Austrian School of Economics (4)

In this blog my purpose is to propose a new definition, paradigm, and even a model of economic development or a review I should say of what development especially economic development should imply and poses. Issues that are typically discussed within the intellectual paradigm of economic development range from the role of government, institutions, and individuals to the role of globalization and the constitution in economic development. What's important in the process of creating theories and models and applying them to economies around the world in this branch of economics called development economics is the idea of individualism and interdisciplinary perspective that are the main and essential elements of the methodology of economic science within the theories of this branch of economics. Remember that we are not here to list the theories of a series of economists or intellectuals and make ideological conclusions at the end nor we are here for establishing harsh and discontinuous mathematical and econometrics models based on a series of data. However, we are here to make conclusions based on a realistic foundation of ideas that developed throughout history and make decisions based on the experiences that can be inferred from the human action. Having this in mind we can establish a series of scenarios for starting a new chapter in the field of development economics.

Economic Development: A Constitutional Perspective

Within the theories of economics that emerge out of the ideas of economists who work in the area of constitutional economics, there are a series of social theorists that discuss the importance of law in the development of civil society and maintaining a sustainable economic growth in the long-run. A peculiar example of these economists is James m. Buchanan who one the noble prize in economics for his understanding of constitutional economic analysis. One example of a well developed institution in the area of economic development is the concept of property rights. The constitution is considered to be the central player in the coordination of economic incentive structure within economic theory and the market process. Applying this idea into the countries of the Middle East we realize that many of these middle eastern countries lack the social, political, and economic infrastructure of maintaining a sustainable growth in the middle eastern countries.

Austrian School of Economics (3)

Praxeology is the main methodology used by Austrian economists which was first introduced by Mises as the methodology of human action. As said before methodology is one of the main conceptual and theoretical elements in the writings of Austrian theorists. There are various ways of looking at this problem. First there is the issue of conceptualizing the process of theory making within the context of the development of economic theories. Model development, Econometric analysis, and theoretical underpinning with in the interdisciplinary perspectives of the social sciences can be examples of this kind of theoretical approach. Now, praxeology within the context of economic development captures the interdisciplinary perspective of institutional adjustments and the categorization of such conceptual frameworks as a constitution or a set of laws based on a series of game theoretic formulas. So this type of methodology which captures the behavior of human action can best capture the classical liberal approach of analyzing an economic system or the market system based on a consistent and thought provoking set of ideas and models that formulate into a broader understanding of economic theory. This hence, places a bridge from economic development analysis to the whole conceptual framework of analyzing mainstream issues based on a consistent frameworks of ideas rather than a trial and error approach to modeling economic issues.

Austrian School of Economics (2)

As you can seen I am really interested in the Austrian school of economics. From now on most of my readings and research for the next three months will be focused on the Austrian School tradition. It has been about a week since I started this blog and I wish to continue with the same type of topics that I presented so far with one minor adjustment that I give more updated information in the materials that I present and at the same time I keep that consistency and commitment in my blog in terms of capturing the classical liberal cliches, tones, and texture. Without any doubt the Austrian School captures themes related to liberalism in the best possible way by being consistent and using a dynamic analysis of the concept of method. This is apparent in the writings of many of the scholars who worked in the school. Methodenstreit which was mainly the fight over methods was an articulating and active symbolism of this kind of struggle of the Austrian in their attempt to find ways of capturing the power and importance of methodology in the research of economics and the social sciences.

Austrian School of Economics (1)

I recently co-translated the book called "The Austrian School of Economics: The Migration of a Tradition," into Persian (Farsi) published by nashrney in the summer of 2006. The book presents an overview of the Austrian school tradition and its different struggles and movements throughout its short 140 year history. The book which is authored by Karen Vaughn published in the year 1994 is a seminal work that captures the story of the school from its beginning years mainly from the introduction of Carl Menger's works to Eugen Bohm Bawerk and to its present day where it is taught at many major universities (economic departments) such as George Mason and New York Universities. to academic institutes and policy think tanks such as Cato at Washington D.C. and the Mises Institute at Auburn University. The school has become one of the major schools of thought within economics and it captures the marginal revolution and the liberalistic features of the works of many economists and social theorists within the history of the Western and even world intellectual history. The reading of the book is highly recommended as one of the great works in the school and as a major influential piece in redirecting the school towards a more prosperous path. c

The role of property rights in economic development (2)

One of the most important challenges faced by many developing countries in the past couple of decades has again been the problem of implementing property rights as one of the main elements in a civil society. Even though civil society is conceptually an interdisciplinary idea it has many economic and political aspects to it. Property rights has all of these properties of being an interdisciplinary concept with its emphasis on the idea of individualism and the reduction of the role of government in the economy. What is important about economic development and its relation to property rights is that it brings a new image in the minds of the reader in terms of reacting to core theoretical concepts in economics. Remember that property rights hasn't been established as a very important theoretical element in economic, sociological, and philosophical sciences. It is still a concept that embraces individual freedom and liberty and at the same time establishes itself as an institution which brings some limitations to the behavior of the private sector. So in general these series of posts about property rights are an introduction to an understanding of property rights and their role in economic development.

Economic Development: An Individualistic Methodology

Here is the link of the article that I wrote about economic development:

http://mises.org/journals/scholar/azad.pdf

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