Welcome to the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics

2014 FEE Prize for the best book in Austrian economics is awarded to Nicolai Foss and Peter G. Klein’s Organizing Entrepreneurial Judgment

Comments read by Virgil Storr, Vice President of the SDAE, during the presentation of the 2014 FEE Prize for the best book in Austrian economics:

In Organizing Entrepreneurial Judgment: A New Approach to the Firm, Nicolai Foss and Peter G. Klein bridge the gap between studies of entrepreneurship and the theory of the firm. Despite both concepts becoming increasingly appreciated and studied by contemporary scholars in economics and management, Foss and Klein show that the existing theoretical and practical literature too often fails to adequately connect these theories. Seeking to correct this failing and drawing on insights from Austrian economics, Foss and Klein examine entrepreneurship as judgment decisions made by management under conditions of uncertainty. They show that these judgments are drivers of the economy and keys to understanding firm performance and organization.

For meaningfully adding to the Austrian literature on entrepreneurship and applying Austrian insights about entrepreneurship to the theory of the firm, the prize committee determined that Organizing Entrepreneurial Judgment: A New Approach to the Firm is deserving of the 2014 FEE Prize for the best book in Austrian Economics.

2014 FEE Prize for the best article in Austrian economics is awarded to Alex Salter’s “Is There a Self-Enforcing Monetary Constitution?”

Comments read by Virgil Storr, Vice President of the SDAE, during the presentation of the 2014 FEE Prize for the best article in Austrian economics:

In “Is There a Self-Enforcing Monetary Constitution?,” Alex Salter examines how a monetary regime could succeed without external enforcement. According to Salter, a successful monetary constitution would have rules in place that agents would uphold in the absence of complete benevolence and prefect knowledge. Salter finds that existing central banking structures fail to serve as self-enforcing monetary constitutions. Drawing on insights from Austrian economics, Salter then proposes two alternative regimes. He finds both a market-based monetary policy based on nominal gross domestic product targeting as well as free banking meet the standards as potentially self-enforcing monetary constitutions.

For contributing to Austrian macroeconomics and, specifically, to Austrian monetary economics and for furthering our understanding of market alternatives to central banking, the prize committee determined that “Is There a Self-Enforcing Monetary Constitution?” is deserving of the 2014 FEE Prize for the best article in Austrian Economics.

Don Lavoie Memorial Essay Competition Winners for 2014

The Society for the Development of Austrian Economics is pleased to announce thewinners of the Don Lavoie Memorial Graduate Student Essay Competition. Three prizes are given, each worth $1000, to be used to pay expenses to attend the Southern Economic Association meetings this November in Atlanta, GA, where the winners will present their work on a special panel at 10:00am, Monday, November 24, 2014. Prize awards are contingent on attending the SEA meetings and the SDAE’s annual business meeting and awards banquet.

This year’s winners are:

Mathieu Bédard
Aix-Marseille Université, Aix-en-Provence
“Robust Political Economy and the Insolvency Resolution of Large US Non-Bank Financial Institutions”

Abigail Hall
George Mason University
“Public Interest, Public Choice, and the Expansion of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles”

Pablo Paniagua
King’s College London
“Robust Political Economy: An Institutional Alternative Against Monetary Disequilibrium and Market Discoordination”

2014 Carl Menger Essay Contest Winners

The Society for the Development of Austrian Economics is pleased to announce the winners of the 2014 Carl Menger Essay Contest for undergraduate students. Professors Daniel Smith, Michael Thomas, and Adam Martin were this year’s judges. All entries were anonymous.

The prize comes with $500 plus a travel stipend and three nights accommodations at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis Hotel to attend and present at the Southern Economic Association in November. A panel featuring the winning papers will take place on Monday, November 24. The prizes will be presented at the Society’s annual dinner the night before on Sunday evening (November 23). These prizes are made possible thanks to the generous support of the Foundation for Economic Education and the Charles Koch Foundation.

This year’s winners are:

Ricardo Rosas

Philipps-Universität Marburg

“Soft Paternalism“

Kaitlyn Woltz

Loyola University New Orleans

“Jim Crow and Incarceration“

Aidan Harkin

King’s College London

“Great Leap Forward“

The Prize Committee would like to extend its sincerest thanks to all the entrants.

