Online ISSN 2286-0266
Print ISSN 1223-0685
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Mihai-Vladimir TOPAN
Academia de Studii Economice din Bucureşti
In this paper we try to elucidate the proper manner to evaluate economic theories and systems within the present financial crisis context. The main lines of argumentation are as follows: appeals to facts cannot settle the liberalism/etatism debate (with its regulation/deregulation subspecies); the deadlock has an important methodological/epistemological substratum, therefore the debate is truly „fundamental” (in the sense that it calls into question entire theories/paradigms, not just particular technical details of economic analysis); the only way out is genuine theoretical debate. Some of the most important pro free market arguments (economic calculation, incentives) are discussed in contrast to some pro governmental intervention ones (public goods, externalities, monopoly). At the same time, in what concerns the theory of economic crises, the Austrian theory of the trade cycle is considered to be the most consistent and coherent explanation of the said phenomenon. Therefore the paper concludes with a cursory restatement of its main points: mainly that economic crises consist of mass entrepreneurial error generated by unanticipated credit expansion, possible in its turn due to the particular setting of our current monetary and banking systems (central bank monopoly over – fiat – money production, together with fractional reserves within the banking systems, or, otherwise said, the lack of clear-cut distinctions between demand and term deposits).

ŒCONOMICA no. 2/2010
Keywords: liberalism, etatism, economic calculation, externalities, public goods, monopoly, economic crisis, credit expansion, mass error
JEL: P5, P2, P26, B53, B41, E32
Liberalism vs. etatism: permanenta şi inevitabila dezbatere