Is Human Action the Hidden Impact Crater of Modern Economics?

The hypothesis of this essay is that Human Action—particularly the first few hundred pages—was instrumental to the new way of economic thinking that emerged with the new Chicago School, the Public Choice School, price theory, economic imperialism, general equilibrium analysis, and, ironically, the rise of economic formalism. Because the reader is “forced” to “test” and accept all the steps in Mises’s argument introspectively, a basis of agreement is established. This unconscious agreement might not be recognized by the reader or might be recognized as nothing more than mere common sense. However, this acceptance by the reader is a form of learning by osmosis.