📖 [Analysis] A primer on Austrian economics - Erik Torenberg

The Austrian school of economics is tied closely to Bitcoin's separation of money and state despite originating nearly 100 years earlier. Austrian economics focuses on first principles, examining the choices made by individuals, not aggregate statistics from the collective. The Austrian school is often compared with the Keynesian or Chicago schools of economics. While Keynesians want to solve recessions by deploying government spending the Chicago school (or Monetarists, or Friedmanites) prefers monetary policy as a remedy. Austrians would argue for neither, as it is a free market school. The Austrian school believes that the printing of money by governments, usually as a response to the business cycle, leads to individuals spending or speculating more than they would with a hard money standard. This leads to speculative bubbles that in turn create recessions, which is what governments intend to avoid in the first place. Instead of printing new money Austrians believe the economy grows through investment, capital accumulation, and innovation.