Financial Transparency Coalition

In the past few years the world—and the United States in particular—has witnessed a resurgence of the term “Austrian economics.” Last week I wrote a post about the academic history and resurgence of Austrian economics in the last few years. I wrote that the reason for this is that the school of thought actually does a fairly good job of both explaining and predicting the financial crisis of 2007-8. Yet while the Austrians have enjoyed a boom in their theories as they are able to explain the sources of the world’s crises, their proposed solutions are a bust....

This week and next I am traveling to Austria. Following from this trip, I am writing this two-part blog series on Austrian economics, its successes, failures, and application to current dilemmas in economic theory and policy. In the past few years the world—and the United States in particular—has witnessed a resurgence of the term “Austrian economics.” Many of those who use it, including Ron Paul who declared we are “all Austrians now” after his third place finish in Iowa, are referring to a narrow segment of the body of thought. That segement might be better termed “libertarianism.” Other bloggers and...