As with any story, it pays to start at the beginning.In my case, it all started with austrian economics Located at Grove City University. How I ended up in Grove City is a zigzag and highly improbable journey, the odds of which are all beyond calculation. I wasn’t a very focused student either in high school or when I started college. My interests were focused elsewhere and my dreams were directed toward a life far removed from anything associated with the “life of the mind.”
When I was inspired to study economics, my professor, Dr. Hans Sennholz, gave me interesting and timeless lectures (I can still hear his voice 40 years later) and the books he recommended I read. He guided me on my research path. frederic bastiat‘s economic sophismHenry Hazlitt’s Learn economics in one lesson and milton friedman‘s Free to choosebut also carl menger‘s principles of economics, Eugen Böhm-Bawerk‘s capital and interest; and ludwig von mises‘s Theory of money and credit, Socialismand human behavior.I read it before graduating adam smith‘s national wealth, Jean-Baptiste says‘s paper, david ricciardo‘s principle, john stuart mill‘s principle, FA Hayek‘s road to serfdom, Israel Kirzner‘s economic point of view and Murray Rothbard’s humans, economy, nation. Senholtz also made sure to read Marx, Keynes, Veblen, and Galbraith.Besides these classic works, I have to admit that I have read everything Senholz himself published (especially era of inflation) as well as becoming a regular reader of The Freemanand other works by staff of the Foundation for Economic Education.
My philosophical vision and critique of scientism in human studies
My religion and philosophy teacher, Dr. Reed Davis, introduced me to the following job: michael polanyi, especially the question of assumptions in scientific research. I was able to see broader applications and connections between what I was learning about how to do economics and the philosophical discourse that Polanyi guides us to when thinking about the study of humans.In Mr. Senholz’s presentation, economics human science and was corrupted by the unwarranted intrusion of the methods of physical science into its domain. Mises (and Hayek) had good reasons for taking this position, but as I read and learned from Polanyi, Polanyi gave me additional reasons.
Over the next few years, after I was appointed Don Lavoie’s research assistant, my appreciation for Polanyi only grew. Lavoie was busy finishing his two books – Rivalry and central planning and National economic planning: what remains? Lavoie was merging Austrian economics with the growing intellectual literature in the philosophy of science, including Polanyi. Therefore, my early exposure to Polanyi proved to be an advantage in my work at Lavoie.
The great strength is that Polanyi doesn’t just tell us; how It’s about studying, what Learning – the growth and use of knowledge in society. This, of course, reflects directly on Hayek’s research program. It turns out that Polanyi, like Mises and Hayek, criticized the socialist planned economy, especially the Soviet system. During his first year of graduate study, so many intersections emerged with what I had been preparing to learn since my time at Grove City.
Economics at graduate level is a technical field, similar in many ways to engineering and social physics. However, economics as practiced at the Austrian Faculty of Economics is a philosophical science, closer to the humanities than to a science. I had to learn to live academically in two worlds at the same time. The education I received at Grove City College and the mentorship I received at George Mason prepared me to do just that. And, hopefully, in the decades to come, others will see that example in my writing and teaching.
Analytical puzzles and economic science
As much as I was attracted to economics as a philosophical science, I was also intrigued by the mysteries of economics as understood by my colleagues in the field. The most fundamental puzzle was understanding how markets work. The textbook presentation didn’t seem to just explain how the market economy came about and what the optimal outcome would be if the market did all the work.There was no real theory in the textbook. work It is the influence of economic power, and is merely a presentation of the results brought about by economic power. worked. This was very unsatisfying for me and became an obsession that became fixed in my mind and in the minds of others. Sennorz introduced me to this discipline at a young age. I never tired of thinking, talking, and writing about economics and its history, methods, and applications.
I’m a fan of economics and economists, as well as a lifelong fan of the New York Yankees. In fact, I consider the Austrian School of Economics to be the New York Yankees of economics. The Austrians have probably won more major debates than any other school of thought. Metlenstreit. A discussion of socialist calculations. Monetary theory and policy debates. Methodological controversies over excessive formalism, naive empiricism, and problems of aggregation. and the benefits of trade, migration and development for the betterment of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable people on earth. However, unlike the Yankees, many do not recognize the Austrian economy’s championship pennant. This piqued my curiosity to understand how such a discrepancy between perception and reality persists among economists. Therefore, the sociology of this profession has been the subject of my attention as much as its substantive contributions to economics. what i called mainstream economics. Mainstream economics reflects current fads and fads in science, but mainstream economics reflects the enduring substantive principles that science tells us about how the world works. Masu. Austrian economists explain how the world works, mainstream economists explain how the economics profession works, but they are different. Learning that was a long and difficult awakening process.
My philosophical, analytical, and sociological interests are all interconnected. And once again I found my roots at Grove City University. In this case, it was reading a book by Walter Miller. leibovitz hymnFrom this we learned that knowledge is not only recycled, but also transformed and initiated appropriately, with periods of progress being halted by periods of regression. Knowledge processes move over time in a sort of corkscrew fashion. There is progress, but sometimes we go backwards just to move forward. Knowledge can be lost and must be found again before progress can be made. Economics, as Hazlitt taught in his writings, is particularly prone to this problem. Learn economics in one lesson, sound economics is built on long chains of reasoning that many people are unable or unwilling to follow, and in the gaps vested interest groups exploit the situation to pursue their own agendas. They try to push forward their own preferred story in the hopes that it will happen. This was indeed the case in the period from 1920 to 1980, when we debated the merits of socialist economic planning, despite evidence of economic poverty and political despotism. In the 1980s, the evidence against the socialist experiment increased so much that even the most hardened minds had to admit the points raised by Mises and Hayek. My early work as an economist was on this very topic, and my first three books on him were about the history, operation, collapse, and socialist economies of Eastern Europe, Central Europe, and the former Soviet Union. A detailed explanation of the transition from a principled economy.
Why did economists get such a large-scale experiment wrong?
student life
How do you pursue a career in your inner life? It is guided by curiosity and coupled with the desire to maintain an unquenchable thirst for learning throughout life. You should be free to ask questions that may not have easy answers, let alone easy ones.
It is the recognition that knowledge in society increases (remember the corkscrew) and that the more we know, the more we don’t know. Teaching allows us to connect with curious, caring young people who are passionate about understanding the world and repairing a broken world. Our job as teachers is to harness that curiosity and use the tools of economic reasoning to unlock children’s curiosity, discipline their thinking, and effectively develop their compassion and desire to do good. It is about showing each generation how it can be an essential help in their pursuit. In the world.
conclusion
My life as an Austrian economist has been great and I hope to continue studying and working for decades to come. The Austrian economy is correctly understood as a growth industry. We are constantly building for a better future and the promise of even more scientific victories in the coming years. It is a privilege to be part of that legacy.
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