‘Financial Considerations’ and the ‘Free’ Academic Market

Abstract

Two concepts of civilization continue to compete: achieved versus ascribed status. The British branch of the neoclassical school endorses one vehicle; the Austrian branch the other. The British branch tends to embrace Pigouvian externality taxes; the Austrian branch embraces blind faith: ‘what we lack is a liberal Utopia’ where ‘for practically all regulations the costs are greater than the benefits. It is simpler to argue against regulations as such’—as Hayek put it. Or as Rothbard put it: the junk bond criminal, Michael Milken, was ‘the most creative financial innovator of our time.’ The British branch embraces tax-funded compulsory education; Mises provided neo-feudal foundation for Liberalism in the [Austrian] Classical Tradition: ‘There is, in fact, only one solution: the state, the government, the laws must not in any way concern themselves with schooling or education. Public funds must not be used for such purposes.’ The British branch has genuinely acquired academic credentials; while the Austrian branch award themselves doctorates and ‘Post-Doctoral Fellowships’ at, for example, New York University and Stanford University.