SDAE 2014 Annual Dinner Details

SDAE members,

We now have the details for the annual SDAE dinner and business meeting. The event will take place on Sunday night, November 23rd at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis. We will start with drinks and a reception from 7:00pm to 8:00pm and then continue with dinner and our program from 8:00pm ­to 10:30pm. The room location of the dinner and business meeting will be sent to you in the next few weeks.

We will have our usual presentation of the FEE prizes and recognition of the Lavoie Prize and Menger Contest winners, as well as Chris Coyne’s presidential address and our business meeting. The cost of this year’s dinner is once again $100, with graduate students at half price.

The menu and entrée choices:

SALAD

Classic Hearts of Romaine with Campari Tomato, House Made Crostini, and Shaved Asiago with Elephant Garlic Caesar Dressing

ENTREES

* Pan Roasted Organic Chicken
* Grilled Filet Mignon
* Smoked Sea Salt Rubbed Grilled Halibut
* Vegan Pyramid

DESSERT

Pecan Phyllo, Maple Cream, Pecan Brittle, Bourbon Sauce

A cash bar will be available during the reception and dinner. All attendees will receive two drink tickets for the bar. We’re grateful to our friends at FEE and their Alumni Network for contributing to sponsoring the drinks.

Please click the following link to register and make your entrée selection (please do not email it to us):

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YMF8RXN

Please respond by Friday, November 7th to ensure that we can give the hotel an accurate count. If you do not make an entrée selection by the 7th we will select the chicken entrée on your behalf.

We don’t take credit cards so payment by check or Paypal is strongly encouraged. We will take cash or checks at the door, but the more payments we have in advance the better.

Checks should be sent to:

Tony Carilli
Society for the Development of Austrian Economics
Department of Economics
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden Sydney, VA 23943

The Paypal link can be found here: www.sdaeonline.org/membership-form-2014/.

We also encourage you to go ahead and renew your membership for 2015 now so that we don’t have to also deal with that process at the door at the dinner.

Please feel free to forward this invitation to others you know who may be attending the meetings. I will send a couple of reminders around in the weeks to follow.

Thanks again, and I look forward to seeing you in Atlanta.

The 2014 FEE Prizes in Austrian Economics

The 2014 FEE Prizes in Austrian Economics

The Society for the Development of Austrian Economics is pleased to announce that nominations are now open for the 2014 Foundation for Economic Education Prizes for the best book and the best article recently published in Austrian economics.

The following conditions apply:

1. Authors nominated must be members in good standing with the SDAE (check the Society’s website at www.sdaeonline.org for information on how to join).

2. The books and articles nominated must have been published between January 1, 2012 and August 31, 2014.

3. Nominated articles should be emailed as an attachment or as a URL to the article to Virgil Storr (vstorr@mercatus.gmu.edu).

4. Nominations for the book prize should include the title and all other relevant information (publisher, date of publication, ISBN #) and be sent to the above email address. Those nominating books need not send copies. Edited volumes and short monographs are not eligible for the award.

5. All nominations must be received by Virgil Storr no later than October 20, 2014.

6. Self-nominations will not be accepted.

Each prize comes with a cash award of $500 thanks to the generous support of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE). Recipients will be required to submit a short blog post on their winning book or article for posting on the FEE website. Winners will be announced at the annual banquet of the SDAE, this year in Atlanta, GA in conjunction with the Southern Economic Association meetings from November 22-24, 2014. The SDAE dinner will be held on Sunday, November 23rd.

Questions may be directed to Virgil Storr (vstorr@mercatus.gmu.edu).

Virgil Storr
SDAE Vice President

40 Years After the Nobel: F.A. Hayek and Political Economy as a Progressive Research Program

To reflect on the significance of Hayek’s Nobel Prize and the various strands of influence his work has had in subsequent decades of scholarship, please join us for a keynote speech and panel discussion by some of Hayek’s most prominent colleagues and interlocutors. We will discuss the breadth of Hayek’s vision, his contribution, and its influence on the research of other elite economic thinkers. We will explore key themes and see where they may lead us in the future of economics and political economy.

Join us on October 2, 2014, from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m., to hear Dr. Israel Kirzner, Professor Emeritus of New York University, speak on Hayek, the Nobel Prize, and the Modern Austrian School of Economics.

Then, from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m., we will have a roundtable discussion with Nobel Laureates Dr. Edmund Phelps of Columbia University, Dr. Oliver Williamson of the University of California at Berkeley, and Dr. Vernon Smith of Chapman University.

Register and learn more at Mercatus.org.

