What have the Austrians ever done for us?

In terms of understanding the importance of liberty, free markets, and, particularly, how government overreach in economic matters results in long-term damage and decline, the answer is a lot.

However, Carl Menger, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, and other members of the so-called Austrian School have long occupied a fringe position in conventional economic thought and have been largely excluded from policymakers' toolkits, which are dominated by Keynesian frameworks.

But is this changing? The growing interest in non-state-backed money, the rise of social media, and the Milei Revolution underway in Argentina all suggest it is.

In particular, Javier Milei strongly aligns his worldview with that of the Austrian School and cites, among others, Mises, Hayek and Murray Rothbard as his philosophical heroes.

I was honoured when Dr Mark Thornton of Auburn University and the Mises Institute agreed to join me for a discussion on the Austrian School and its growth since the early 1980s. At that time, we were both econ-undergraduates reading works such as Hayek's The Road to Serfdom, von Mises' Human Action, and Rothbard's Man, Economy & State.

We had a great conversation in which Mark outlined his optimistic view of how Austrian ideas can help us understand the investment landscape and the broader significance of Milei's reform agenda in Argentina.

Mark's published works include The Skyscraper Curse: How Austrian Economics Predicted Every Major Economic Crisis of the Last Century.

I began by asking Mark about a former colleague of his at the Mises Institute, Roger Garrison. It turns out we might have attended the same Summer School that Roger taught 45 years ago. As they say, it's a small world.

Please enjoy my conversation with the maverick Austrian economist, Dr Mark Thornton.

Brought to you by Progressive Equity.

Hayek for the 21st Century: Essays in Political Economy/ Order a FREE copy of the book or multiple copies! Also, you can download the PDF and ePub versions using this link: https://mises.org/library/book/hayek-21st-century-essays-political-economy

I visited Buenos Aires in November last year.

I wanted to see firsthand what was going on under the newly elected President, Javier Milei. I met some fascinating people who shared their stories and perspectives on the Milei Revolution.

As I was researching an article about my visit, I read some early accounts of the rise of Milei and the stories told about him in 2022 and early 2023.

In the readers’ comments section under a rather scathing article about him in the Buenos Aires Times, there was a short but forthright comment that explained why the reader thought Milei was likely to win the Presidency. It was from a reader named Jeffrey Stout, who seemed to be a lone voice in the comments section, taking this counter view.

I looked up Jeffrey on LinkedIn and asked him a couple of questions. It turned out Jeffrey was in BA and only a short walk from where I was staying, and the following day, he met me for lunch in the Argentinian November Spring sunshine.

Jeffrey, a successful businessman and US citizen, knew what he was talking about, and he kindly spent a couple of hours helping understand a few fundamentals of how things worked, or most often didn’t work, in his adopted country.

12 months on, with the midterms out of the way, I reconnected with Jeffrey for an update on what had happened over the year since we met, and how he sees things shaping up. He kindly agreed to record this interview. And this is what he told me.

Please enjoy my conversation with Jeffrey Stout.

Brought to you by Progressive Equity

I visited Buenos Aires in November last year.

I wanted to see firsthand what was going on under the newly elected President, Javier Milei. I met some fascinating people who shared their stories and perspectives on the Milei Revolution.

As I was researching an article about my visit, I read some early accounts of the rise of Milei and the stories told about him in 2022 and early 2023.

In the readers’ comments section under a rather scathing article about him in the Buenos Aires Times, there was a short but forthright comment that explained why the reader thought Milei was likely to win the Presidency. It was from a reader named Jeffrey Stout, who seemed to be a lone voice in the comments section, taking this counter view.

I looked up Jeffrey on LinkedIn and asked him a couple of questions. It turned out Jeffrey was in BA and only a short walk from where I was staying, and the following day he met me for lunch in the Argentinian November Spring sunshine.

Jeffrey, a successful businessman and US citizen, knew what he was talking about, and he kindly spent a couple of hours helping understand a few fundamentals of how things worked, or most often didn’t work, in his adopted country.

12 months on, with the midterms out of the way, I reconnected with Jeffrey for an update on what had happened over the year since we met, and how he sees things shaping up. He kindly agreed to record this interview. And this is what he told me.

Please enjoy my conversation with Jeffrey Stout.

Brought to you by Progressive Equity