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The 7 Essentials of Austrian Economics

I listened to Saifedean Ammous and @Michael Saylor talk for an hour about Austrian Economics. (Link to the video here: https://youtu.be/3242CA8UHpM)

Saifedean Ammous teaches a course on it at Saylor.org, and has two books (The Bitcoin Standard, The Fiat Standard)

Here is what I concluded from listening:

AUSTRIAN economics: Individual human beings matter.

MAINSTREAM economics: Collections of human beings matter.

AUSTRIAN: Value is subjective, and should be measured by individuals.

MAINSTREAM: Value should be measured by central authorities, and decisions made accordingly.

AUSTRIAN: The study of peaceful cooperation between individuals.

MAINSTREAM: The study of centrally-planned coercion of individuals for the good of the whole (but particularly the few at the top).

AUSTRIAN: Human behaviour is non-linear and chaotic.

MAINSTREAM: Human behaviour ought to be simple, linear, and easy for the few at the top to model.

AUSTRIAN: The way the world actually works.

MAINSTREAM: The way the world OUGHT to work.

AUSTRIAN: You can’t measure people.

MAINSTREAM: Yes you can, and we will.

AUSTRIAN: People are very different.

MAINSTREAM: But we’re going to make decisions on their behalf, on the basis that they’re all the same.

Additional thoughts:

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Curiosity. Questions. Simplicity. Principles. Meaning. The Vital Few, not the Trivial Many. Be your own Chief Questions Officer.

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David Kimbell

Curiosity. Questions. Simplicity. Principles. Meaning. The Vital Few, not the Trivial Many. Be your own Chief Questions Officer.