Like many of people, my initial study of economics occurred in college during undergraduate school. In the typical mico/macro courses, I was exposed to the Keynesian school of thought that has become the “mainstream” standard. I remember thinking, “The problem with economics is that there are all of these formulas and calculations, yet it seems to be one of the only ‘sciences’ that is consistently wrong, but never discredited.” That was when my study of economics left the classroom and I began searching for my own education.
The 2008 financial crisis began while I was still in college. Following a discussion on the topic of economics and the state of the US economy at the time, my grandfather did me one of the greatest favors of my life – he sent me Thomas Sowell’s book Basic Economics. Reading that book changed my life, and I immediately realized that the market is the foundation of freedom. After embracing Sowell I moved on to Milton Friedman, and began accepting the concept of free markets as the only viable solution to global economic issues. I know many who are familiar with Austrian economics are already grumbling that Sowell and Friedman are not Austrians, but hang with me – I’m getting there.
During my readings of Sowell and Friedman, and while in the grips of the 2008 “Great Recession”, I was exposed to financial analyst and pundit Peter Schiff. As I watched Mr. Schiff constantly and consistently contradict all the mainstream “experts” on television, I realized that the basic concepts he advocated made much more sense than the herd mentality all his opponents seemed to espouse. I quickly began reading his books How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes and Crash Proof: How to Profit From the Coming Economic Collapse. The intuitiveness, logic, simplicity, and what would ultimately prove to be starkly accurate, nature of his writing immediately had me intrigued by the Austrian School of economics.
I believe this is the point that my real education in economics began. I started reading Mises, Hayek, Hazlet, and Bastiat, as well as the modern Austrians – Murray Rothard, Robert P. Murphy, and Joe Salerno, to name a few. As a good Austrian, I’ve also spent a great deal of time reading the School’s opponents. I’ve studied Keynesian, Marxism, and Market Monetarism theories, and have yet to find an opposition theory that fully appreciates the subjective, diverse behavior of all the individuals that makes up an economy the way the Austrian School does. I believe putting this theory into practice will give our nation the tools it, and its citizens, need to succeed.
I hope you enjoy reading what I have to say, because I know I’m going to enjoy writing it.