Summary Austrian Economics

Mario Rizzo writes of Austrian economics.

The highly interrelated themes I listed are:

(1) the subjective, yet socially embedded, quality of human decision making;

(2) the individual’s perception of the passage of time (‘real time’);

(3) the radical uncertainty of expectations;

(4) the decentralization of explicit and tacit knowledge in society;

(5) the dynamic market processes generated by individual action, especially entrepreneurship;

(6) the function of the price system in transmitting knowledge;

(7) the supplementary role of cultural norms and other cultural products (‘institutions’) in conveying knowledge;

(8) the spontaneous – that is, not centrally directed – evolution of social institutions.

The Harmony of Interests in Practice

This is what markets are all about at the end of the day: the harmonization of the self-interest of actors via decentralized coordination. That harmonization allows us to live in peaceful cooperation and extend the benefits of Mises' Law of Association to more and more of humanity. A computer calling me to remind me to refill my prescription might seem like a little thing in the broader scope of human accomplishment, but it symbolizes the real processes that have made possible the levels of peace and prosperity that we have.

http://austrianeconomists.typepad.com/weblog/2009/07/the-harmony-of-interests-in-practice.html