Tuesday 18 September 2012

ECONOMICS FOR REAL PEOPLE: How Economies Grow And Why They Crash (Part 1)

Due to circumstances beyond my control (i.e., me being completely forgetful) I forgot to invite you yesterday the Econ discussion with the Auckland Uni Economics Group.  But don’t panic—if you missed it, I have a solution!

First, here’s what we talked about last night:

Our next subject will be a 'two-parter', explaining the boom and bust cycle said to be a natural feature of mature economies.
     
Part 1: Hayek v Friedman: How Economies Grow
      Part 2: Hayek v Keynes: Why They Crash

We start out by explaining how economies grow, contrasting Hayek’s growth theory with that of the Chicago school economists, of whom Milton Friedman was the best known. What does growth look like? What exactly grows? And what’s the difference between growth and progress—and how do the two schools differ on this and other related questions?
Then we will look at what economies crash. Why bubbles burst, booms turn to bust, growth turns to capital consumption. And how exactly did Hayek and Keynes differ on what causes and continues downturn.
Don’t miss this two-part discussion, which should help integrate the material we’ve discussed over recent sessions.

Notice, it is a discussion in two parts, so if you get along next week you’ll get to hear the punchline.

But even better: the guts of what we talked about last night can be easily tracked down online! 

Here’s a link to a comic book explaining, well, just what the title says. (Yes, Virginia, Irwin is Peter’s dad.)

image

And here’s two of Roger Garrison’s recent lectures at the 2012 Mises University (if you’re keen, you can see all 21 lectures here), on which much of last night’s lecture was based.

So don’t fret. Enjoy!

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