Lastest Issue of Critical Review

I had been meaning to post something on this for awhile, but never got around to it.  For those of you who have been around Austrian Economics and libertarianism for awhile, you have probably come across Critical Review, edited by Jeff Friedman, in one way or another.  It's been around for about 20 years and has been a great outlet for a lot of Austrian and libertarian material over the years, and Pete, Dave and I can say we were in Vol. 1, Issue 1, way back in the day.

Starting with volume 19, it is now being published by Routledge and it looks terrific.  The latest issue contains an introductory essay by Friedman that both summarizes CR's history and provides a nice overview of the "project" he sees the journal engaged in:  bringing Hayekian-Austrian ideas about ignorance to the study of politics.  Rather than assuming, a la public choice, that political actors are self-interested and sufficiently knowledgeable to know which policies will best forward that self-interest, what does politics look like if we assume that both voters and political actors are ignorant in the Hayekian sense?  It will come as no surprise that Bryan Caplan has an article in this issue along with several contributions from political scientists on expertise, ignorance, and public opinion.

You can find the abstracts of the current issue here, along with subscription information.  Back issues are not currently available online but I know that Jeff is in the process of making that happen.  When it does, I'll let you know because there's a lot of classic articles in those old issues that are useful for those interested in Austrian economics.

Comments

[Jeffrey Friedman]

Thank you, Steve. I often find myself thinking that the discussants on this blog would have their minds blown by Critical Review, which is often "more Austrian than the Austrians" in rigorously sticking to the implications of ignorance, as vs. incentives; and in sharply separating social science (both economics and political science) from libertarianism.

There's a problem with the PDF of the intro to the issue Steve discussed, in which I review CR's evolution from Hayek and Lavoie through Lachmann and into political studies. I'd be happy to send the PDF to anyone who writes me: critical.rev@gmail.com

[Jeffrey Friedman]

In answer to a confused inquiry: there's a problem with *downloading* the PDF from our web site. Instead, I can email it to anyone who asks. Apologies.

[Dain]

Mr. Friedman,

My mind has indeed been blown by CR. I started reading it (note: this will not be a full on bio!) a few years back, picking up issues at a place generically named News Beat across from the California state capital building in Sacramento. As a Poli Sci major with an interest Austrianism, I find CR to be an awesome convergence of the two fields.

[Jeffrey Friedman]

Thanks for the kudos, Dain. Praise is scarce; death threats more common! I think a lot of Austrians don't see much need for rethinking or even extending Austrian insights, as some of the debaters on this blog have shown.

The PDF can now be downloaded from criticalreview.com/2004/current_issue.html

Enjoy, heterodox Austrians!

[Peter Boettke]

Congratulations Jeff --- what an amazing accomplishment CR has been over the years --- and your efforts on this journal has been simply inspiring.

Good luck with the new publisher and for continued success and wide readership for CR.

Pete