Jeff Deist: Animating Economics to Serve Real People and Real Businesses
Economics is an animating science.
Economics is treated by many as an arid field of mathematical modeling. Human beings are treated as data in the model, almost the way physics regards atoms and molecules. This approach to economics doesn’t help people much; it doesn’t help us understand the world, and isn’t helping us build a better future.
Austrian economics is humanistic; it treats humans as people, pursuing their hopes and dreams, frequently changing, seldom predictable, and never acting like data in a model.
That’s why we see our brand of economics as animating: helping people to understand better how to identify the best means for their chosen ends. For businesspeople, that translates into knowledge, processes and tools to help businesses grow and thrive.
The role of the entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the animation of business. It’s action; the exciting process of turning business knowledge and market signals into commercial solutions with the application of imagination, insight, creativity, resource assembly, and agile adjustment.
A big part of what makes Austrian economics different and better for business application is the understanding of the role of the entrepreneur and the entrepreneurial function in the economy. Jeff Deist articulated this role as a nexus between capital and markets, and the entrepreneur as the individual taking risk, employing their own property and having skin in the game. It’s an exciting role.
Entrepreneurship and value
Entrepreneurial business is the intentional pursuit of new economic value. The pursuit requires a deep understanding of the concept of value, an understanding that Austrian economics provides. Ever since Carl Menger established the concept of subjective value, Austrian economists have been deepening their understanding still further. Today, we recognize more than ever the role of the customer in value creation; since value is their experience, they are active collaborators. Entrepreneurs harness this collaboration. Think of an iPhone. Apple desi
Article from Mises Wire
