In Praise of Austrians

After watching Sasha Baren Cohen's new film Bruno, I was reminded of all the wonderful things associated with the country of Austria. I mean aside from flamboyant fashionistas, Austria has given us the likes of Beethoven, Mozart, Wagner, Strauss, Schwarzenegger, and even a local favorite Frank Stronach - yes, even the popular Canadian industrialist was actually born in Austria. There have also been some less historically beloved individuals, such as Hitler, but they need no mention.

However, the subject of my post today is not about famous Austrian celebrities per se. It is about a distinct philosophy and social science that is beginning to grow as a creed. The so called Austrian School of economics, named aptly for the predominant origins of its founders, believes that the spontaneous, collective actions of human beings are the best force for the efficient allocation of resources in society. In other words, Austrian economists posit that the price mechanism and laissez-faire thought - proposed by classical economists like Smith and Ricardo - trump any notions of centrally planned economies. By adhering to these principles societies can promote greater freedom, market efficiency, and wealth. More importantly though, from this belief, comes a powerful identity called Libertarianism which holds that the sanctity of individualism and man's freedom from any and all kinds of coercive forces, must be the most highly regarded virtue in any society that is to be truly free.

Thus, Austrian economists (and Libertarians by extension), seek a society free from any state, or at the very least, a most minimal government. Taxes, subsidies, bailouts, lack of government transparency, central banking, national police forces, and foreign policies are just some of the ways that each nation-state interferes, distorts, and coerces the movements and decisions of individuals. Consequently, and according to Austrian economics, these various state actions disrupt the free and fair allocation of wealth in the world.

In a Libertarian society, where Austrian economics form the basis for "public policy", the role of government is restricted to law-making, and resource allocation and planning is realized on individual and community levels. For instance, zoning will be voluntary, so-called public goods (eg. roads, street lights, clean water) will be cared for by cooperative business models, unions will not hold important services hostage, and governments will not decide which substances are morally acceptable and which are not. The genius of this philosophy will free us from the burdens of everything from foreign wars to traffic laws.

To learn more about Libertarianism and famous libertarians such as Bohm-Bawerk, Hayek Mises, Rand, Rothbard, Reisman, and more, check out sites like mises.org, georgereisman.com/blog/, and cato.org/. Libertarianism and Austrian economics, are at the very least, very interesting political and economic topics to explore and read about, and I recommend checking out some literature on these subjects.