Vienna Chicago, Friends or Foes?: A Tale of Two Schools of Free-Market Economics
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- Create Date：2021-05-25 10:54:55
- Update Date：2025-09-06
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- Author：Mark Skousen
- ISBN：0895260298
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Summary
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？
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？
Reviews
Patrick Peterson
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2020-06-20 - （Updated 2020-09-18） Just finished this morning and really liked it。 It does a great job of outlining the key aspects and history of the two different schools of thought， plus many others in less detail， but for good contrast & illustration purposes。 Contrasting the two schools is very helpful， since they have significantly different methodologies， points of view， and sometimes conclusions， even though they are both known as and actually do share a passion for "free markets。"I think 2020-06-20 - （Updated 2020-09-18） Just finished this morning and really liked it。 It does a great job of outlining the key aspects and history of the two different schools of thought， plus many others in less detail， but for good contrast & illustration purposes。 Contrasting the two schools is very helpful， since they have significantly different methodologies， points of view， and sometimes conclusions， even though they are both known as and actually do share a passion for "free markets。"I think this book would be very interesting and useful for someone new to， or even at the intermediate level of understanding of， either or both of these schools of economic thought。 Even if one leans toward Keynesianism， or any of the various flavors of socialism， if you are curious about either or both of these schools of thought that have been quite effective in explaining the fallacies of their intellectual opponent's ideas， this book could be quite useful。I have been studying the ideas of Ludwig Mises and the Austrian School for about 45 years and I was quite impressed with the depth and breadth of the author's knowledge and ability to summarize and contrast the key histories， personalities and ideas。 I know much less about the Chicago school， but having grown up and lived in the Chicago area for 30 years， gotten to know many Chicago school scholars and advocates and listened to or viewed many speeches by and read a fair smattering of their works， I am confident that Skousen did a pretty good job on that school's ideas and history too。That is not to say I didn't see any flaws， I did。 But generally， for almost all the major issues dealt with in the book， this work is clear， concise （though it has a fair amount of repetition for emphasis sake） and is pretty reliable。I first found out about the author about 40 years ago， after obtaining and reading a copy of his financial service newsletter， Forecasts and Strategies。 I found it quite interesting to see his treatment of the ideas of Mises &/or the Austrian School， since there was VERY little press about them back then。 I subsequently got to know Mark Skousen due to his continued interest in and writing about Mises and the Austrians， and even hosted a talk for him to a group I co-founded， The Free Market Society of Chicago。 Within 15 years or so he went on to found and host annually the amazing FreedomFest。com live and in-person conference in Las Vegas， which I have attended at least four times and highly recommend。 A great mix of financial， economic， historical， cultural， and artistic aspects of freedom are presented every year。I was also hoping to host Mark again for my （almost） annual 11th Silicon Valley Mises Celebration this year， if possible， on Sat。 3 Oct。 2020。 But governmental covid lockdown restrictions and panic porn changed folks' perceptions of acceptable in-person group activities。One of the extra valuable parts that I loved about the book was the very cool bibliography at the end of each chapter。 All the works cited in the chapter are there and more。 For anyone just beginning or at an intermediate level of getting into issues such as:- Macroeconomics， the Great Depression or Business Cycles （but written too early to include 2008 Financial Crash and Great Recession） - perhaps an update with this coming？- proper/best methodology for economics- history of the these two schools of thought- anti-trust and monopolies- money: gold vs。 fiat （written just before the rise of crypto-currencies， so no good for that） - again - opportunity for a good update edition- views on Adam Smith & some other classical economists- potential of future detente and productive cooperation between the two schools。Mark Skousen has a very lively， easy to read and compelling style。 I recommend the book highly， unless you are an academic who can't stand that style or:- generalizations that are not perfect， - some hyperbole， - some minor misstatements， - etc。If you want to get a great into/intermediate understanding of the big issues economics deals with， especially how to get a better world with more abundance， more freedom and more justice， from the perspective of the top two free market schools of thought， this book is an excellent read。 It will clue you in on all the key books and authors who have written the best stuff。----------------2020-06-11 Just started this， finally， a few days ago。Very interesting so far。 Good background on the two different schools of thought。 。。。more
Juan
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Muestra una visión interesante de los movimientos de pensamientos en economía。。。。。 los eventualmente diferentes pensamientos ante un mismo hecho， hacen vigente el cuestionamiento de Popper en relación a la "falsacionabilidad" de los principios。。。 Muestra una visión interesante de los movimientos de pensamientos en economía。。。。。 los eventualmente diferentes pensamientos ante un mismo hecho， hacen vigente el cuestionamiento de Popper en relación a la "falsacionabilidad" de los principios。。。 。。。more
