How did Austrian economics thrive outside of Vienna: the case of French political economy

2010 ◽  
pp. 87-111
Author(s):  
Laurent Dobuzinskis ◽  
Thierry Aimar
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Austrian Economics

Constitutional Political Economy and Austrian Economics

2015 ◽  
pp. 463-490
Author(s):  
Mark Pennington
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Bounded Rationality ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
John Rawls ◽  
Austrian Economics ◽  
Constitutional Political Economy ◽  
Ethical Evaluation ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
The Ideal

This chapter draws on key concepts from the Austrian school of economics to consider both the practical implications for and the ethical evaluation of the ideal constitutional schemes proposed by John Rawls and James Buchanan. With regard to practicalities, the chapter challenges the types of political regimes favored by Rawls and Buchanan on the grounds that they pay insufficient attention to the “knowledge problem.” With respect to moral evaluation, the chapter argues that the contractarian method provides insufficient grounds to judge the legitimacy of political institutions in a world characterized by actors with bounded rationality and diverse standards of evaluation.

scholarly journals From Karl Menger to Charles Menger? How Austrian economics (hardly) spread in France

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-30
Author(s):  
Gilles Campagnolo
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Interwar Period ◽  
Austrian Economic ◽  
Vienna Circle ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
Austrian Economics ◽  
Austrian School ◽  
Classical Political Economy ◽  
Carl Menger

The father of the “Austrian” Marginalist revolution and founder of the so-called “Austrian School of economics”, Carl Menger, had a mixed reception during different periods of development of French economics. Somewhat welcomed in the early days, he was rather forgotten later on. Even his major works were not published in translation until recently. What is the reason for such a situation? Criticisms of classical political economy have to be understood in their French context. In comparison to other countries, this paper details the case of France, besides showing how later Austrians, such as Friedrich Hayek, found a limited audience. This comparative study of economic ideas in France must start with the reception of the views of the founder and the role and impact of adopting/adapting or rejecting his views by French scholars. What place did they find in French academia? From Carl Menger to a “Frenchified” Charles Menger, how was Austrian economic thought disseminated in France? This essay starts by recalling the Belle-Époque and an astonishing letter by Charles Rist for the Jubiläum of Menger, in which he deplored the lack of translation of the latter’s works. The Austrian School in France is then discussed as pure economics replaces political economy in the Interwar period, with the 1938 Paris Congress of “liberal thinkers,” as the Vienna Circle became known, also comparing issues in philosophy. The paper considers how Austrian theories of “pure science” were received in Paris from the Vienna of the 1900s, at a time of ”Crossroads,” to the present day, through the Postwar and Cold War, until a revival since the 1990s and a rethinking of economic ideas after 2008.

Social Economy as an Extension of the Austrian Research Program

2015 ◽  
pp. 246-271
Author(s):  
Emily Chamlee-Wright ◽  
Virgil Henry Storr
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Mental Models ◽  
Research Program ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Social Economy ◽  
Austrian Economics ◽  
Economic Action ◽  
Social Coordination ◽  
Single Approach

Contemporary Austrian scholars have attempted to develop a research program in social economy (including a focus on mental models, generalized norms, social networks, and culture) to complement the school’s already well-developed research program in political economy. Rather than settling on a single approach or adopting a single perspective, however, they have pursued a number of different strategies. As a result, Austrian contributions to understanding how social factors affect economic action have yet to be systematized as part of a coherent social economy research program. The aim of this chapter is to fill that gap. Further, we will argue that although it is broadly interdisciplinary, a social economy research program is one in which Austrian economics has a particularly important role to play given the school’s emphasis on developing an economics of meaning and its focus on the discovery role that markets play in generating widespread social coordination.

The Political Economy of Regulation

1997 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 675-707 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.M. Booth
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Public Choice ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Choice Theory ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
Austrian Economics ◽  
The Political ◽  
Insurance Markets ◽  
Insurance Regulation

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the political economy of regulation, reviewing market socialist, neo-classical and public interest approaches to regulation and analysing the development of financial services and insurance regulation in these frameworks. However, the paper suggests that these approaches do not capture properly many of the features of a market and the behaviour of regulators. Public choice theory is discussed, and it is concluded that there has not been significant capture of the regulatory process by interest groups. Austrian economics is proposed as a possible framework within which to analyse markets and regulators. It is concluded that there is prima facie evidence to suggest that the Austrian view of the market is realistic and that regulation in insurance markets can have unforeseen and undesirable effects. The author also concludes that, until 1970, insurance regulation did not deviate from principles which are appropriate if either a public choice or Austrian view is taken. However, the Financial Services Act 1998 and the Pensions Act 1995 do deviate from those principles.

