The eve of a profound recession is the right time to consider the hardly noticed economic theory of the Austrian School of Economics [Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich A. von Hayek, …] In contrast to the usual explanatory approaches, this approach reveals that the economic ups and downs are not the characteristics of a free -market economy. Rather, it presents how misguided money, interest rates and credit policy are inciting an artificial boom that has the germ of a recession from the outset, and which systematically leads entrepreneurs to incorrect decisions.
Gregor Hochreiter is the Founder and Board member of the Institute for Value Management. The Institute is dedicated to research and teaching a realistic economy in the tradition of the Austrian School of Economics and others.
Hochreiter is currently a lecturer at the Vienna University of Economics and the University of Liechtenstein. He is the author of Langfristig Werte sichern, co-author of Der Anti-Steingart and The Regulation Race.
Upon completion of his studies in economics at the University of Vienna and the University of Aalborg (Denmark) he worked for the CEPS (Centre for European Policy Studies), a Brussels-based think tank.
A “really free” market economy should always be social. In order for a market economy to be really free, it must be free of power concentrations and obstacles to access.
Since 2007, Dr. Ditz has operated a think tank on economic and policy called the Julius Raab Foundation. He is a member of the Presidium of the Austrian Business Federation. He was Chairman of the Board and President of ESTAG from 2004 to 2006, and President of ATec Industries in 2006. From 1999 to 2001, Dr. Ditz was member and speaker of the Management Board of ÖIAG, 1999-2001. He was Deputy-General Director of Post & Telekom Austria AG from 1996 to 1999, and Executive Director for the Finance Division and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs in 1995 - 1996. In 1991 -1992 he was the General Secretary of the Austrian Business Federation, and Deputy-General Secretary from 1988 to 1991. From 1984 to 1988 he was the head of the Department of Economic Policy, and from 1979 to 1983 was advisor to the Department of Economic Policy in the ÖVP Federal Party Leadership. Dr. Ditz lives in Vienna with his wife.
The eve of a profound recession is the right time to consider the hardly noticed economic theory of the Austrian School of Economics [Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich A. von Hayek, ...] In contrast to the usual explanatory approaches, this approach reveals that the economic ups and downs are not the characteristics of a free -market economy. Rather, it presents how misguided money, interest rates and credit policy are inciting an artificial boom that has the germ of a recession from the outset, and which systematically leads entrepreneurs to incorrect decisions.
A "really free" market economy should always be social. In order for a market economy to be really free, it must be free of power concentrations and obstacles to access.
