In history mine are: David Ricardo, Jean Baptiste Say, Ludwig von Mises, Hayek, and Milton Friedman.
do we get free cheezeburger in socielism?
I'd go with substitute Menger for Say, but otherwise agree. Anyone of the earlier Austrians could count, though, whether it's Boehm-Bawerk, Wieser, Robbins, Anderson, &c. I've yet to see a modern economist (from any school) that can live up to the giants of the past.
-Jon
To darkness I condemn you...
This is the problem I see with spreading Austrian economics. There is no real new development in economics to be made - all the original laws discovered by the great Austrians hold true throughout time, e.g. Says Law. People die and although movements move on, there seems to be little that Austrian economics can discover that wasn't already written about by someone the youth of today might consider 'old and stuffy.' Say, Menger, Mises, Hayek, and Rothbard for example. They've all died now which reduces the appeal of their works (though does nothing to change their total accuracy.)
A new generation of Austrians has less and less to discover as time goes on, unlike Socialism which can simply invent new ways of tyrannising people and call it a new brand of Socialism.
There are always new generations of Socialists who can write rhetoric and who people can look up to. Krugman, Klein, and Chomsky, for example, have phased out Keynes, Marx, and Engels. When they die a new generation of Socialists will phase them out too, although of course they always recognise their predecessors. Who is going to phase out Hayek and Mises? I mean, the people who write for mises.org are really awesome (my favourites are probably Gennady Stolyarov II and Jeffrey Tucker [even if he is the editor], they are not as large in their fields as the people they write about were; unlike the Socialists, where Krugman is as equally a Socialist Giant as the Socialist economists of the 20s and 30s were.
I hope this made sense.
I would say IMO the five greatest are Ricardo, Say, Mises, Hayek, and Rothbard. Saying Friedman is great is like saying Keynes is great, tbh.
For the most part, it DOES seem that the fundamental laws of economics have all been elucidated by the earlier generation of Austrians. Nonetheless, clearly a lot of those lessons have yet to sink in! So, maybe the job of contemporary students of Austrian economics is to relentlessly re-apply it to current and historical situations, continue to clarify it and make it accessible. The Keynesians all write their columns so my FIL can read and nod assent, because it fits with someone he thinks that he read in another, earlier, Keynesian column, and then he can later think a politician has a good idea because that person parrots the Keynesian.
Austrians have to continue to work to get to the people. Their ideas are so simple, so elegant, so effortlessly correct, that they really resonate with anyone who is genuinely curious. But there is so much bias against freedom in the popular consciousness, and that is where the battle is being fought. We have to keep making it clear, especially with examples from recent domestic history (pick your country, but mine is the US so I think the Depression and the Fed are big ones).
"Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. ... Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."
Good point. Frankly I think my country is sadly beyond all return (Britain) and I await with a degree of eagerness the day that this country is totally absorbed by the EUSSR and turns to full blown Socialism so I have an excuse to launch my war of independence...
er, nothing.
Jon Irenicus: I've yet to see a modern economist (from any school) that can live up to the giants of the past.
I was thinking about this, and I sort of agree with what Asianaustrian said. We have all the basic theory laid out so all we really have is people going more in depth into issues and clarifying and tweaking things. Not that that is a bad thing, by any means, but the reason that everyone considers Menger, Boehm-Bawerk, Mises, Rothbard, etc to be so great is because the revolutionized the field.
Is there a possibility/reason for any more revolutions in economics? I hope so. It seems to be the case that revolutions in science always happen when people assume that everything has been explained. So maybe we're in store for another one sometime soon. I'm finding it hard to conceptualize what kind of revolution could take place in Austrian thought though.
Greatest as in impact: Smith, Marx, Keynes, Mises, Hayek
Greatest as in best ideas: Smith, Say, Mises, Hayek, Menger
Democracy is nothing more than replacing bullets with ballots
If Pro is the opposite of Con. What is the opposite of Progress?
You forgot Keynes. He is the greatest of all. At least that's what all central bankers and governments say in practice. We are going to see more of him.
Mises, Rothbard, Hazlitt, Bastiat, Hayek
I know this may be a vague question, but can someone explain in a nutshell how Mises differed from classical economists such as Smith and Ricardo?
I would say Mises, Kirzner, Hayek, Menger and Rothbard.
http://aestheticbend.blogspot.com/
Smith- labor theory of value, saw increasing prices as a natural and good phenomenon, believed in an instantaneous circulation theory of money.
Mises-subjective theory of value, saw increasing prices as unnatural gov. intervention;saw the opposite in decreasing prices, believed in a gradual circulation theory of money.
While the great Austrians are all dead and gone, this I think is not the reason they are undervalued. Keynes, as well, is long since dead, but his so-called "New Economics" lives on, and on, and on.
I believe it was Hazlit who wrote a stunning, if wordy, refutation of Keynes' "General Theory" that is completely ignored by Keynesian Acadamia and state "experts".
The obvious reason for this adherance to Keynes is that, inherrantly, it in all ways benifits the leviathan state. Therefore, the Austrians (I go with Mises, Hayek, Rothbard, Say, and the little known Ballvé) are in all ways opposed to leviathan state, if not anarchocapitalists.
That is the reason Austrian Economics, and the masters of it, are largely ignored.
I suggest a different question:
Who should not be included in the list of greatest economists and why?
"Why don't you go stand under a stalactite, and bellow the resonate room frequency and wait for it to impale your brain!" -The Brain
If I had to pick only one, it would be Keynes. His work has done more to empower the state than any 10 published economists in history.
He is the destroyer of Empires, and not in a good way.
No matter how many times his work is refuted, his disciples still believe. Even though his theories are disproved, governments adhere to them. And even now, in the midst of the worst economic meltdown of all time, which was caused by Keynesian Theory, the practice of "New Economics" is being heralded as the solution.
Ludwig von Mises Institute | 518 West Magnolia Avenue | Auburn, Alabama 36832-4528
Phone: 334.321.2100 · Fax: 334.321.2119
contact@Mises.org | webmaster | AOL-IM MainMises
Mises.org sitemap