The German antidote to mainstream economics | EnerPub - Energy Publisher

The German antidote to mainstream economics | EnerPub - Energy Publisher: "An antidote to mainstream economics

Orthodox economics today is an arid and rebarbative subject. See, for example, the quotation above from one of its most revered gurus, Friedrich von Hayek. He, like his teacher, Ludwig von Mises, objected vehemently to any attempt by the state to mitigate glaring inequalities. Milton Friedman, another idol of the cult, held (1) that the more unfair competition the better; however, as the British economist Richard Layard has observed (2), we've made a virtue of competition, which means other people are a threat, not a support. Ayn Rand, the Russian-American eulogist of unbridled capitalism, kindly informed us (3) that there are no 'rights' to a 'fair' wage or a 'fair' price if no-one chooses to pay it. Though she died in 1982, her books are still best-sellers in America.

O dear! Try, for a change, the philosophy of the 'Historical School' of economists in 19th-century Germany. Never heard of them? I'm not surprised. They have long been as unfashionable as Marx has recently become; and they are much less accessible than Marx; for most of their work is out of print, has never been translated into English, and can be found only in scholarly research libraries. The British and the Americans have generally been too deeply obsessed with the economics of Adam Smith a"