In this paper we study financial foundations of Austrian business cycle theory (ABCT). By doing this we (1) clarify ambiguous and controversial concepts like roundaboutness and average period of production, (2) we show that it has strong financial foundations (consistent with its microeconomic...

The time is right for a reexamination of Austrian capital-theory. We attempt to capture the essence of Carl Menger's approach to capital, highlighting the important distinction between goods and the valuable services they yield (implying that goods are valuable only because they yield valuable...

Ludwig von Mises seems to be something of an outlier within the Austrian school when it comes to capital – though his position is clearly foreshadowed in a neglected article by Carl Menger (1888). In this paper we examine Mises's view on capital and suggest that it constitutes a bridge between...

In this paper I revisit the question of coordination – of plans by prices and other social institutions. Prices contain ambiguous information that requires interpretation. How are they, in spite of this, able to coordinate plans and actions. The answer given in this paper is that they are not...

We agree with the recommendations of Hodgson (2014) and Braun (2015) to shift the focus away from capital as physical production-goods back to the common-sense and historical understanding of capital as money-borrowed for the purpose of acquiring productive resources to produce value. Much...

A comprehensive understanding business-cycles needs to account not only for the allocation of resources over time, but also for resource allocation across industries at any point in time. Intertemporal disequilibrium has been a common theme of many theories of the business-cycle. But to properly...

One of Hayek's most important contributions is his work on capital theory and business cycles as presented in Prices and Production. Hayek made significant contributions in this field. Significant contribution, however, usually are not free of issues. In this chapter, we discuss the distinctive...

The concept of ‘heterogeneity’ is much invoked in social science research especially in disciplines like psychology, sociology and anthropology and is now an integral part of economics in sub-disciplines like industrial organization, entrepreneurship, behavioral economics, and similar...

We apply the EVA terminology to the concepts of roundaboutness and average period of production in capital theory. By doing this we show that these terms have a clear and well understood financial interpretation. A financial application to capital theory helps to clarify obscure and...