Jan 28, 2022
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:
- There are more private security guards in the world than police today.
- When a privileged few hold a monopoly on violence, they are very unlikely to wield in for the benefit of the many, but rather for their own benefit.
- Nobody gets out of bed in the morning for the good of the country or the planet. They do it for their own good.
