It seems some individuals here have little to no knowledge of what the Austrian School actually posits and what it does not, and what its propositions consist in. So, I have compiled this list of essential articles. Before embarking on some 'critique' of the school make sure you understand what we actually argue (especially on methodology; Mises' arguments are extremely intricate.) Those new to the School should begin With Callahan's Economics for Real People, and subsequently Mises' Human Action or Rothbard's Man, Economy and State. I've bolded some of the most important texts.
Methodology:
Mises, The Epistemological Problems of the Sciences of Human Action
The Ultimate Foundation of the Economic Science
The Epistemological Problems of Economics
Action Within the World
Time and Praxeology
Rothbard, In Defence of "Extreme Apriorism"
Praxeology: The Methodology of Austrian Economics
Breaking out of the Walrasian Box: The cases of Schumpeter and Hansen
Hoppe, Economic Science and the Austrian Method
In Defence of Extreme Rationalism
On certainty and uncertainty, or how rational can our expectations be
Long, Realism and Abstraction in Economics
What the Hell is Praxeology?
Anti-Psychologism in Economics: Wittgenstein and Mises
Plauche, On Praxeology and the Question of Aristotelean Apriorism
Leoni and Frola, On Mathematical Thinking in Economics
van den Hauwe, Keynes and Mises on Probability
Kirzner, The Economic Point of View
Robbins, An Essay on the Nature and the Significance of Economic Science
Hollis and Nell, Rational Economic Man
Lavoie, From Hollis and Nell to Hollis and Mises
Stolyarov, Praxeology and Certainty of Knowledge
Doubt the action axiom? Try to disprove it
The compatibility of Hoppe's and Rothbard's views on the action axiom
Blanshard, Reason and Analysis
Chernikov, The Trouble with David Friedman's 'Rationality'
Foss, Austrian economics and Game theory
Crovelli, The Trouble with Axelrod
Salerno, The General Equilibrium Tradition in Austrian Economics
What is a Causal-Realist Approach?
Rozeff, What do Austrians mean by "rational"?
Champion, Austrian Economics as a Popperian Research Programme
Boettke, What is wrong with Neoclassical Economics (and what is still wrong with Austrian Economics)
Hulsmann, A Realist Approach to Equilibrium
Economic Science and Neoclassicism
Carl Menger: Pioneer of "Empirical Theory"
Huerta de Soto, The ongoing methodenstreit of the Austrian School
Wutscher, Foundations in Economic Methodologies: The Use of mathematics by mainstream economics and its methodology by Austrian economists
Selgin, Praxeology and Understanding
Knott, Praxeology
Parsons, Money, Time and Rationality in Max Weber
O'Driscoll, The Economics of Time and Ignorance
Cubeddu, The Philosophy of the Austrian School
Gordon, The Philosophical Origins of Austrian Economics
O'Neill, Radical Subjectivism: Not Radical, Not Subjectivist
Kinsella, The Other Fields of Praxeology: Games, war, voting and ethics?
Extreme Praxeology
Callahan, Scientism Standing in the Way of Science: An Historical Precedent To Austrian Economics
Boettke, Should the (Austrian) label be abandoned?
Sen, Rational Fools: A critique of the behavioural foundations of economic theory
Utility/Value/Prices/Costs:
Mises, Prices (see especially parts on price discrimination)
