Is the bridge between the Austrian and Chicago schools coming together or moving apart? In Vienna and Chicago, Friends or Foes? economist and author Mark Skousen debates the Austrian and Chicago schools of free-market economics, which differ in monetary policy, business cycle, government policy, and methodology. Both have played a successful role in advancing classic free-market economics and countering the critics of capitalism during crucial times and the battle of ideas. But, which of the two is correct in its theories?

Mark Skousen's book is a successful attempt to review this intellectual friendship between Vienna & Chicago, pointing out the main issues that unite or divide them. Chapters 2 and 3 describe the intellectual environment in which each school was born and raised. Skousen points out that both were born out of crisis: the Austrian School emerged as a response to the intellectual crisis of late nineteenth century that was resolved with the marginalist revolution that rescued classical economics from an incipient but increasing socialist/Marxist influence, while the Chicago School emerged as an opponent to the Keynesian proposal to resolve the Great Depression of 1930. Skousen devotes chapters 4 to 7 of the book to explore the four main disagreements: 1) methodology; 2) limitations to the role of government; 3) the monetary system; and 4) macroeconomics and the business cycle. Skousen offers his opinion as to which school has the most convincing argument for each of the disagreements, concluding each of these chapters witheither 'Advantage: Vienna' or 'Advantage: Chicago'

Here is a bold history of economics - the dramatic story of how the great economic thinkers built today's rigorous social science. Noted financial writer and economist Mark Skousen has revised and updated this popular work to provide more material on Adam Smith and Karl Marx, and expanded coverage of Joseph Stiglitz, 'imperfect' markets, and behavioral economics.This comprehensive, yet accessible introduction to the major economic philosophers of the past 225 years begins with Adam Smith and continues through the present day. The text examines the contributions made by each individual to our understanding of the role of the economist, the science of economics, and economic theory. To make the work more engaging, boxes in each chapter highlight little-known - and often amusing - facts about the economists' personal lives that affected their work.

Author Skousen takes a refreshing, intellectually independent approach to economics, beginning with sound economics from all free-market schools of thought and using it to analyze all competing theories.

"Amid a 2008 presidential campaign calling for dramatic, often ill-defined "change" - arguing that Americans are clinging to their historic, constitutionally guaranteed rights to bear arms and enjoy religious freedom out of sheer "bitterness" - this analysis compellingly contends that America's social and economic problems stem from too much change already. It maintains that the radical counterculture revolution that set in across college campuses in the 1960s, which has now spilled over into society at large, set the nation on a course of decline paralleling that of ancient Rome." "Drawing heavily upon the vision of the Founding Fathers, it reveals how the ongoing attack on the nation's traditional values has produced cultural and civic alienation and an attendant loss of work ethic - creating a dangerous bureaucratic overstretch whose social welfare costs are now threatening the nation's socioeconmic future."--BOOK JACKET.

EconoPower will provide you with a firm understanding of the influence of modern economics and how it can be used to improve the world we live in. It offers practical advice on numerous personal financial matters—earning, saving, investing, and retiring—based on the breakthrough contributions of behavioral economists. And it looks at how economists are working successfully on issues such as public education, crime, and global warming. EconoPower also examines how a new economic philosophy may dominate the new millennium.

Britain experienced two stunning developments in the late 1970s. Post-war Keynesianism and big government fell out of favor, and, for the first time, British voters chose a female prime minister. When Margaret Thatcher became leader of the Conservative Party in 1975, she was the first leader to oppose the consensus views of both the Labour Party and centrist Tories who, in varying degrees, accepted Keynesianism and state ownership of industry. The author argues that with her faith in monetarism, Thatcher paved the way for a significant realignment of the Conservative Party and British politics. With her traditional conservatism stretching back to her childhood years and her receptiveness to free-market arguments that revealed the economic shortcomings of Keynesianism and socialism, she developed a strong case against government management of the economy. The author explains that Thatcher’s fight for economic change had both dramatic and subtle stages. In the end, the issue of inflation altered British economics and politics and Thatcher was there to take advantage of the moment and score a victory over “socialism.”

Features papers presented at the inaugural Wirth Institute Conference on the Austrian School of Economics. This work explores issues in economic policy, applied economics, and pure theory from a variety of perspectives.

This book, the first of two volumes, explores the impact of Jesús Huerta de Soto and his role in the modern revival of the Austrian School of Economics. The chapters focusing on monetary economics, business cycle theory, and entrepreneurship, combine established ideas with novel topics to explore the new directions forged by Huerta de Soto’s ideas. This approach presents Huerta de Soto’s influence on modern economics. It also outlines his current research paradigm. This book aims to highlight and build upon the intellectual legacy of Jesús Huerta de Soto through its contribution to the Austrian School of Economics. It will be relevant to students and researchers interested in monetary policy and Austrian economics.

Can the market fully manage the money and banking sector? Jesus Huerta de Soto, professor of economics at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, has made history with this mammoth and exciting treatise that it has and can again, without inflation, without business cycles, and without the economic instability that has characterised the age of government control. Such a book as this comes along only once every several generations: a complete comprehensive treatise on economic theory. It is sweeping, revolutionary, and devastating -- not only the most extended elucidation of Austrian business cycle theory to ever appear in print but also a decisive vindication of the Misesian-Rothbardian perspective on money, banking, and the law. The author has said that this is the most significant work on money and banking to appear since 1912, when Mises's own book was published and changed the way all economists thought about the subject. Its five main contributions: A wholesale reconstruction of the legal framework for money and banking, from the ancient world to modern times; An application of law-and-economics logic to banking that links microeconomic analysis to macroeconomic phenomena; A comprehensive critique of fractional-reserve banking from the point of view of history, theory, and policy; An application of the Austrian critique of socialism to central banking; The most comprehensive look at banking enterprise from the point of view of market-based entrepreneurship. Those are the main points but, in fact, this only scratches the surface. Indeed, it would be difficult to overestimate the importance of this book. De Soto provides also a defence of the Austrian perspective on business cycles against every other theory, defends the 100% reserve perspective from the point of view of Roman and British law, takes on the most important objections to full reserve theory, and presents a full policy program for radical reform. It could take a decade for the full implications of this book to be absorbed but this much is clear: all serious students of these subject matters will have to master this treatise.