The Mundane Economics of the Austrian School

The Austrian School of economics—the causal-realist, marginalist, subjectivist tradition established by Carl Menger in 1871—has experienced a remarkable renaissance over the last five decades. It is not always clear, however, exactly what distinguishes the Austrian School from other traditions, schools of thought, approaches, or movements within economics and its sister disciplines. This paper argues that Austrian economics, while part of a broader tradition emphasizing the coordination of the market order, is nonetheless a distinct kind of economic analysis, and that its essence is not subjectivism, the market process, or spontaneous order, but what I call “mundane economics”—price theory, capital theory, monetary theory, business-cycle theory, and the theory of interventionism. Call this the “hard core” of Austrian economics. I argue that this hard core is (1) distinct, and not merely a verbal rendition of mid-twentieth-century neoclassical economics; (2) the unique foundation for applied Austrian analysis (political economy, social theory, business administration, and the like); and (3) a living, evolving body of knowledge, rooted in classic contributions of the past but not bound by them. Most Austrian economists from Menger to Rothbard devoted their energies to developing and communicating the principles of mundane economics, not because they failed to grasp the importance of time, uncertainty, knowledge, expectations, institutions, and market processes, but because they regarded these issues as subordinate to the main task of economic science, namely the construction of a more satisfactory theory of value, production, exchange, price, money, capital, and intervention.     

本世纪以来的西方经济增长理论

中国经济正处于动能转换的关键时期,需要来自增长理论研究的支持。21世纪以来,经济增长理论的研究取得了显著进步。本文旨在评述增长理论的最新发展,进一步梳理理论脉络和主流观点,为学术研究和经济实践提供参考。本文认为,经济增长理论已逐渐形成制度决定理论、结构转变理论和人口过渡理论三大主流观点。同时,本文指出了增长理论存在的不足。在总结现有文献贡献与不足的基础上,对未来研究方向进行了展望。     

关于新经济增长理论的若干思考

产生于20世纪80年代的新经济增长理论是经济学的一个重要分支,它强调经济增长不是外部力量(如外生技术变化),而是经济体系的内部力量(如内生技术变化)作用的产物。这一理论对当今世界的经济增长具有重要作用。     

基于共生理论的区域经济包容性增长文献综述

区域经济在新的时代提出了和谐发展和绿色转型的要求,共生效应成为区域经济发展追求的目标.共生理论在区域经济发展过程中的成功运用,开创了共生理论由生物学领域向社会学,以至于经济学领域的拓展和延伸.共生效应的实现为包容性增长范式的提出提供了理论基础,包容性增长与其生理论在区域经济发展领域的结合为区域经济未来发展提供了新的目标和模式.文章正是在此基础上综述了共生理论与包容性增长的关系、包容性增长的研究现状和动态、共生理论与包容性增长在区域经济发展领域交集融合的必要性和可能性以及未来的研究趋势和应用前景.通过分析,可以为区域经济包容性增长观念的提出提供理论支撑和研究空间.     

产业组织理论述评

文章系统地论述了西方现代产业组织理论的发展过程,分析了哈佛学派、芝加哥学派、新产业组织理论、新奥地利学派和新制度学派的基本观点、方法论以及相互之间的关系,对各流派理论对当时政府政策的影响作了评述。     

Austrian Business Cycle Theory: A Corporate Finance Point of View

The Austrian business cycle theory (ABCT) has been criticized for not being a true theory of the business cycle. The main emphasis of the ABCT has been on the theory of the upper-turning point—the artificial expansion of credit, the manipulation of interest rates, the malinvestments committed by entrepreneurs and then the credit crunch and/or real resource crunch. The paper provides an illustration (from a corporate finance point of view) of how a company, by following market signals, will launch a project that is a malinvestment. The paper then demonstrates how a company can take a failing component from another business and turn it into a viable operation via the liquidation process. This paper then demonstrates how the Austrian theory can make superior recommendations for policies (through the usage of the liquidation process) to help stimulate economic recovery.

