A colleague who had run and managed businesses in a previous life recently
asked me to name a management strategy based on Austrian theory. There are
numerous possible answers such as spontaneous order and all but, after
considering that another colleague who happens to be both a musician and an
avid Austrian once told me that the market for music was wholly inept and
inefficient in that it did not see the best musicians rise to the
top--namely I suppose, him--as well as the recent post by Dan Klein
pertaining to changing the name of the school (let's put the old wine in new
wineskins), the following struck me:
If Austrians believe in the sanctity of the market and market outcomes,
how do they view the fact that the market is repudiating Austrian theory and
methodology? Yes, a lot of Austrian ideas have been accepted and
incorporated into orthodox economic theory, but as a whole is the Austrian
school of thought and theory losing steam and support? If so, has the market
weeded out the least desirable (or efficient) product?
Mark Steckbeck
Hillsdale College
