Is Economics Value Free?

What is praxeology and why does it matter? In this episode, Conza, chairman of the Libertarian Party of Australia, joins us to discuss the theoretical foundations of economics. He explains why praxeology – the science of human action – provides the value-free framework needed to reason about economic questions, and how its method differs from that of physical sciences such as biology. He and Saifedean discuss how praxeology can be used to analyse topics such as minimum wage, inflation and pandemics, and why the contrasting methods used by quantitative macroeconomists are flawed. They also defend Hoppe's argumentation ethics: a proof that arguing against the Non-Aggression Principle is logically incoherent.

References

• Conza on Twitter.
• Conza’s blog (where all the best economics quotes live).
• Conza’s YouTube channel.
• Website of the Austrian Mises Seminar.
• Mises Wiki article on Mises’ Regression Theorem
• BBC video on minimum wage being ‘a hurdle’ for disabled people.
• Theory and History by Ludwig von Mises
• Konrad Graf’s paper on Action-based Jurisprudence (see page 29 for Graf’s proposed model of praxeology).
• Konrad Graf’s lectures on bitcoin.
• Economic Science and the Austrian Method by Hans-Hermann Hoppe.
• The Beef Initiative website.
• For a biography of the life of John Maynard Keynes see Keynes the Man by Murray Rothbard.
• Website of the Australian Mises Seminar.
• Website of the Libertarian Party of Australia.
• The Praxeological Science Group on Facebook.
• The Law by Frédéric Bastiat
• For a New Liberty by Murray Rothbard
• The Ethics of Liberty by Hans Hermann Hoppe
• Hans Herman Hoppe’s Four-Step Healthcare Solution.
• Saifedean’s first book, The Bitcoin Standard.
• Saifedean’s second book, The Fiat Standard. 

Enjoyed this episode? You can take part in podcast seminars, access Saifedean’s courses – including his ongoing course ECO22: The Fiat Standard – and read chapters of his forthcoming book, Principles of Economics, by becoming a Saifedean.com member. Find out more here.