Comments on: Book Review: Animal Spirits with Chinese Characteristics http://libertarianstandard.com/2012/12/18/book-review-animal-spirits-with-chinese-characteristics/ Property - Prosperity - Peace Mon, 20 May 2013 06:54:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Inquisitorhttp://libertarianstandard.com/2012/12/18/book-review-animal-spirits-with-chinese-characteristics/#comment-3142 Inquisitor Thu, 16 May 2013 23:12:14 +0000 http://libertarianstandard.com/?p=12112#comment-3142 How does one empirically ‘test’ the axiom that man acts? What does it even mean to say first principles must be ‘determined’ by ‘empirical data’? If you’re clueless about epistemological issues, why comment? I mean put some effort into learning about the Austrian position before mouthing off positivist dogma.

]]> By: ricketsonhttp://libertarianstandard.com/2012/12/18/book-review-animal-spirits-with-chinese-characteristics/#comment-2899 ricketson Wed, 19 Dec 2012 05:11:44 +0000 http://libertarianstandard.com/?p=12112#comment-2899 “we as observers can a priori reject central planner claims to theoretical success without having to actually implement them to see if they could indeed work. That is to say, central planning a priori cannot work because of the calculation problem. ”

If this is an accurate description of Austrian economics, then it is total BS (though not necessarily worse than other styles of economics). It sounds like you are making deductions based on first principles. Your first principles may be wrong, which can only be determined by empirical data. Likewise, the model probably has a number of parameters that need to be estimated from empirical data. It sounds like Austrians are trying to build a complete model based on “common sense” rather than carefully measured data. If that’s true, then it is nothing more than wild speculation.

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