This paper compares and contrasts two schools of political economy: the Austrian School, prominent members of which include Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises; and the Bloomington School, which was founded by Elinor and Vincent Ostrom. It is argued that the two traditions share a good deal in...

The present essay investigates F.A. Hayek's epistemology and his methodology of sciences of complex phenomena for implications relevant to an explanation of Hayek's own so-called “epistemic turn.” The thesis defended here is that Hayek's dissatisfaction with his technical economics – in...

The paper aims to establish that Terence Hutchison's argument in The Politics and Philosophy of Economics (1981) to the effect that the young F.A. Hayek maintained a methodological position markedly similar to that of Ludwig von Mises fails to establish the relevant conclusion. The first problem...

The New Austrian (also called Neo-Mengerian) paradigm emphasizes the importance of nonequilibrium and emergent processes in explaining the social world. In this paper I analyze macroeconomic policy from a New Austrian perspective. I define macroeconomic policy broadly, encompassing not only...

On a few occasions F.A. Hayek made reference to the famous Gödel theorems in mathematical logic in the context of expounding his cognitive and social theory. The exact meaning of the supposed relationship between Gödel´s theorems, on the one hand, and the essential proposition of Hayek´s...

In a series of recent papers, the prominent Austrian economist Peter Boettke has criticised orthodox economics for its lack of realism. This paper situates Boettke's critique in the context provided by recent developments in the methodology of economics, most notably critical realism. While...

This paper develops a response to some of the criticisms that have been made of G.L.S. Shackle's analysis of human decision-making because of its reliance on a Cartesian account of the mind. It is argued that the basis for a response can be found in the work on theoretical psychology developed...

Friedrich Hayek was a fervent advocate of the methodological specificity of the social sciences. However, given his contact with Karl Popper, several historians and philosophers have characterised his final position as Popperian, that is, a position that would have accepted the unity of the...

The interest-rate controversies between Böhm-Bawerk and Fisher have attracted little attention and, in the opinion of most commentators, justifiably so. Böhm-Bawerk and Fisher argue over what appear to be two minor issues – Böhm-Bawerk's claims that his third cause of interest (productivity...

Whatever F.A. Hayek meant by "knowledge" could not have been the justified true belief conception common in the Western intellectual tradition from at least the time of Plato onward. In this brief note, I aim to uncover and succinctly state Hayek's unique definition of knowledge.