Monday, December 8, 2014

George Selgin's Deep Dark Past

More email from Walter Block:
Dear Bob:

We may disagree in IP and Rand (pure entrepreneurship is a very minor point), but we agree on 99.9% of everything else in political economy, I'm pretty sure.

In saying this I was struck by the brilliance of your critique of George Selgin today(http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2014/12/cato-institute-economist-calls-for.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+economicpolicyjournal%2FKpwH+%28EconomicPolicyJournal.com%29). I especially appreciated your critical comment on George since so many people make an exception for money in their support for free enterprise. You, certainly, do not.

Once upon a time in the deep dark past, George was a libertarian, and, even, an Austrian:

Selgin, George A. 1988. "Praxeology and Understanding: An Analysis of the Controversy in Austrian Economics," Review of Austrian Economics, Vol. 2, pp. 19-58; http://www.mises.org/journals/rae/pdf/RAE2_1_2.pdf

This is a real good essay by George, but, I have heard, he has subsequently renounced it, but I'm not sure of this.

Best regards,

Walter

Walter E. Block, Ph.D.
Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair and Professor of Economics
Joseph A. Butt, S.J. College of Business
Loyola University New Orleans

1 comment:

  1. Wanna know why Selgin is still so butthurt after all these years? Rothbard eviscerated his and White's Scotland "free banking" thesis after initially praising their work:

    http://mises.org/library/myth-free-banking-scotland-0

    http://mises.org/library/myth-free-banking-scotland

    ReplyDelete