The Law of Marginal Utility
Menger, Principles of Economics
Boehm-Bawerk, Basic Principles of Economic Value
Value, Cost and Marginal Utility
Karl Marx and the Close of His System
Hoppe, The Misesian Case Against Keynes
Rothbard, Toward a Reconstruction of Utility and Welfare Economics
Keynes, The Man
Harper, An Introduction to Value Theory
Mahoney, On Austrian Value and Economic Calculation
Block, Austrian Monopoly Theory: A Critique
Armentano, A Critique of Mainstream and Austrian Monopoly Theory
Bellante, Sticky Wages, Efficiency Wages and Market Processes
MacKenzie, Mythology of the Minimum Wage
Minimum Wage Laws: Economics vs Ideology
Reisman, Platonic Cooperation
Classical Economics Versus the Exploitation Theory
Poliquin, Mining, Risk and Profit
Armentano, A politically incorrect guide to anti-trust
Anti-trust: The Case for Repeal
Antitrust and Monopoly: The Anatomy of a Policy Failure
W. Anderson, Say's Law: Were (are) the critics right?
Vedder, Out of Work
Garrison, ASAD: A sad development in macroeconomic pedagogy
Hutt, A Theory of Collective Bargaining
The Keynesian Episode
Kirkpatrick, In Defense of Advertising
Kirzner, Competition and Entrepreneurship
The Driving Force of the Market
The Meaning of Market Process
Boettke, The Elgar Companion To Austrian Economics
Horwitz, Microfoundations and Macroeconomics: An Austrian Perspective
Spadaro, New Directions in Austrian Economics
Taylor, An Introduction to Austrian Economics (good for newbies)
Keizer, Austrian Economics in Debate
Endres, Neoclassical Microeconomic Theory: The Founding Austrian Version
Gerken, The Constitution of Liberty in an Open Economy: An Austrian Theory of Foreign Trade
Backhaus, Modern Applications of Austrian Thought (important for those seriously interested in Austrianism)
Foss, Entrepreneurship and the Firm: Austrian Perspectives on Economic Organization
The Theory of the Firm and its Critics
The Theory of the Firm - the Austrians as precursors and critics of contemporary theory
Holcombe, Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth
Yeager, Are Markets Like Language?
Salerno, The Place of Human Action In The Development of Modern Economic Thought
The Entrepreneur: Real and Imagined
Schumpeter, The Theory of Economic Development: An Inquiry into profits, capital, credit, interest and the business cycle
Steele, The Economics of Friedrich Hayek
Hazlitt, Economics in One Lesson
The Failure of New Economics
Fu-Lai Yu, Firms, Strategies and Economic Change: Exploration in Austrian Economics
Dolan, The Foundations of Modern Austrian Economics
Skousen, Dissent On Keynes
Vienna and Chicago
Economic Logic
Meijer, New Perspectives on Austrian Economics
Gloria, Evolution of Austrian Economics
Bellet, Evolution of the Market Process: Austrian and Swedish Economics
Gordon, An Introduction To Economic Reasoning
Cwik, An Investigation of Inverted Yield Curves and Economic Downturns
DiLorenzo, The Myth of Natural Monopoly
Deere, K. Murphy, and Welch, Sense and Nonsense on the Minimum Wage
Carden, Profits in a Market Economy
Money:
Mises, The Theory of Money and Credit
Rothbard, The Austrian Theory of Money
Wall Street, Banking & American Foreign Policy
What has the government done to our money?
Austrian Definitions of the Money Supply
A History of Money and Banking in the US
Selgin and White, In Defence of Fiduciary Media
White, Is the Gold Standard Still the Gold Standard among Monetary Systems?
Hoppe, Banking, Nation States and International Politics
Lewis, Gold - the Once and Future Money
Huerta de Soto, Money, Bank Credit and Economic Cycles
A Critical Note on Fractional-Reserve Free Banking
Anderson, The Value of Money
The Fallacy of Money Supply
Shostak, The Myth of Price Stability
Cochran, Capital, Monetary Calculation and the Trade Cycle
Hazlitt, What you should know about inflation
W. Anderson, What's wrong with the CPI
Hullsman, Deflation - the biggest myths
Hoppe, Block and Hullsmann, Against Fiduciary Media
Steele, Hayek's Money Economy: The Dynamics of Competitive Equilibrium and Socioeconomic Order
Keynes and Hayek: The Money Economy
Monetarism and the Demise of Keynesian Economics
North, Money Statistics as Inflation Predictors
Rockwell, Why Gold?
