Walter Block Discusses Austrian Economics

Econintersect:  Walter Block is Harold E. Wirth Endowed Chair and Professor of Economics, College of Business, Loyola University New Orleans, and senior fellow at the Mises Institute.  He was a guest this week on Power Trading Radio hosted by John O’Donnell, Chief Knowledge Officer at Online Trading Academy.  Prof. Block is interviewed for a little over 39 minutes on the topic of Austrian School Economics and its relationship to addressing current economic problems.

[Video of interview accessible following the Read more >> jump.]

Some highlights of the interview include:

• Block contrasts Austrian economists as philosophers compared to “normative” economists which he characterizes as ethicists and empiricists.

• He highlights praxeology, the study of human interactions, as a central tenet of the Austrian school.

• He emphasizes that there are areas where libertarians and Austrian economists do not have overlapping thinking.

• Block says there is inflation at present, just not in what the official statistics are measuring.  He mentions several classes of assets that have experienced (are experiencing) inflation.

• In an extended discussion about unions, Block said there are justifiable activities for unions.  But he feels many unions (and specifically public sector unions) are “legal and ethical monstrosities“.  He suggests they are “vicious, depraved and immoral” and “deny the right of free association“.

Click on image below to watch the approximately 30 minute interview.

Walter Block earned his PhD in economics at Columbia University in 1972. He has taught at Rutgers, SUNY Stony Brook, Baruch CUNY, Holy Cross and the University of Central Arkansas. He is the author of over 400 articles in professional journals, two dozen books, and hundreds of op eds. He lectures widely on college campuses, delivers seminars around the world and appears regularly on television and radio shows. He has been a friend of Ron Paul’s since the 1970s.  He is the author of a classic discussion of issues confronting the interface between ethics and libertarianism, Defending the Indefensible.  Click on the book image to read about this book at Amazon.com and to order.

John Lounsbury

Source:

• Walter Block on Power Trading Radio (John O’Donnell, Power Trading Radio, 06 May 2013)