Below-copied by ap first published at comments, http://flyingtigercomics.wordpress.com/2014/06/21/here-is-the-shortest-economics-textbook-ever/comment-page-1/#comment-215
Economics Is Genuine, Legitimate Science, Eminently Understandable
(Apollonian, 21 Jun 14)
I disagree about this cynicism regarding economics featured for this blog. Economics is legitimate science, though it requires terms be defined, generally, the science of production, esp. on a broad cultural scale.
Prosperous economy merely needs rule-of-law, sanctity-of-contract for legal system under-lying. So economics needs a legal back-ground, foundation--it can be complex (and indeed, economics MUST entail "politics" for this jurisprudential basis, indubitably).
The Austrian school (Carl Menger, Von Mises, Murray Rothbard--see Mises.org) understands economics as, first, an a priori hierarchy of principles--it's NOT an experimental science (they say). Psychologically, people are self-interested, and work for their comfort and to reducing dis-comfort--such is the economic motivation/theme.
Now consider an example: what is money?--pretty simple, eh? Why/how then does fiat-money (phony-money) work so well, at least for a little while?--look at USA where Federal Reserve Bank (COUNTERFEITING, merely legalized) has continued now for 100 yrs (!). Observe on the other hand how American revolutionary "continentals" failed, as did the French Rev. "assignats," Confederate dollars, and Weimar Republic Reichsmarks--these things can be analyzed in rational, principled manner, hence SCIENTIFICALLY.
Thus economic science (which, to be sure, must entail such things as jurisprudence, logic, psychology, etc.) EXPLAINS these amazing facts and circumstances regarding money and other things, like gov. interference in economy by way of taxation, regulation, corruption, etc.
So economics may indeed be a complex, but it can be unified upon principle of PRODUCTION, as I note, and it can be understood in scientific manner, without doubt.
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