I’d like to discuss some of Nozick’s comments on time preference in his paper “On Austrian Methodology,” but there is an obstacle to doing so. Nozick is fond of intricate arguments, and the section of the paper on time preference is especially difficult. For that reason, I’m going to concentrate on only a few of the many points he addresses.

Nozick criticizes this passage from Human Action, which he rightly recognizes to be vital for Mises’s argument for time preference:

In recent weeks, we’ve been keeping an eye on weekly total deaths as they are reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Weekly deaths—as opposed to COVID-19 death totals—provide some needed context.

Brendan Brown is a founding partner of Macro Hedge Advisors and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. He is a regular contributor to mises.org and is the author of several books on monetary policy including A Global Monetary Plague (2015) and The Case Against 2 Per Cent Inflation (2018).

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We are all in this together.

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The science of economics is different from natural science. In natural science, it is possible to detect regularities in the form of “When A, then B” or “If A rises by x percent, B changes by y percent.” As a result, in natural science it is in principle possible to come up with more or less reliable quantitative predictions.

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Modern macroeconomics has made price stability the primary objective of monetary policy. It is assumed that central banks can ensure price stability by skillfully managing the money supply, thereby creating the conditions for economic growth and prosperity.

Murray Rothbard once stunned me by saying that he thought the greatest economist in history was Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk. The reason he gave, to the best of my recollection, was: “Böhm-Bawerk created a mighty system of economic theory and then successfully defended it against all comers.”  Noticing that I was startled, he asked who I thought was the greatest economist. I replied, “Ludwig von Mises,” Rothbard’s revered mentor, whom I thought would have been his choice. Rothbard acknowledged that an excellent case could also be made for Mises. 

Back in the summer of 2006, perhaps sensing momentum for Democrats going into the midterm, Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas gave it a push by making a play for the libertarian vote. Considering the degree to which the Bush/GOP years disappointed, it made sense.