Austrian Economics Overview

Presented by Rothbard at New York Polytechnic University in 1972.

Advertising has always had bad press with economists, but consumers discover that a product either works and works well, or it doesn't. Consumer wants are not artificially created by business itself.

Price controls — triangular interventions — occur when an intervener (generally government) either compels a pair of people to make an exchange or prohibits them from making an exchange.

In this lecture in 1972, supply and demand concepts included: preferences of consumers, prices, quantity, quality, elasticity, equilibrium, marginal utility, present goods, and production processes.

Recorded on 31 January 1981 at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Economics begins with the concepts of scarcity and choice. If there was no scarcity it would all be free. Resources like time and materials need to be allocated to economically feasible uses. This will depend on the consumers' demand for the final product.

The gold standard is not a game but a social institution.

Economists can say little about population and its size, despite the gloomy views of Malthus. More people are a good thing because of the division of labor. Living standards are higher when populations are higher.

As factors of production, supply and demand of labor, land and capital will determine how much the producer will get out of this process. This process occurs in different stages.

The time market determines the pure rate of interest. Price per unit of time may be wages or rent. The interest income will be earned by the capitalist who has assumed the task of advancing present money.