Coordination Problem

Discussing The Essential Austrian Economics at FMF

|Peter Boettke|

Chris and I recorded this conversation earlier today with Chris Hattingh. They work quickly at FMF so the episode is already up. Thank you Chris H and Chris C for what I found an engaging conversation about the ideas of the Austrian School of Economics and Classical Liberal Political Economy.

 

The Midnight Economist and the Art of Economic Communication

|Peter Boettke|

Don Boudreaux reports the sad news of the passing of William R. Allen.  Bill Allen was best known for his co-authorship with Armen Alchian of University Economics.  And that is a great accomplishment to be known for. Allen was a force in the great UCLA tradition of economic education that challenged the Keynesian hegemony in the 1960s-1970s.  His retrospective on UCLA is one of my favorite and most informative retrospectives on the trials and tribulations of maintaining greatness over time in an academic setting.

Allen had a radio show -- The Midnight Economist -- and you can purchase the transcripts as a book.  Milton Friedman wrote the foreword for the book, and it emphasizes Allen's genius at presenting the basic principles of economics in an easily understood manner and the versatility he displayed in the art of applying those principles to make sense of the world we occupy -- both historically and in the contemporary moment.  Allen was a master communicator of those principles.

He lived a long and productive life as an educator.  We mourn his passing, but celebrate his achievement as an economic communicator.  In so doing, I actually long for economic communicators like Bill Allen, or Milton Friedman, or, of course, my late great colleague Walter Williams.  These individuals were able to take the principles of the science of economics, forged and tested in the scientific give and take over centuries in Europe and North America, and communicate them with clarity and demonstrate their relevance.  Scarcity, trade-offs, multiple margins of adjustment, role of property, prices and profit-and-loss, competitive processes, and the marshaling of incentives, and the discovery, dissemination and utilization of knowledge -- all played out within a variety of institutional settings and interpreted with skill and relayed with clarity and conviction to the everyday reader, watcher and listener in popular forums. Bill Allen, as was Milton Friedman and Walter Williams, was a master craftsman of the art of economic communication. 

These individuals didn't choose teams in the political game to cheer for, they stood for the economic way of thinking universally and unflinchingly applied.  They understood that situations vary, and economic interpretation must account for that, and they understood the moral judgments could differ, and they accounted for that in any discussion of advocacy.  But their primary goal in their efforts was not advocacy, but understanding of the workings of the world.  This is what they were attempting to persuade their audience of, as opposed to particular policy steps to be taken in this or that context.   But understanding the governing mechanics that would explain why what happened, was in fact happening.

Econ 101, in their hands, was not a tool of ideological indoctrination anymore than the law of gravity is a tool for such a purpose.  Econ 101 is an introduction to the basic principles of the discipline established over centuries of debate and discussion and observation and experimental testing.  No doubt some folks misunderstand the basic principles, other are allergic to them, and still others misuse them. But not the individuals I am discussing here.  We need more Bill Allen's and we need them in our classrooms, in the print media, on TV and radio, and throughout the modern media world of the World Wide Web.  Econ 101 needs champions.  

With the passing of Bill Allen we lost another of the great ones, who will rise to the challenge to be the next Midnight Economist?

What Should Economists Do? Don Boudreaux in Conversation with Russ Roberts on James M. Buchanan

|Peter Boettke|

Anytime Don and Russ get together to talk Econ it is self-recommending, but even more so when it is about James M. Buchanan.

 

 

Debating Soviet Economic Growth in the 20th Century

|Peter Boettke|

I am once again preparing for my graduate seminar in Comparative Economic Systems.  My research interests over the years has drifted from this core part of my research and teaching specialization.  It is not inaccurate to say that my research of late has been less economic history and comparative systems, and more history of economic thought, political economy, methodology and social philosophy.  But every time I return to my scholarly roots, I am fascinated by the issues raised, including measurement problems in economics.

This is a nice short video by Ross Emmett on the issue from his days at Michigan State.

On the particular debate he is discussing see the original book by G. Warren Nutter, and more recent discussions by David Levy and Sandra Peart in JEBO and in the RAE.

More recently, the work of Robert C. Allen and Sergei Guriev should be compared and contrasted.

Finally, and I am still working through this in my head, these issues are at the core of the forming of the Virginia School of Political Economy according to Levy and Peart, because they are embedded in the debate between Rutledge Vinning and T. Koopmans and the entire "measurement without theory" discussions.

So much to learn and digest and discuss and rethink.  How exciting is that, after more than 30 years of reading, writing and teaching foundational issues are still at play in understanding one of the largest social experiments in history of the century?!  

BTW, what do you think we will be talking about 60 years from now about Covid-19 -- the science, the political economy, the historical significance?!

Ideas Matter -- their development, their dissemination, and their impact on public discourse

|Peter Boettke|

This is a video of Janek Wasserman from a few years back introducing himself, but I particularly like the part where he describes his self-understanding as an intellectual historian.

