IS ECON 101 KILLING AMERICA? A CRITIQUE OF ATKINSON AND LIND, AND BOETTKE

Walter E Block

Abstract


Atkinson and Lind (2013) fire a shot at the good ship economics; actually ten shots. They claim that courses in introductory economics (“econ 101”) pass off “ten myths” on unwary students, and public policy practitioners.  And what are these “ten myths” we are warned about. They are as follows: Myth 1: Economics is a science. Myth 2: The goal of economic policy is maximizing efficiency. Myth 3: The economy is a market. Myth 4: Prices reflect value. Myth 5:  All profitable activities are good for the economy. Myth 6:  Monopolies and oligopolies are always bad because they distort prices. Myth 7: Low wages are good for the economy. Myth 8: “Industrial policy” is bad. Myth 9: The best tax code is one that doesn’t pick winners. Myth 10: Trade is always win-win. Atkinson and Lind (2013) liken modern economics to the church of the middle ages, in terms of misleading the public. Boettke (2013) is an attempt to refute Atkinson and Lind (2013) which misconstrues Austrian economics in several important ways. The present paper is a rejoinder to both of these publications.

Keywords


Economics, teaching, myths, praxeology, Austrian economics, science, profits, equilibrium, ceteris paribus, normative and positive economics

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References


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