[throwawaymaths]

Unfortunately people often oversimplify the Austrian stance to take it to mean boom/bust only exists due to interest.

But interest aside, the activity of lending itself exacerbates boom/bust because people depending on the money lent out coming back to them are at a higher risk of default, and if they default, they put more people at risk...

If anything the generic austrian stance too generous. Their knee jerk anti state stance leaves some weird window of the state being able to manage things if it were only smart enough.

[HPsquared]

It comes down to "relative smartness". How smart is the state compared to the complexity of the economy?

Centrally planned economies tend to be "simplified" by placing strict restrictions on what types of trade are allowed. Can't have people behaving unpredictably!

[throwawaymaths]

Let's be honest though the market is often really stupid so the bar is low for the state. And see, you have made my point about the "if only the state were smart enough" thesis.

The point is, markets should be more independent of the state for other reasons that have nothing to do with any given outcome. (Though I'd claim that some subset of desired outcomes, like income inequality reduction would still come to pass).

[wanderingbit]

Maybe one day there will exist a happy medium between centrally-planned Zerg economy and a free “Ebay for organs” market.