Friedman And Austrian Economics

As tow important economic school of liberalism, Friedman's thinking and Austrian school are different from each other from lots of aspects. While the financial crises came and people take a lot of interest in this field, Friedman and Austrian school both give explanation to the Great Depression which takes place in 1930s according to their own theories of money. In this dissertation, the author considers the methodology as the origin of argument, investigates how different methodologies have influence on different monetary theories, and then the different positive studies. By virtue of this approach, the author compares these tow economic teachings.The whole dissertation consists of an introduction and other 5 chapters as its main content, the brief of these 5 chapters are as follows:In the second chapter, the author analyzes Friedman's methodology of social sciences, points out the weak links in the course of reasoning, and demonstrates the whole process that Friedman grafts the methodology of natural science to social science.In Chapter Three, Menger and Mises become the focus of analysis, the author give a careful investigation to their methodology of social science. Chapter Four gives an explanation to Friedman's Quantity Theory of Money, demonstrates its coherence, and Friedman's intention to testify the theory by empirical evidences.In Chapter Five, the dissertation concerns Hayek's thought of money and Rothbard's investigation of the Great Depression from the perspective that regards the relation of money and industries as a kernel issue.The sixth chapter generalizes the whole study, shows the shortcoming of this dissertation and orients the further study.