Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 8, no. 1 (Spring 2005)

June 29, 2005 6:09 PM by Mises Institute Publications | Other posts by Mises Institute Publications | Comments (2)

HAYEK'S THEORY OF MONEY AND CYCLES: RETROSPECTIVE AND REAPPRAISAL by G.R. Steele. In adopting the view that “relatively few of our readers are interested in the history of economic thought anymore,�? the editors of one journal have allowed criticisms of the work of Hayek to remain unanswered. That situation is now redressed, by courtesy of the this journal. . . .

DEFLATION AND JAPAN REVISITED by Richard C.B. Johnsson. Conventional wisdom tells us that deflation counts among the worst things that can happen to an economy. Lately, the word deflation has become almost synonymous with Japan and its economic problems. But are falling prices really that bad? . . .

BINARY ECONOMICS: PARADIGM SHIFT OR CLUSTER OF ERRORS? by Timothy D. Terrell. Binary economics is a theory of economic growth that places emphasis upon the distribution of capital, rather than the quantity of capital or the productivity of labor. . . .

SKYSCRAPERS AND BUSINESS CYCLES by Mark Thornton. The skyscraper index, created by economist Andrew Lawrence shows a correlation between the construction of the world’s tallest building and the business cycle. Is this just a coincidence, or perhaps do skyscrapers cause business cycles? . . .

"THE FORGOTTEN CONTRIBUTION: MURRAY ROTHBARD ON SOCIALISM IN THEORY AND IN PRACTICE" AND THE REINTERPRETATION OF THE SOCIALIST CALCULATION DEBATE: A COMMENT by Dennis Sperduto. Boettke and Coyne merit strong congratulations for their illuminating article on Rothbard (QJAE 7, no. 2). The article is a much needed and long overdue acknowledgement and appreciation of Rothbard’s contributions to theory, the calculation debate, and socialism. . . .

HOW CAPITALISM SAVED AMERICA: THE UNTOLD HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY, FROM THE PILGRIMS TO THE PRESENT by Thomas J. DiLorenzo. Reviewed by Laurence M. Vance. The advantage that Austrian economists have over those in the mainstream is that they often specialize in other disciplines besides economics. DiLorenzo here firmly establishes his status as a historian of the highest caliber. . . .

A HSITORY OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE, VOLUME I: 1913–51 by Allan H. Meltzer. Reviewed by Greg Kaza. If Meltzer were a screenwriter one might wonder if his portrait of the Federal Reserve System is meant to serve as a comedy or a farce. . . .

Comments (2)

David Heinrich
As usual, this is great stuff!

Regarding Terrel's paper on binary economics, truly amazing. It seems like Binary Economists are the most naive and arrogant economists imagineable. Take a look at this quote Prof. Terrel provides, from a binary economist:

We can, in time, inoculate people against poverty. . . . [W]e can raise the earning power of the underproductive and prevent the sterilization of excess capital productive power accumulated by those who will not and cannot use it for their own consumption. We can tame, if not wholly eliminate, the business cycle in the American economy. We can plan and deliberately effect economic health, both for the national economy and for each consumer unit within it. We can indeed demonstrate for the world how to produce goods and services in such a way as eventually to make all consumers economically autonomous, as they were under nature’s original economic plan for preindustrial humanity.

Yes, and they can also part the red sea, make wine from water, and heal the sick.
Published: June 29, 2005 9:08 PM
Paul Edwards
Now that was funny. If they can inoculate against poverty, i'll take a double please. I want to be rich. And i can't wait to be an economically autonomous consumer as i was meant to be, under nature's original economic plan.
Published: June 29, 2005 11:45 PM

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