Vienna & Chicago: Friends or Foes, A Tale of Two Schools of Free-Market Economics

Vienna & Chicago: Friends or Foes, A Tale of Two Schools of Free-Market Economics, by Mark Skousen, Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2005

As the title suggests this book will be of interest to social scientists interested in the history and current thinking of free-market economics and of political economy in general. Most economic thought taught in academia uses Keynes as the point of departure so this easily read, and personal yet objective, book can give a fresh perspective to both experts and lay readers alike.

Skousen, a prolific business and economics writer, investment advisor (Forecast & Strategies) and professor (Columbia University's business school), uses a compare and contrast approach to describing the two leading schools of laissez-faire economic thought with specific chapters on theoretical and empirical approaches, monetary policy, macroeconomics and the business cycle, anti-trust policy and the role for government in the economy, and "faith and reason" in economics, with faith in this case being faith in Adam Smith's concept that the rising tide raises all boats (translation: that economic growth lifts the poor out of poverty). Skousen then uses the compare and contrast methodology to make his own judgment as to which of the two schools has the more sound approach to each of these fundamental economic topics.