Archive for Israel M. Kirzner
Israel Kirzner is professor emeritus of economics at New York University and did his doctoral work under Ludwig von Mises. Professor Kirzner is the author of many books in the Austrian tradition of economics, among them Competition and Entrepreneurship; Perception, Opportunity, and Profit; and The Meaning of Market Process.
Human Action, 1949: A Dramatic Episode in Intellectual History
A great book, it has been remarked, is like a great castle. It can be viewed from many different angles, each offering a unique perspective. Viewing Ludwig von Mises’s monumental work from the vantage of 2009 permits one to see with great clarity one fascinating aspect of the book–the sheer drama of its emergence at [...]
19Aug2009 | Israel M. Kirzner | 5 comments | ContinuedThe Anatomy of Economic Advice, Part III
In the first article of this trilogy we explored some of the ambiguities and difficulties that surround the very idea of “economic advice” based on economic science. In the second article we set forth some of the basic foundations of economic science (with special reference to what the science can teach us about what we called the “benign” character of the spontaneous market process).
1Oct2006 | Israel M. Kirzner | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Anatomy of Economic Advice, Part II
How can positive science (consisting entirely of “is” statements) be translated into “ought” statements within the framework of economic understanding? In the first part of this series we drew attention to some of the paradoxes surrounding economic advice.
1Sep2006 | Israel M. Kirzner | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Anatomy of Economic Advice, Part I
As is the case with virtually all branches of human knowledge, economic knowledge and understanding are valued not only (or even primarily) for their own sake, but for their usefulness in practical terms. The enormous sums expended each year on economic research and economic education certainly would not be forthcoming if it were not expected that such research and education could help promote wise policies leading to prosperity and economic well-being.
1Aug2006 | Israel M. Kirzner | 1 comment | ContinuedThe Open-Endedness of Knowledge
I intend to explore in this article some aspects of the uniqueness which is FEE, and to express my fervent hope and confidence that such uniqueness will continue to permeate every nook and cranny of FEE’s activities in the years to come. I will begin by noting two related but separate paradoxes that have over [...]
1Jun2003 | Israel M. Kirzner | 0 comments | ContinuedA History of Economic Thought: The LSE Lectures
In at least one respect, this is a remarkable book. It consists of the edited transcripts of a course of 33 lectures in the history of economic thought that Lionel Robbins delivered at the London School of Economics during the 81st and 82nd years of his life. A foreword by Professor William Baumol (a student [...]
1Jan2002 | Israel M. Kirzner | 0 comments | ContinuedA Puzzle and Its Solution: Rejoinder to Professor Ahiakpor
I was at first puzzled by Professor James C. W. Ahiakpor’s charge that I had misrepresented mainstream economics (by my statement that mainstream economics’ use of its supply-and-demand apparatus relies on the assumption of perfect competition, and thus perfect knowledge). I was puzzled because mainstream textbooks are quite explicit on this point.[1] Upon re-reading Professor [...]
1Jul2000 | Israel M. Kirzner | 1 comment | ContinuedToward an Austrian Critique of Governmental Economic Policy
This is the fourth (and last) of a series of articles laying out some foundational elements of modern Austrian economics. Read the first article here, the second here, and the third here. In preceding articles we outlined the way in which Austrian economists understand the entrepreneurial competitive market process that is responsible for the law [...]
1Apr2000 | Israel M. Kirzner | 6 comments | ContinuedThe Irresistible Force of Market Competition
This is the third in a series of articles laying out some foundational elements of modern Austrian economics. The first article is here, the second is here, and the final article is here. The systematic character of the market process derives, in the Austrian view, from the interplay of the actions of entrepreneurial human beings. [...]
1Mar2000 | Israel M. Kirzner | 6 comments | ContinuedEntrepreneurial Discovery and the Law of Supply and Demand
This is the second in a series of articles laying out some foundational elements of modern Austrian economics. The first article is here, the third is here, and the final article is here. Last month we promised to explain how Austrian economics presents its understanding of the law of supply and demand by invoking the [...]
1Feb2000 | Israel M. Kirzner | 1 comment | ContinuedThe Law of Supply and Demand
This is the first in a series of articles laying out some foundational elements of modern Austrian economics. The second article is here, the third is here, and the final article is here. The theory of supply and demand is recognized almost universally as the first step toward understanding how market prices are determined and [...]
1Jan2000 | Israel M. Kirzner | 32 comments | ContinuedThe Nature and Significance of Economic Education
For many years I have been fascinated by what at first glance seems a paradoxical feature in Ludwig von Mises’s attitude to the economics he taught. I believe that this seeming paradox in the life and work of my revered teacher can provide us with the key to understanding the role of economic education (and, [...]
1Oct1998 | Israel M. Kirzner | 0 comments | ContinuedFifty Years of FEE; Fifty Years of Progress in Austrian Economics
At this time of FEE’s golden jubilee, an Austrian economist’s thoughts dwell naturally upon the pivotal role which the Foundation has played in the survival and resurgence of Austrian Economics during the twentieth century. The state of and prospects for Austrian Economics in 1996 are far healthier and more promising than they were fifty years [...]
1May1996 | Israel M. Kirzner | 0 comments | ContinuedBook Review: The Market, Competition and Democracy: A Critique of Neo-Austrian Economics by Stavros Ioannides
Edward Elgar Publishing Company, Aldershot, Hants, England • 1992 • xiii + 194 pages $59.95 Thoughtful Marxist economists have often, it appears, been fascinated by Austrian economics. Some 70 years ago Nikolai Bukharin (the eminent Marxist economist, who had attended Bohm- Bawerk’s famous Seminar, and who was later to be executed by Stalin) perceptively pronounced [...]
1Jan1994 | Israel M. Kirzner | 0 comments | ContinuedBook Review: Mises: An Annotated Bibliography: A Comprehensive Listing of Books and Articles by and About Ludwig von Mises Compiled by Bettina Bien Greaves and Robert W. McGee
The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc., 1993 • 408 pages • $29.95 This is, quite simply, an extraordinary work. The reference, in its title, to an “annotated bibliography,” is grossly, almost laughably, inadequate as a description of it. Even its subtitle fails to convey its phenomenal and fascinating scope. This book not only provides a [...]
1Nov1993 | Israel M. Kirzner | 0 comments | ContinuedBook Review: Time And Public Policy by T. Alexander Smith
University of Tennessee Press, P.O. Box 250, Ithaca, NY 14850 1988 • 299 pages • $29.95 cloth T. Alexander Smith, a professor of political science at the University of Tennessee, has written an impressive book. It is a book that ranges across several social science disciplines, particularly economics, sociology, and politics—but also involves psychology, philosophy, [...]
1Aug1989 | Israel M. Kirzner | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Economics of Errant Entrepreneurs
Dr. Kirzner is professor of economics at New York University. His latest book is Discovery and the Capitalist Process, Arecent stimulating Freeman article by Jane S. Shaw (April, 1987) provocatively drew attention to some of the benefits derived by society from entrepreneurial daring and imagination—even when it turns out that these are expressed in ventures [...]
1Aug1987 | Israel M. Kirzner | 0 comments | Continued-
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