A Critique of Interventionism

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Summary: Great Read!
Review: Austrian Economics: An Anthology, edited by Bettine Bien Greaves, is a collection of essays written by pillars of Austrian Economics, including Eugen von Bohm Bawerk and Ludwig von Mises. These essays were written over a span of eighty years so some have a more traditional writing style. This is beneficial for the reader because it conveys a sense of the intellectual atmosphere at the time of writing.

The book is divided into two sections. The first five essays discuss the history of the Austrian School. These are surprisingly energetic with a passion that is often lacking in reporting intellectual history. Several of the articles, including one written by Mises, detail the battle of methodology that the Austrian School waged against the German Historical School. This debate, commonly referred to as the Methodenstreit, is portrayed as a very personal and epic battle between good and evil. Reading about this rich history provides an overarching view of the development of the field of economics as a whole and the Austrian School in particular.

The second section of the book consists of four essays on Epistemology. While not as lively as the discussion of history, epistemology is of monumental importance in the building of a science. Austrian economics differs from the mainstream largely due to this and as such special attention should be given to it. These articles touch on a little of everything, but the most interesting essay is the discussion on the Subjective Theory of Value. Mises details his approach and critiques some of the Value Theories espoused by sociologists, historians, and other economists.

This book is suitable for a reader with only a small background on economics and the Austrian School. The book is laid out very well so the reader hardly notices that it is composed of individual essays by different writers spanning many different decades. This flow allows the reader to sit back and enjoy these foundational essays. In only 157 pages, these essays provide an excellent picture of Austrian Economics.



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Summary: Free Market Theorists
Review: If you want to learn about an economic philosophy that refutes the "Keynesian command economy" then you need to study the "Austrian School" of economic theory. This anthology by Bettina Ben Greaves is a good starting point to learn about the "Austrian" school. The "Austrian " economic school turned the study of economics on its head when it traced market prices to the actions of individual buyers instead of producers. Carl Menger, the founder of this school wrote the breakthrough theory the "classical economists" like Adam Smith missed. "Market price doesn't rely on usefulness, value or supply but on the usefulness the individual expects to derive from the item or the service at a particular time or place, this theory is known as marginal utility". Ludwig von Mises took the school further he rejected the traditional study of economics by looking at historical models and adopted the technique of studying "human action" and social science to come up with a universal economic science. As a free market economists the "Austrians" expertly explain how the system of profit and loss works in a free economy and how wages rise due to an increase in capital invested per worker, which causes an increase in the productivity of labor. "The only means to increase a nations welfare is to increase and improve the output of its products." This book should be read by all whom wonder how economic theory works and what role the government should have on our economic choices.

As a retired Army officer and student of political philosophy, I found "Austrian Economics An Anthology" a great book for anyone who wants to understand basic "Austrian" economic theory. For further reading in free market economics I recommend Von Mises, "HUMAN ACTION" and "PLANNING FOR FREEDOM". F. A. Hayek's, "Road To Serfdom and Milton Friedman's "Free To Choose"