Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/237066 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
CHOPE Working Paper No. 2021-15
Publisher: 
Duke University, Center for the History of Political Economy (CHOPE), Durham, NC
Abstract: 
In recent academic and to some extent public debates, mainstream economics has been accused of excessive mathematization. The rejection of mathematical and other formal methods is often cited as a crucial trait of Austrian economics. Based on a systematic discussion of potential benefits and potential drawbacks of formalization in economics, the paper concludes that - contrary to the received view - the most prominent representatives of Austrian economists including Carl Menger, Ludwig Mises, and Friedrich August Hayek neither provide a justification for a rejection of formalization tout court nor actually reject it. Those Neo-Austrians who do, seem to rely on an unconvincing Sprachgeist argument traceable to Friedrich Wieser.
Subjects: 
Austrian economics
essentialism
formalization
Friedrich Wieser
mathematical methods
praxeology
realisticness
JEL: 
B13
B16
B23
B25
B41
B50
B53
C00
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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