Austrian Knights

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...