The recession of 1990: An Austrian explanation

Conclusion Deficit spending and money-supply expansion do not eliminate recessions. Theycause recessions. This fact will never be understood unless economists and government policymakers stop trying to micro-manage the economy, and start studying what their actions are doing to the structure of production. Heavy inflation of the money supply followed by sharp cutbacks change the rules right in the middle of the game for millions of businesses in the economy. For the last 40 years, government expansionary policies have stimulated industries to create false and untenable investments. These policies are followed by government corrective actions that destroy those same projects—waste the billions of dollars invested in them, and throw millions out of work. Business cycles are not an essential feature of market capitalism. They are the result of government interference with the market. In the misdirection of labor and the distortion of the structure of production during past business cycles, it was fairly easy to point to the places where the excessive expansion had occurred because it was, on the whole, confined to the capital goods industries... In contrast, the present expansion of money, which has been brought about partly by means of bank credit expansion and partly through budget deficits, has been the result of a deliberate policy, and has gone through somewhat different channels... I do not doubt that in a sense we have today the same kind of phenomenon, but the over-expansion, the undue increase of labor employed in particular occupations, is not confined to a single, clearly defined block such as the capital-goods industries. It is now spread much more widely, and the distribution is much more difficult to describe. It is a field I would wish some statistically minded economist would investigate in order to show how the process operated in particular countries. Friedrich A. Hayek     

Marketing skills: Critical issues in marketing education and training

A central issue marketing educators and trainers need to address concerns the appropriateness of their courses and whether they develop the skills that prospective employers value. This paper reports on an attempt to document those skills and to examine the extent to which they are unique to the field of marketing. Four strands of research are reported on: a literature search based on the Social Science Citation Index; a review of advertisements for marketing personnel; a content analysis of a publication containing commentaries from graduates on their experiences in marketing posts; and a survey of employers.

In carrying out this research, it became clear that there was a dearth of well articulated and considered thought on the issue of marketing skills. Behind a rhetoric that depicts employers as knowing and discriminating, the emergent reality was of a group which had no clear idea of the particular skills which they needed in marketing personnel. Perhaps even more worrying is the extent to which employers cannot distinguish between the performance of marketing and non‐marketing trained entrants to their companies either at the stage of recruitment or when they are in post.

Academics and employers are involved in an exchange but the success of that exchange is in some doubt. In conclusion we seek a more active dialogue between the two parties to ensure improvement in the relationship which can only lead to more efficient and effective education and training.