Dynamics of Interventionism

2015 ◽  
pp. 392-416
Author(s):  
Sanford Ikeda
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Austrian Economics ◽  
Central Planning ◽  
Mixed Economy ◽  
Government Failure ◽  
Incentive Problems ◽  
Regulatory Dynamics ◽  
Laissez Faire

The “dynamics of interventionism” refers to the central contribution of Austrian economics to the analysis of government failure. This chapter outlines that contribution in the areas of regulatory dynamics and transfer dynamics and focuses on the role of incentive problems and especially of knowledge problems in driving the mixed economy toward either interventionism or disinterventionism. These dynamics operate in the broad range of politicoeconomic systems that lie between laissez-faire capitalism and collectivist central planning. The chapter examines the rationale for various kinds of interventions, macroeconomic and microeconomic, traces their consequences, and explains why those consequences tend to generate systemic instability in the mixed economy. It also offers an overview of some of the milestones in the development of Austrian political economy.

The Oxford Handbook of Austrian Economics

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Rational Choice ◽  
Austrian Economics ◽  
Invisible Hand ◽  
Spontaneous Order ◽  
Austrian School ◽  
Market Process ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Business Cycle Theory ◽  
Capital Theory

The Oxford Handbook of Austrian Economics provides an overview of the main methodological, analytical, and practical implications of the Austrian school of economics. This intellectual tradition in economics and political economy has a long history that dates back to Carl Menger in the late nineteenth century. The various contributions discussed in this book all reflect this "tension" of an orthodox argumentative structure (rational choice and invisible hand) to address heterodox problem situations (uncertainty, differential knowledge, ceaseless change).The Austrian economists, from the founders to today, seek to derive the invisible-hand theorem from the rational-choice postulate via institutional analysis in a persistent and consistent manner. The Handbook, which consists of nine parts, and 34 chapters, covers a variety of topics including: methodology, microeconomics (market process theory and spontaneous order), macroeconomics (capital theory and Austrian business cycle theory, and free banking), institutions and organizational theory, political economy, development and social change, and the 2008 financial crisis. The goals of the volume are twofold. First, to introduce readers to some of the main theories and insights of the Austrian school. Second, to demonstrate how Austrian economics provides a set of tools for making original and novel scholarly contributions to the broader economics discipline. By providing insight into the central Austrian theories, the volume will be valuable to those who are unfamiliar with Austrian economics. At the same time, it will be appealing to those already familiar with Austrian economics, given its emphasis on Austrian economics as a live and progressive research program in the social sciences.

scholarly journals From Karl Menger to Charles Menger? How Austrian economics (hardly) spread in France

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-30
Author(s):  
Gilles Campagnolo
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Interwar Period ◽  
Austrian Economic ◽  
Vienna Circle ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
Austrian Economics ◽  
Austrian School ◽  
Classical Political Economy ◽  
Carl Menger

The father of the “Austrian” Marginalist revolution and founder of the so-called “Austrian School of economics”, Carl Menger, had a mixed reception during different periods of development of French economics. Somewhat welcomed in the early days, he was rather forgotten later on. Even his major works were not published in translation until recently. What is the reason for such a situation? Criticisms of classical political economy have to be understood in their French context. In comparison to other countries, this paper details the case of France, besides showing how later Austrians, such as Friedrich Hayek, found a limited audience. This comparative study of economic ideas in France must start with the reception of the views of the founder and the role and impact of adopting/adapting or rejecting his views by French scholars. What place did they find in French academia? From Carl Menger to a “Frenchified” Charles Menger, how was Austrian economic thought disseminated in France? This essay starts by recalling the Belle-Époque and an astonishing letter by Charles Rist for the Jubiläum of Menger, in which he deplored the lack of translation of the latter’s works. The Austrian School in France is then discussed as pure economics replaces political economy in the Interwar period, with the 1938 Paris Congress of “liberal thinkers,” as the Vienna Circle became known, also comparing issues in philosophy. The paper considers how Austrian theories of “pure science” were received in Paris from the Vienna of the 1900s, at a time of ”Crossroads,” to the present day, through the Postwar and Cold War, until a revival since the 1990s and a rethinking of economic ideas after 2008.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document