(Some comments on Prof. Huerta de Soto)
1. “A powerful analysis of why socialism is bound to fail. Huerta de Soto proves that socialist theorists were helpless to refute the Mises-Hayek insight, first presented in the 1920’s, about the impossibility of economic calculation under socialism. As the work of later Austrians, quoted here confirms -not to mention the debacle of socialist economies around the globe- it was Mises who really won the famed economic calculation debate. Huerta de Soto also accurately surveys previous work, such as Hoff’s Economic Calculation in the Socialist Society, brings new ideas to the debate, and chides the Chicago School for failing to move beyond Frank H. Knight’s claim that ‘economic theory has relatively little to say’ about the problem of socialism”.
Alejandro Chafuen (Fairfax, Virginia)
Laissez Faire Books, Enero de 1997, p. 32
Comentario al libro de Jesús Huerta de Soto
Socialismo, Cálculo Económico y Función Empresarial.
2. “El caso es que tenemos que saludar con alborozo la gesta editorial de Huerta de Soto. Sigue poniendo en el mercado, con celeridad encomiable, la edición española de las obras completas del gran economista austriaco F.A. Hayek. Esta vez le ha tocado el turno al volumen IX titulado Contra Keynes y Cambridge: Ensayos, correspondencia. La edición, la presentación -dignísima- y la traducción tienen un nivel raramente alcanzado en publicaciones análogas a este lado del mar. Por todo ello, por el disfrute que nos ha proporcionado, y seguirá proporcionándonos, sólo comparable a su fervorosa tenacidad en el empeño: tres hurras por Huerta de Soto. No debería envejecer nunca”.
Manuel Jesús González
Catedrático de Historia del Pensamiento Económico
Dinero, nº 687, 24 de Febrero de 1997, p. 66
3. “Economista e teórico político, in Socialismo, cálculo económico y función empresarial, Huerta de Soto rivisita uno dei momenti centrali della storia politica ed economica del nostro secolo, quale fu il dibattito sull’economia socialista e sulla compatibilità tra economia pianificata e istituzioni liberali, movendo dalle premesse teoriche poste da Mises e da Hayek. I due volumi, in definitiva, mostrano come la tradizione ‘austriaca’ non si sia esaurita con la morte della generazione nata in Austria, ma come essa si sia ormai trasformata in un ‘paradigma’ alternativo a quello sostanzialmente statalistico ed interventistico che continua ad essere dominante nella cultura occidentale, nonostante i dubbi sui vantaggi dell’interventismo statalistico siano sempre più diffusi e difficilmente refutabili. Di tale ‘paraidgma’, che ormai comprende una teoria economica, politica e giuridica, Huerta de Soto si pone come uno degli esponenti più significativi”.
Raimondo Cubeddu
Catedrático de Filosofía Política, Universidad de Pisa
Il Político (Univ. Pavia, Italia) 1995, año LX, pag. 549-550.
4. “Le mérite des économistes de l’école autrichienne, dont le Pr. Jesús Huerta de Soto est l’un des plus jeunes et plus talentueux représentants, es de montrer l’urgence et, tout compte fait, la simplificité d’une complète réforme de la protection sociale. Si la volonté politique est présente, comme cela a été le cas au Chili ou, plus récemment, en Grande Bretagne, on peut chasser immédiatement les images apocalyptiques de malades sans soins et de retraités sans pension”.
Jacques Garello
Catedrático de Economía Política
Universidad de Aix-Marsella (Francia)
“La crise et la reforme de la Sécurité Sociale”
Revue des Etudes Humaines, Septiembre 1994, pag. 3
5. “The participants who agreed to the Toledo Pact specifically rejected any idea of a second tier of benefits to complement the basic social security system. The idea has been under study for several years. In March 1994, Jesús Huerta de Soto published a treatise on this subject in Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines. He called for strengthening the private system, followed by developing a program patterned after the systems in the United Kingdom and Chile. Under these systems, part of the contribution to social security can be diverted to a private pension system”.
Bruce F. Spencer
Ibis Review, Mayo 1995, Vol. 9, nº 11, pag. 4-5
Chicago, Illinois, Estados Unidos
6. “A Espanha é disso exemplo, contando com importantes autores e obras significativas, a última das quais, que tenho pena de nao ter podido utilizar devidamente, a nao ser de forma pontual, é a de Jesús Huerta de Soto, Socialismo, cálculo económico y función empresarial (Unión Editorial, Madrid, 1992). Um libro que, contudo, ainda chegou a tempo de ajudar á “Introduçao” a este texto, que é, no essencial, como se indica em nota, ó primeiro capítulo, embora revisto e alargado, da minha tese de doutoramente”.
