[anoncowherd]

>> I have no formal background in economics, but I'd really appreciate it if someone who does could explain this statement in some context.

Ignore the mainstream "Talking Heads" -economists in the media - they serve two main purposes: 1) Help Wall Street fleece unsuspecting "retail investors", and 2) Maintain the illusion that everything is alright.

Austrian Economics is right, and everything else is either wrong or meant to mislead you.

You see, you shouldn't be thinking naughty thoughts like: "Since I personally can't keep living beyond my means for ever and ever, why could any government? Don't the 'laws' of economics apply to governments?" (Hint: they do.)

Go forth and educate thyself: http://mises.org

( Oh, and ignore all the clueless pontificators on HN too )

[jusben1369]

Keynes is consistently proven to be far more accurate and effective than the Austrian school of thought. Keynes mets so much resistance because it's counter intuitive. Very literal thinkers have trouble with that and are attracted to the Austrian way of thinking.

[anoncowherd]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6572124

[brohee]

Someone let Dread Pirate Robert out?

[anoncowherd]

Downvote me all you want, but I'm right. Yes, I do realize that's not an argument.

[DanBC]

You may have been down voted for tone, not correctness.

[selmnoo]

Or both.

Austrian economics has been exposed for its various faults in the academia, a modern decent education will reliably inform one of that.

[anoncowherd]

>> Austrian economics has been exposed for its various faults in the academia, a modern decent education will reliably inform one of that.

.. And this is why I didn't bother with any arguments. I don't have all day to waste on arguing with misguided people.

But here's an idea: an economy consists of people making trades and investments etc. Each trade is affected by each person's current circumstances, ends, means and preferences, or even the mood he's in.

Did his wife die yesterday? Will that affect his behaviour in the market?

Now, the question is: How could you possibly model the behaviour of hundreds of millions of people in their daily lives with any kind of mathematical formulas when everything they do is subjective, and subject to their whims and moods?

Think about that.. and then think about whether Austrian economics has been "exposed" for anything.

[vasilipupkin]

You could model behavior of millions of people statistically - the same way we model anything with millions of data points.

[anoncowherd]

Sure, you can look at history, see patterns there, and apply them to whatever's happening in the world right now.

Or, you could make reasonably accurate predictions on what's going to happen, based on your knowledge of how human's behave.

But what you can't do, is put current data through a bunch of mathematical functions, and have them tell you what people will do.

[anoncowherd]

Sure, far be it from anyone not to conform to everyone else's expectations! Dreadful! :p