Economic Point of View

by Israel M. Kirzner

Overview

No other economist in recent times has been so closely identified with the Austrian School of economics as Israel M. Kirzner. A leader of the generation of Austrian economists after Ludwig von Mises and F. A. Hayek and professor emeritus of economics at New York University, Kirzner has been recognized as one of the minds behind the revival of entrepreneurship and market process theory in the twentieth century.

In this book, Kirzner explains how the "economic point of view" emerged in the development of economic science since the eighteenth century and through it, the concepts of purpose, subjectivism, and rationality. Kirzner's incomparable ability to navigate through the core ideas of economics helps the reader become progressively familiar with the history of the discipline and its definition.

As Kirzner writes in his preface, this work attempts to explore the "fundamental ideas around which the entire corpus of economic thought has revolved for some two centuries. It remains as true today as ever before that the direction taken by economic theory is in large measure determined by the 'point of view' adopted by the economist." Kirzner explores the shifting orientation of economists from classical political economy to modern neoclassical economics.

This volume includes discussions of the science of wealth and welfare; the nature of economic science and the significance of macroeconomics; and economics as a science of human action. The Liberty Fund edition also presents the four papers that make up the Becker-Kirzner debate on rationality in economics and which appeared in the Journal of Political Economy in 1962 and 1963.

Perhaps Mises himself best summarizes The EconomicPoint of View in his foreword: "It is a very valuable contribution to the history of ideas, describing the march of economics from a science of wealth to a science of human action."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2900865977340
Publisher:	Liberty Fund Inc.
Publication date:	12/08/2009
Series:	Collected Works of Israel M. Kirzner Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.25(h) x 9.00(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction to the Liberty Fund Edition Peter J. Boettke Frédéric Sautet xi

Introduction to the Second Edition Laurence S. Moss xxi

Foreword Ludwig von Mises xxv

Author's Preface xxvii

Acknowledgments xxix

1 On Defining the Economic Point of View 1

The Economic Point of View and the Scope of Economics 3

The Multitude of Economic Points of View 5

The Controversy Over the Utility of Definition 6

An Interpretation of the Controversy 8

The Economists and Their Definitions: The Classical Economists 12

The Economic Point of View: The Background of the Methodenstreit 14

Twentieth-Century Economic Points of View 17

2 The Science of Wealth and Welfare 20

The Emergence of Political Economy as the Science of Wealth 21

The Science of Material Wealth 28

The Science of Subsistence 33

The Science of Wealth Retained 39

Man Against Nature 43

From Wealth to Welfare 46

The Science of the Lower Side of Human Nature 52

3 The Science of Avarice; Getting the Most for the Least 55

The Science of Avarice 55

The Economic Principle 61

The "Economic Impulse" 65

Selfishness and "Non-Tuism" 69

Economics and Mechanics 71

4 Economics, the Market, and Society 76

Economics and Catallactics 76

Exchange and the Propensity to Truck 81

Exchange and the Division of Labor 83

The "Purely Formal" Concept of Exchange 85

Exchange and the Economic System 87

Economics, the Economy, and the Volkswirtschaft 90

Economy and Society 93

5 Economic Affairs, Money, and Measurement 97

Money, Wealth, and Exchanges 97

Money as the Measuring Rod 101

Money as a Universal Measuring Rod 104

Measurement and Economics 104

Money and Price-Economics108

Money as an Economic Institution 111

6 Economics and Economizing 114

The Economics of Professor Robbins 115

Scarcity and Economics 117

Economizing and Maximization 121

The Character of Robbins's Definition 123

A The "Breadth" of Robbins's Definition 125

B The "Formalism" of Robbins's Definition 127

The Nature of Ends and Means 130

"Given" Ends and Means 134

Single End and Multiple Ends 138

Economics and Ethics: The Positive and the Normative 142

The Nature of Economic Science and the Significance of Macroeconomics 147

7 Economics as a Science of Human Action 151

I

The Sciences of Human Action 153

The Emergence of the Praxeological View of Economics 156

Max Weber and Human Action 161

Acting Man and Economizing Man: Mises and Robbins 163

II

Praxeology and Purpose 166

Praxeology and Rationality 170

The Assumption of Constant Wants-The Praxeological Context 176

Praxeology, Apriorism, and Operationalism 181

The Economic Point of View and Praxeology 185

Becker-Kirzner Debate

Irrational Behavior and Economic Theory Gary S. Becker 193

Rational Action and Economic Theory Israel M. Kirzner 211

Rational Action and Economic Theory: A Reply to I. Kirzner Gary S. Becker 221

Rational Action and Economic Theory: Rejoinder Israel M. Kirzner 225

Index 229