A Note on Preference and Indifference in Economic Analysis
Volume 8, No. 4 (Winter 2005)
When the economics profession turns its attention to financial panics and crashes, the first episode mentioned is tulipmania. In fact, tulipmania has become a metaphor in the economics field. Should one look up tulipmania in The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, a discussion of the seventeenth century Dutch speculative mania will not be found. Guillermo Calvo (1987, p.
Scholars of Austrian economics argue persuasively that formal models are not able to capture the complex dynamics of market processes. In the eyes of Austrian economists the market is not only an abstract place of exchange between buyers and sellers of goods, but also a process that helps to generate knowledge by letting economic agents reveal their preferences in voluntary exchanges.
What sets Austrians apart from mainstream economists is methodology and consequent analyses. The first section contains an analysis of their methods, which are found wanting. Although G&V “tip their hats” to Austrian economics, in section two, “Incompatibility with Austrian Economics,” we challenge their claim that their analysis is compatible therewith. In the conclusion we make some final statements.