History of the Austrian School of Economics

Israel Kirzner's new book on Mises is a welcome addition to any economics library, writes Joseph Stromberg. It is remarkable how much the author accomplishes in this short work.

In a free market, it is wholly unwarranted. Brad Edmonds considers three cases.

Fetter saw "economics as essentially the study of value, and has viewed all economic phenomena as the concrete expression, under varied circumstances, of one uniform theory of value.

Despite the many illustrious forerunners in its six-hundred year prehistory, Carl Menger (1840-1921) was the true and sole founder of the Austrian school of economics proper. He merits this title if for no other reason than that he created the system of value and price theory that constitutes the core of Austrian economic theory. But Menger did more than this: he also originated and consistently applied the correct, praxeological method for pursuing theoretical research in economics. Thus in its method and core theory, Austrian economics always was and will forever remain Mengerian economics.

J.B. Say deserves to be remembered, especially by Austrian economists, as a pivotal figure in the history of economic thought. Yet, one finds him discussed very briefly, if at all. In fact, even Austrians have devoted little attention to Say's contributions.

 Austrians have sometimes been very hard on Lord Robbins. He at one time embraced the views of Mises and Hayek; and in The Great Depression, he presented a resolutely Austrian theory of the business-cycle.

On the 50th anniversary of its publication, the 1st edition is re-released with a new introduction, expanded index, and spectacular production values.

The meaning of his life and contributions.

In this year of Millennium Lists ("Best Ten Songs of the Millennium," etc.), the Wall Street Journal tried its hand at the ten economists--whom it called the "best and brightest"--who have "made a difference" in the last thousand years. Of course, the big problem in twentieth-century intellectual history is that the "best and the brightest" were not the ones who "made a difference." While the list did contain some names to cheer (Aquinas, Hayek, and Schumpeter) it also had plenty to boo (Marx, Keynes, and Veblen).

In 1949, freedom had no future.