Vienna & Chicago, Friends or Foes?

A Tale of Two Schools of Free-Market Economics

By: Mark Skousen

Narrated by: Todd Gaddy

Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

Two views of Vienna and Chicago, Friends or Foes?

From the Chicago School:

"This tale is thorough, thoughtful, even-handed, and highly readable. All economists, of whatever school, will find it both instructive and entertaining." - Milton Friedman

From the Austrian School:

"In this upbeat tale of two schools, Skousen gives us a delightful blend of theory, history, and political science, and shows that there is much common ground and scope for development." - Roger W. Garrison

©2005 Mark Skousen (P)2014 Regnery Publishing

Disappointing

This was more an essay, than a book. It's obvious the author's purpose is to convey why The Austrian school is the correct model. This could have been have the pages and achieved the same end.

Fair

this is the most reasonable and complete comparison of these two schools I could have asked for.

Incredibly insightful presentation

I developed my interest in economics is an outgrowth of my interest in history in general in American history in particular. I began by reading major books about our presidents in order of their presidencies to ensure some proper context and it see how their stories overlapped. I discovered we need to tie the law into that through the Supreme Court in the Marshall court in particular. Moved in various directionsConcerning liberty and freedom and the Constitution. Then the big industrial Industrialists of the mid-19th century to the mid20th century including such giants search is Rockefeller, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, Ford leading to the Warburg banking family.

Baking lead to an interest in economics. About 20 volumes into that I stumbled upon human action, The big version by Mises. I found myself instantly taking notes as I ran into more terms that I did not understand than ever before. Here I am a year later having worked my way through all of the major schools of economics and many things in between.

It was the perfect time to run into Vienna and Chicago. The authors ability to juxtapose the various theories of the schools against each other as well as the individuals involved have helped make a lot of sense of what I’ve been reading the last two years.

I’ll be reading any more of his books.

Great juxtaposition and explanation

What disappointed you about Vienna & Chicago, Friends or Foes??

Nothing about the content of the book itself disappointed me, rather, it was the narration that could have been better. While Todd Gaddy's voice is pleasant and has a lot of vitality, he rushes through so quickly that he doesn't fully pronounce all of his words. At times, this is difficult to understand, and there were several occasions in which I needed to go back to hear something again. If one is not a native English speaker, one might have difficulty following the narration. This is certainly not a major flaw, and I would listen to other books narrated by Todd Gaddy since I now know what to expect.

Any additional comments?

I learned quite a lot from this book, and it answered the questions I had regarding the differences between the two schools of thought. Mark Skousen knows the subject extremely well and objectively shows topics in depth from each point of view.

I wouldn't recommend this as an introductory book to Laissez-faire economics; it is an intermediate-level book. Having a familiarity with subject-specific vocabulary is essential to understanding both the material and the narration.

great introduction to right wing economics

this is a fantastic introduction to free market economics and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in economic theory even if you do not agree with the right wing