The Twelve Pillars:

We begin with the foundation of economics: human beings act purposefully to achieve their chosen ends. By examining human nature and the state of nature, we see how cooperation, exchange, and social order emerge incrementally. This sets the stage for all further inquiry into markets and society.

The intellectual roots of Austrian economics stretch from Lao Tzu and Taoist thought, through the Spanish Scholastics, the French Physiocrats, and the Marginalist revolution, culminating in the works of Menger, Mises, Hayek, and Rothbard. This tradition emphasizes the principle of subjectivity in economic value and employs a deductive methodology rooted in human action. Students learn how Austrian economics, unlike the mainstream, conceives economics as the science of purposeful choice.

Building on human action, we study how specialization and trade form the basis of prosperity. The division of labor creates efficiency, fosters interdependence, and encourages peaceful cooperation. Society itself is shaped through this process of mutually beneficial exchange.

Out of trade arises the need for a medium of exchange: money. We examine the historical emergence of money from barter and its role in coordinating economic activity. As the cornerstone of market society, money enables calculation, savings, and the expansion of human cooperation.

The market order, or catallaxy, arises from voluntary interaction and dispersed knowledge. Entrepreneurship, capital, interest, prices, and profits are revealed as the mechanisms that coordinate action across society. Through these processes, markets harness knowledge and guide production toward human needs.

Trust and cooperation in markets are supported by institutions such as insurance, assurance, and reputation systems. These institutions evolve gradually to enable exchange among strangers. Their historical development illustrates the power of voluntary arrangements over state-imposed structures.

We then explore how governance and property systems emerge without centralized authority. Competing providers of law, arbitration, and enforcement arise through contract and custom. This demonstrates how decentralized order can replace monopoly state control.

Conventional economics teaches that markets fail when confronted with externalities, public goods, monopolies, or common resources. From an Austrian perspective, these so-called failures reflect a misunderstanding of how markets adapt and resolve challenges. This pillar dismantles the myth of market failure by showing how voluntary solutions emerge.

Law and defense are often assumed to be exclusive functions of the state. Yet history and theory show that jurisprudence, arbitration, and security can be effectively provided in markets. This pillar explores how justice and protection arise through private institutions.

Finally, we turn to the ethical dimension of market life. Praxeonomy, as the extension of praxeology into ethics, grounds morality in human action rather than imposed rights or utilitarian calculus. Philanthropy emerges as a voluntary expression of these ethics, completing the vision of a society rooted in freedom and cooperation.

Original research under faculty advising

Continuation of original research under faculty advising