Coordination Problem

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The CP bloggers

The Social Philosophy of Ludwig von Mises is Not the Same as Either Murray Rothbard's or Ayn Rand's

|Peter Boettke|

Cato Unbound has a symposium on a "Bleeding Heart History of Libertarianism" by Matt Zwolinski and John Tomasi.  There is much to recommend in the essay and the subsequent discussion.  But for the sake of argument for readers of CP, it seems that the all too common lumping of Mises with Rothbard and Rand is something that should be challenged.

 So I want to suggest that the syllogism Mises = Austrian economics; Mises = Rothbard; Rothbard = Austro-libertarianism; demonstrate fundamental flaws in Austro-libertarianism; therefore, demonstrated that Rothbard is flawed, therefore, Mises is flawed; is in fact what is flawed  and must by rejected serious thinkers in social philosophy and political economy.

Mises may have problems, but they are not the one's supposedly identified in Rothbard and Rand.  Mises is a rule utilitarian, and the critical idea in his social theory is the theory of social cooperation under the division of labor.

Discuss.

 

Development Economics to Believe In --- Private Schooling in Less Developed Economies

|Peter Boettke|

Prof. Pauline Dixon is one of the great spokespersons for private schooling throughout the world.  Her work has taken her into the field all over the world, and she has found her voice as a scholar/intellectual through telling these real stories of bottom up life affirming development.  Recently she gave a Ted talk on this topic.

 

New Working Paper on Henry Hazlitt

|Peter Boettke|

I have written a paper, "The Public Intellectual as Economist: The Case of Henry Hazlitt," which I will present at a conference at Duke University next week.

Hazlitt's life and ideas inspired me when I was an undergraduate and revisiting them for this paper was an exercise in sheer joy and enlightenment.

 

Fiscal Imbalance, System Imbalance, and the Prospects for Prosperity

|Peter Boettke|

Simon Johnson learned how to become an economist studying the collapse of a system --- the Soviet economy --- and the attempts to rebuild that system into a viable market economy. This eventually lead him to focus on the important role of institutions within economic development. In recent years, his focus has turned from the broad question of the unpacking of institutions toward a critique of the US system of crony capitalism.  And he is often a bold and biting critic.

He has a new book coming out taking on the fiscal situation in the US.  In my opinion, he raises the questions which we as economist must be debating, even if I find myself in disagreement with him on certain key issues.

I wonder if Simon has thought about the situation in the Soviet Union in the 1980s that started his economic career, and the situation with the fiscal imbalance we face today.  This question might strike many as strange, but I am thinking in particular of the work of Igor Birman concerning the "imbalances" in the Soviet system.  I think a very productive discussion among economist could be had from such a revisiting of Birman's work and its potential applicability to the vulnerabilities with the social democratic systems of the West, including the US, in the past decade.  Vito Tanzi's Government versus the Market (Cambrdige, 2011) is also a highly relevant resource for any discussion along these lines.