Handbook on Contemporary Austrian Economics

Austrian economics in the twenty-first century 159
of economists in the modern Austrian tradition in the mid- to late 1970s
and early 1980s.
As these individuals established themselves within the economics profession,
new PhD programs were established at Auburn University and
George Mason University that provided intellectual space for studying
the modern Austrian school of economics. With these new programs,
journals were also established such as The Austrian Economics Newsletter
and Market Process, and then the Review of Austrian Economics, Advances
in Austrian' Economics, and the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics.
The latter three are still publishing, the former two are now defunct (but
I believe available online). That first generation, with the guiding help of
Kirzner and Rothbard along the way, and the help of several foundations
and enterprising individuals established an Austrian community of scholars
within the economics profession. The Ludwig von Mises Institute was
established in the early 1980s as was the Center for the Study of Market
Processes, and this was in addition to the existing institutional infrastructure
of The Foundation for Economic Education, The Institute for
Humane Studies, Liberty Fund, and The Cato Institute.
A new generation of economists committed to advancing the ideas of
the modern Austrian school emerged in the mid- to late 1980s and early
1990s. This second generation of the modern Austrian school consisted of
the products of these new programs 2 and includes names such as George
Selgin, Roger Koppl, Dan Klein, Don Boudreaux, Mark Thornton, Steve
Horwitz, Emily Chamlee-Wright, David Prychitko, and myself. As we
established ourselves in the 1990s with our teaching and research, a new
group of students emerged in the early 2000s and they are who I have
tapped for this volume. Among this group are emerging superstars within
the economics profession in general, while others are fast becoming recognized
intellectual leaders in the Austrian and classical liberal/libertarian
movement. The oldest is in his early forties, the youngest is still in his
twenties. Yet we have journal editors, past presidents of professional societies,
department chairpersons, center directors, and publishing machines.
In other words, while young this new generation is already making a
professional impression.
The contemporary Austrian school is not a unified body of thought,
and it would be a big mistake to suggest it was.) And, in reality it has not
been since the mid-1970s. Kirznerian, Rothbardian, and Lachmannian
have been various labels that have been used to characterize individuals
and their contributions. Misesian and Hayekian are meta-labels that have
often been used by friends and foes of the respective strands of thought
within the modern Austrian school. The way I see it, contemporary
Austrian economics is a progressive research program, not a settled body