An Empirical Analysis of the Austrian Business Cycle Theory

The Austrian economists Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich A. Hayek developed a unique theory of the business cycle. In their view, an unsustainable boom ensues when the rate of interest prevailing in the market falls below the natural rate. The boom is characterized not only by an increase in aggregate production but also by a distortion of the structure of production. Similarly, the recession that follows is characterized by a decline in aggregate production as the structure of production is repaired. Hence, the Austrian account of macroeconomic fluctuation stresses the misallocation and reallocation of resources in addition to the overproduction and underproduction of more conventional business cycle theories. In a recent article, Lester and Wolff (Review of Austrian Economics 26(4):433–461, 2013) attempt to consider the empirical relevance of the Austrian view. We argue that the authors’ use of the federal funds rate as an indicator of monetary policy is inappropriate in that it fails to distinguish a low market interest rate from a market interest rate that is low relative to the natural rate. Using an estimate of the natural rate provided by Selgin et al. (2011), we attempt to improve upon their analysis.     

New classical and austrian business cycle theory: Is there a difference?

Conclusions To compare new classical and Austrian theory seems legitimate only with respect to a particular aspect of economic reality, namely business cycles. In the past century, Austrians have covered so many fields of economic theory that the achievements of new classicals are comparatively small. The discussions of both approaches showed that it would not be appropriate to claim that Austrians have developed theonly theory of business cycles which refers to individual behavior and choice. New classicals have rediscovered this approach and used many of the tenets for their explanation. This is not to say that new classical theory completely follows Austrian traditions. But many of the differences appear to be small or are only semantic in character.     

What Austrian Economics Can Teach Historians

Austrian economics is a valuable resource for historians. Scholars informed by Austrian insights can make better sense of historical phenomena, and can provide far better insight into economic history, than those who lack this background. It is impossible to understand events such as the Great Depression with the assistance of no theory at all, so it is essential that the historian adopt the correct one. Sound theory also prevents the historian from falling into a wide array of fallacies—about the stimulative effects of public works projects or the economic benefits of war, for instance—that have insinuated their way into so much scholarly and popular writing.     

开放经济增长与动态要素质量:理论与实证分析

经济发展依赖于生产要素,而世界市场的一体化趋势却从各个不同的方面影响着要素,改变着传统增长理论中对要素的非现实性假定,即将经济发展中的要素存量观点转变到要素流量的观点上来,从静态要素发展到动态要素。本文通过对要素质量决定要素收益进而影响开放经济增长的分析,从理论和实证两方面进行了动态要素质量与开放经济增长关系的研究,认为通过提升和培育高质量要素及要素的动态质量组合来促进经济增长,是一国在开放经济体系下的必然路径。     

产品内分工理论研究回顾与展望

产品内分工是经济全球化背景下国际分工和国际贸易发展的一种新的概念、方式和机制,是当代国际贸易理论与实践发展中一个新现象、新问题。研究和探讨产品内分工的演进、特点和规律,对于解读当代国际分工的深化和贸易的扩张,解读当代中国对外贸易发展和经济成长,具有重要的理论意义和实践意义。     

A paradigmatic change is needed for understanding the real market

Economics in China has been neoclassicalized in the past few decades. In this article, I argue that neoclassical economics is not a good theory of the market. It misleads both economists and government in understanding the economic issues. China is particularly vulnerable to its defects. In contrast, the Austrian School of economics is a better theory of the market since it studies the real market, not an imaginary market. The most important difference between the two economics paradigms is their understandings of the entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is missed in neoclassical economics. In the Austrian School economics and Schumpeterian economics, entrepreneurship is the soul of the market. The paradigm shift of economics is urgently needed but it will be a slow process. Chinese economists should play a role in this transformation.     

Austrian Business Cycle Theory, Keynes’s General Theory, Soaring Wheat Prices, and Subprime Mortgage Write-Downs

Keynes’s presentation of own rates of interest on wheat and housing is set within Austrian business cycle theory, to show that soaring wheat prices and subprime mortgage writedowns are expected, when a monetary authority holds interest rates too low for too long. From that basis, further interest rate cuts are an unlikely remedy for a recession whose roots lie in a proliferation of credit.     