Salerno, The "True" Money Supply
Capital:
Strigl, Capital and Production
Hayek, The Pure Theory of Capital
Individualism and the Economic Order
Boehm-Bawerk, Capital and Interest
The Positive Theory of Capital
Garrison, Time and Money
In Defense of the Misesian Theory of Interest
Wicksell, Value, Capital and Rent
Fetter, Capital, Interest and Rent
Rothbard, Production: The Rate of Interest and its Determination
Murphy, The Abstinence Theory of Interest
The Reswitching Question
Some Problems with the Pure Time Preference Theory of Interest
Stephan, An Introduction into Capital Theory: A neo-Austrian perspective
Skousen, The Structure of Production
Blumen, Hayek on the Paradox of Saving
Mark Skousen, Which Drives the Economy: Consumer Spending or Saving/Investment?
Gordon, Essays on Capital and Interest: An Austrian Perspective (review)
Gunning, Interest: In Defense of Mises
Business Cycles
Rockwell, Business Cycle Primer
Thornton, Skyscrapers and Business Cycles
Garrison, The Austrian Business Cycle Theory in Light of modern macroeconomics
New Classical and Old Austrian Economics: Equilibrium Business Cycle Theory in perspective
Rothbard, Why the business cycle happens
Ebeling, The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle
Mulligan, An empirical investigation of the ABCT
Keeler, Empirical evidence of the ABCT
Stanley, Why don't entrepreneurs outsmart the business cycle?
Block, Yes, we have no chaff
Hulsmann, Toward A General Theory of Error Cycle
Shohl, A Schumpeterian Heterogeneous Agent Model of the Business Cycle
Shostak, Inflation, Deflation and the Future
Bradley, Don't blame the subprime lenders!
Van den Hauwe, Credit Expansion, the Prisoner's Dilemma, and Free Banking as Mechanism Design
Sechrest, Evidence regarding the structure of production
Public Goods/Externalities/Privatization:
Hoppe, Fallacies of Publics Goods Theory and the Production of Security
A four-step healthcare solution
The Economics and Ethics of Private Property
The Myth of National Defence
Secession, Privatization, and the Prospects of Liberty
De-Socialization in a United Germany
Economics of Risk and Insurance
Rothbard, How and How to Not Desocialize
Block, Public Goods and Externalities: The Case of Roads
Bagus, Can Dikes be Private? An argument against public goods
Fielding, Nonexcludability and the government financing of public goods
DiLorenzo, Can Governments Function like Markets?
Rothbard, The Myth of Efficient Government Service
The Fallacy of the Public Sector
Law, Property Rights, and Air Pollution
Machan, The Commons: Its tragedies and other follies
Education in a free society
Liberty and Research: Science Funding in a free society
Storfner, Can Market Forces Solve Environmental Problems?
Tabarrok, The Private Provision of Public Goods via dominant assurance contracts
Carnis, New directions in Road Privatization
Stringham, Anarchy and the Law
Fedako, Free Riders: Austrian v. Public Choice
Cheung, The Fable of the Bees Revisited
Beito, Gordon and Tabarrok, The Voluntary City
McKenzie, Privatopia
Benson, To Serve and Protect
Customary law with private means of resolving and dispensing justice
Carson, Libertarian Property and Privatization
Cordato, Market-based Environmentalism and the Free Market: They're not the same
Pennington, Liberty, Markets, and Environmental Values: A Hayekian Defense of Free-Market Environmentalism
Yandle, Grasping for the Heavens: 3D property rights and the global commons
O'Neill, Solving the "problem" of free riding
Miller, The trouble with government grants
Vedder, For Profit Schools Are Making a Comeback
Caplan and Stringham, Privatizing the Adjudication of Disputes
Kirkpatrick, "It's just being turned into a business!"
Murphy, Private Solutions to Positive Externalities: Military expenditures, insurance and call options
Chaos Theory
Goldsmith, Beautiful Chaos
Guillory, On the viability of subscription patrol and restitution services
Klein, Government did Invent the Internet but the market made it glorious
Marcus, The Spectrum Should be Private Property
What Keeps Us Safe
Cowen and Crampton, Market Failure or Success
Higgs, Hazardous to our health?
