Big players in the ‘new economy’

The ‘new economy’ has drawn popular attention to the vital role of knowledge in economic affairs. The Austrian tradition of economic thought has long recognized the crucial role that knowledge production and distribution play in economic events. Its founder, Carl Menger, placed human knowledge and its growth at the centre of his theory. In the oral tradition of the Austrian school, political activism tends to frustrate and corrupt the market processes producing and distributing knowledge. Thus, as knowledge grows in importance, societies pay an ever-higher price for activist government policies. Austrian oral tradition warns us that the new economy needs a new commitment from governments to choose rules over discretion.