Professor Peter J.
Boettke
ECON 881/Spring 2003
Mondays 4:30-7:00 Rm. 318
Enterprise Hall
The
following books have been ordered as required reading for this course:
Ludwig von Mises, Human Action
(1949).
F. A. Hayek, Individualism and
Economic Order (1948).
Murray N. Rothbard, Man, Economy
and State (1962).
Israel M. Kirzner, Competition
and Entrepreneurship (1973).
I
will supplement the selected readings from these books with journal articles to
fill out the reading for the course.
Students are expected to do all the required readings before class so
that we can have an informed discussion on the readings and pursue the
implications of the ideas developed in those readings. Serious students of Austrian economics will
want to tackle the suggested readings as well as the required readings.
For
this class we will have weekly quizzes on the readings, a final exam, and a
term paper. Your lowest grade of the 3
will determine your course grade.
Regular attendance and classroom participation is expected. If you are going to miss class, please let
me know in advance. Your term paper is
to be of journal quality (or at least have the potential of journal quality) so
please pick a topic early and meet with me to determine its research potential.
Pre-Class Reading for First Class on January 27th
Peter
Boettke, “What Went Wrong with Economics,” Critical Review, 11 (Winter)
1997: 11-65.
**Phil
Mirowski, Machine Dreams. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
a.
Purposiveness and
Human Action
Mises, Human
Action, pp. 11-143.
Hayek, Individualism
and Economic Order, pp. 33-91.
Rothbard,
Man, Economy and State, pp. 1-159.
Kirzner,
Competition and Entrepreneurship, pp. 84-87.
Robin
Cowan and Mario Rizzo, “The Genetic-Causal Tradition and Modern Economic
Theory,” Kyklos, 49 (3) 1996, 1-44.
Charles
Taylor, “What is Human Agency?,” in Philosophical Papers 1. New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1985, 15-44.
Charles
Taylor, “Interpretation and the Sciences of Man,” in Philosophical Papers
2. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985, 15-57.
John Searle, Rationality in Action. Cambridge,
Mass.: MIT Press, 2001.
Peter
Kurrild-Klitgaard, “On Rationality, Ideal Types and Economics,” Review of
Austrian Economics, 14 (2-3) 2001, 119-143.
b.
Monetary Calculation
Mises, Human
Action, pp. 194-231; 689-715.
Hayek, Individualism and Economic Order,
pp.119-208.
Rothbard, Man, Economy and State, pp. 160-272;
661-764; 821-832.
Kirzner, Competition and Entrepreneurship, pp.
30-87.
Peter
Boettke, “Economic Calculation: The Austrian Contribution to Political
Econmy,” Advances in Austrian Economics, 5 (1998).
Joseph Salerno, “Ludwig von Mises as a Social
Rationalists,” Review of Austrian Economics, 4 (1990).
Joseph Salerno, “Mises and Hayek Dehomogenized,” Review
of Austrian Economics, 6 (1993).
Bryan
Caplan, “Economic Calculation, Quantitative Laws and the ‘Impossibility’ of
Socialism,” current working paper.
Israel
Kirzner, “Calculation, Competition and Entrepreneurship,” current working
paper.
c.
Capital Plans
Mises, Human Action, pp. 259-264; 479-523.
Rothbard, Man, Economy and State, pp. 273-434;
463-559.
Kirzner, An Essay on Capital. New York: Augustus
M. Kelley, 1966, 1-141.
Hayek, The Pure Theory of Capital. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1940, 14-40; 50-64; 247-350.
Peter Lewin, Capital In Equilibrium. New York:
Routledge, 1996, 47-174.
d.
Economic
Coordination
Required Reading
Mises, Human Action, pp. 524-586; 780-803.
Rothbard, Man, Economy and State, pp. 745-764.
Hayek, Individualism and Economic Order, pp.
220-254.
Hayek,
“Price Expectations, Monetary Disturbances and Malinvestment,” in Profits,
Interest and Investment. New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1939, 135-156.
Steve
Horwitz, Microfoundations and Macroeconomics: An Austrian Perspective.
New York: Routledge, 65-175.
Tyler
Cowen, Risk and Business Cycles. New York: Routledge, 1997, 1-12;
76-149.
Richard
Wagner, “Austrian Cycle Theory: Saving the Wheat While Discarding the Chaff,” Review
of Austrian Economics, 12 (1) 1999, 65-80.