Against Leviathan
Carney, The Big Ripoff
Free-Market Environmentalism Reading List
Bast, What Hunger Insurance Could Teach Us About Health Insurance
Peak, Works on Healthcare
Mitchell and Simmons, Beyond Politics: Markets, Welfare and the Failure of Bureaucracy
Economic calculation, socialism and interventionism:
Mises, Socialism
Middle of the Road Policy Leads to Socialism
Rothbard, The End of Socialism and the calculation debate revisited
Karl Marx: Communist as Religious Eschatologist
Despotism Loves Company: The Story of Roosevelt and Stalin
The Equations of Mathematical Economics and the Problem of Economic Calculation in a Socialist State
Hayek, The Use of Knowledge in Society
Engineers and Planners
The Counter-Revolution of Science
Hoppe, Socialism: A Knowledge or Property Problem?
A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism
Boettke, Calculation and Coordination
Socialism: Still impossible after all these years
Reisman, Why Nazism was Socialism and why Socialism is Totalitarian
Freedom is slavery: Laissez-Faire Capitalism is Government Intervention: A critique of Carson's Studies In Mutualist Political Economy
Carson, Austrian and Marxist Theories of Monopoly-Capital
The Iron Fist Behind the Invisible Hand
Murphy, Sraffa's Production of Fallacies by Means of Fallacies
Mechanism Design and the Free Market
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism
Prante and Hodge, Personalizing the Corporate Income Tax
Higgs, Nineteen Neglect Consequences of Income Redistribution
Keizer, Two forgotten articles by Ludwig von Mises on the Rationality of Socialist Calculation
Woods, The Neglected Costs of Warfare
Block, All Government is Excessive
Mackenzie, Institutional Analysis in the Socialist Calculation Debate
White, Bankruptcy as economic intervention
Swanson, Against a National Broabdand Policy
Who owns the Internet?
The Spectrum Swindle
Asian Tiger or Asian Kitten?
Fridson, Unwarranted Intrusions
Bolson, The Myth of the Robber Barons
Liebowitz, Winners, Losers and Microsoft
Norberg, In Defense of Global Capitalism
Birner, Markets, Information and Communication: Austrian Perspectives on the Internet Economy
Foss, Coase vs Hayek: Economic Organization and the Knowledge Economy
Misesian Ownership and Coasian Authority in Hayekian Settings
Klein, Economic Calculation and the Limits of Organization
Gordon, The Philosophy and Economics of Market Socialism: A Critical Study (review)
Resurrecting Marx: The analytical Marxists on Freedom, Justice and Exploitation
Pongracic, Austrian Economics and the end of Socialism
Edmonds, The Corporate Form, Limited Liability, and the State
Westley, Fiscal Follies
Mateusj, Market Socialism and the Property problem: Different Perspective on Socialist Calculation
Hulsmann, Knowledge, judgment and the use of property
Sociology:
Sumner, What the Social classes owe to each other
Hoppe, The Sociology of Taxation
Democracy - The God that Failed
Austrian and Marxist Class Analysis
Grinder and Hagel, Toward a theory of state capitalism
Vedder and Gallaway, The Austrian Market Share in the Marketplace for Ideas
Sutter, Austrian Economics and the Market Test Re-examined
DiLorenzo, How Capitalism Saved America
Cox, The Myths of Rich and Poor
Hayek, Capitalism and the Historians
Mackintosh, Exchange vs Power: Toward a Praxeological Reconstruction of Sociology
Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy
Woods, The Church and the Market: A Catholic Defense of the Free Economy
Rothbard, Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought
Knott, A Praxeology of Coercion
Thornton, The "Market" For Academic Research
Also see the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics
Mises' Suggested Research TopicsMises Institute
The Austrian Economists
Mises Institute Media Resources (good for those who don't like or don't have the time for reading)
Critiques and responses:
http://www.againstpolitics.com/austrian_economics/index.html (nearly all critiques here have been responded to; search Mises.org)
Especially see: http://www.walterblock.com/publications.php
Block, On Nozick's 'On Austrian Methodology'
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=921183 (this is heavily based on Sraffa from what I can tell)
http://www.cvoice.org/cv3cox.htm.
http://robertvienneau.blogspot.com/2006/07/can-one-respect-henry-hazlitt.html
Also important are:
Reisman, Capitalism
Carson, Studies in Mutualist Political Economy
Neither is strictly Austrian, but both works are of some merit to the school.
