than relying on "[[Homo economicus]]" or the rational man who was fully informed of all circumstances impinging on his decisions. The fact that perfect knowledge never exists, means that all economic activity implies risk. *Seeing the entrepreneurs' role as collecting and evaluating information and acting on risks. *The [[economic calculation debate]] between Austrian and [[Marxist]] economists, with the Austrians claiming that Marxism is flawed because prices could not be set to recognize opportunity costs of factors of production, and so [[socialism]] could not make rational decisions. == Criticism == The main criticism of modern Austrian economics is its lack of scientific precision. Austrian theories are not formulated in formal mathematical form, but using verbal logic. Mainstream economists believe that this makes Austrian theories too imprecisely defined to be clearly used to explain or predict real world events. Economist [[Bryan Caplan]] noted that, "what prevents Austrian economists from getting more publications in mainstream journals is that their papers rarely use mathematics or econometrics."<ref name="Caplan">{{cite web|url=http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/bcaplan/whyaust.htm|title=Why I Am Not an Austrian Economist|last=Caplan|first=Bryan|publisher=George Mason University|accessdate=2008-07-04}}</ref> This criticism of the Austrian school is related to its rejection of the use of the [[scientific method]] and [[empirical]] testing in social sciences in favor of self-evident [[axiom]]s and logical reasoning.<ref name = "mgtqpu"/><ref name = "ovjxyg"/> The Nobel prize winning economist [[Paul Samuelson]] wrote that, "I tremble for the reputation of my subject" after reading the "exaggerated claims that used to be made in economics for the power of deduction and a priori reasoning [the Austrian methods]."<ref name="Samuelson">{{cite book|last=Samuelson |first=Paul |title=Economics |publisher=New York: McGraw-Hill |date=1964 |edition=6th |pages=736}}</ref> Another general criticism of the School is that although it claims to highlight shortcomings in traditional methodology, it fails to provide viable alternatives for making positive contributions to economic theory.<ref>Klein, B. 1975. "Book review: Competition and entrepreneurship". ''[[Journal of Political Economy]]''. 83: 1305- 1306. </ref> This criticism is generally accepted, in the sense that the theories of Austrian economics are qualitative in nature and do not yield testable predictions. As an example, some{{who}} Austrians propose that the net possibility of gain is a more accurate measure of the cost of an action than [[opportunity cost]] (subjectivism). However, it is ultimately difficult to measure the possibilities and [[risk]] involved. In his critique of Austrian economics, the libertarian economist [[Bryan Caplan]] stated that Austrian economists have often misunderstood modern economics, causing them to overstate their differences with it. He argued that several of the most important Austrian claims are false or overstated. For example, Austrian economists object to the use of [[cardinal]] utility in [[microeconomic]] theory; however, microeconomic theorists go to great pains to show that their results hold for all [[monotonic]] transformations of utility, and so are true for purely [[ordinal]] preferences.<ref name="Caplan"/> He has also criticized the school for rejecting on principle the use of [[mathematics]] or [[econometrics]]. In response, Austrians claim that neoclassical economists are innumerate and do not understand the mathematics they rely on.<ref> [[William Barnett II|Barnett, William]], [http://mises.org/journals/qjae/pdf/qjae7_1_10.pdf Dimensions and Economics: Some Problems]</ref> Austrians also argue that econometrics is fundamentally based on mathematically and logically invalid summation and averaging of demonstrably non-additive personal utility functions, and therefore is subjective. There are also criticisms of specific Austrian theories.<ref>List of criticisms of specific Austrian theories [http://world.std.com/~mhuben/austrian.html Austrian Economics]</ref> For example, [[MIT]] professor [[Paul Krugman]] argued that Austrian business cycle theory implies that consumption would increase during downturns, and cannot explain the empirical observation that spending in ''all sectors'' of the economy fall during a recession.