Austrian Economics in a Nutshell

The Foundation for Economic Education is kicking off Austrian Economics Week (which until now I didn't know existed) on their Facebook page with 10 ideas that define Austrian Economics from Peter Boettke: 

1. Only individuals choose.
2. The study of the market order is fundamentally about exchange behavior and the institutions within which exchanges take place.
3. The “facts” of the social sciences are what people believe and think.
4. Utility and costs are subjective.

5. The price system economizes on the information that people need to process in making their decisions.
6. Private property in the means of production is a necessary condition for rational economic calculation.
7. The competitive market is a process of entrepreneurial discovery.
8. Money is nonneutral.
9. The capital structure consists of heterogeneous goods that have multispecific uses that must be aligned.
10. Social institutions often are the result of human action, but not of human design.

For more detailed information on each of these points, check out the article by Dr. Boettke at the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics. I thought this was a great summary of ideas that, while difficult to pin down, are essential to solving the current economic crisis we are experiencing.