30-second Mises/Austrian Economics Explanation

Miscellaneous General
1

I wear my LVMI wristband all the time. To date, I have received about 5 or 6 inquiries about what the Latin means and what the wristband represents.

I can handle the translation, no problem. And I can explain the source of the quote and how it relates to Ludwig himself.

What I have trouble with is offering a thumbnail sketch of what Austrian economics is and why it is important.

Sure I can go off for an hour and a half, regaling them with theory and history . . . but I just can’t seem to find a good way to:

  1. Give them a really brief overview ad introduction so as to
  2. Get them interested in the Mises Institute/Austrian Economics and still
  3. Not bore the heck out of them with too much too soon

Anybody have an Austrian Elevator Pitch to share?

Thanks!

2

The Keynes/Hayek rap is 5 minutes :wink:

3

AE is not something to be understood in 5 minutes time. If they want to educate themselves, then they should get off facebook and pickup a book.

4

“It’s an alternate school of economic thought.”

There, 3 seconds.

5

“Anybody have an Austrian Elevator Pitch to share?”

I’m not sure that I have one, but it would be a good investment for mises.org to produce one. Libertarianisms would do well if we efficiently planted more seeds and directed traffic.

6

The Essence:

http://mises.org/media/3691

7

Esuric,

I understand your position and, in some ways, I agree.

However, my goal with this is to try and introduce the basic tenets of libertarianism and Austrian economics to someone who has expressed but a passing curiosity in a wristband.

I fear that telling them they need to go spend a few hundred or thousand hours studying a subject they have never heard of before will win few converts. =/

I bought the wristband to create this curiosity and to use that as a hook to bring them into the fold of those who appreciate, and fight for, liberty and proper economics.

That is why I am interested in a pithy, punchy, powerful 30-second version of Austrian economics and libertarianism.

I will deal with teaching them more in-depth understanding after I get them past the threshold. :wink:

8

Very good.

My elevator pitch goes something as follows:

“What caused the economic crash? People tell me greed. Sure, greed probably had lots to do with it. But greed isn’t a mechanism. The bubble burst somehow and it started at some point. It’s the cause and effect that interests me, not blaming evil in people as something that bursts bubbles. The neat thing about Austrian economics is that it is based on the fact that people act. People act to get what they want. They try to trade one situation for a more favorable situation by acting. This simple fact is what Austrian economics is based on. Everything about markets, credit, money and value is logically derived from this simple fact about acting. The other schools of economics are only interested in tweaking mathematical aggregates. People aren’t math. They are unique individuals with their own interests, and I’d like to see people realize the most value in their individual interests.”

9

Individuals rule, bureaucrats drool. Get off my lawn.

10

Individuals respond to incentives.

11

AE says the govt has no money. All it can do is take it away from one person and give it to someone else.

If the someone else is a poor person, it looks like he benefited.

But the truth is the poor man is killing his cash cow to eat a single steak, as AE proves at length.

“Hahaha, you mean the rich man having the money is good for the POOR man?”

Yes. Sounds crazy, no? But those are the facts, and they can be proven decisively. Hint: Rich people build factories with their money and hire poor people.

12

@Giant Joe –

Thanks. That’s along the lines of what I am looking for.

Let me be more specific about how I understand an “elevator pitch”…

It is a 30-second blurb which does/contains the following:

  1. A set of two to three facts/statements which captures the essence of the idea in question and are
  2. Contained in a narrative (story) which will help a person remember it later and which ends with
  3. A hook or draw of some sort which will generate interest in the listener so that they will either ask a follow-up question or investigate further on their own.

Joe’s pitch is close to what I am looking for.

What I would like to layer on top of his excellent description/narrative/draw about Austrian economics is the libertarian aspect of things.

The fact that in this individualistic theory, liberty and free will – specifically abjuring gov’t interference in personal and public life – become primary motivators for both personal action and public policy.

13
  • “Austrian Economics is the science of human action.”
  • [Laugh] by the way, it has nothing to do with the country Austria. That is just were some of it’s founders were from.
  • The followers of this school of thought are now all over the world and are growing in prominence every day! Why? Because:
  • The Austrian Economists have a 100 year history of being right! Ludwig von Mises predicted the Great Depression and they predicted this financial crisis too!
  • I don’t know about you, but being able to know where abouts I am in terms of the business cycle is amazing, you should check it out!
14

I wrote this elsewhere, but will try later on to get the Libertarian part more into point form, expand it and yet be more succinct. Maybe you or someone else can try use the examples. I was mainly elaborating Austrian Economics here.

"Most people have a desired goal or end, and seek to use means to achieve it. (When it comes to politics, often government / legislative action is seen as the only way). Austrian economics can be used to show, it is often impossible to achieve those goals with government / state decrees. (eg. A person wants to help those in a disaster zone, so they support price controls to stop the “price gouging” by Petrol / Gas stations… What happens then, is instead of the price going up extremely high, because supply is low and demand is high… the price control keeps prices lower than they would be.

