How Can We Avoid Close-Ended and Single Exit Theories in Economics and Political Economy: Reflections on Richard Wagner’s Mind, Society, and Human Action

Abstract

Richard Wagner's "Mind, Society, and Human Action" strives to portray the game of life as played out in the fields of economics, politics, and society as a theory of society that eschews close ended choice and single exit theories. In doing so, he emphasizes specific institutional contexts and the strategic interdependence of the various actors and enterprises. The game of life is one of ceaseless change and it is coming to an understanding of this continual transformation that is the object of a theory of the market process. I cannot do full justice to Wagner's brilliant work in this essay. "Mind, Society and Human Action" is perhaps the most powerful theoretical work in contemporary Austrian economics since "The Economics of Time and Ignorance" by Gerald O'Driscoll and Mario Rizzo (1985).

Keywords: Economics, Politics, Society, Choice, Market Process

JEL Classification: B41, B53, Y30