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Austrians are the mutant descendants of Marxists

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Jonathan M. F. Catalán Posted: Wed, Dec 1 2010 6:50 PM

... according to Brad DeLong.  He's being facetious, but it calls into question whether or not his book on the history of economic thought should be published.

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The ABCT predates Schumpeter's BCT (who actually was very much influenced by Marx), so I don't see how ABCT could have been influenced by Marx via Schumpeter.

"I cannot prove, but am prepared to affirm, that if you take care of clarity in reasoning, most good causes will take care of themselves, while some bad ones are taken care of as a matter of course." -Anthony de Jasay

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I've been thinking about this. I think that Austrians are very similar to Marxists in some ways. For example, both use a deductive method. Both accept, though there may be slight differences, a version of the of the dialectic. Marxists use the bourgeousie vs. the proletariat, and Austrians use the government vs. the market. Both are aware of the ruling class determining the "ideological superstructure." Both see the problems of business merging with the state. 

The two main differences, in my opinion, are the conceptions of value and historical materialism.

Check this out...

http://mises.org/journals/jls/9_2/9_2_5.pdf

Austrians should take note of not throwing out the Libertarian baby with the Marxist bathwater.

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It would explain why so many austrians were previously marxists or socialists. It would explain why I am so friendly with socialists in general.

Freedom has always been the only route to progress.

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Right-wing marxists! :)

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Vitor replied on Thu, Dec 2 2010 12:42 PM

Marxists who don't believe LVT.
 

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baxter replied on Thu, Dec 2 2010 2:42 PM

Mathematicians who believe 1+1=2 are basically the same as mathematicians who believe that 1+1=3, they just have different axioms.

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Esuric replied on Thu, Dec 2 2010 2:52 PM

The Austrians reject the LTV, historical materialism/the laws of motion, and adhere to methodological individualism. The only thing that the Marxian and Austrian frameworks have in common is that they both employ a holistic and systematic approach, where they try to penetrate through the smokescreen and reveal what's "really going on." In this sense, De Long is correct, and this is especially true for business cycle theory (there are no random exogenous "shocks"). Austrian's, Marxists, and post-Keynesians (including Schumpeterians) alike, are interested in the fundamental and necessary causes of the trade cycle; they don't just take it as given and then begin their analysis in the middle of the process. In other words, they don't merely observe the conditions that characterize the business cycle and prescribe ad hoc remedies for the symptoms; they want to understand its fundamental causes and the actual disease itself.

Now, De Long attempts to discredit this approach, not by revealing some fundamental and logical flaw with it (though it's easy to reveal the fundamental flaw of his unsystematic approach), but rather by associating it with religious repentance, pessimism, and defeatism, while appealing to majority (a logical fallacy). In other words, his argument is an emotional one; he's trying to discredit something without actually discrediting it. And finally, he makes a lot of mistakes in that rant, some of which I've already mentioned (for example, the Post-Keynesians and classical schools, such as the currency school, belong alongside the Austrians and Marxists. He also shows a fundamental misunderstanding of Say's law).

"If we wish to preserve a free society, it is essential that we recognize that the desirability of a particular object is not sufficient justification for the use of coercion."

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Right-wing marxists! :)

According to the Marxists I know, the second anyone who ever claimed to be a Marxist gets into a position of power, they instantly become a ultra-right wing fascists. Stalin and Mao were actually closet fascists trying to preserve the capitalist order.

"I cannot prove, but am prepared to affirm, that if you take care of clarity in reasoning, most good causes will take care of themselves, while some bad ones are taken care of as a matter of course." -Anthony de Jasay

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