Introduction
Economics is not just the technique of calculating GDP, but a profound debate over the conditions of collective reason. Mark Skousen challenges the dominant Keynesian paradigm, which focuses on consumption and short-term stabilization. According to Skousen, this approach not only misdescribes reality but actually co-constitutes crises, inflation, and public debt. This article analyzes the proposal for a radical reversal of this perspective, placing production, capital, and the entrepreneur at the center. Readers will learn how the Austrian School responds to the challenges of the AI revolution and global differences in regulating modern markets.
Skousen: The Fallacies of Aggregate Demand
The fundamental premise of Skousen’s critique is the rejection of the thesis that consumption drives the economy. He argues that the dominant model ignores the structure of production, focusing instead on the final stage of spending, which leads to flawed policy decisions.
The Paradox of Thrift: A Fallacy of Composition
The aporia of the paradox of thrift assumes that an individual's virtue is a collective vice. Skousen proves this is an error: savings are not a "leakage" from the circuit, but an investment in capital goods that builds future prosperity.
Gross Output: A Real Picture of Production Beyond GDP
Skousen proposes replacing GDP with the Gross Output (GO) indicator. Unlike GDP, GO measures the total value of sales at all stages of production, which more accurately reflects the role of intermediate inputs and business investment.
Time and Capital Structure: The Foundation of Growth
The essence of the economy is the temporal sequence of resource transformation. The greater a society's willingness to defer gratification, the longer and more productive capital processes can be financed.
The Entrepreneur-Discoverer Shatters the Efficient Market Myth
The figure of the entrepreneur challenges the theory of market efficiency. Acting under conditions of uncertainty, it is the entrepreneur who discovers inefficiencies and anticipates future needs, causing the market to dynamically move toward equilibrium.
Capitalism vs. Socialism: A Lesson from Institutional History
The experiment of central planning proved to be a disaster due to the lack of a price mechanism and private property. The history of "economic miracles" confirms that the foundation of success is capital accumulation and economic freedom.
The Gold Standard: An Anchor of Stability in Globalization
The call for a return to gold aims to protect against inflation, yet it remains controversial. Critics point out that an overly rigid monetary anchor can hinder responses to liquidity crises and lead to destructive deflation.
AI: Automating Value Chains
Artificial intelligence does not change the logic of production; it accelerates it. Although processes are becoming dematerialized, AI remains a part of capital-intensive machinery, requiring massive investment in infrastructure and data.
AI Regulation: US, European, and Arab World Models
The US focuses on innovation and risk, Europe on an ordoliberal legal framework (the AI Act), and Arab nations on technocratic modernization. Each of these models defines the relationship between the state and the market differently.
Digital Feudalism vs. the Creative Destruction of Algorithms
AI could become a tool for concentrating power in the hands of a few corporations (digital feudalism) or drive creative destruction, provided that legal frameworks ensure competition and the protection of data ownership.
Consumption Tax: Regressivity Hits the Poorest
Promoting savings by taxing consumption creates social dilemmas. While it encourages capital accumulation, it is regressive in the short term, requiring mechanisms to mitigate inequality.
The Ethics of Saving: The Foundation of Stable Finance
Culture and the work ethic determine economic resilience. Where saving is a moral norm, the state is less likely to succumb to the temptation of irresponsibly indebting future generations.
The Virtue of Saving: A Meta-Logical Puzzle
This puzzle is solved through the prism of time: saving is not a lack of spending, but deferred expenditure. The harmonization of individual and collective virtue occurs naturally through the interest rate mechanism.
The Austrian School: A Return to the Empirical Mainstream
Modern empirical economics increasingly confirms the intuitions of the Austrian School by studying the impact of knowledge capital and investment structure on the long-term productivity of societies.
Code and Data: The New Frontier of Economic Sovereignty
In a world based on algorithms, sovereignty depends on the control of code. The future of economics is a struggle to ensure that digital infrastructure serves free enterprise rather than new forms of statism.
Summary
In a world of algorithmic management and digital currency, the question of the future of economics becomes a question of the future of freedom. Will technocratic efficiency stifle the spirit of entrepreneurship and individual responsibility? Or perhaps, contrary to fears, will the digital revolution prove to be the next chapter in the eternal story of human innovation and adaptation? The answer requires a return to economics as the art of public reason, combining productivity with institutional stability.
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