Sunday, March 7, 2010

Keynesian vs. Efficient Markets vs. Austrians

Do economists disagree? Absolutely. Forget the viewpoint that says, "economsts agree on 99 percent of everything; it is just some policy prescriptions on which they differ. No Way! I was in NYC last week doing some work on my principles textbook. I also gave a talk that followed one by Alan Blinder. Blinder sstated that he is Keynesian as is his textbook and "... given the last two years he certainly made the right call..." in being Keynesian. He essentially said the war is over, the efficient market hypothesis has been totally destroyed because it does not permit or explain bubbles and crashes. So from his viewpoint (and the viewpoint of other Keynesians) there are only two explanations of economic behavior, Keynesian and the strong form of the EMH.

What about Hayek and the Austrian perspective? It was really fascinating that Blinder did not even mention Hayek. I guess he believes that the battle begun in the 1930s that Keynes initially won has never been in doubt. To the Keynesians, Hayek is just a footnote in history.

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