"For a large subset of the participants at South Royalton, the relevant question for discussion was not so much 'What does all this imply that we don't yet understand?' as it was, 'What did Mises say about this?' This was certainly true of Rothbard who, at least on the subject of the use of mathematics in economics, refused even to elaborate on his pronouncement in response to a friendly question from a generally puzzled participant. His talk, he explained, was the final word on the subject. ... (I know for a fact that the question was friendly but puzzled since I posed it myself and was astonished by the hostility with which it was greeted.)" --- Karen Vaughn, "Austrian Economics in America" Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Karen Vaughn certainly stands as one of the leaders of "Post-Austrian" economics. Her work is insightful, challenging, and undogmatic. She remains one of the most informed critics of the work of Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard, and Israel Kirzner. Central to her conception of Austrian economics is the denial of the orderliness of the market process. Time, uncertainty, entrepreneurship, and capital theory can only be understood, according to Mrs. Vaughn, by adopting a "kaleidic" view of economics which abandons the standard Austrian emphasis on market coordination.
I would urge all Austrian students to give her book a serious reading.
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