WHAT IS CCS Austrian Economics Seminar?
CCS Austrian Economics Seminar is a residential course designed to introduce participants to a rigorous, understandable, and reality-based way of thinking about the causes of prosperity, social order, and freedom.
Rooted in the tradition of Austrian-born economists Carl Menger, Ludwig von Mises, and F.A. Hayek, “Austrian” economics is not a specific field within economics, nor is it a set of conclusions. It is an entirely different approach to understanding social reality that dissents from mainstream method, theory, and policy.
Austrian economics aims to understand society using realistic premises, instead of making unrealistic assumptions such as “perfect knowledge,” “perfect competition,” or “perfect governments.” It focuses on understanding dynamic social processes of coordination, learning, and discovery ubiquitous in a world of constant change, rather than focusing on static models. And most essentially, Austrian economics views human beings as unique, conscious, choosing agents, not as undifferentiated data to be aggregated or manipulated mathematically or politically.
Goals of CCS Austrian Economics Seminar
- To create a fun, open, and respectful environment where everyone is encouraged to think critically about social, economic, and political issues, with a focus on understanding Austrian school perspectives.
- To introduce participants to elements of the Austrian approach to social science and to demonstrate why these elements are essential to promoting widespread prosperity, social order, and individual freedom.
- To plug participants into a global network of opportunities to propel their intellectual growth, make personal connections and access resources to help them advance their vision of a free society.
Example Sessions
Ludwig von Mises & The Science of Human Action: This session introduces von Mises’ insight that economic understanding can be derived from the axiom that all human beings act and that, as a consequence, they cannot avoid conforming to certain formal “economic laws” irrespective of their ends, values, or decisions.
From Marx to Menger: The Labor vs. the Subjective Theory of Value: This session describes how the subjective theory of value and marginal utility disproved the theoretical foundations of Adam Smith and Karl Marx and created a scientific basis for understanding economic affairs.
Comparative Advantage and the Failure of Protectionism: This session explains the fundamental cause of trade and association in modern societies and why free trade is more conducive to prosperity, peace, and freedom than economic protectionism with reference to the failures of protectionism in India.
The Socialist Calculation Debate: This session demonstrates why general prosperity under central economic planning is strictly impossible.
B. R. Shenoy: India's Experience with Central Planning: This session shows the explanatory and predictive power of the Austrian approach through the work of India’s preeminent Austrian economist, B. R. Shenoy and his critiques of India’s economic policies since Independence.
Keynesian vs Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle: This session explains the Austrian theory of economic cycles and points in the direction of how to end them.
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Department of Human Resource Development (Veer Narmad South Gujarat University)
Gandhinagar