tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1501317456508509460.post7635712688469853793..comments2023-11-30T01:20:00.093-08:00Comments on The Book Shelf: The History & Mystery of Money & Economics-250 Books to DownloadHeinz Schmitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12578443886290066202noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1501317456508509460.post-4095592110387959212015-11-20T09:23:23.041-08:002015-11-20T09:23:23.041-08:00THE AUSTRIAN ECONOMISTS, article in Political Econ...THE AUSTRIAN ECONOMISTS, article in Political Economy, Political Science and Sociology 1899<br /><br />As we have three founders of the German Historical School, so we have three prominent representatives of the more modern Austrian school, namely, Professor Carl Menger, Professor Friedrich von Wieser and Professor Eugen von Bohm-Bawerk.<br /><br />Our attention has already been directed to the Austrians in connection with the subject of economic method, and inasmuch as their services have been so largely connected with method, and furthermore inasmuch as their activity is so much more recent, it is necessary to say far less about them.<br /><br />The founder of the school is Professor Carl Menger and his two associates, as mentioned, have gained equal prominence. Indeed, the one best known in the English speaking world is Dr. Bohm-Bawerk, whose two works, _Capital and Interest_ and _The Positive Theory of Capital_ have been excellently translated into English by Professor William Smart of Glasgow, Scotland.<br /><br />The best known work of Professor Wieser is "Natural Value," also translated into English, while the far earlier work of Professor Carl Menger on the _General Principles of Economics_ is accessible only to those who read German.<br /><br />The Austrians stand for a reaction in favor of deduction, and they feel themselves more closely related to the English economists than to the Germans. They acknowledge the imperfections of the English economic systems, but they hold that these imperfections are due not to the deductive method, but to the faulty use of the deductive method. Their aim is to find a larger and broader basis for deduction.<br /><br />The doctrine of utility and value which has been presented in the lessons in this course is substantially that of the Austrian economists. A similar doctrine of value, based upon marginal utility, was presented in England by Professor Jevons at about the same time that it was worked out by Professor Menger. Both were independent workers in the same field, and to both great credit is due. The Austrians, however, are the ones who elaborated most fully the new doctrine of value and have shown its significance in the distribution of wealth.<br /><br />The Austrians have been engaged chiefly in critical work, re-examining older views, showing their errors and then attempting, in some instances at any rate, to replace them with sounder views. Professor Bohm-Bawerk especially may be mentioned in this connection. After examining critically and rejecting older views of interest, he presents one which he holds to be correct. He has also subjected to like destructive criticism the socialism of Karl Marx in his work entitled Karl Marx and the Close of his System. The Austrians have thus attacked vigorously the German economists and the German socialists. They are evidently aware of the fact that thus far their activity has been quite largely negative, and report has it that they intend later to present more positive results and to give us a constructive program of economic reform.<br /><br />It is a mistake to suppose that there is a real fundamental antagonism between the German economists and the Austrians. The Austrians have done a work which was needed. Attention had so long been given to the collection of facts and such emphasis had been laid upon the importance of historical investigation, that it was important to have attention again called to the province of deductive reasoning.<br /><br />The Austrians have learned much from the Germans, and the Germans are also profiting by the work of the Austrians. Economic thought and future development will absorb what is best both in the writings of the Austrians and in those of the Germans.Heinz Schmitzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12578443886290066202noreply@blogger.com