Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Austrian Economics Forum Fall 2015 Recap Part 2

The third video from my three part lecture series at North Carolina State University  has been uploaded on to YouTube.  In this video, I extend the analysis of the Austrian Theory on capital and interest to that of the business cycle.  I then compare the Austrian Business Cycle Theory with several competitors.  Here is the link: Prof Paul Cwik: Austrian Business Cycle, Lecture #3

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Austrian Economics Forum Fall 2015 Recap

After quite the hiatus, I suppose that I should try to get back to blogging.  

North Carolina State University is the location for the open to the public campus club: "Austrian Economics Forum."  Since its founding the idea was to promote the development of Austrian Economics from the Graduate-Student level and above.  This year we have decided to open it up to include undergraduate students and any other interested parties.  The idea is to go back and start filling in the foundations.

In an attempt to get back to the roots I presented several lectures. The first was on October 16, 2015. Here is the link: Dr. Paul F. Cwik 10-16-2016 NCSU - Menger & the Early Austrians  



(The preview picture, which was automatically edited by this cite, clearly thinks that I was excited about this point on the Methodenstreit.)

In this talk I cover the four most significant contributions made by Carl Menger.  I also take a look at Eugen von Bohm-Bawerk and Friedrich von Wieser. I present a little of who they were and I explore their most important contributions to the science of economics.  Additionally, I add some important points made by Philip Wicksteed, William Smart and David I. Green.

The second lecture that I presented took place on November 1, 2015.  Here is the link to that lecture: Dr. Paul F. Cwik on Austrian Capital and Interest Theory  



In this lecture, I build on the first lecture.  I begin with Bohm-Bawerk's review of others' ideas on Capital and Interest.  Then we build his positive theory and compare it with John Bates Clark.  In addition to this, I also look at the way in which the Austrians view interest rates (based upon the subjective notion of time preference) and compare it with the mainstream view, which is based upon both subjective and objective factors.

I then build the Structure of Production and stress the importance of not only capital substitution, but capital complementarity.

The third lecture was a presentation of the Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle, which builds upon the first two lectures.  At some point in the near future, it will be posted to Youtube and I will link it here.