Austrian Knights

On Monday, December 1st 2008, I got sad news. Beth Hoffman passed the way at the age of 58. For those who do not know who Beth was, she was the editor of The Freeman and longtime member of the prestigious group at The Foundation for Economic Education . Beth was also a true fighter for liberty, but most importantly Beth was a great, inspiring, and captivating woman. I remember the time I met Beth at the Austrian Economics Seminar in the summer of 2007. Since that moment, Beth impressed me with her caring charisma. If you knew Beth, it seemed that anyone who went to a seminar, worked, or visited FEE was welcomed to her family. To Beth everyone counted, there were no favorites. I will have in mind the conversations that I had with her. I will keep in mind Beth’s believe in the pursuit of freedom and the importance of consistently encourage people to never cease in this battle. My prayers and thoughts go to her family, friends, and to FEE and its community. R.I.P. Beth Hoffman. We will...

Last week, Dan Klein had met with a group of students on a draft of his recent paper. During the discussion he had raised a question that all students with the love for liberty usually ask themselves , "How come I get it? How come all these other people I know get it, but the everyday citizen does not get it?" The "it" being government intervention within our personal lives being more harmful and not as efficient as the market. Those in the room shared his agony with the question and for me coincided with the question, " Why does the battered wife not leave her beating husband? " The solution was simple when I sat around a table with my cousins and my wife and heard a discussion of a guy who felt he owned the world going out with other girls and yet his girlfriend stays by him. When the remark was made that his girlfriend was stupid for staying by him, I heard the words that made me understand why people still don't get "it". " She belie...

Mises and Friedman are in agreement " The consistent liberal is not an anarchist. " To Mises and Friedman it is a rather simple argument: How do you enforce your rules upon society to protect your property, your life, and your liberty without a government? Mises' explained the need for government with ease: "Life in society would be quite impossible if the people who desire its continued existence and who conduct themselves accordingly had to forgo the use of force and compulsion against those who are prepared to undermine society by their behavior. A small number of antisocial individuals, i.e., persons who are not willing or able to make the temporary sacrifices that society demands of them, could make all society impossible. Without the application of compulsion and coercion against the enemies of society, there could not be any life in society. We call the social apparatus of compulsion and coercion that induces people to abide by the rules of life in society, th...

Mises had written, "There is a world of difference between a man who risks his life and property for a good cause and the man who sacrifices them without benefitting society in any way." Now which should we believe that politicians fall under? Which should economists fall under? Mises picks up again with, "Everything that serves to preserve the social order is moral; everything that is detrimental to it is immoral." Would most citizens view austrian economists as the first or the latter off of this statement? and government? Is then perception reality or just a faux pas?

On Sunday September 28 of 2008, Ecuador adopted its 20 th Constitution. The new elected Constitution has 444 articles and by far give more power to the state in what respect to the economy and the political system. About 64.04% of Ecuador’s voting population approved the new Magna Carta, while 28.01% voted “NO”, the null votes added to 7.21% (vote that represents neither yes or no) and blank votes were roughly 0.74%. The decision is clear; Ecuador is following the steps towards a socialist economy or what Mr. Chavez has claimed “Socialism of the 21 st century.” President Correa has aligned his government with the social, economical and political structures those countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia, and others in the Latin American continent. These socio-economic and political structures have been implemented through the region with more emphasis in the last five years. However, it is important to mention that Latin America has always suffered from high levels of dependency in...

After listening to President Bush about the Bail-out plan, I could not stop but wonder why once again the government is getting people out of trouble at the expense of others who have not made the same mistakes. The government has intervened one more time in the economy (and not for good). It was not enough already for the law makers to worked by privatizing profits and socializing rick and costs. The current solution according to President Bush is a 700 billion dollars bail-out. In other words, this bail-out will make you and me pay for companies and other people who became blind folded and put themselves at a high risk. Now, social cost of government intervention in the economy has spread throughout the nation and it also will impact in the international markets. The political campaigns of Senators Obama and McCain have blamed the greed of Wall Street for this crisis. Greed is a factor in life that is always going to be present. It (greed) is a quality among people like gravity i...