Bergstrom and Gidehag, EU vs USA
Rojas, Sweden after the Swedish Model
It is also a good idea to educate oneself in neoclassical economics. These two works are good places to start:
Ekelund, Economics - Private Markets and Public Choice
Friedman Jr, Price Theory
Thomas Sowell also has some good introductory topics on the matter.
A good idea is to just type 'Austrian Economics' in the Amazon search engine. This will bring up many of the most advanced books on the topic, such as the 'Advances in Austrian Economics' series. A good idea before buying books is to check reviews on Mises.org, especially Gordon's.
Enjoy.
Thank you, Inquisitor. This will be very helpful in my studies.
"Why don't you go stand under a stalactite, and bellow the resonate room frequency and wait for it to impale your brain!" -The Brain
Thank you for that very comprehensive list. However, as you rightly point out, in order to understand the basics, those not already schooled in Austrian Economics should start by reading Human Action, and especially Man, Economy and State. If you understand everything in those two books you've probably got about 80% of it IMHO.
However, for someone who already has a good grounding, I think your list will be very useful, and will provide much additional detail.
I, for one, am looking forward to reading many of those articles. Thank you.
Inquisitor:If you're proficient in neoclassical economics, go for Man, Economy and State
Nathyn:Popper isn't a specific topic. His statements about falsifiability are basic philosophy of science. If you've done "a lot of reading," you should know this.
And they relate to economics - how? Don't get me wrong, I like Popper. I think he gets a bad rap in many circles. But I don't see how his ideas about falsification in the natural sciences apply to economics, where repeated experimentation is basically impossible.
I think if you read Human Action and Man, Economy and State <with Power and Market> you are well on your way in the Austrian School. I would definately recommend Rothbard's various works on the monetary and banking system also.
I just picked up "The Road to Serfdom" and "The Law" by Bastiat from the library. Considering that my avatar is Bastiat, would probably be fitting that I read his book. :)
<quick edit> "The Road to Serfdom is by Hayek, not Bastiat, didn't want to confuse any newbies by my omitting the name." :)
Hehe I can't believe you put Storfner's essay on that list. For shame!
Your list was pretty long, but I figure I might as well contribute some extra items of interest.
Peter Boettke wrote an awesome essay called "What Is Wrong with Neoclassical Economics? (And What is Still Wrong with Austrian Economics)" which should help some people see how the Austrian program contrasts with the more mainstream Neoclassical paradigm. I definitely recommend checking it out.
More to my speed (and I thought one of the weak points of the above list) is Austrian theory concerning property and public goods. The part of the debate that I'm informed about revolves around environmental issues, so I won't add to the sources already mentioned in areas like defense, desocialization, and public goods like lighthouses and roads. For what it's worth, here are some pretty solid essays:
Roy E. Cordato - "Market-Based Environmentalism and the Free Market: They're Not the Same" (be sure to check out Peter J. Hill's excellent response, "Market-Based Environmentalism and the Free Market: Substitutes or Complements?")
Randall G. Holcombe - "Common Property in Anarcho-Capitalism"
Mark Pennington - "Liberty, Markets, and Environmental Values: A Hayekian Defense of Free-Market Environmentalism"
Murray N. Rothbard - "Law, Property Rights, and Air Pollution" (Most Austrians point to this essay with deference; I think it shows just how wrong you can go with Menger's framework. It's a must read for anyone hoping to work near the intersection between Austrian economics and property theory)
It should go without saying that reading these essays wouldn't make one an expert in the issues they address. It's important to build a foundation with the ideas that have been embraced by the greater philosophical and economic communities, like those of Locke, Marx, Hardin, Coase, Nozick, and others. So if you don't understand what each of those guys said, start there. Start playing with Austrian ideas once you can appreciate why they're interesting and different. Most Austrian work is interesting as a counterpoint to mainstream theories; on their own I tend to think the Austrian frameworks are extremely weak in this area.
