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The History of a Tradition: Austrian Economics from 1871 to 2016

Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology

ISBN: 978-1-78560-960-2, eISBN: 978-1-78560-959-6

Publication date: 23 July 2016

Abstract

This chapter provides a comprehensive survey of the contributions of the Austrian school of economics, with specific emphasis on post-WWII developments. We provide a brief history and overview of the original theorists of the Austrian school in order to set the stage for the subsequent development of their ideas by Ludwig von Mises and F. A. Hayek. In discussing the main ideas of Mises and Hayek, we focus on how their work provided the foundations for the modern Austrian school, which included Ludwig Lachmann, Murray Rothbard and Israel Kirzner. These scholars contributed to the Austrian revival in the 1960s and 1970s, which, in turn, set the stage for the emergence of the contemporary Austrian school in the 1980s. We review the contemporary development of the Austrian school and, in doing so, discuss the tensions, alternative paths, and the promising future of Austrian economics.

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgment

We thank Scott Scheall for detailed comments and suggestions on multiple versions of this chapter. The financial support of the John Templeton Foundation and the Mercatus Center is gratefully acknowledged. The usual caveat applies.

Citation

Boettke, P.J., Coyne, C.J. and Newman, P. (2016), "The History of a Tradition: Austrian Economics from 1871 to 2016", Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology (Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, Vol. 34A), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 199-243. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0743-41542016000034A007

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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