In the April’s issue of The Southern Economic Journal there is an article in which you can find the ranking of 129 schools’ Economics-PhD programs in the United States. The article ranks George Mason University Economics in the 41 st place in the overall ranking. (Not too shabby for a school that only a few know about, or know because of its success two years ago when the men’s basketball team made it to the NCAA Final Four). In specific categories Mason Economics rank very well. For example, 3 rd in Methodology and History of Economic Thought, 9 th in General Economics and Teaching, 11 th in Law and Economics, and 25 th in Microeconomics and Public Economics. This review is indeed great news for the faculty members at George Mason. It demonstrates that Mason is gaining momentum in the field of economics. However, I must stress what is missing in this review. I think that this review does not account for the opinions of student’s comments. A program of study ca...

The Foundation of Economic Education is hoisting (Co-host GMU Economics Society ) an event at George Mason University April 18th and 19th. The topics of the seminar vary from; Foreign Aid, International Labour, US Foreign Policy, Institutions, Constitutions, and Economic Growth. However, FEE has put together a top of the shelve list of speakers. The list includes the names of; Geoffrey Lea, Bryan Caplan, Doug Bandow, and Josh Hall. Here is a link to the event .

I want to share this with you. I think that this video put together by the Ludwig von Mises Institute shows the importance and connection between liberty and economics . In the world of ideas it is important to convey people that free markets is the only way to achieve economic growth. Socialism is meant to fail. Socialism cannot use economic calculation as a tool to benefit society. Socialism denies freedom and kills society.

I want to start this post by apologizing to the audience for not posting in the last two weeks. However, what I have to share this. It is too important to just let it go. On Thursday February 23, 2008, I attended a book signing of, After War written by Christopher Coyne , at the Institute for American Studies (IAS) in Washington , DC . Christopher Coyne’s event was hosted by the Mercatus Center at GMU . Coyne is alum of George Mason University . He obtained his Master and PhD degrees from GMU. In that respect Coyne and my self have the pleasure of being thought by Professor Peter Boettke . I know that Coyne’s book is set to be one of the greatest of our age, and adding the emotional connection of being a student of GMU, I knew I had to be at the event. Once we (Astrid, Ian, Bret, Triya, Rossy and I) arrived and joined other GMU students at the IAS. The environment was like being at home. GMU was well represented on that event and yet we met other interesting individuals. ...

In the fall of 2007 my friend Ian Dunois (you can find him on his blog Searching for Truth ) and I (Jaime Artieda) began a study-discussion-reading group at George Mason University (GMU). Ian and I argued for a while about what we should call our group. Different names came to our minds, but when we came up with Austrian Knights, we knew that was the right choice. The name Austrian comes from the understanding of Austrian Economics. In the spring of 2007 Dunois and I took a class at GMU called ECON 403 with Professor Geoffrey Lea . I must say that ECON 403 it was a changing experience in my life. The concepts of praxeology, apriorism, subjectivism, and economics all blended, got into my mind creating an exciting curiosity for it. In the summer of 2007 I attended a summer seminar on Austrian Economics at the Foundation for Economic Education ( FEE ). Following that seminar, Dunois and I attended the seminar on the same subject at the Ludwig von Mises Institute . Professor Lea referred ...

The history behind the Austrian School of Economic Thought (known as Austrian Economics) is one of the most interesting stories to tell. Some of you may have never heard about this school. However, Austrian Economics has been part of the academia and our lives for over seven centuries. In this post I will do my best in telling the origin, development, and present of this school; from St. Thomas Aquinas teachings all the way to the influence of Ludwig von Mises. The setting of the Pre-Austrian movement during the 15 th century St. Thomas Aquinas thought at Salamanca University , Spain . His teachings and writings promoted social organization and the understanding of human action. Aquinas’ followers practiced his teachings and believed in the economic law of supply and demand. Furthermore, his disciples understood the importance of cause and effect (Causation), and the subjectivism of economic value. Aquinas’ believes were kept during time his supporters trusted the importan...

I like to start this blog by introducing my self, my name is Jaime Artieda. I am currently pursuing a double degree in Economics and Global Affairs at George Mason University . If you got to this web blog home page you are either my family, friend, colleague, professor or you are naturally interested in the subjects of economics, politics, philosophy and liberty. The name of this blog may sound a bit strange to some of you. However, behind the name of “Austrian Knights,” there is an emotional, historical and academic reason. In the fall of 2005 I was introduced to the documentary called The Commanding Heights of the Economy produced by PBS based on the book written by Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw. The battle of ideas of who should control the economy, debate that developed in between F.A. Hayek and John Maynard Keynes, is the main subject of the documentary’s first chapters. The argument of whether the state or the free market should contro...