Tadas Talaikis
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Interesting how capitalism is presented like a religion。 I am just glad I have read Alfred Korzybski long ago and every time I'm stuck with somewhat complex （contradictory） subject， I just use AND philosophy instead of still so popular OR。 At least world moves to this more realism oriented approach when mixes free markets with government regulations。 And hope it will continue。 That's my thoughts after reading this book， which is pretty good overview of free market religions。 Interesting how capitalism is presented like a religion。 I am just glad I have read Alfred Korzybski long ago and every time I'm stuck with somewhat complex （contradictory） subject， I just use AND philosophy instead of still so popular OR。 At least world moves to this more realism oriented approach when mixes free markets with government regulations。 And hope it will continue。 That's my thoughts after reading this book， which is pretty good overview of free market religions。 。。。more
Vance
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I consider myself a free market economist。 I believe in individual liberty， economic freedom， and limited government。 These foundations of my worldview and economic teachings in undergrad， grad school， and thereafter have steered me towards following closely in favor of the lessons of two schools of economics: Chicago Economics and Austrian Economics。 Skousen provides a terrific comparison of the two schools of thought。 Specifically， he explains that they agree on many issues （e。g。， private prop I consider myself a free market economist。 I believe in individual liberty， economic freedom， and limited government。 These foundations of my worldview and economic teachings in undergrad， grad school， and thereafter have steered me towards following closely in favor of the lessons of two schools of economics: Chicago Economics and Austrian Economics。 Skousen provides a terrific comparison of the two schools of thought。 Specifically， he explains that they agree on many issues （e。g。， private property rights， limited government， free trade， oppose price/wage controls， oppose corporate welfarism， reject socialism， natural inequality is inevitable， opposed to deficit spending， and believe in laissez-faire capitalism。 However， their staunch disagreements include: methodology （Austrians - follow "deductive， subjective， and market-process approach to economic analysis" and oppose econometrics; Chicagoans- follow "historical， quantitative， and equilibrating analysis" with an emphasis on econometrics）; proper role of government in the market economy （Austrians - "dynamic disequilibrium process model of market capitalism that takes into account institutions and decentralized decision making"; Chicagoans - "employs an 'equilibrium always' pure competition model that assumes perfect competition。"）; sound money （Austrians - prefer a gold standard or free banking with minimal government intervention; Chicagoans - favors an irredeemable monetary system， where the money supply increases at a steady or a neutral rate。）; and business cycle， capital theory， and macroeconomics。 Skousen then goes on to explain these areas throughout the book in an easy to read manner that those interested should read， whether you are an economics major or not。 I'm not convinced with one school over the other overall but do think that both have valuable contributions to the discipline that I hope to build on in the future。 Free market economics is the path forward for prosperity， as has been shown time and again throughout history。 If we can have a better understanding of the costs of government intervention， whereby government failure is much more obtrusive and common than market failure， we can improve the well-being of society as each work in their own best interest。Check out this book。 You won't be disappointed whether you are a free market economist or not。 I highly recommend this book！ 。。。more
Dan
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Look， I'm only a partial economist -- undergrad dual major along with Poli Sci， but without having the self-confidence in my math chops to have pursued a direct graduate degree and a U of C trained lawyer lover of L&E -- so a handy primer on the parallels and differences between free-market schools is handy。Just from reading that background， you would probably of guessed that the UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO GRADUATE is more a Chicagoan than an Austrian。 You'd be right。 I am。Still， I can better explain Look， I'm only a partial economist -- undergrad dual major along with Poli Sci， but without having the self-confidence in my math chops to have pursued a direct graduate degree and a U of C trained lawyer lover of L&E -- so a handy primer on the parallels and differences between free-market schools is handy。Just from reading that background， you would probably of guessed that the UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO GRADUATE is more a Chicagoan than an Austrian。 You'd be right。 I am。Still， I can better explain why now。And to flag the degree to which my respect for Hayek is an eccentric position within my own school。Anyway， I'd certainly recommend this as reading material for anyone slipping into gold-buggery from listening to too much of the Paul family。 。。。more
Phil
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well written and a good overview for anyone interested in this subject。
Mark Heishman
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