List your favorite living Austrian economists and any books you can recommend.
The only living Austrian I have really read is Isreal Kirzner. Of what I have read How Markets Work is my favourate book & one I am happy to recommend. However Competition And Entrepreneurship is probably what Kirzner is best known for although I have not read that.
Well; I think Kirzner too. Obviously; he’s the one with the ‘best’ carrier in the ‘mainstream’ - a life time working at NYU ain’t so bad, now is it?
I’d put Rizzo and Garrison on the second place. Boettke, Klein, Hulsmann, Salerno and Leesson tied for third place.
Walter Block: Defending the Undefendable.
Having met quite a few of those associated with the Mises Institute, I think Kirzner is the one I’d most like to meet, and if possible have the pleasure of having a chat with(maybe with a clean, well set table and a good bottle of wine and Human Action by my side, though I’m probably getting carried away…). Thinking about it, I’d really love to have the opportunity of a good chat with Ralph Raico.
In what sense do you mean favourite? There are quite a few of these scholars I have met(and some I haven’t) who I find to be very likeable on a personal basis and based on their demeanour, and others who I appreciate for the insights I’ve gained from their work I’ve read. The 2 groups do intersect, but not completely. If you meant on a purely intellectual basis, I must confess I don’t think I’m widely read enough to give a good judgement, but here goes anyway:
I strongly recommend reading Hoppe, and especially his work on methodology (Economic Science and the Austrian Method) and private defense. Aside of that, not really sure you could constitute David Gordon an “economist” though it certainly is a field he displays competency; though I do feel he is one of the strongest, yet probably one of the most widely underrated Austrian scholars around today. Even though one might consider it too basic, as a book intended for beginners, I’d highly recommend “Introduction to Economic Reasoning.” I even asked him when I met him if he could write something more like a full blown treatise!
These might be quasi-Austrians, but I would suggest:
- George Reisman (and his book Capitalism)
- Robert Higgs (his economic research is great, since he comes from a positivist background but adopted Mises’s methodology later in his career)
- Jesús Huerta de Soto (a great economist who has broad knowledge in both economic theory and economic history)
Murphy’s Chaos Theory is a must. Hoppe too is quite interesting to read, waiting for his new book now.
Mario Rizzo (With Gerald O’Driscoll) - The Economics of Time and Ignorance
Steven Horwitz - Microfoundations and Macroeconomics
Roger Garrison - Time and Money
Hans-Hermann Hoppe - Democracy the God that Failed
Peter Leeson - The Invisible Hook
A book about pirates puts you in the ranks of greatest living economist?
A book about pirates puts you in the ranks of greatest living economist?
It puts you in the ranks of Angurse’s Favorite economist. I didn’t think favorite meant greatest. But… yes, pirates have been neglected far too long by the social sciences. He’s the greatest for merging two awesome things. The Reese of economics if you will.
de Soto is a quasi-Austrian? What?
Ah, I see the source of our mutual confusion. The title says “best” but the OP says “favorite”.
de Soto is a quasi-Austrian? What?
Referring to Reisman and Higgs, thus the qualifier might be as opposed to are.
C’mon, Grayson! Check out his papers! I still remember my first reading of “Efficient Anarchy” fondly.
strangeloop is right.
leeson’s “quircky” work on pirates, ordeals, gypsies etc are really just outgrowths of a larger research project he has been following for almost a decade. specifically, that non-government social institutions can emerge naturally that enable self-enforcing exchange between individuals. its refreshing to see such a clear, positive argument for anarchism (even though i obviously do fully subscribe to it).
I’m not saying he necessarily shouldn’t be included on the “best” list. I just thought it curious that that book alone would merit his inclusion.
But, again, I was thinking “Best” because of the title, and Angurse was thinking “Favorite” because of the OP, so he wasn’t even saying that anyway.
If we have the understanding that economics is not purely an academic discipline, then I would say Ron Paul is the most popular Austrian, and perhaps the most influential. Some of his books are ghost written, so it might be pointless to pick those works for this exercise. I suppose Lew Rockwell deserves a mention here as well. It’s hard to imagine two other people who have done more in the last 20 years to promote Mises, Hayek and Rothbard.
If we say our favorite, I’d have to pick Hulsmann or Hoppe. I’m less impressed with books, and more impressed by rigor at the podium. In the digital age, more people watch YouTube than read books.
strangeloop is right.
leeson’s “quircky” work on pirates, ordeals, gypsies etc are really just outgrowths of a larger research project he has been following for almost a decade. specifically, that non-government social institutions can emerge naturally that enable self-enforcing exchange between individuals. its refreshing to see such a clear, positive argument for anarchism (even though i obviously do fully subscribe to it).
I “third” this, Leeson is a talented young economist, even if the hype around him is sometimes a little much.