Saying that "economics is a deductive science" doesn't really help. If one starts from all of the axioms which underpin neoclassical economics, and then assumes away the issues that create difficulties for that body of analysis, then I guess neoclassical propositions do follow as an "obvious" matter.

I'm not sure if I qualify as an ex-Austrian. I did an MA at NYU when the Austrian program there was going strong, and I saw a lot of merit in what people like Israel Kirzner & Fritz Machlup & Ludwig Lachmann were saying about markets. I sat in on a seminar with Ludwig Lachmann and found him to be extremely impressive. I also spent a few years thinking that G. L. Shackle had it all figured out. 

After a while I came to think that the residue of neoclassical thinking--in particular the idea of factor demand curves--in Austrian economics was just misguided. I was never really fully on board, so it wouldn't be accurate to say I jumped ship. As I now describe it to people, I say that as I matured intellectually I came to see that Marx & Keynes had better accounts of how the world works--but then, I would say that, wouldn't I?

Gary

Gary Mongiovi
Economics & Finance Department
St John's University
Jamaica, NEW YORK 11439 (USA)

Tel: +1 (718) 990-7380
Email: [log in to unmask]
________________________________________
From: Societies for the History of Economics [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bylund, Per L. [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, November 15, 2013 9:27 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [SHOE] Where are the ex-Austrians?

On Friday, November 15, 2013 7:59 AM, Alan G Isaac wrote:
> This is just a way of saying you are not following the
> empirical work.  Hopefully science will never rely on
> what is "obvious" to individuals, since it is "obvious"
> that the Sun circles the Earth.

I assume Steve means "obvious" in a different way than the layman's simple observation that you exemplify it with. Another way of saying it is that economics, perhaps with Keynesianism exempted (?), is a deductive science.


Per  Bylund


-----Original Message-----
From: Societies for the History of Economics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Alan G Isaac
Sent: Friday, November 15, 2013 7:59 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [SHOE] Where are the ex-Austrians?

On 11/14/2013 10:44 PM, Steve Kates wrote:
> I have for many years found Keynesian demand side analysis
> utterly wrong but where was the evidence? Now we have had
> a radical experiment in economic policy across the world
> and if it is not obvious beyond argument that a Keynesian
> stimulus will not work then I don't know what conceivable
> evidence there could ever be that would convince anyone
> just how poorly structured the underlying Keynesian theory
> is.


This is just a way of saying you are not following the
empirical work.  Hopefully science will never rely on
what is "obvious" to individuals, since it is "obvious"
that the Sun circles the Earth.

Cheers,
Alan Isaac