<ref name="Krugman">{{cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/id/9593 |title=The Hangover Theory |last=Krugman |first=Paul |date=1998-12-04 |publisher=Slate |accessdate=2008-06-20}}</ref> Economist [[Jeffrey Sachs]] pointed out that when comparing developed free-market economies, those that have high rates of taxation and high social welfare spending perform better on most measures of economic performance compared to countries with low rates of taxation and low social outlays. Poverty rates are lower, median income is higher, the budget has larger surpluses, and the trade balance is stronger. (Unemployment however, tends to be slightly higher in those countries.) He concludes that Austrian economist Friedrich von Hayek was wrong when he said that high taxation would be a threat to freedom; but rather, a generous social-welfare state leads to fairness, economic equality, international competitiveness, and strong vibrant democracies.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Social Welfare State, Beyond Ideology |last=Sachs|first=Jeffrey |date=October, 2006 |journal=Scientific American |url=http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-social-welfare-state |accessdate=2008-06-20 }}</ref> ==Important people== ===Economists affiliated with the Austrian School=== {| | valign="top" | *[[Benjamin Anderson]] *[[William L. Anderson]] *[[William Barnett II]]<ref>[http://www.business.loyno.edu/faculty/wbarnett/ Chase Distinguished Professor of International Business and Professor of Economics]</ref> *[[Gérard Bramoullé]] *[[Walter Block]] *[[Peter Boettke]] *[[Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk]] *[[Gene Callahan]] *[[Tony Carilli]]<ref name=GMU>[http://www.gmu.edu/rae/archives/VOL14_4_2001/4_carilli&dempster.pdf George Mason University site]</ref> *[[Jean-Pierre Centi]] *[[Christopher Coyne]] *[[Gregory Dempster]]<ref name=GMU/> *[[Thomas DiLorenzo]] *[[Richard Ebeling]] *[[Karel Engliš]]<ref>[http://www.brno.cz/index.php?nav01=2222&nav02=2220&lan=en&nav03=2447&idosobnosti=10 Karel Englis, Economist, politician]</ref> | <hspace width=40px> | | valign="top" | *[[Frank Fetter]] *[[Jacques Garello]] *[[Roger Garrison]] *[[David Gordon (economist)|David Gordon]] *[[Gottfried von Haberler]] *[[Friedrich Hayek]] *[[Henry Hazlitt]] *[[Gottfried Haberler]] *[[Hans-Hermann Hoppe]] *[[Hans F. Sennholz]] *[[Steven Horwitz]] *[[Jorg Guido Hulsmann|Jörg Guido Hülsmann]] *[[William Harold Hutt]] *[[Israel Kirzner]] *[[Peter G. Klein]] *[[Ludwig Lachmann]] *[[Don Lavoie]] | <hspace width=40px> | | valign="top" | *[[Peter T. Leeson]] *[[Henri Lepage]] *[[Peter Lewin]] *[[DW MacKenzie]] *[[Juan De Mariana]] *[[Ludwig von Mises]] *[[Margit von Mises]] *[[Oskar Morgenstern]] *[[Fritz Machlup]] *[[Carl Menger]] *[[Frederick Nymeyer]] *[[Gerald O'Driscoll]] *[[Ernest C. Pasour]] *[[Ralph Raico]] *[[George Reisman]] | <hspace width=40px> | | valign="top" | *[[Kurt Richebächer]] *[[Mario Rizzo]] *[[Lew Rockwell]] *[[Paul Rosenstein-Rodan]] *[[Murray Rothbard]] *[[Mark Thornton]] *[[Joseph Salerno]] *[[Pascal Salin]] *[[Frederic Sautet]] *[[Josef Síma]] *[[Jesus Huerta de Soto]] *[[Steven Paul Spadijer]] *[[Nicholas G. Tam]] *[[Richard von Strigl]] *[[Deborah Walker]]<ref>[http://soba.fortlewis.edu/walker/ Associate Professor of Economics]</ref> *[[Philip Henry Wicksteed]] *[[Friedrich von Wieser]] |} The economists aligned with the Austrian School are sometimes colloquially called "the Austrians" even though not all held Austrian citizenship, and not all economists from Austria subscribe to the ideas of the Austrian School. ===Other related economists=== *[[Richard Cantillon]] *[[Frédéric Bastiat]] (precursor) *[[Henry Hazlitt]] (introduced the Austrian School to the USA) *[[School of Salamanca]] (Renaissance precursors) *[[Étienne Bonnot de Condillac]] *[[Louis Say]] *[[Jean-Baptiste Say]] *[[Léon Walras]] *[[Jules Dupuit]] *[[Lionel Robbins]] *[[Wilhelm Röpke]] *[[Joseph Schumpeter]] *[[Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune|A.R.J. Turgot]] *[[Knut Wicksell]] ===Critics=== *[[Bryan Caplan]] *[[David D. Friedman]], son of Nobel-prize winning economist [[Milton Friedman]] *[[Tyler Cowen]] ==Seminal works== *''[[Principles of Economics]]'' by [[Carl Menger]] *''[[Capital and Interest]]'' by [[Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk]] *''[[Human