Danny, thanks for adding those in. I'll put them in the main post later on. The articles on market environmentalism are particularly helpful.
Mark B.: I just picked up "The Road to Serfdom" and "The Law" by Bastiat from the library. Considering that my avatar is Bastiat, would probably be fitting that I read his book. :)
I'm actually reading the Bastiat Collection right now. Volume 1 was great. The second book is a little longer and more difficult. The book I'm trying to get my hands on is The Society of Tomorrow, by Gustave de Molinari. Does anybody know where I can purchase this book? Anybody?!?!?
I enjoyed The Road to Serfdom. That was the book that exposed me to the Austrian School.
One thing that I think would be useful is if a comprehensive list of books were mailed to the most respected Austrian Economists and they assigned a value to each book based on it's contribution to this school of thought. I think the best method would be for them to give a 1 to the best book, etc. If they gave the books grades like A, B, C, there'd be too much subjectivity, unless you scaled it yourself. In fact, it might be more convenient for them if they did only have to assign a grade or the 1-10 scale and then have you scale them. Hmmmm. You could then tally the responses and arrange the books in order of import.
You could complicate things and ask them to vote on other qualities these books might have like, complexity/simplicity, seminal/clarifying, etc. You'd probably be more likely to get a response if you made the process easy. Also, an offer of anonymity might assuage any apprehension or peer pressure. Although this might require them to trust you, unless a process could be developed to ensure it's from the recipient without your knowing which one. But, offering anonymity might CREATE apprehenison by suggesting a reason for apprehension that they themselves would've never considered. (now you know why I'm 'pairunoyd')
You could complicate it even further and let them add a level of confidence to each of their ratings. Some books they may have read countless times, while others they may not have read every page of and may be grading it less on first-hand knowledge and more on others' opinions or their own assumptions. This is the real world afterall. You MIGHT wish to include a blank area so that each economist can write in books, books that might not be directly related to the Austrian School and provide this info as something extra. I think offering them a choice of 'levels of response' would allow those that wish devote less time to the survey a choice and those more willing can take it to the deepest level. You would of course provide the statistics on levels of response to your readers so that they're properly informed.
Or...you could create a forum poll. The voters would be required to have a minimum number of posts or some other qualification. They would vote for the people they respect the most on these forums, respect as it relates to their level of understanding/education on the Austrian School. The 'winners' could then participate in the survey. It'd be a quicker turnaround and much less arduous. Of course, you could pursue both of these ideas and satisfy your fellow forum rats in both the long and short-terms.
Or...you could gather information that's already out there and piece it together as if it were a survey.
Or...
"The best way to bail out the economy is with liberty, not with federal reserve notes." - pairunoyd
"The vision of the Austrian must be greater than the blindness of the sheeple." - pairunoyd
Inquisitor - nice list. You have given me enough reading for the rest of my natural life
I'm and engineer by trade - so this is still really new to me. I'm learning the concepts of Praxeology, and why it is important - but I can't seem to get the concept across simply to anyone else. "Economics for Real People" is great - but a long book. I've tried having people read "I, Pencil", or "Seen and not seen..." and Lew Rockwell's "Why Austrian Economics Matters" - with no great success. Any suggestions for a short piece that is a good way to start the conversation with people?
Be sure to see http://www.librarything.com - e.g., see http://www.librarything.com/tag/Austrian+Economics
Sorry; make that http://www.librarything.com/tag/Austrian+Economics
And join the Mises Circle group
most people i see recommend hazlitt's "economics in one lesson" or sowell's "basic economics" for a start. what makes callahan's book better?
Wow; pretty awesome list! With that kind of knowledge, I'd certainly appreciate a little more correction and helpful suggestions on the blog. With knowledge comes responsibility.
TT
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool."
-- Richard Feynman