Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 1.4

Technotranscendence (neptune@mars.superlink.net)
Fri, 26 Feb 1999 07:49:46 -0500 (EST)

Thought this might be of interest.

Daniel

From: "Mises Institute News" <news@mises.org> Subject: What's in QJAE 1.4?
Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 16:31:19 -0600

The new Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics is printed and will soon be in the mail to subscribers.

Volume 1.4 features:

ARTICLES

Toward a General Theory of Error Cycles
Jörg Guido Hülsman (State University of New York at Buffalo)

"The purpose of this article is threefold. First, I challenge Mises's theory
[of the business cycle] by arguing that it is not generally and apodictically valid. Therefore, it cannot be part of economic theory which, as Mises himself stated, is a purely logical science of action. Second, I present the outlines of a truly praxeological (and therefore general) theory of error cycles that withstands this specific criticism. And third, I will restated Mises's business cycle theory in the light of the new approach, that is, it will be interpreted as an instance of a more general theory and thus put on more solid grounds."

A Critical Note on Fractional-Reserve Free Banking Jesús Huerta de Soto (Universidad Complutense, Madrid)

"Over the last fifteen years, there has been a revival of some of the
economic doctrines of the old Free-Banking School. Supporters of this revival defend the idea that fractional-reserve free banking would not only lead to fewer distortions and financial crises than those generated by the current central banking system, but would also tend to eliminate economic recessions.... Furthermore, some modern theorists of the Fractional-Reserve Free-Banking School, led by Selgin (1987; 1988; 1994) have proposed a theory of money supply under free banking that, using the analytical framework of monetary equilibrium-disequilibrium developed by the Monetarist and Keynesian Schools during the first third of this century, aims to shows that fractional-reserve free banking would merely adjust the creation of fiduciary media (bank notes and deposits) to public demand for them.... We will now undertake a critical study of Selgin's theory of 'monetary equilibrium' under free banking and, in general, of fractional-reserve free banking."

On the Abuse of Patents as Economic Indicators Pierre Desrochers (University of Montreal)

"Patents have a long history as a proxy for inventive activity. Although
these data lost ground in the early 1960s to other measures of technical innovation, they have once again become fashionable in the last decade. There are many reasons to justify their use, ranging from their availability to the fact that they are by definition related to inventiveness and that they appear to be based on an objective and only slowly changing standard. There are, however, many empirical issues and problems in drawing inferences from these date, some well-known, others rarely mentioned. It is the purpose of this article to demonstrate that these drawbacks are major and that consequently patent data give, at best, a very partial and misleading picture of innovation and technical change."

Child Labor, Family Income, and the Uruguay Round Jim Rose (Saitama University)

"It is reasonably clear that child labor falls away quickly with economic
development. However, multilateral trade agreements against child labor such as those proposed for inclusion in the WTO (and ILO) do not promote economic development. The contrary is more likely to be the case: they may reduce the range of alternatives available to children and their parents as producers, consumers, and breadwinners in developing countries."

BOOK REVIEWS

Central Banking in Theory and Practice by Alan S. Blinder Reviewed by John P. Cochran

The Political Economy of Economic Freedom by Alan Peacock Reviewed by Randall G. Holcombe