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The '''Austrian school of economics''' is a school of economic thought which supports the [[libertarian]] [[philosophy]] by pointing out the inefficiency and ineffectualness of government intervention.  However, Austrian economics is a positive, not a normative, school of thought and therefore has no inherent political leaning. It views all value as subjective, and that efficiency consists of maximizing value as sought by each individual.  It avoids [[mathematics]] because it does not feel math can capture the complexities of the economic world and, more importantly, because it views social sciences to be properly based on rationalism and ''a priori'' reasoning. [[Austrian]] economists, like many other free market economists including Chicago School and neo-classical economists, believe free trade is key to prosperity. Austrians, unlike many of the same economists however, also believe the free market can function in areas such as infrastructure (roads<ref>http://www.mises.org/journals/jls/7_1/7_1_1.pdf</ref>, electricity<ref>http://www.mises.org/journals/rae/pdf/RAE9_2_3.pdf</ref>, etc), defense (police<ref>http://mises.org/rothbard/newliberty11.asp</ref>, military<ref>http://mises.org/etexts/defensemyth.pdf</ref>), and dealing with "externalities" <ref>http://mises.org/pdf/asc/2003/asc9simpson.pdf</ref> (pollution<ref>http://mises.org/journals/scholar/Storfner.pdf</ref>, free riders<ref>http://mises.org/journals/scholar/Murphy6.pdf</ref>, etc).

The '''Austrian school of economics''' is a school of economic thought which supports the [[libertarian]] [[philosophy]] by pointing out the inefficiency and ineffectualness of government intervention.  However, Austrian economics is a positive, not a normative, school of thought and therefore has no inherent political leaning. It views all value as subjective, and that efficiency consists of maximizing value as sought by each individual.  It avoids [[mathematics]] because it does not feel math can capture the complexities of the economic world and, more importantly, because it views social sciences to be properly based on rationalism and ''a priori'' reasoning. Austrian economists, like many other free market economists including Chicago School and neo-classical economists, believe free trade is key to prosperity. Austrians, unlike many of the same economists however, also believe the free market can function in areas such as infrastructure (roads<ref>http://www.mises.org/journals/jls/7_1/7_1_1.pdf</ref>, electricity<ref>http://www.mises.org/journals/rae/pdf/RAE9_2_3.pdf</ref>, etc), defense (police<ref>http://mises.org/rothbard/newliberty11.asp</ref>, military<ref>http://mises.org/etexts/defensemyth.pdf</ref>), and dealing with "externalities" <ref>http://mises.org/pdf/asc/2003/asc9simpson.pdf</ref> (pollution<ref>http://mises.org/journals/scholar/Storfner.pdf</ref>, free riders<ref>http://mises.org/journals/scholar/Murphy6.pdf</ref>, etc).

The Austrian school of [[economics]] opposed the inflationary approach of [[Keynesian economics]], and thus is favored by many conservatives on that basis.

The Austrian school of [[economics]] opposed the inflationary approach of [[Keynesian economics]], and thus is favored by many conservatives on that basis.