Volume 1, No. 2 (Summer 1998) A Geographical Perspective on Austrian Economics Pierre Desrochers About a year ago I more or less suddenly realized that I have spent my whole professional life as an international economist thinking and writing about economic geography, without being aware of it. —Paul Krugman, Geography and Trade It has
Volume 1, No. 2 (Summer 1998) Arthur Hughes, in a recent article in the Review of Austrian Economics, [1] seeks to apply the Austrian theory of the business cycle to the recession of 1990. In submitting his case, Hughes presents the Austrian business cycle theory and applies it to the evidence he has gathered. This comment focuses on the
Volume 1, No. 2 (Summer 1998) As substantial as economist as Schumpeter could claim that interest is a disequilibrium phenomenon and fantasize about a long-run equilibrium where market forces have pushed the interest rate to zero. John Maynard Keynes imagined interest to be a purely monetary phenomenon. Creating what Hayek called a “mythology
Volume 1, No. 3 (Fall 1998) Hayek’s economics is focused upon adaptation: the continuously changing social order requires no conscious direction. That evolutionary thesis applies even to itself; no one can remain intellectually active throughout a long life without the adaptation of concepts or conclusions. If complete reversals are rare,
Volume 1, No. 3 (Fall 1998) Timothy Fuerst (1994) has argued for the need for more banking theory in monetary theory.[1] A review of the history of economic thought indicates that, until the 1930s, banking theory and the role of banks in the process of financial intermediation and credit creation were emphasized in the writings of monetary
Volume 1, No. 3 (Fall 1998) Why do business firms exist? Do firms substitute for the market or complement the market? Why do firms buy some inputs but make others? These are basic economic questions. Economists of different methodological stripes, as well as business historians, have attended to these questions, and their work has helped us better
Volume 1, No. 3 (Fall 1998) The Review of Austrian Economics (RAE) recently published a review of my book Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics that, while praising my book to some extent, seriously misrepresents or altogether ignores major portions of it.[1] Since a full analysis of the review would require twice as much space as the review
Volume 1, No. 3 (Fall 1998) Response to Reisman on Capitalism Alexander Tabarrok Reisman’s Capitalism is longer than either Mises’s Human Action or Rothbard’s Man, Economy, and State . It thus seems unreasonable to object to my review because it ignores major portions of his work. Reisman’s other objections are similarly weak. Capitalism has
Volume 1, No. 3 (Fall 1998) The article by Jörg Guido Hülsmann (1996), “Free Banking and the Free Bankers,” is an important contribution to a proper understanding of free-banking systems. He is perfectly correct in blaming some advocates of free banking who support arguments which are irrelevant or wrong, such as the argument according to which
Volume 1, No. 3 (Fall 1998) Pascal Salin’s (1998) critique of my article “Free Banking and the Free Bankers” (1996) raises several important issues about the theory of banking. However, I think that a closer look at them strengthens rather than weakens the case for a 100-percent-reserve system. Salin claims that under 100-percent-reserve banking
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.