基于内生增长理论的煤炭资源对城市化的尾效模型

基于内生增长理论,构建了一个包含人均资本、煤炭资源和环境污染的经济增长模型,运用最优化方法计算出最优均衡解。在此基础上,利用城市化和经济增长的半对数关系,推导出煤炭资源约束对城市化的尾效模型。通过分析得出,要减小煤炭资源对城市化的尾效,必须依靠技术进步,控制污染,减小煤炭资源和污染的产出弹性。     

The Growing Localness of the Canadian City, or, On the Continued (Ir)relevance of Economic Base Theory

The past 50 years have brought massive changes in the patterns of economic activity around the world. Not only has global trade increased, but, precisely because of this, many scholars suggest that local (and regional) networks of production and exchange have become more prevalent and important. The nature of local economic development has, as a result, changed quite substantially. And yet theoretical approaches to it largely have not. Fifty years after Douglass North introduced economic base theory - asserting that economies grow only through increased exports - it remains the familiar refrain, if not the basis, of local economic development theory. We think it is about time to reassess the merits of base theory as an approach to, and explanation of, local economic development. Accordingly, in this article, we review briefly North's argument for base theory and the debate it stirred up early on. Then we present two evaluations of its current relevance. The first is theoretical: we consider whether changes in the patterns of economic activity in the global north, including the emergence of local/regional networks of production and exchange and the growth of consumer services, have made it possible to achieve economic growth without increasing exports. The second is empirical: using the minimum requirements method, we examine whether the economies of Canada's cities have become more locally oriented and, if so, whether they have grown. Both evaluations indicate that economic development is indeed possible through increased local activity (although exports remain important). We conclude that it is time to consider more nuanced models of local economic development that accommodate the multiple ways in which development can be achieved.     

从增长极理论看洪雅经济现象

四川省洪雅县地处四川盆地西南边缘，既无雄厚的工业基础，又无区位优势，但近几年来该县坚持不懈发展生态经济，特别是旅游产业，已逐步由一个落后的山区县发展成为川西南地区的经济增长极。洪雅经验充分说明，在运用增长级理论指导县域经济发展实践中，应当结合当地实际正确选择推进型产业，依托当地优势和创新能力形成推进型产业；且县域经济完全可以通过资源“极化作用”和“扩散作用”，依托集聚一扩散效应，加快县域经济的和谐快速发展。     

政府介入产业集群发展的理论依据

在产业集群发展中,由于市场机制固有的缺陷和集群经济的空间特性,单纯依靠市场力量很难保证集群经济始终沿着最优路径增长。政府介入集群发展的理论依据是由于集群存在"市场失灵"和"系统失灵"、公共产品的需求、集群的负的外部性等自身难以解决的问题。     

基于广义价值论的内生增长理论初探

增长理论是经济学的重要部分，关系到每一个人的福利和一个国家的地位。文章运用广义价值论研究经济增长问题，以分工为切入点，把分工产生的新增利益和该利益的公平分配统一起来，论述了递增性假设之外另一条增长的可能路径。主要结论如下：（1）基于比较优势的分工交换可以持续地产生比较利益即超过自给自足收益的净收益，这一收益不依赖于技术的递增或递减变化，具有普遍持久稳定性；（2）由分工交换产生的净收益构成原始积累的重要来源，既促进了生产规模和分工范围的扩大，又支持了研发和技术进步；（3）劳动生产力任何提高的效应都通过分工交换产生的比较利益加以放大，在一个分工交换系统中，行为主体提高比较优势产品和比较劣势产品的生产力分别具有正的和负的外部性；（4）基于广义价值论的内生经济增长体现了效率与公平的统一，一个好的制度是能够保证在交易中各方的比较利益率相等，掠夺性制度不仅直接损害经济增长，也不具备长期可持续性。     

On Austrian Economics and the Economics of Carl Menger

This paper gives an overview of the work of Carl Menger, the founding father of the Austrian School of Economics. Menger’s theoretical and methodological positions are compared and contrasted with those of contemporary Austrian Economics. The idea of the unintended consequences of individual purposive actions is seen as a key to Menger’s economics. Although many elements of contemporary Austrian Economics can be found already in the work of Menger, we argue that there are some differences with respect to economic theorizing and economic policy recommendations. We propose to bring Austrian Economics closer to mainstream economics, especially with respect to the analytical tools to be used.