Archive for 2 July 2009
The Professional Strategy of the Early Austrian Economists
| Peter Klein |
O&M, like other niche academic blogs, deals occasionally with the history and sociology of this or that school of economic or management thought. We think often about professional strategy — how to promote our ideas, how to secure financial and institutional support, how to recruit students and fellow-travelers (“groupies,” according to Nicolai), what competing and complementary movements and schools of thought (not to mention rival blogs) are up to, and so on.
Given our close association with the Austrian school, you might be surprised to learn that the founding Austrians were not at all “strategic” in this sense. They held strongly to the view that truth wins out in the long run, so there is no need to build formal institutions or establish a “movement.” This comes out in a passage from Mises’s recently released Memoirs (a new translation of his earlier Notes and Recollections):
It is necessary to correct the misunderstandings that can be called forth by using the expression “Austrian School.” Neither Menger nor Böhm-Bawerk wanted to found a school in the sense customarily used in university circles. They never attempted to turn young students into blind disciples, nor did they, in turn, provide these same students with professorships. They knew that through books and an academic course of instruction they could promote an understanding suited to dealing with economic problems, thus rendering an important service to society. They understood, however, that they could not rear economists. As pioneers and creative thinkers, they recognized that one cannot arrange for scientific progress, nor breed innovation according to plan. They never attempted to propagandize their theories. Truth would prevail of its own accord when man possessed the faculties necessary to perceive it. Using impertinent means to cause people to pay lip service to a teaching was of no use if they lacked the ability to grasp its substance and significance. (more…)
Organizations and Markets 
Recent Comments