The fifth issue:
Human Action As An Ultimate Given: Ludwig Von Mises’ Praxeology As Seen From A Business Ethics Angle
Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) was one of the two parallel followers of the Espinas’, a French scholar, human action theory; the other was Tadeusz Kotarbiński (1886-1981). The former was the founder of the Austrian praxeology considered as the aprioristic logic of action, and the latter originated the Polish praxiology considered as general methodology, i.e. epistemology of practice or grammar of action. This paper is intended to characterize the Mises’ approach, closely related to his experience; therefore a number of important facts from the life of the Austrian praxeologist, economist and economics philosopher is summarized in the first part of the essay.
Hyperinflation and The Destruction of Human Personality
The unorthodox monetary policies currently being pursued by the Fed and other central banks raise the distinct possibility of a future hyperinflation. This is not just alarmist fantasizing, because the implicit aim of these policies is to create inflationary expectations in order to induce households and businesses to increase their spending. What has not been considered by mainstream macroeconomists and policymakers who support such policies is that the unhinging of the public’s expectations concerning the future value of the monetary unit is the defining feature of the dynamics of hyperinflation.
Epistemological Imperfections of Transformational Processes in Transitive Countries
From the epistemological point of view policymakers in transitional economies operated in the severely distorted information environment. Neither theorists or decision makers paid attention to the problem of economic calculation that was an integral part of a centrally planned economy and its immediate institutional followers in transition. Interventionists (political and government employees) made investment, production and redistribution decisions based on their subjective judgment and preferences trying to perform cyclical or countercyclical policy.
Interview: Logical Simulations of Economic Phenomena and Computational Economics
The interview of Andrew Schumann, the managing editor of Studia Humana with Viktor Winschel, the economist at the University of Mannheim, Germany.
