Item — HN Reader

Mark Spitznagel wrote a superb book on austrian investing [0] (risk management with an austrian perspective, so not exactly the same). Personally as a mathematician, I prefer this to the economists who think that because the use lagrangians their ideas are somehow more valid, or worse yet, sophisticated. Either case, I don't see why austrian economics get more dirt than say, MMT.

EDIT: Spitznagel works with Taleb and his fund, Universa Investments, had a 4000% return at the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic.

[0] The Dao of Capital

3 comments

It's not that mathematical models make a theory more valid or sophisticated. They make it testable, which is why neoclassical economics > both Austrian and MMT.

If Austrian school economists want to gain mindshare, they should develop models, backtest them, and report the results. Same for MMT.

By the way MMT is a political phenomenon. There are very few professional economists who think it is workable.

Not everything is testable. That’s a modern reductionist approach to reality. Scientifically oriented people tend to think the opposite because scientists are strongly biased towards studying testable phenomena, providing a false impression of general testability.

>Either case, I don't see why austrian economics get more dirt than say, MMT.

Austrian economics is explicitly anti-central-banking, and most economists are funded by a central bank or a government with a central bank. "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it".

Any opinion on Friedrich Hayek, particularly The Road to Serfdom? I had difficulty absorbing it and lent it to a book snatcher before finishing. I do remember admiring the bits I thought I understood.

Of the other Hayek I've read, none of it's any easier to read. I do think he's worth the time to get his point of view to sink in. (I don't think the same of Austrians in general.)

Perhaps most relevantly he wrote a book on the idea of competing private currencies (Denationalisation of Money -- it seemed meant for people with more knowledge of economics or finance than me).

The book of Spitznagel, even if it's about investing, is a great introduction. If you're aiming for something more broad, the Incerto series by Taleb has much more than you need but it sets the right context about risks and philosophiccal thought (remember Hayek above all was a philosopher). Then I would jump to his books. This may not be the perfect approach but it worked for me.