economics as will or reality?

Economics Economics Questions
1

Is economics primarily about subjective values?

I don’t know because if it is, I think this opens up an interesting objection to economics as a science.

Economics can’t be a science if it is about subjective values (will power) because there is no necessity between what is willed and what actually happens. So really economics is just about looking at the arbitrary effusions of the human will.

Or is it?

Perhaps even on this objection, it is possible for economics to be a science, if perhaps it is about human will only in as much as that will is directed towards more objective ends like material goods for instance…

2

You should read sections of Human Action which address this quite well.

Man acts according to his value preferences, his intended ends, what he wants to happen. Man also acts to maximize utility, in order to do this best he must act as best he can to manipulate reality, this is where the division of labor comes in. This really is quite simple economics. I want an iPod to be in my posession, I will act to make it so according to my other value preferences. I;m sorr,y this is so fundumental I’m having a hard time giving a good reply.

You are right that a will or value in and of itself cannot cause something to happen, but action can. So for instance if I will that I have an iPod (and I am against stealing it) then I can go and buy one. Meanwhile the iPod providers wish goods and services so they procure money in order to buy things, they predict a market for iPod and a price that will maximize their profit.

I hope this suffices, if you could articulate questions regarding this example then please ask.

3

The whole point of HA (and Austrian econ generally) is that it creates a science out of the analysis of purely subjective values via price theory. Like the poster above said, read the first few hundred pages of the book to get an understanding of what’s going on.

4

The content and formulation of the ultimate ends strived for by actors is not within the domain of praxeology. Praxeology concerns action.

5

‘The whole point of HA (and Austrian econ generally) is that it creates a science out of the analysis of purely subjective values via price theory. Like the poster above said, read the first few hundred pages of the book to get an understanding of what’s going on.’

Actually wouldn’t you consider it the other way around? Subjective preference operating in the world of logic?

6

Would it be a science if it was about objective values? If so, how would these objective values be determined and by whom?

Values are subjective. Adding “subjective” as an epithet is redundant, and adding “objective” is an oxymoron.

7

Not exactly. It is about what people do to get what they want. Of course, the more important something is to them, the the more they will do about it. This where subjective values fit in.

Indeed there is no necessity [=you can’t always get what you want], but there is certainly some connection. If you really want something and feel you can get it, you will do something to get it. And economics is about what people do to get what they want.

It certainly studies what people do to get material goods, but it also includes what people do to get ANYTHING they want, including “just feeling good”, leisure time, anything.