Study Guide to Human Action, Chapter XIV

Chapter XIV. The Scope and Method of Catallactics

Chapter Summary

1. The Delimitation of Catallactic Problems

The scope of praxeology — the science of human action — is precise: it is the study of goal-seeking rational behavior. However, the scope of catallactics or specifically “economic” problems is somewhat ambiguous. Economics is mainly concerned with the analysis of how money prices in the real world are formed for all goods and services exchanged on a market.

The Scope and Method of Catallactics

1. The Delimitation of Catallactic Problems

There have never been any doubts and uncertainties about the scope of economic science. Ever since people have been eager for a systematic study of economics or political economy, all have agreed that it is the task of this branch of knowledge to investigate the market phenomena, that is, the determination of the mutual exchange ratios of the goods and services negotiated on markets, their origin in human action and their effects upon later action.

Mises in Argentina

This article is a translation of a 1959 interview in the Argentinian newspaper La Presna. It appears here in English for the first time, thanks to the Hayek Foundation. “The Austrian-born North American economist, writer, and teacher, Ludwig von Mises, who, we are informed, arrived from New York early yesterday morning, spoke with us about his activities in Buenos Aires. In Buenos Aires, he will give a series of talks in the Faculty of Economic Sciences with the sponsorship of the Center for the Promotion of the Free Economy, chaired by Mr. Alberto Benegas Lynch.”

What Are Just Prices?

What kind of theory of the world insists that houses and stocks always go up in price, whereas gas and grain prices always go down? That doesn’t really make sense. A price is not set by natural law, nor are price movements intended to follow a preset pattern like the movements of stars. Prices are nothing but exchange ratios -points of agreement between buyer and seller. They reflect many factors, none of them fixed parts of the universe. So why do we expect some to rise and some to fall? It all depends on whether you are in the position of a producer or a consumer.

Wage and Price Controls Failed...

...in Massachusetts during 1630-50. From Murray Rothbard’s Conceived in Liberty: “Maximum-wage control always aggravates a shortage of labor, as employers will not be able to obtain needed workers at the statutory price. In trying to force labor to be cheaper than its price on the free market, the gentry only made it more difficult for employers to obtain that labor.” (p. 254, Vol. I, Chapter 31).

How profitable is big oil?

In the context of the recent spike in oil prices, this clip from Glenn Beck show might be of interest to some. Particularly noteworthy is the fact that the oil industry has been facing a thirty years [sic] moratorium on exploring new fields within the United States. According to the president of Shell Oil, John Hofmeister, the US is dependent on the order of over 60% of its overall consumption on oil imports. The moratorium, though not mentioned in the clip, I suspect has got a great deal to do with environmentalism. Speaking about sponsoring of international terrorism!

Epistemological Relativism in the Sciences of Human Action

I. Introduction

Up to the 18th century, historians paid little or no attention to the epistemological problems of their craft. In dealing with the subject of their studies, they again and again referred to some regularities that—as they themselves and their public assumed—are valid for any kind of human action irrespective of the time and the geographical scene of the action as well as of the actors’ personal qualities and ideas. But they did not raise the question whether these regularities were of an extraneous character or inherent in the very nature of human action.

Are eulas contrary to property rights?

One of my favorite blogs on Mises.org is Copyfascism Watch because it always raises challenging questions and offers great arguments and documentation. Today, the top item concerns End User License Agreements: “One of the problems that needs to be resolved in the copyfight is the validity of licenses, which not only includes all EULAs, but Creative Commons and open-source licenses like the GNU as well.

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