Michael Watson: What is Outside of Economics?

Tags: Praxeology, Media and Culture

03/30/2018 Michael V. Szpindor Watson Jeff Deist

Our guest Michael Watson joins Jeff Deist after delivering a provocative paper last week at our research conference comparing Mises and Thomas Aquinas. They discuss Misesian praxeology, Catholicism, charity, altruism, and personal relationships in an attempt to decide what acts lie within and without the scope of economics.

Are humans really super-rational Homo Economicus beings, per John Stuart Mill? No, according to Mises, who posits that we operate under conditions of bounded rationality using means-ends approaches. How do we reconcile our ethical worldviews with value-free economics? And how can we apply economics and praxeology to things like religious faith, love, and even involuntary conditions like slavery and war?

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