Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 19, no. 2 (Summer 2016)
ABSTRACT: There is an emerging literature on the subject of skyscrapers and business cycles. Lawrence (1999) first noticed the correlation between important changes in the economy and the building of record-breaking skyscrapers. Thornton (2005) established a theoretical link between the two phenomena. Several papers have subsequently examined the impact of skyscraper building on the economy and in particular on the role of psychological factors on the building of record-breaking skyscrapers. Not surprisingly, most people scoff at this notion, and Barr et al. (2015) present extensive empirical evidence that skyscrapers do not cause changes in GDP, but precisely the opposite. Here we show what the skyscraper curse actually is, and show that the entire empirical literature on this subject supports the existence of a skyscraper curse, including most of Barr et al. (2015). In addition, we present new empirical evidence supporting the skyscraper curse.
KEYWORDS: Skyscraper Curse, business cycle, Austrian School
JEL CLASSIFICATION: B53, E32, E37, R11
Elizabeth Boyle is a former intern with the Mises Institute.
There is an emerging literature on the subject of skyscrapers and business cycles. We present new empirical evidence supporting the skyscraper curse.
Lucas M. Engelhardt is a Professor of Economics at Kent State University’s Stark Campus. His work is in macroeconomics, primarily in examining how various assumptions about capital affect business cycle models.
Drawing on Rothbard's essay on inequality and the division of labor, Dr. Lucas Engelhardt argues that human diversity is the very foundation of comparative advantage and prosperity, and that billionaires arise either by serving large numbers of people through the market or by extracting wealth through political connections.
Mainstream economics has deliberately abandoned the history of economic thought. Austrian economists must keep teaching and re-teaching the great debates of the past.
Lucas Engelhardt explores the economics of interventionism, tracing Ludwig von Mises’s core argument that state interference in markets is both self-defeating and inherently unstable.
Mark Thornton is the Peterson-Luddy Chair in Austrian Economics and a Senior Fellow at the Mises Institute. He is the book review editor of the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, and has authored seven books and is a frequent guest on national radio shows.
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Taxes and spending don’t “balance out.” Mark Thornton channels Rothbard: taxes compound the damage—distorting markets, rewarding the political class, and grinding down real living standards.
Mark Thornton shows why every system that ignored the entrepreneur—from socialism to fascism to modern industrial policy—failed for the same reason.
