Rothbard's Austrian Perspective: A Review Article

1995 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 316-328
Author(s):  
Paul B. Trescott
Keyword(s):  
Karl Marx ◽  
Review Article ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
Austrian Economics ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Economic Organization ◽  
Untimely Death ◽  
Significant Element ◽  
Economics Profession ◽  
History Of

Murray Rothbard's untimely death has deprived the economics profession of one of its most colorful, iconoclastic and therapeutic personalities. He helped to inspire a legion of dedicated followers to make Austrian economics a significant element in the intellectual and moral spectrum of economics. The Austrians never wavered in their criticism of Soviet-style economic organization, correctly arguing that such systems were working badly. Even so, can a sub-set of economists who eschew mathematics and econometrics win respect from the mainstream? The volumes under review (Rothbard 1995) certainly make a valiant effort in that direction. Rothbard's survey of economic thought extends from “the beginning” to Karl Marx and C. F. Bastiat. Occasional references indicate more was intended. Rothbard is critical of the “Great Man” focus of much of mainstream history of economic thought, and even more critical of the “Whig interpretation,” which sees the evolution of economic thought as progress toward the current near-perfect ideas and practices of our leading graduate schools.

On the Finding of an Equilibrium: Düpp e–Weintraub and the Problem of Scientific Credit

2021 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 590-633
Author(s):  
M. Ali Khan
Keyword(s):  
Review Article ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
The Body ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Thomas Kuhn ◽  
Economic Knowledge ◽  
Intellectual Culture ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Kenneth Arrow

In this review article, I read a book that revolves around two papers published in 1954, one by Lionel McKenzie, and the other by Kenneth Arrow and Gérard Debreu—Till Düppe and E. Roy Weintraub’s Finding Equilibrium: Arrow, Debreu, McKenzie and the Problem of Scientific Credit (2014). Under a tripartite categorization of people, context, and credit, this book advances the claim that “by being applied, interpreted, shaped, and reshaped, [these] proofs came to symbolize a new intellectual culture in American economics and help reconstruct the body of economic knowledge” (Düppe and Weintraub 2014, p. 204). My reading leads me to contest this claim, and also to contest whether a history of economic analysis, much less a history of economic thought, can be written by taking refuge in the vernacular of ancillary discourses orthogonal to the subject matter whose history is being written, and without the disciplinary criteria that these discourses operate under. An unintended consequence of my reading is the identification of lacunae in the reception of these proofs, an underscoring of Paul A. Samuelson’s panoramic vision, and a reemphasis of the sterling contributions of David Gale, Thomas Kuhn, Hukukane Nikaido, and Hirofumi Uzawa. (JEL A14, B23, B30, C60)

Book Reviews

2011 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 727-728
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Professor Emeritus ◽  
Postwar Period ◽  
New York University ◽  
John Maynard Keynes ◽  
History Of

William J. Baumol of New York University and Princeton University reviews “Economics Evolving: A History of Economic Thought” by Agnar Sandmo. The EconLit Abstract of the reviewed work begins “Revised and expanded English translation of Samfunnsokonomi--en idehistorie (2006). Presents a history of economic thought from the late eighteenth century to the 1970s. Discusses a science and its history; before Adam Smith; Adam Smith; the classical school--Thomas Robert Malthus and David Ricardo; consolidation and innovation--John Stuart Mill; Karl Marx as an economic theorist; the forerunners of marginalism; the marginalist revolution--William Stanley Jevons, Carl Menger, and Leon Walras; Alfred Marshall and partial equilibrium theory; equilibrium and welfare--Francis Ysidro Edgeworth, Vilfredo Pareto, and Arthur C. Pigou; interest and prices--Knut Wicksell and Irving Fisher; new perspectives on markets and competition; the great systems debate; John Maynard Keynes and the Keynesian revolution; Ragnar Frisch, Trygve Haavelmo, and the birth of econometrics; the modernization of economic theory in the postwar period; further developments in the postwar period; and long-term trends and new perspectives. Sandmo is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. Index.”

Why does the history of economic thought neglect Post-Keynesian economics?

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-137
Author(s):  
Danielle Guizzo
Keyword(s):  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
Austrian Economics ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economics ◽  
Keynesian Economics ◽  
History Of ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis ◽  
New Research

Despite receiving increased interest after the global financial crisis of 2007–2008 and consolidating itself as an established research program, Post-Keynesian economics remains under-represented within publications on the history of economics. When compared to other traditional heterodox approaches such as Marxist, Institutionalist, and Austrian economics, Post-Keynesian economics falls behind considerably, contradicting the Post-Keynesian appreciation for the history of the discipline. This article explores some reasons behind this detachment by considering two main factors: first, the recent disciplinary and institutional changes experienced by the history of economics in the last ten years; and, second, the recent ‘maturing state’ of Post-Keynesian economics and its unique treatment of the history of economic thought. The article concludes by suggesting a new research agenda for Post-Keynesianism, making use of the ‘applied’ turn proposed by the recent history of economic thought as one of the strategies for Post-Keynesians to engage with the economics discipline.

The Problem of Rationality

2015 ◽  
pp. 363-392
Author(s):  
Mario J. Rizzo
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Behavioral Economics ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
Austrian Economics ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Friedrich Hayek

This chapter draws on the history of economic thought to elucidate the foundations of the Austrian economics conception of rationality. First, it shows how Austrian subjectivism was originally differentiated from nineteenth-century and early-twentieth-century psychologically based economics. Then it shows how the Austrians differentiated themselves from the behaviorist approach that began to affect economics as early as the 1910s but mainly from the 1920s to the 1950s. Finally, drawing on the work of Friedrich Hayek and Alfred Schutz, it shows that the Austrian conception of rationality is not based on introspection and illustrates the differences between an Austrian approach and that of today’s new behavioral economics.

The Role of Viticulture and Enology in the Development of Economic Thought: How Wine Contributed to Modern Economic Theory

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-225
Author(s):  
Stephen Chaikind
Keyword(s):  
Karl Marx ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
John Stuart Mill ◽  
Jel Classification ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modern Economic ◽  
David Ricardo

AbstractThis paper introduces the role wine has played as a central factor in the history of economic thought. The focus is on an examination of documented sources that connect wine and its viticulture and enology with the evolution of economic concepts. Works by Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Karl Marx, John Stuart Mill, Léon Walras, Alfred Marshall, and others are examined, as well as wine economic ideas postulated by Greek and Roman thinkers. (JEL Classification: A1, B1, B3, N00)

How Homo economicus lost her mind and how we can revive her

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter DeScioli
Keyword(s):  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Homo Economicus ◽  
Economic Theories ◽  
Target Article ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Mind ◽  
And Behavior

AbstractThe target article by Boyer & Petersen (B&P) contributes a vital message: that people have folk economic theories that shape their thoughts and behavior in the marketplace. This message is all the more important because, in the history of economic thought, Homo economicus was increasingly stripped of mental capacities. Intuitive theories can help restore the mind of Homo economicus.

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