Quote of the Day: Austrian Economics in the 20th Century

The big issue of the century in economic theory and economic policy, spanning macroeconomics and microeconomics, was the contest between central planning and markets. Hayek and Ludwig von Mises were by far the most prominent economists who argued long and loud that central planning was disastrous, not just because of the viciousness of communist dictatorships, but because even under ideal conditions it could not generate and use effectively the knowledge necessary to maintain modern standards of living. For a long time they were considered to be naive. As late as 1989, Paul Samuelson was still writing in his best-selling economics textbook, "The Soviet economy is proof that ... a socialist command economy can function and even thrive." About a hundred million people died proving that Karl Marx, his followers, and credulous souls inclined to give central planning the benefit of the doubt, such as Samuelson, were wrong, and that Mises and Hayek were right.

That’s from Kurt Schuler at the Freebanking.org defending Austrian Economics from the tirades of the Keynesian Supremo.

Adding to the contributions of Austrian economics from Professor Peter Boettke here, Professor Russ Roberts here, Greg Ransom here and Bob Wenzel here

When intellectual opponents resort to ad hominem arguments, it is a sign that they can’t deal squarely with issues.

Austrian Economics even in the face of the so-called Keynesian revolution has never been a footnote.