Action]]'' by [[Ludwig von Mises]] *''[[Individualism and Economic Order]]'' by [[Friedrich Hayek]] *''[[Man, Economy, and State]]'' by [[Murray Rothbard|Murray N. Rothbard]] *''[[Competition and Entrepreneurship]]'' by [[Israel Kirzner|Israel M. Kirzner]] ==References== {{reflist}} ==See also== *[[Anarcho-capitalism]] *''[[An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought]]'' by [[Murray Rothbard]] *[[Austrian Business Cycle Theory]] *[[Consumarchy]] *[[Consumer sovereignty]] *[[Chicago school (economics)]] *[[Classical liberalism]] *[[Free Market]] *[[Keynesian|Keynesian school]] *[[Libertarianism]] *[[Neoclassical economics|Neoclassical school]] *[[Newtonian time]] *[[Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics]] *[[Socialist economics|Socialist school]] *[[Supply-side economics]] *[[School of Salamanca#Economics|School of Salamanca (Renaissance pre-Austrians)]] ==External links== {{commonscat}} *[http://www.mises.org/etexts/austrian.asp What is Austrian Economics?] Austrian School as defined by the [[Ludwig von Mises Institute]]. *[http://www.mises.org The Mises Institute - A large selection of online books, video/audio, journal archives, and research on Austrian economics] *[http://it.stlawu.edu/sdae Society for the Development of Austrian Economics] Largest professional organization of Austrian economists *[http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/AustrianEconomics.html Austrian Economics] ''[[Concise encyclopedia of economics]]'' on [[Econlib]] *[http://homepage.newschool.edu/het/schools/austrian.htm Austrian School on newschool.edu] &ndash; compare Austrian versus other Schools *[http://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/bawerk/austrian The Austrian Economists by Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk 1891] *[http://library.wur.nl/way/catalogue/documents/A%20Great%20Revolution%20in%20Economics.htm A Great Revolution in Economics - Vienna 1871 and after] by Houmanidis and Leen *[http://www.montpelerin.org/ The Mont Pelerin Society] *[http://www.liberty-page.com/issues/austrian/main.html/ Austrian School Economists] from Mark Valenti's Liberty Page *[http://www.gmu.edu/departments/ihs/hsr/s97hsr.html#austrian The Origins of the Austrian School of Economics by John Moser] *{{dmoz|Science/Social_Sciences/Economics/Schools_of_Thought/Austrian_School/}} *[http://austrianecon.com Austrian Economics Forum] Discussion message board concerning Austrian economic theory *[http://www.FreeMarketeers.com The Free Marketeers Network] The networking site for Free Marketeers around the world *[http://austrianeconomists.typepad.com/ The Austrian Economists] *[http://austrianaddiction.rationalmind.net Austrian Addiction] *[http://www.lewrockwell.com Lew Rockwell] *[http://www.purelogic.us The Pure Logic of Choice] *[http://worksaveown.wordpress.com WorkSaveOwn] Blog on Personal Finance from an Austrian Economics perspective *[http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2007/12/boettke_on_aust.html Link] Discussion on [[Econtalk]] regarding Austrian School *[http://www.mygoldmymoney.com myGoldmyMoney] Austrian economics and sound money community ===Critical === *[http://world.std.com/~mhuben/austrian.html Critiques of Libertarianism: Austrian Economics] *[http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-ausmain.htm A Critique of the Austrian School of Economics] *[http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/bcaplan/whyaust.htm Why I Am Not An Austrian Economist] {{Austrian economists}} {{macroeconomics-footer}} {{History of economic thought}} [[Category:Economic theories]] [[Category:Heterodox economics]] [[Category:Austrian School|*]] [[be-x-old:Аўстрыйская школа]] [[ca:Escola Austríaca]] [[cs:Rakouská škola]] [[da:Den østrigske skole]] [[de:Österreichische Schule]] [[et:Austria koolkond]] [[es:Escuela austríaca]] [[eo:Aŭstria skolo de ekonomiko]] [[fr:École autrichienne d'économie]] [[is:Austurrísku hagfræðingarnir]] [[it:Scuola austriaca]] [[he:האסכולה האוסטרית]] [[nl:Oostenrijkse School]] [[ja:オーストリア学派]] [[no:Den østerrikske skole]] [[pl:Szkoła austriacka]] [[pt:Escola austríaca]] [[ru:Австрийская школа]] [[sk:Rakúska ekonomická škola]] [[sr:Аустријска школа]] [[fi:Itävaltalainen taloustiede]] [[sv:Österrikiska skolan]] [[tr:Avusturya Okulu]] [[uk:Австрійська школа]] [[zh:奧地利經濟學派]]