Subject: |
|
From: |
|
Date: |
Tue Oct 17 10:02:27 2006 |
Message-ID: |
<00d001c6f1e6$ff8cafa0$c81400ac@maracomp> |
References: |
|
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
I am not an "austrian economist". I am just an economist, a honest and
humble economist who teach History of Economic Thought and Public Policies
in a small private Spanish university. The Austrian School of economics in
Spain (my country) has a small but strong representation, the economist
professor Jesus Huerta de Soto and his followers, young and numerous people
with whom I collaborate and who never discriminates me as a non-austrian
economist. And in my country too, it's necessary to avoid generalization
when speaking about hostility. Most of Spanish economist who attack Austrian
economists are based on ideological issues. Classic liberal economists (like
me) and openly libertarians (as some of Austrian economists defines
themselves) are not welcomed today. Not in Spain.
It is true that Austrian economists after II WW faced a difficult situation
and that some of them developed a feeling of hostility and maybe
sectarianism towards non-Austrian economists. But I agree with Peter
Boettke. And I wonder if it's time to stop arguing and excluding each other,
and simply recognise the best from every school. I know that -as Samuel
Bostaph wrote- there are insurmountable methodological differences, and that
every school involves a different antropological basis... but I think that
every school also has its own "field of validity", and there is no need to
ban anyone.
The Austrian school of economics deserves the merit of a solid methodology
even if it put in question mainstream economics methodology. And when I say
Austrian school of economics, I mean "the important ones" from Menger to
Mises and all of their followers (as Peter Boettke points out). The defence
of individualism in economics, and of economic freedom is another
contribution that has to be added to those explained by Peter Boettke. They
are not alone in this task, of course, but they are an important reference.
Maria Blanco
|
|
|