Instead of the consumers fleeing the disaster zone just getting enough to leave the area, they fill up the tank. Soon the Gas is all gone. Price controls create shortages. Those people left behind… now die, because of government / state action - which was supported and meant to be ‘helpful’, although it never is.

Then there are individuals who recognise the praxeological consequences of such policy, i.e rent control being socially and economically destructive. So a Nazi supporter could implement such policies against the Jews, their goals and ends are achievable with state and government action (particularly!). The state isn’t just inefficient, it is remarkably efficient when it comes to theft, coercion and violence. There is no other institution MORE efficient - for one class of people though, the parasitic class.

This is where a rationalist axiomatic-deductive objective ethics is needed. i.e Libertarianism (political philosophy), which deals with “the proper role of violence, the sphere of rights, or the definitions of criminality and aggression.” Self ownership, non aggression axiom etc.. i.e the state is unethical, coercive, unjust, evil, tyrannical etc.

Combined, imo - both make a very powerful case for Liberty."

15

I usually say that it’s a ecnomic school that is anti-positivist, since economics is human science. People like to hear that.

16

Austrian Economics: A school of thought that emphasizes human motivations as the origin of complex economic activities.

17

Here’s one written 64 years ago, memorize it: “The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.” - Hazlitt.

IMO, it captures the essence of AE in less than 30 seconds. The person then might ask “What does that mean?”, then you can explain as much or as little as the person can absorb.

18

So let’s see if I can weave this all together into a single, compact tapestry of economic and libertarian goodness:

Question: What’s your wristband mean?/What’s on your wristband?

Answer: Well, the Latin means “Do not give in to evil.” It’s was the personal motto of a guy name Mises. I got this wristband from the institute that bears his name.

It teaches about freedom and economics. It treats people as adults who can make better decisions for themselves and their families than anyone else. You know, as thinking individuals who make decisions based on what’s best for them and their family.

These guys predicted the Great Depression before it began. They also predicted the current recession. And they know how to fix it.

If it seems like a good idea to keep going, add:

They teach that people are capable of making up their own minds and that human motivations are the origin of complex economic activity. We don’t need gov’t to decide things for us. Instead, we should use freedom and liberty as the basis for decisions we make as a society.

At this point, we should wait and see where they decide to go with it. Obviously, if they ask a question, just answer it.

If the conversation stalls, you might look to these suggested points to prompt further discussion:

  • Hazlitt’s One Lesson with examples from recent gov’t debacles
  • A few examples of how people respond to incentives
  • Giant Joe’s “What caused the economic crash?”
  • A (brief!) overview of ABCT and how it predicted the bust was coming
  • A discussion of how Austrian Economics would handle the current situation (why it is important to let markets clear)

Other things come to mind but those should handle any but the most ardent questioners. Besides, I am sure that planned talking points will give way to natural discussion long before you exhaust these options.

I specifically avoided using terms like Austrian School of Economics, Ludwig’s full name, rationalism, positivism, etc. While all are important in the larger picture, I felt that they were sufficiently outside most people’s normal frame of reference that they would just confuse a listener.

Once confused on a little thing, it can be tough to recapture someone’s interest, at least in an initial encounter. These things can be brought back in later as the situation allows.

I also did not want to spend too much time blaming the gov’t for our problems. While I wholeheartedly believe this to be true, I think that it will make it more difficult to interest people in the wonders of Austrian Economics and libertarianism. Start with interesting facts and short points; teach them that the state is their enemy later.

Finally, I wanted to emphasize talking to the questioner as an intelligent person, concerned about their (family’s) condition and future. This touches an emotional response in them to which we have an answer – freedom and proper economics.

As is, the pitch is good but it lacks a narrative. I think it would be better if it were wrapped in a story which creates pictures in their head and helps them remember it later.

Thoughts?

19

In my experience, every person comes with different knowledge, biases, and interests, so no such universal “bait” exists. What seems to work is genuine curiosity about the other side’s argument, respect for their reasoning ability, and simple honesty when explaining why/how your own arguments make sense to you. If you know why you believe/like what you do, then you only need to explain that to the other side. Don’t underestimate people’s ability to sense and reject pre-packaged sales pitches.

Z.

20

I love this informal dialog.

So let’s see if I can weave this all together into a single, compact tapestry of economic and libertarian goodness:

Question: What’s your wristband mean?/What’s on your wristband?

Answer: Well, the Latin means “Do not give in to evil.” It’s was the personal motto of a guy name Mises. I got this wristband from the institute that bears his name.

It teaches about freedom and economics. It treats people as adults who can make better decisions for themselves and their families than anyone else. You know, as thinking individuals who make decisions based on what’s best for them and their family.

These guys predicted the Great Depression before it began. They also predicted the current recession. And they know how to fix it.

Could we also add something of the nature of…

"What’s weird is that these guys don’t even believe in the making predictions. They typically reject such bold arrogance. "

(or do you think the point is moot?)

I would also like to seem more expanded on typical objections of laymen. You know like, “I don’t believe that anyone known’s what their talking about anymore”. Or, “of course I support freedom, that why I vote -fill in the blank-”