In these recent remarks by Samuel Brittan, Hayek’s rendition of the Austrian theory of the business cycle is dismissed because it entails a “relative contraction” of consumption during the boom. We should note, though, that Mises rendition is different from Hayek’s in this regard: He repeatedly refers to the “malinvestment and overconsumption” that characterizes the boom. Also, as early as 1934, Richard Strigl took, in effect, the Mises view over the Hayek view on this issue. And Machlup found Strigl’s account superior to Hayek’s, as Richard Ebeling has recently noted.