Tony
Carilli and Greg Dempster, “Expectations in Austrian Business Cycle Theory,” Review
of Austrian Economics, 14 (4) 2001, 319-330.
a.
Equilibrium
properties and static efficiency
Mises, Human Action, pp. 237-256; 350-357.
Hayek, Individualism and Economic Order, pp.
77-91.
Rothbard, Man, Economy and State, pp. 201-272;
274-280; 301-312; 387-433.
Kirzner, Competition and Entrepreneurship, pp.
1-29.
Takashi Negishi, “The Stability of a Competitive
Economy,” Econometrica, 30 (4) October 1962, 635-669.
Sanford
Grossman and Joseph Stiglitz, “On the Impossibility of Informationally
Efficient Markets,” American Economic Review, 70 (3) June 1980, 393-408.
Leland
Yeager, “Should Austrians Scorn General Equilibrium Theory?,” Review of
Austrian Economics, 11 (1-2) 1999, 19-30.
b.
Formal Theory and
Appreciative Theory
Mises, Human Action, pp. 289-315; 327-338.
Hayek, Individualism and Economic Order, pp.
33-56.
Rothbard, Man, Economy and State, pp. .
Kirzner, Competition and Entrepreneurship, pp.
1-29.
Kenneth
Arrow, “Toward a Theory of Prize Adjustment,” in M. Abramovitz, et. al., eds, The
Allocation of Economic Resources. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press,
1959, 41-51.
Richard
Nelson and Sidney Winter, An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change.
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1982, 3-48.
Theodore
Schultz, “The Value of the Ability to Deal with Disequilibria,” Journal of
Economic Literature, XIII (3) September 1975, 827-846.
c.
Entrepreneurship,
Creativity and Dynamics
Mises, Human Action, pp. 105-118; 289-314;
689-715.
Hayek, Individualism and Economic Order, pp.
92-106.
Rothbard, Man, Economy and State, pp. 463-501.
Kirzner, Competition and Entrepreneurship, pp.
30-87.
Paul
McNulty, “Economic Theory and the Meaning of Competition,” Quarterly Journal
of Economics, LXXXII (4) November 1968, 639-656.
Franklin
Fisher, “Stability, Disequilibrium Awareness, and the Perception of New Opportunities,”
Econometrica, 49 (2) 1981, 279-317.
Louis
Makowski and Joseph Ostroy, “Perfect Competition and the Creativity of the
Market,” Journal of Economic Literature, 39 (2001): 479-535.
Israel Kirzner, “Creativity and/or Alertness,” Review
of Austrian Economics, 11 (1-2) 1999, 5-17.
d.
Adaptive Efficiency,
Catallactics and Inefficiency Markets
Mises, Human Action, pp. 646-663; 833-854.
Hayek, Individualism and Economic Order, pp. 1-32;
77-91; 107-118.
Rothbard, Man, Economy and State, pp. 765-890.
Kirzner, Competition and Entrepreneurship,
212-242.
James
M. Buchanan, “What Should Economists Do?,” Southern Economic Journal, 30
(January 1964): 213-222.
Warren Samuels, “Determinate Solutions and
Valuational Processes: Overcoming the Foreclosure of Process,” Journal of
Post Keynesian Economics, 11 (4) Summer 1989, 531-546.
James
M. Buchanan and Viktor Vanberg, “The Market as a Creative Process,” Economics
& Philosophy, 7 (1991): 167-186.
Tyler
Cowen, “What a Non-Paretian Welfare Economics Would Have to Look Like,” in Don
Lavoie, ed., Economics and Hermeneutics. New York: Routledge, 1991,
285-298.
David
Prychitko, “Formalism in Austrian School Welfare Economics: Another Pretense of
Knowledge?,” Critical Review, 7 (4) 1993, 567-592.
**Andrei
Shleifer, Inefficient Markets. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
a.
Institutionally
contingent economic theory
Hans
Mayer, “The Cognitive Value of Functional Theories of Price,” translated and
printed in Israel M. Kirzner, ed., Classics in Austrian Economics, 2.
London: William Pickering & Chatto, 1994, 55-168.
Hayek, Individualism
and Economics Order, pp. 33-56.
Ludwig
Lachmann, “On Institutions,” from Lachmann, The Legacy of Max Weber.
Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1971, 49-91.
