Are we Austrian economists?
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Are we Austrian economists? Claudia R. Williamson 1 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract This paper is based on the Presidential Address given at the 2019 Society for the Development of Austrian Economics Annual Meeting. In these remarks, I explore what makes a modern Austrian Economist. I propose that many theoretical foundations that are historically Austrian are now absorbed in mainstream economics. To understand contemporary Austrian economics, we should observe what Austrians currently do. Upon examination, it is clear that modern Austrians research across all topics and utilize all methodologies. Thus, I argue that it is our deep intellectual training, commitment to stressing economic logic, and consistent application of this logic to real world phenomenon that make us uniquely Austrian. Keywords Austrian economics . Methodology . Development economics JEL B53 . O17
1 Introduction In trying to discover my own Austrianess, over the past 10 plus years, I’ve questioned: What makes any of us Austrian Economists? By what standard should we judge ourselves? Are any of us researching what Mises or Hayek would be writing today? Is that even the appropriate benchmark? Or, is everyone now an Austrian? My claim is the latter. Here’s why: if an economist does good economics, then she or he is an Austrian Economist. This proposition is not new by any stretch, but it is worth repeating. Many of the Austrian uniqueness has been absorbed in the mainstream. And, that’s precisely because we won. We won the intellectual debate. Early theoretical insights from the Austrian School that are now commonplace in economics include methodological individualism (social phenomena are a result of motivations and actions of individuals), * Claudia R. Williamson [email protected]
1
Department of Finance and Economics, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA
C. R. Williamson
subjective theory of value, the application of marginal analysis to price theory, and the formulation of the economic calculation problem. Examining Boettke’s (2012) propositions to define Austrian Economics further illuminates how Austrian theoretical foundations are absorbed into mainstream economics: 1) only individuals choose, 2) utility and costs are subjective, 3) prices convey information, 4) role of private property as foundation to economic system, and 5) money is non neutral. We see many applications of these core principles in modern, mainstream economics, including comparative economics, new institutional, corporate finance, international development, entrepreneurship, monetary, law and economics, and labor, to name a few. If our theoretical insights are absorbed in the mainstream, how do our colleagues, editors, and reviewers, view our work? Let’s take inventory. In addition to publishing in the Review of Austrian Economics, Advances in Austrian Economics, the Cato Journal, Independent Review, Journal of Private Enterprise (the other JPE), we also publish in the Southern Econ
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