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The production and proliferation of economists: the Austrian and Virginia schools as academic enterprises.

Article Excerpt
I. Introduction

This essay is an exercise in the archeology of current economic thought. The Austrian and Virginia Schools of Economic Thought have long histories, and we examine the evolution of the two schools in the modern era. (1) We assume the schools of thought are interested in achieving intellectual influence. If we take intellectual influence as their end, there are two ways of influencing the profession: (1) schools of thought can have influence by persuading other intellectuals through written argument; or (2) schools of thought can expand through replication (i.e., influencing the profession by training and placing students in academic positions).

An exploration of the modern Austrian and Virginia Schools of Economic Thought is especially important for readers of the Journal of Private Enterprise and members of the Association of Private Enterprise Education (APEE) because the Austrian and Virginia schools are, without question, crucial in the promotion of private enterprise education and free market thought. While the two schools have methodological differences and focus on different research questions, they tend to be united in their appreciation of market outcomes and skepticism of government. Moreover, the role of entrepreneurship and the need for restraints on government are consistently emphasized in both schools. Thus, an understanding of the current state of the two schools and their modern evolution can help us better predict the future of the broader free market movement.

We begin by focusing our attention on the second method of influence economists can have over the profession. Considerable resources are devoted to the recruitment, training, and placement of new academic economists within both schools of thought. The intellectual returns to academic placement vary depending upon the level of placement. Even 'poor' academic placements in high-teaching load environments can have a positive intellectual return if faculty members can inspire the best and brightest of their students to consider entering the academy to research and teach about private enterprise. Sending students off to the academy is a benefit above and beyond the tremendous benefits these professors provide by teaching hundreds, if not thousands, of students. (2) Students at research universities without doctoral programs in economics have the opportunity to have more of an influence on the profession through their research and service (refereeing, etc.).

While there are many benefits to positions outside research institutions, placements in research universities with economics doctoral programs yield the highest intellectual return. Not only can men and women with positions in Ph.D. programs do everything economists in non-doctoral programs can do, they can also supervise doctoral students. The teaching, supervision, and mentoring of students is one channel through which ideas spread, especially clearly identified schools of thought with different methodological approaches to economics (e.g., Austrian, Chicago, Virginia).3 The creation of new students working in a particular school's intellectual tradition can exert a considerable influence on the success of a school of thought.

In his excellent article about the professionalization of public choice analysis, Medema discusses (2000, p.308) the impact of professionalization on the Virginia School of political economy. According to Medema, the Virginia school has achieved a sense of permanence in the academy:

The students who came through the programs at Virginia and VPI diffused themselves across the nation's colleges and universities, and a number of them came to hold professorships at leading universities. Many of these scholars have also held temporary appointments in important governmental posts with, among others, the Council of Economic Advisers (as senior staff economist), the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of the Treasury, and the National Science Foundation (NSF), and they have also served as staff economists for the U.S. Congress. Their influence extends throughout the profession, and it may safely be said that these students helped to solidify the place of public choice within the academic culture.

For reasons not completely clear to us, the Austrian School has had more difficulty establishing a permanent, respected place within the academy. (4) As Peter Boettke (1994, p.604) puts it,

... mainstream economists do not seem that interested in the alternative results Austrians can derive ... Most of the articles by the younger generation of Austrians that have appeared in the top professional journals are strategic articles. These articles take the form of either 'tenure articles' ... or 'synthesis' articles ... Despite their strategic importance, however, these articles in themselves do not represent the kind of scientific work required to advance an Austrian understanding of the economic and social world.

Given the long histories of the Virginia and Austrian schools, we limit our focus by looking at the period from 1956 to the present. In 1956 James Buchanan made the move from Florida State University to the University of Virginia, where the Virginia School of political economy would truly begin. In 1957 Israel Kirzner began his long and distinguished career at New York University. While the Austrian School's golden years occurred earlier in the 20th century, Kirzner's appointment at NYU marks the beginning of a period...

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