Private Property Rights, Dynamic Efficiency and Economic Development: An Austrian Reply to Neo-Marxist Scholars Nieto and Mateo on Cyber-Communism and Market Process

The Austrian school economics and neo-Marxist theories both have been reviving in recent years. However, the current academic discussion lacks a debate between two schools of economics with diametrically opposed views. This paper is the first and an initial Austrian challenge to Neo-Marxist scholars Nieto and Mateo’s argumentation that cyber-communism and the Austrian theory of dynamic efficiency are consistent to enhance economic development. Their argument focuses on two issues: (a) the existence of circular reasoning in the Austrian theory of dynamic efficiency, and (b) dynamic efficiency and full economic development could be strongly promoted in a socialist system through new information and communication technologies (ICT) and the democratization of all economic life. While cyber-communism refers to cyber-planning without private property rights through ICT, dynamic efficiency refers to the entrepreneurs’ creative and coordinative natures. In this paper, first, we argue that the hypothesis that dynamic efficiency and cyber-communism is not compatible. Contrary to the above cyber-communist criteria, the Austrian theory of dynamic efficiency argues that to impede private property rights is to remove the most powerful entrepreneurial incentive to create and coordinate profit opportunities, the entrepreneurial incentives to create and coordinate profit opportunities are removed to identify human problems and the ability and willingness to solve them. Second, we argue that the cyber-communism system is inconsistent with economic development. In this regard, we explain how the institutional environment can cultivate or stifle dynamic efficiency and economic development. Having briefly outlined the central argument of Nieto and Mateo, we examine the institutional arrangement supporting cyber-communism. After that, we evaluate the implications of cyber-communism in the dynamic efficiency process. It becomes manifest that Nieto and Mateo’s accounts are too general to recognize the complexity of how economic development works.

La teoría del ciclo monetario endógeno y la economía china en 2011

The present project has as its objective to analyse different variables of the Chinese Economy in order to establish in which aspect it is in, regarding the Austrian Theory of the economic cycle. The project consists of 3 parts: In the first part an introduction will be conducted on the Austrian theory of the economic cycle, in the second part, historical and structural aspects of the chinese economy will be analised, and the third and last part deals with analising the different economic variables to try and establish in which position the chinese economy is in regarding it’s cycle stage, and in turn, establish it’s possible evolution. Finally we have to underline that the Chinese economy has demonstrated how important the forces of entrepreneurship are when you give economic freedom to the population. Key words: Chinese economy, interventionism, economic cycles, business function. JEL Classification: N15, N27, N45, N65, O53, P11, P32, Y10. Resumen: El presente trabajo tiene por objeto analizar distintas variables de la economía china para tratar de establecer la fase en la que se encuentra la economía china con respecto a la teoría austriaca del ciclo económico. El trabajo consta de tres partes: En la primera se realiza una introducción a la teoría austriaca del ciclo económico, en la segunda se analizan aspectos históricos y estructurales de la economía china, y en la tercera y última se tratan de analizar distintas variables económicas para intentar establecer la posición de la economía china con respecto a su fase de ciclo, para a su vez, tratar de establecer su posible evolución. La principal conclusión del trabajo es que la economía china, a pesar de su enorme tamaño y grado de intervencionismo, no es inmune a las leyes económicas y está sujeta a los mismos avatares que el resto de economías. Si las autoridades chinas siguen con su política intervencionista, las consecuencias serán las mismas que en el resto de economías. Por último, hay que reseñar que la economía china ha demostrado cómo de grandes son las fuerzas de la función empresarial cuando se da libertad económica a la población. Palabras clave: Economía china, intervencionismo, ciclos económicos, función empresarial. Clasificación JEL: N15, N27, N45, N65, O53, P11, P32, Y10.

A Survey on Exchange Rates Determination in the Teachings of the Austrian School

This survey represents a recollection of the contributions of prominent Austrian economists on the subject of the exchange rate determination (Mises, Hayek and Haberler). We review the theoretical fundaments that allow for a comprehensive understanding of the microeconomic forces that determine exchange rates. Then we examine the Purchasing Power Parity Theory, both from a neoclassical and Austrian viewpoint. Finally we inspect the international movements of money and the associations of these with the dynamics of the balance of payments and exchange rate. We leave open the door for future investigations over the idea of incorporating the notion of the Interest rates Parity, intended as a «tendency law», in the Austrian theory. Key words: Exchange rate, Austrian theory, purchasing power parity, balance of payments, international capital movements. Clasificación JEL: F31. Resumen: El presente ensayo representa una recopilación de las con-tribuciones de prominentes economistas austriacos sobre la de-terminación del tipo de cambio (Mises, Hayek, Haberler). En la pri-mera parte se repasan los fundamentos teoréticos que permiten una comprensión exhaustiva de las fuerzas microeconómicas que deter-minan el tipo de cambio. A continuación se examina la teoría de la paridad de poder adquisitivo, tanto desde un punto de vista austriaco como neoclásico. Finalmente se inspeccionan los movimientos inter-nacionales de dinero y las asociaciones de los mismos con las diná-micas de la balanza de pagos y del tipo de cambio. Se deja abierta la puerta para futuras investigaciones sobre la idea de incorporar la noción de la paridad de tipo de interés, entendida como «ley de ten-dencia», dentro de la teoría austriaca. Palabras clave: Tipo de cambio, análisis austriaco, paridad del poder adquisitivo, balanza de pagos, movimientos internacionales de capital.

Should the government intervene in the economy?

This paper discuss the effects of the governmental intervention on the economy based on Austrian and Keynesian School approach. In this sense, we show that the Austrian theory of crises is nothing more than a particular application of the theory about the deeds of wrong co-ordination of government’s intervention in the areas of fiscal, monetary and credit, which always originates in a systematic discoordination (intra and inter-temporal) of the real economy productive structure. In other words, the crises are the results of government’s interventions through economic policies.

Intra-Firm Coordination through Rule-Following and the Emergence of Hierarchy

Rules and rule-following are becoming better understood as decision-making and coordination mechanisms. Further, that hierarchy is an under-appreciated element of natural spontaneous, rule-based, orders has caused confusion. The article argues firstly that the ability to meld rule-following and hierarchy in one theory of the firm presents an opportunity for a possible consistent Austrian theory of the firm. The paper then proceeds to discuss how rule-following is embedded in conventional theories of the firm and how a rule-based firm can create value in the larger spontaneous order of the extended market. The paper concludes by arguing that even though conventional views around hierarchy and the giving of orders within a firm may have a role, the conventional view may be under-privileging the role of rules, rule-following and the consequent natural emergence of hierarchy.

The Menger-Mises Theory of the Origin of Money--Conjecture or Economic Law?

In recent years some economists have begun to doubt the scientific standing of the standard Austrian theory of the origin of money. They seem to think that it is only one possible solution to the problem of accounting for money’s value. Of these economists, Gary North (North 2012b) has presented the most cogent counter-interpretation to how we should understand the theory of the origin of money as elaborated by Carl Menger and Ludwig von Mises. Unlike the rest of economic theory, the origin of money and Mises’s regression theorem do not partake of the character of a scientific law deduced from the basic principles of the science, but is rather, and is presented as such in the writings of Menger and Mises, what North terms “conjectural history.” In this essay we will respond to North’s challenge and to the economists who agree with him.