José Manuel Moreira
Profesor de Historia del Pensamiento Económico, Universidad de Oporto (Portugal)
Hayek e a História da Escola Austriaca de Economia
Ediçoes Afrontamento, Oporto, 1993
ISBN: 972 – 36 – 0329 – 2
7. “Parece que la influencia de una serie de economistas liberales va a manifestarse de modo muy claro. Las sucesivas generaciones de la Escuela Austriaca tienen apasionados e inteligentes seguidores españoles, que están dispuestos a dar un vuelco radical a la política económica de la nación. Los que deseen averiguar por dónde es posible rectificar la futura política económica española no pueden dejar de consultar el excelente trabajo de Jesús Huerta de Soto Entrepreneurship and the economic analysis of socialism“.
Juan Velarde
Catedrático Emérito de Economía
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Época, Octubre 1995, pág. 72
8. “Jesús Huerta de Soto ha estudiado el debate sobre el socialismo con todo detalle. Ninguna pequeña aportación o artículo relevante de la época parece haber escapado a su atención. Esto hace que, en mi opinión, sean los capítulos dedicados a esta cuestión lo más atractivo del libro”.
Francisco Cabrillo
Catedrático de Economía Aplicada
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
“El socialismo, un error intelectual”
ABC, 26 de Marzo de 1993, pág. 20
9. “El profesor Huerta de Soto es partidario entusiasta de Mises a quien dedica el libro que comentamos. Estudia con gran penetración, erudición y lógica implacable, la dilatada controversia que viene durando varias décadas. La influencia de Mises, de la polémica suscitada por él y del libro del profesor Huerta de Soto está siendo y será, sin duda, poderosa”.
Lucas Beltrán Flórez
Catedrático Emérito de Economía Política
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Recensión del libro “Socialismo, cálculo económico y función empresarial”
Veintiuno, verano 1993, pág. 48
10. “I consider you one of the most productive and stimulating Austrian scholars in the world”.
Israel M. Kirzner
Catedrático de Economía
New York University, Department of Economics
14 de Agosto de 1995
11. Dinero, Crédito Bancario y Ciclos Económicos written by Jesús Huerta de Soto “is an impressive work of scholarship, commenting on old and new writings in many languages, including Latin. To my knowledge, it is by far the most thorough treatment in print of Austrian ideas on banking and the business cycle”.
Leland B. Yeager
Catedrático de Economía
Auburn University, Department of Economics
22 de Junio de 1999
12. “The significance of Jesús Huerta de Soto’s new 681 page book Dinero, Crédito Bancario y Ciclos Económicos is precisely that it is the first Misesian treatise on money and banking to appear since publication of Mises’ original work eighty-eight years ago Dinero, Crédito Bancario y Ciclos Económicos is the most comprehensive analysis of fractional-reserve banking and of business cycles in print”.
Jörg Guido Hülsman
Recensión del libro de J. Huerta de Soto
Dinero, crédito bancario y ciclos económicos
publicada en The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics
Verano 2000, vol. 3, nº 2
pp. 85-88
13. “There can be no doubt the book Money, Bank Credit and Economic Cycles is destined to become a classic, both by virtue of the subject matters that are treated and in virtue of the manner in which they are treated; thoroughly and authoritatively”.
Ludwig van den Hauwe
Review of Huerta de Soto’s Money, Bank Credit and Econimic Cycles
New Perspectives on Political Economy
Volume 2, Number 2, 2006, pp. 135-141
14. “Words like ‘magisterial’ and ‘definitive’ might scare off the average reader, so I will refrain from using them to describe Money, Bank Credit and Economic Cycles – a readable and often entertaining treatment of an extremely important topic”.
Gene Epstein
Barron’s
December 18, 2006, p. 37
15. “Virtues that make Snowden and Vane attractive, given present circumstances, include an outstanding bibliography and insightful interviews with major macroeconomic theorists. They also tend to be even handed in presenting each macroeconomic paradigm, although it is clear that they are Keynesians at heart and view economic downturns in general and the Great Depression in particular as products of insufficient aggregate demand. Additionally, Snowden and Vane include a chapter on Austrian theory authored by Roger Garrison. Garrison’s chapter is essentially a condensed version of portions of his Time and Money. Even with Garrison’s contribution, however, Snowden and Vane’s text lacks an Austrian core.
