July 2014 – Ash Navabi

Originally posted on mises.ca July 31, 2014

Mainstream economists have long derided the Austrian School as a “cult”. Professor Walter Block recounts stories from Nobelists Gary Becker and James Buchanan off-handedly referring to the cultish Austrians. When pressed by Professor Block, Becker said, “By a cult I mean a small number of dedicated followers who speak mainly to each other, and interact little with let us call them mainstream economists.”

Nobelist Paul Krugman just last week gloated over Noah Smith’s attacks on the “hermetic system that is Austrians”. And onMonday, Krugman once again lambasted the Austrians as “as the floating crap game — the same 30 or 40 people meeting in conferences all over the world, reading and citing each others’ work”.

Oh wait. He was actually talking about mainstream economists. Here’s the full quote: Continue reading “Cultonomics and the Austrian School” →

Originally posted on mises.ca July 28, 2014

Famed Chicago economist John Cochrane gives a report from a recent meeting at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER, the US government institution which is tasked with determining whether or not the economy is in a recession, and where Ludwig von Mises was first employed upon moving to the United States). He reports that a recurring theme throughout the discussions was about “just how we do economics”. Certainly a topical conversation. Unfortunately, just how Professor Cochrane frames the discussion proves that gross methodological misunderstandings are still pervasive in the profession.

Firstly, Cochrane frames the methodological debate as “math vs. literature”. While the current orthodoxy in economics is to have quantifiable theories that can be “proved” or falsified by empirical evidence, and though there may be some who hold that the proper way to ascertain economic truths is through “imaginative and creative writing, especially recognized artistic value”, this dichotomy is not comprehensive of the Austrian view.

The Austrian methodological position is that economics should proceed logically from realistic foundations. Continue reading “Mathematical Economics vs. “Literary” Economics?” →