Economics

Is Austrian economics anti-empirical? (Horwitz, Caplan, Selgin, and Boettke)

Leave a Comment / Economics, Epistemology /

[I’m re-posting this good discussion from 2012 at Cato Unbound.] An instructive trio of essays by economists at Cato Unbound about Austrian economics’ reputation — especially Mises’s praxeological version — for being strongly a priori rationalist: Is Austrian economics anti-empiricist? Steve Horwitz says no. Bryan Caplan says yes. George Selgin also says yes. To Selgin’s […]

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Can We Blame Keynes for Keynesianism? [Good Life series]

1 Comment / Economics, Politics /

In our era of Keynesian economics on steroids, we should ask: How close is current Keyesnian practice to original Keynesian theory? John Maynard Keynes‘s main claim to fame is his advocacy of deficit spending as a tool of economic recovery. In a depressed economy, the argument runs, the government should spend money it doesn’t have.

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Good Monopoly, Bad Monopoly: When Are Monopolies Actually a Problem? [Good Life series]

Leave a Comment / Business Ethics, Economics, Politics /

Let me give you some examples of monopolies and ask: Which are good and which are bad? 1. Megan and Ramon begin dating and become enraptured of each other. Soon they are monopolizing each other’s time and decide to form a lifetime, exclusive relationship. 2. A town in a remote area has a few stores

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Krause’s 2016 index of institutional quality

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Last month I linked to the 2015 edition of “INSTITUTIONAL QUALITY 2015” [pdf], which ranks 193 countries in three categories: Institutional Quality, Political Institutions, Market Institutions. Here is the new 2016 edition, in Spanish and English. Martín Krause is Professor of Economics and the University of Buenos Aires and a specialist in law and economics

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Who Is Really Serious About Monopolies? [Good Life series]

Leave a Comment / Business Ethics, Economics /

Raise the topic of monopolies, and the ensuing discussion will quickly highlight ideological blind-spots. A colleague with whom I’ve taught courses in business and capitalism sent to me, enthusiastically, this article by Paul Krugman, a Nobel-Prize-winning economist. Krugman attacks Amazon and calls for it to be cut down a few notches. Amazon, he says, has

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Blamestorming and “Deregulation caused the financial crisis” [Good Life series]

1 Comment / Economics, Politics, The Good Life /

You’ve heard the claim: “Deregulation caused the crisis.” In the years leading up to 2008, the story goes, bad economists convinced bad politicians to deregulate the money/banking/finance sector of the economy, and bad capitalists then enjoyed an orgy of greed that caused the system to go haywire. Nobel-Prize-winners Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman have signed

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Martín Krause’s index of economic and political institutional quality

Leave a Comment / Economics, Politics /

Martín Krause is Professor of Economics and the University of Buenos Aires and a specialist in law and economics and institutional economics. With Professor Krause’s permission, here is the 2015 edition of “INSTITUTIONAL QUALITY 2015” [pdf], which ranks 193 countries in three categories: Institutional Quality, Political Institutions, Market Institutions. For those interested in the performance

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