Austrian Economics Overview

Jonathan Newman joins Bob Murphy to explore what economics really is, why it matters, and how the revamped Mises Academy is helping teach it the right way.

Students and general readers will find in this 201-page book a systematic—yet concise and focused—presentation of the main topics in economic analysis from the perspective of the Austrian School.

Part of bringing up young children is to tell them stories and accounts about people who did the right thing, and how they made life better for themselves and others. We can do the same with describing economic concepts, which don‘t have to be dry and boring.

We’ve just released the first two video lectures in Jonathan Newman’s new online course based on Dr. Murphy’s Lessons For the Young Economist, on our recently refurbished Mises Academy platform.

Guido Hülsmann joins Bob to explore the newly digitized Ludwig von Mises archives at Grove City College, revealing lost correspondence, Mises’ personal battles against socialism, and more.

The Austrian school recognizes that economic analysis is timeless and the ancient story of “The Poor Man of Nippur” provides an excellent example. From time preference to the structure of production, many of the lessons are contained in this story.

When it seemed central Europe would succumb to the terrors of Bolshevism, Ludwig von Mises wrote his classic book, Socialism, convincing fellow Austrians that socialism was destructive. Mises influenced F.A. Hayek, whose The Road to Serfdom had similar effects in the US.

I have long argued that Austrian economics should be developed not as an alternative to the current academic discipline of economics but as a replacement for it.

Jonathan Newman appears on the show to discuss Bob's recent debate on ZeroHedge, which centered on Austrian economics versus Modern Monetary Theory (MMT).

The challenge facing economic science is to counter the reactionary counterrevolution by states and governments that smother voluntary cooperation and free human interaction based on liberty. The chains must be thrown off in favor of the libertarian ideal of an anarchocapitalist system.