 

Janek Wasserman from CIT Multimedia Services on Vimeo.

 

Since that time, Janek has published The Marginal Revolutionaries: How Austrian Economists Fought the War of Ideas (Yale, 2019).  There is a lot to recommend about the book, but also I believe some weaknesses/blind spots.  It is, however, required reading for all interested in the Austrian School of Economics.  The book is in the genre of social history as developed in the field of intellectual history.  I am actually a big fan of the "Ideas in Context" movement, and "Social History" as the focus on the lives of ordinary people, underrepresented people, rather than the exclusively on the elites.

In 2021, I think I will start a project on social history to clarify for myself what I mean by it and why I am drawn to it both as an intellectual historian and economic historian/comparative systems economists, but where I find contemporary practice falling short, especially in the field of intellectual history of neoliberalism.  Don't worry, I will try to keep Dennett's Rules for Intellectual Engagement in mind throughout and if I fail hold me accountable for that.

A taste of a treasure trove for intellectual historians of 20th century political economy

|Peter Boettke|

 

James M. Buchanan, I would argue, is more responsible than any other 20th century figure for the renewal of political economy -- even more so than F. A. Hayek.  Buchanan was well positioned to do so because he was operating in the field of public finance, but from a decidedly price theoretic position.  Critical to his enterprise from his earliest essays was his insistence that one cannot do public finance without first postulating a theory of the state.  Political theory, Buchanan argued, helped define the boundaries not only about the right and wrong of the state, but the scale and scope of the state as well.  Asking such questions put him in direct conversation with the leading scholars of his era throughout the world in philosophy, political science, sociology, law, and, of course, economics.  His mentor Frank Knight must be understood, his engagement with those slightly senior to him such as Milton Friedman and Paul Samuelson must be consulted, his contemporaries such as G. Warren Nutter, William Riker, James Coleman, Vincent Ostrom, as well as those he influenced as a teacher or in his own way as a mentor such Gordon Tullock, Lin Ostrom and Mancur Olson, or students such as Toby Davis, Charlie Plott, Mark Pauly, etc.  And if you look, you will also see not only Ludwig von Mises and F. A. Hayek, but GLS Shackle and Israel Kirzner, and John Rawls and Robert Nozick --- and in the form of ideas Adam Smith, David Hume, J. S. Mill and Knut Wicksell.  It is all there in his archives to dig up and explore, and wrestle with. And how can I forget the Italians, you cannot forget the Italian public finance theorists of the late 19th and early 20th century.

Alain Marciano and I recently published a sampling from the archives with the hope of exciting the imagination of scholars of 20th century economics to come explore the Buchanan archives at GMU. This was a long project that was first envisioned before the professionalization of Buchanan's archive actually started.  Alain and I originally had very grand ambitions, but we scaled down to a more manageable project. Alain is current working on an intellectual history of Buchanan that will explore the development of his unique perspective in 20th century political economy.

We were thrilled to publish this book with Mercatus and hope you will take a look at the content and when all the travel restrictions are lifted come visit GMU and spend some time looking through the remnants of a fascinating career and life.  Till then, perhaps The Soul of Classical Political Economy will give you a taste of what can be found.

 

Starting 2021 re-examining 1871 and Menger's fundamental contributions to economic theory

|Peter Boettke| 

Richard Ebeling has an overview of the contributions of Carl Menger's Principles of Economics.  It is a valuable way to start the new year.

|Peter Boettke|

My tribute to Walter Williams (1936-2020) from The City Journal.

Many other heartfelt tributes have been published, many by former students, and two lengthy obituaries were published in NYT and Wash Post.  While these mainstream newspapers emphasized Walter’s policy positions, his students and colleagues focused on his reasoning grounded in price theory and his passion for teaching and training students in price theory.

 

SDAE Virtual Meeting for 2020 -- November 21st at 10:00am -- PLEASE Join Us

|Peter Boettke|

SDAE Business Meeting: 10:00 AM CST on November 21 via Zoom
Prize announcements, elections, and Richard Ebeling's presidential address

SDAE Virtual Happy Hour: 6:30 PM CST on November 21 via Zoom

Links to both will be sent to everyone who registers here: https://forms.gle/yHHbtDQmZeMmho7J8

Registration is free for students and $25 for all others.

 

Not many times you get to do something new and unexpected.  This is the year to do so.  Join the SDAE meeting -- acknowledge the prize winner, gain wisdom from a great scholar of the Austrian school, and help plan and shape the future of the SDAE in a post-Covid world.

Onward and upward.

 

Ludwig Lachmann and the Distinguishing Features of the Austrian School of Economics

|Peter Boettke|

Simply put, Lachmann argues we are subjectivist and we mean it.  But the implications of this radical subjectivist stance are neither nihilistic nor trivial for the science of economics.  Check out this tape recording of Lachmann.

When you are done, head on over to check out the Mercatus reprint of Lachmann's The Market Process.