Is the Market a Test of Truth and Beauty?

Ȉȇ Partʺ: Economics

a substitute for “knowledge of the particular circumstances of time and
place,” which is not so much conveyed by prices as, rather, reflected in the
actions of the decentralized decision makers who possess it.
But prices do convey much knowledge, though not all. Ļey play an
essential role in the economywide coordination of innumerable decentral-
ized decisions. Ļey are essential to economic calculation in the narrowest
sense—the evaluation of benefits and costs and the calculation of past and
prospective profits and losses.
In emphasizing the role of knowledge in economic calculation, Hayek
was making explicit and elaborating on points already implicit in the argu-
ments of Mises. In no way was he creating a “chasm” between two rival
positions. Ļis, in agreement with Kirzner (ȀȈȇȆ,ȀȈȈȅ), is what I have
argued in myȀȈȈȃarticle and myȀȈȈȅandȀȈȈȆreplies to the contrary
interpretations of Salerno, Herbener, Hülsmann, and Hoppe. To try to
drive a wedge between Mises and Hayek on this issue, especially to the
disparagement of Hayek, is unfair to these two great men, unfaithful to
the history of economic thought, subversive of understanding an impor-
tant strand of economic analysis and the nature and ultimate collapse of
the communist economies of Eastern Europe, and subversive of analytical
and historical understanding that is vital for future policymaking.

ŞőŒőŞőŚŏőş

Boettke, Peter, and Sanford Ikeda, eds.Advances in Austrian EconomicsȄ, Green-

wich, Conn.:JAIPress,ȀȈȈȇ. Includes the Symposium contributions of Peter

Boettke and Roger Koppl, pp.ȀȂȀ–ȀȄȇandȀȄȈ–ȀȆȈ.

Hayek, F.A. “Ļe Use of Knowledge in Society.”American Economic ReviewȂȄ

(SeptemberȀȈȃȄ):ȄȀȈ–ȄȂǿ.

Herbener, Jeffrey M. “Ludwig von Mises and the Austrian School of Econom-

ics.”Review of Austrian EconomicsȄ, no.ȁ(ȀȈȈȀ):ȂȂ–Ȅǿ.

. “Calculation and the Question of Arithmetic.”Review of Austrian Eco-
nomicsȈ, no.Ȁ(ȀȈȈȅ):ȀȄȀ–Ȁȅȁ.

Hoppe, Hans-Hermann. “Socialism: A Property or Knowledge Problem.”Review

of Austrian EconomicsȈ, no.Ȁ(ȀȈȈȅ):ȀȃȂ–ȀȃȈ.

Hülsmann, Jörg Guido. “Knowledge, Judgment, and the Use of Property.”Review

of Austrian EconomicsȈ, no.Ȁ(ȀȈȈȆ):ȁȂ–ȁȇ.