Austrian Critique

Myth: The Austrian School of Economics is "apart and above" mainstream economics.

Fact: The Austrian School is a classic example of crank science.

Summary: The Austrian School of Economics is a tiny group of right-wing libertarians at war with mainstream economics. They reject even the scientific method that mainstream economists use, preferring to use instead a pre-scientific approach that shuns real-world data and is based purely on logical assumptions. But this is the very method that thousands of religions use when they argue their opposing beliefs, and the fact that the world has thousands of religions proves the fallibility of this approach. Academia has generally ignored the Austrian School, and the only reason it continues to exist is because it is financed by wealthy business donors on the far right. The movement does not exist on its own scholarly merits.

Argument: To describe and critique an entire school of economic thought in one short video is impossible. Therefore, we'll do it in several short videos...

1. Introduction
2. The Scientific Method
3. Statistics
4. Methodological Subjectivism
5. Methodological Individualism
6. Starting Assumptions
7. The Market Process
8. Monopolies
9. The Gold Standard and Business Cycle
10. The History of the Austrian School
11. The Politics of the Austrian School

Total running time: 1:12:46

The entire series can be viewed at the following playlist: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=96D707FE0E72CFA3

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