Substantial help has arrived with the English publication of de Soto’s Money, Bank Credit and Economic Cycles (2006). Chapters 5 and 6 of de Soto’s work provide an excellent, up-to-date exposition of Austrian macroeconomic theory, including the theory of the business cycle. Chapter 7 is a critique of Keynesian and Monetarist doctrines. De Soto also includes a brief critique of rational expectations theory. At the present time, it appears that de Soto’s work will serve quite nicely as the main text for teaching Misesian macroeconomics, supplemented by a mainstream text such as Froyen or Snowden and Vane”.
Shawn Ritenour
“Suggestions for Teaching Intermediate Macro-economics: A Praxeological Perspective”
The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics
Volume 9, Number 4, Winter 2006, pp. 21-26
16. “Huerta de Soto ha sabido articular coherentemente una enorme cantidad de lecturas, amén de una de las construcciones sobre el ciclo económico más atrayentes teóricamente. Más allá de viabilidad o no de sus propuestas, y aunque sólo sea porque es un estudio extraordinariamente bien documentado que se enfrenta abiertamente a posturas divergentes, el libro Money, Bank Credit and Economic Cycles que aquí se reseña merece ocupar un puesto destacado en las librerías de todo aquel que esté interesado por el fascinante mundo monetario.
Nieves San Emeterio Martín
“La perfidia de los bancos”
Libros de Economía y Empresa
17. “One of the most learned and creative of contemporary Austrian economists offers a more comprehensive and persuasive account of that school than any other known to me. Professor Huerta de Soto even finds antecedents among the scholastics of 16th century Spain. He emphasizes the decisive role of entrepreneurs in discovering opportunities, creating knowledge, putting widely scattered knowledge to use, and promoting economic coordination. He compares Austrian economics (favorably) with contemporary mainstream work. All economists should be acquainted with these Austrian contributions, including economists who may not be entirely convinced on some points of money-macro theory”.
Leland Yeager, Auburn University and University of Virginia, U.S.A.
De la contraportada del libro The Austrian School. Market Order and Entrepreneurial Creativity de Jesús Huerta de Soto, Edward Elgar, Inglaterra y U.S.A. 2008
18. “This volume sets out to present ‘the essential ideas of the Austrian school of economics”. However, its author, a foremost contemporary Austrian economist in his own right, has placed his own stamp on each of the themes he has covered. Few Austrians (and certainly not the writer of this comment) will agree with the author’s treatment of every theme. Yet all Austrians will recognize and value the superb clarity and power of this outstanding book. And all economists, Austrian or not, will appreciate the wide erudition and profound economic understanding reflected in this luminous work”.
Israel M. Kirzner, New York University, U.S.A.
De la contraportada del libro The Austrian School. Market Order and Entrepreneurial Creativity de Jesús Huerta de Soto, Edward Elgar, Inglaterra y U.S.A. 2008
19. “De Soto does an excellent job surveying the many distinctive features of Austrian economics. Communicating the uniqueness of Austrianism comes easy to de Soto, for he has clearly researched widely in the tradition and mastered its positions. Instead, I imagine that this book was a great challenge to put together because there are so many different ways that the material could be structurally organized and presented”.
Daniel D’Amico, Loyola University New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, U.S.A.
Review of Austrian Economics, 2009
20. “Jesús Huerta de Soto is one of the great contemporary champions of the Austrian School of Economics. He has been a tireless advocate for the methodological, analytical, and ideological importance of the writings of Mises, Hayek, Rothbard, and Kirzner in his capacity as a book publisher (and translator), professor, and researcher. I think it is safe to say that in the Spanish speaking world, Professor de Soto is the leading representative of the Austrian school today. But we should be quick to add that due to his heroic efforts, a new generation of economists in Spain is emerging that tackles important issues in economic theory and public policy from an Austrian school perspective. It is all very exciting to watch from afar how a man of intellectual and moral conviction can make such a difference armed only with ideas and an educational and research vision”.
Peter J. Boettke, George Mason University, U.S.A.
“Foreword” del libro Socialism, Economic Calculation and Entrepreneurship de Jesús Huerta de Soto, Edward Elgar, Inglaterra y U.S.A. 2010
21. “A professor of a rare talent, a scholar of an extremely wide intellectual horizon and with a deeply analytic capacity, and a writer who can make Economics to show as the best literary work, professor Jesús Huerta de Soto ought to be named on of the last “Humboldtian” academics in the university field of economic science”.
Prof. Univ. Dr. Vasile Ișan
Honorary Ph. D. Laudatio, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași (Rumania)
22 Octubre 2010, Rumania