This looks like a good place to post what I think is the best critique of the Austrians out there: Bryan Caplan (who is sympathetic to the Austrians) does a good job of arguing that the Austrian foundations fall into two categories 1) not different than mainstream economists 2) wrong.
It starts here Why I am not an Austrian economist, continues some back and forth between Walter Block and Hülsmann (an Austrian) and Caplan:
There’s more here (links from the appendix 1). Some of these are in .doc form.
I should also point out that I do think the Austrians are more correct than mainstream economists on several issues, but I don’t think these follow from their epistemology.
I will also add that this discussion highlights that LWers should be particularly good at seeing the epistemic flaws of the Austrians since they are 1) a rejection of the use of probability theory as a fundamental part of decision theory 2) a rejection of utility functions 3) abuses of language (they frequently attempt to argue “by definition”).
This looks like a good place to post what I think is the best critique of the Austrians out there: Bryan Caplan (who is sympathetic to the Austrians) does a good job of arguing that the Austrian foundations fall into two categories 1) not different than mainstream economists 2) wrong.
It starts here Why I am not an Austrian economist, continues some back and forth between Walter Block and Hülsmann (an Austrian) and Caplan:
Caplan, Bryan. 1999. “The Austrian Search for Realistic Foundations,”
Block, Walter. 1999. “Austrian Theorizing, Recalling the Foundations: Reply to Caplan,”
Caplan, Bryan, 2000. “Probability, Common Sense, and Realism: A Reply to Hülsmann and Block,”
Block, Walter. 2003. “Realism: Austrian vs. Neoclassical Economics, Reply to Caplan,”
Caplan, Bryan. 2003. “Probability and the Synthetic A Priori: A Reply to Block.”
Block, Walter. 2005. “Rejoinder to Caplan on Bayesian Economics,”
Block, Walter. 2007. “Reply to Caplan on Austrian Economic Methodology”
There’s more here (links from the appendix 1). Some of these are in .doc form.
I should also point out that I do think the Austrians are more correct than mainstream economists on several issues, but I don’t think these follow from their epistemology.
I will also add that this discussion highlights that LWers should be particularly good at seeing the epistemic flaws of the Austrians since they are 1) a rejection of the use of probability theory as a fundamental part of decision theory 2) a rejection of utility functions 3) abuses of language (they frequently attempt to argue “by definition”).
Here are the links to the official and well typeset PDF versions of two of the above Caplan’s articles:
Caplan, Bryan. 1999 “The Austrian Search for Realistic Foundations
Caplan, Bryan. 2000 “Probability, common sense, and realism: A reply to Huelsmann and Block”