Peter
Boettke, Steven Horwitz, and David Prychitko, “Beyond Equilibrium Economics,” Market
Process 4 (2) 1986.
Peter
Boettke, “Evolution and Economics: Austrians as Institutionalists,” Research
in the History of Economic Thought & Methodology, 6 (1989): 73-89.
Peter
Boettke, “Individuals and Institutions,” Critical Review, 4 (1-2) 1990.
Mario
Rizzo, “Introduction,” in Gerald O’Driscoll and Mario Rizzo, The Economics
of Time and Ignorance, 2nd edition. New York: Routledge, 1995.
Richard
Swedberg, Max Weber’s Economic Sociology. Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1998, 7-53.
Sandye
Gloria-Palermo, “An Austrian Dilemma: The Necessity and Impossibility of a
Theory of Institutions,” Review of Austrian Economics, 11 (1-2) 1999,
31-45.
b.
Entrepreneurship
Historically Contemplated
Jonathan
Hughes, The Vital Few. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.
Joel
Mokyr, The Levers of Riches. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.
Richard
Swedberg, “The Social Science View of Entrepreneurship,” in Swedberg, ed., Entrepreneurship:
A Social Science View. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000, 7-44.
Frederic
Sautet, An Entrepreneurial Theory of the Firm. New York: Routledge, 2000.
c.
Institutional
Entrepreneurs and Social Change
Douglass North, Understanding the Process of Economic
Change, working draft of book manuscript.
C.
Mantzavinos, Individuals, Institutions, and Markets. New York: Cambridge
University Press, 2001, 3-160; 227-256.
Tony Fu-Lai Yu, Firms, Governments and Economic Change.
Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2001, 115-127.
d.
Transition and
Development Studies
Nathan Rosenberg and L. E. Birdzell, How the West Grew
Rich. New York: Basic Books, 1986.
Peter
Boettke, Calculation and Coordination. New York: Routledge, 2001.
Andrei Shleifer and Daniel Treisman, Without a Map.
Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2000.
Enrico
Colombatto, “Is There an Austrian Approach to Transition?,” Review of
Austrian Economics, 15 (1) 2002, 61-74.
a.
Methodology and the
Analytical Narrative
Hayek, Individualism and Economic Order, pp.
57-76.
Robert Bates, et. al., Analytical Narrative.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998.
Jon Elster, Alchemies of the Mind: Rationality and the
Emotions. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
b.
Theory of Social
Change, institutions, geography and financial markets
Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel. New York:
Norton, 1997.
Daron
Acemoglu, et. al., “Reversal of Fortune: Geography and Institutions in the
Making of Modern World Income Distribution,” Quarterly Journal of Economics,
forthcoming.
Edward Glaser
and Andrei Shleifer, “Legal Origins,” 2001.
c.
Applications and the
Return of ‘Grand’ Theory
A. Economics
Edward Glaeser and Andrei Shleifer, “The Rise of the
Regulatory State,” working paper 2002.
R. LaPorta, et. al., “The Guarantees of Freedom,” working
paper 2002.
Andrei Shleifer, et. al. “The New Comparative Economics,”
working paper 2002.
B . Political Economy
Paul
Rubin, Darwinian Politics: The Evolutionary Origin of Freedom. New
Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2002.
Chris
Matthew Sciabarra, Total Freedom: Toward a Dialectical Libertarianism.
State College, PA: Penn State University Press, 2000.
C.
McCann, “F. A. Hayek: The Liberal as Communitarian,” Review of Austrian
Economics, 15 (1) 2002, 5-34.
Hans
Hoppe, Democracy -- The God that Failed. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction
Publishers, 2001.
Tyler
Cowen – working manuscript on the arguments for liberty.
The
JEL Code for Austrian economics is B53. There are currently three professional
journals devoted to advancing the research program of Austrian economics: The
Review of Austrian Economics, The Quarterly Journal of Austrian
Economics, and Advances in Austrian Economics. Familiarize yourself with these scientific
outlets and the contributions to the literature they contain. In addition, other journals which regularly
discuss Austrian themes would be: Journal of Libertarian Studies, Critical
Review, Independent Review, Markets & Morality, History
of Political Economy, Review of Political Economy, Journal of the
History of Economic Thought, Journal of Economic Methodology, and Journal
des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines. You should be familiar with the contributions to these journals as
well.