2014 Don Lavoie Memorial Graduate Student Essay Competition

The Society for the Development of Austrian Economics is pleased to announce that submissions for the 2014 Don Lavoie Memorial Graduate Student Essay Competition are now being accepted. Submissions will be accepted from advanced PhD students in economics or other relevant disciplines anywhere in the world. The competition is limited to thesis chapters and/or other research that is geared toward publication in the professional journals; submissions should adhere to appropriate standards of academic writing and should be on a topic relevant to Austrian economics. There is no word limit; and, students submitting papers to this competition will retain all publication rights to their work; however, winners are encouraged to submit their papers to The Review of Austrian Economics for possible publication.

Three prizes are given, each worth $1000, to be used to pay expenses to attend the Southern Economic Association meetings this November 22-24, 2014 in Atlanta, GA, where the winners will present their work on a special panel. Prize awards are contingent on attending the SEA meetings and the SDAE’s annual business meeting and awards banquet on Sunday, November 24.

The prize committee consists of:

• Peter Boettke, Committee Chair, George Mason University
• Emily Chamlee-Wright, Washington College
• Steven Horwitz, St. Lawrence University
• David Prychitko, Northern Michigan University
• Virgil Storr, Mercatus Center at George Mason University

Deadline for submissions is October 10, 2014. Decisions will be made on or around October 20.
Please include a copy of your CV with your submission. All questions and submissions should be sent electronically to Eric Celler at eceller@mercatus.gmu.edu

Advanced Austrian Seminar, Summer 2014

From Peter Boettke:

I am very pleased to announce that Mercatus Center Graduate Student Programs will be hosting the Advanced Austrian Seminar, August 7-10, 2014 in Arlington, VA. We are currently accepting applications for this seminar; and, I would like to invite you to recommend qualified students to apply. The application deadline is April 20, 2014.

Seminar participants will have the opportunity to engage in an intensive exploration of the continuing relevance of the Austrian school of economics as a progressive research program in contemporary economics and political economy. Designed for students beginning a doctoral program in economics as well as advanced undergraduate and master’s students who intend to pursue a terminal degree in economics, this seminar presents an opportunity to go beyond primary and secondary texts in the Austrian tradition through lectures and discussions with leading scholars pursuing academic research that applies the insights of the Austrian school to contemporary questions in political economy.

Mercatus Center Graduate Student Programs will provide readings, meals and hotel accommodation for all participants, and will cover up to $500 in travel expenses to attend the seminar.
Seminar participants are expected to come to the seminar prepared to discuss the readings and to participate fully in all lectures, meals, and discussions, beginning Thursday evening August 7, 2014 and concluding Saturday night, August 9, 2014. Participants are free to leave at their own convenience on Sunday, August 10, 2014.

Please contact Peter Lipsey (plipsey@mercatus.gmu.edu), the program manager for Graduate Student Programs at the Mercatus Center, if you have any questions about the program and please let us know which (if any) of your students would qualify or benefit from this seminar.

Call for Papers: 2014 SDAE Meetings

The annual conference of the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics will be held during the Southern Economics Association meetings in Atlanta, Georgia, on November 22-24, 2014 (Saturday – Monday) at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis.

Members interested in presenting papers, serving as chairs/discussants, or proposing entire panels should submit proposals by Friday, March 28, 2014. With all submissions, please include the following information for each participant, including non-attending co-authors:

1. Name
2. Affiliation (Title and institution)
3. E-mail address
4. Telephone number
5. Title of paper(s)
6. Abstract(s) of no more than 100 words

Any attachments must be either Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) or Word (.doc or .docx) format.

If you are proposing a paper for presentation, we assume that you will serve as a chair or discussant (if needed) for at least one other conference session. If you are proposing an entire panel (including a roundtable or debate), please have all the contact information for all the participants when you send the materials. If you wish only to serve as a chair or discussant, please indicate so in your submission. Note that each session during the SEA meetings lasts one hour and forty-five minutes and typically has four or more participants.

Please note that the conference organizers have to be free to place your paper or panel on any of the conference days.

SDAE members who are current in their annual membership dues are given priority for SDAE panels. If you wish to renew your membership, you can do so online at: it.stlawu.edu/sdae/apply.htm

Please send your submissions by email only to SDAE President-Elect Benjamin Powell at free.market@ttu.edu (with “SDAE 2014” in the subject line of the e-mail).

Benjamin Powell
Free Market Institute
Texas Tech University