LUDWIG VON MISES

The central theme is Mises's emphasis on microeconomics. He insists that all real economic decisions are taken by particular people at particular times and places. The motive forces are personal and psychological, and economic equations purporting to show predictable relationships between, say, price and demand, are misleading fictions. This basic insight allows Mises to study important topics such as entrepreneurship and competition in new and fruitful ways, and also to show that the whole idea of general equilibrium theory is radically unsound.               Dr. Butler looks at Mises's view of the foundations of economics. We discover that it is not a science at all, in the sense that physics is a science, but a discipline more like mathematics or geometry. Its principles are deduced from certain axiomatic facts about the nature of human choice, rather than being established by observation and experiment.

Hayek is one of the great thinkers of the 20th century, but up to now there has been no book for the nonspecialist that describes his ideas and explains their significance. Eamonn Butler's clear, systematic, perceptive study fills this gap. Starting with a short survey of Hayek's life, Dr. Butler goes on to analyze all the main elements in his thought under six basic headings: Understanding How Society Works; The Market Process; Hayek's Critique of Socialism; Criticism of Social Justice; The Institutions of a Liberal Order; and The Constitution of a Liberal State.               Hayek's influence in helping a generation to understand the nature of society and the errors of collectivism goes far beyond that of any other writer of his period. Having been decades ahead of his time when he began to write, Hayek is proving to be one of the most seminal thinkers of our age.

HAYEK

 

L'Atlantic Institute for Market Studies offre une variété d'études, de publications et d'analyses en imprimé et sur son site web. On peut aussi savoir ce qu'il y a de neuf en s'abonnant à son bulletin d'information, dont nous reproduisons ci-dessous une partie du contenu pour le mois de mai.

Do we really need school boards? That's the question AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley asks in the wake of the Nova Scotia government's attempt to cut education spending. Experience elsewhere suggests that they can be eliminated, while improving school performance, accountability and local autonomy. And it saves money to boot! To read this column, originally published in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald on 10 May 2000, click here: http://www.aims.ca/Media/2000/prmay1000.htm  
   
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Sneak preview of AIMS new book debunking regional development policy 
   
In a new interview in Canadian Business magazine, AIMS' former Senior Policy Analyst, Fred McMahon gives some insight into the content of his next book for the Institute, Retreat From Growth: Atlantic Canada and the Negative-Sum Economy. The book, a companion volume to AIMS' successful Road to Growth: How Lagging Economies Become Prosperous, will be released by AIMS this summer. Here is an extract from the new article: 

« So if you were thinking about starting a business in Atlantic Canada in the past 30 years, here's what you faced: a) some of the most punitive taxes in North America; b) a government that could undermine you on a moment's notice by subsidizing your competitors through one of dozens of publicly funded programs; and c) a tight labor market because thousands of able-bodied workers were content to stay home and collect UI. Is it any wonder few businesses dared to set up shop there? »  

To read Road to Growth, click here: http://www.aims.ca/Media/2000/prjan1800.htm  
  
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David Zitner on CBC re: the future of health care  

In a recent interview heard throughout the Maritimes, Dr. David Zitner, Director of Medical Informatics at Dalhousie University and a medical doctor, talked about his vision for the future of medicare. Dr. Zitner, one of the co-authors of the Institute's award winning paper « Operating in the Dark: The Gathering Crisis in Canada's Public Health Care System », had this to say in the interview:  

« It is important to know which treatments are beneficial, in order to know which ones should be most supported. It is important to know which ones are superfluous and have no effect. Because if they are not useful, than we shouldn't be paying for them. I think until communities start to ask the health system, what is the general story of access? What is the general story of results? There won't be a pressure to provide this information on a regular basis. And after all, if the public wants to know if their health care dollars are being spent properly, they need to know what benefits they are buying for them. »          

To read « Operating in the Dark », go to: http://www.aims.ca/Media/1999/prnov2499.htm  
  
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NS public sector reform: Premier Hamm's challenge  
  
In his regular newspaper column, AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley argues that NS Premier John Hamm's government is approaching a critical juncture. Fixing the province's finances is, by any measure, the government's most pressing problem. But the Premier and his ministers cannot seem to fix on a strategy that will allow them to do so, while maintaining public support. Experience from other countries shows, though, that fixing the deficit can be politically popular, if the sacrifices are shared by everyone, and the government doesn't cave in to special interests. Time, however, is rapidly running out.         
  
To read « Hamm's moment of truth », click here: http://www.aims.ca/Media/2000/prapr2600.htm  
   
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