108: Steve Horwitz on Spontaneous Order, the Microfoundations of Macroeconomics and Three Economic Myths

Steven Horwitz is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Economics at St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY and is currently Visiting Scholar at Ball State University, Indiana.

Professor Horwitz is also an Affiliated Senior Scholar at the Mercatus Center Virgina, a Senior Fellow at the Fraser Institute in Canada, and a Distinguished Fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education.

Steve is the author of three books, Monetary Evolution, Free Banking, and Economic Order, Microfoundations and Macroeconomics: An Austrian Perspective, and Hayek’s Modern Family:  Classical Liberalism and the Evolution of Social Institutions.

He has written extensively on Austrian economics, Hayekian political economy, monetary theory and history, and American economic history.

Steve has a series of popular YouTube videos for the Learn Liberty series from the Institute for Humane Studies and blogs at Bleeding Heart Libertarians and writes regularly for FEE.org.

A member of the Mont Pelerin Society, he has a PhD in Economics from George Mason University and an AB in Economics and Philosophy from the University of Michigan.

Economics:

In this episode, Steve discusses and mentions: Austrian economics, spontaneous order, microeconomics, macroeconomics, free markets, capital markets and government.

Economists:

In this episode, Steve discusses and mentions: Adam Smith, F. A. Hayek, Karl Menger and Ludwig von Mises.

In this Episode, you will learn:

• whether macro problems are the result of micro problems or is there a reverse causality.

• Menger: the link between Adam Smith and F. A. Hayek.

• the micro foundations of Adam Smith’s ‘Spontaneous Order’.

• how the private sector responded better than government to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Is this a case for free market economics?

• the three economic myths, including the gender wage gap and the rich getting rich and the poor getting poorer according to Professor Horwitz.

• and much much more.

Where to Find Professor Horwitz:

• bleedingheartlibertarians.com
• www.fee.org
• www.montpelerin.org

Links:

• A Hayekian Theory of Parental Rights by Steve Horwitz
• Capitalism and the Humanization of the Family by Steve Horwitz
• Ayn Rand
• Rush 
• Neil Peart 
• Hold Your Fire by Rush

Writing Tips:

1. Write something everyday. Be in the habit of writing. Don’t feel like you’ have to edit everything as you go along.
2. If you have writer’s block, just push through. Just start writing. There’s an old aphorism among writers: “How can I know what I think ’til I see what I say”.

Pedagogy:

Think about teaching as coaching. Like a coach, help students develop a skill. In this case the skill is the economic way of thinking – Steve Horwitz.

Books:

• The Pure Theory of Capital by F. A.  Hayek
• Success and Luck: Good Fortune and the Myth of Meritocracy by Robert H. Frank
• The Global Great Depression and the Coming of World War Two by John Moser
• Hayek’s Modern Family: Classical Liberalism and the Evolution of Social Institutions by Steve Horwitz

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