Austrian Economics Overview

The iconic Hermès Birkin bag helps illustrate Carl Menger’s “Theory of the Good,” and Ludwig von Mises’s explanation of human action.

There are numerous critics of the Austrian School of economics, but when their disparagements are closely examined, the so-called experts themselves are wrong. Austrians can do a better job of setting the record straight.

Modern academic economics is based upon the methodologies used to study the natural sciences. However, such methodologies are inappropriate to study economics, which must be based upon causal-realism.

Austrian economics today needs critics. It doesn‘t need the critics (like Paul Krugman) who cannot give valid and accurate criticisms, but rather people who actually understand the concepts upon which Austrian thinking is built provide a real challenge.

Mainstream economists often base their analysis upon assumptions that do not square with reality. Austrian economics, on the other hand, is built upon realistic assumptions and the acknowledgement that good economics must reflect human action.

Jonathan Newman is interviewed by Kerry Lutz on the Financial Survival Network.

Contrary to anti-freedom myths, "greedy" business owners don't decide what prices will be for goods and services. 

Central to the paradigm of Austrian Economics is the action axiom. People act, and they act purposefully. That knowledge alone permits us to construct an entire set of theories that explains economic life.

Critics of Austrian economics often claim that real economic events are too complex to be dealt with via free markets. However, because Austrian economics is based upon understanding human action, it better explains why economic intervention routinely fails.

Jonathan Newman is interviewed by Jimmy Lakey on The Lakey Effect.