ch. 1. Speaking of experts : an introduction to the volume / Roger Koppl -- ch. 2. Opening remarks / Alfred Wirth -- ch. 3. If germs could sponsor research : reflections on sympathetic connections among subjects and researchers / Sandra J. Peart, David M. Levy -- ch. 4. Clash of the titans : when the market and science collide / David F. Hardwick, Leslie Marsh -- ch. 5. Expertise and the conduct of monetary policy / Steven Horwitz -- ch. 6. The institutional context of epistemic communities : experts in P.T. Bauer's work / Diana W. Thomas -- ch. 7. Experts and entrepreneurs / Emily C. Skarbek -- ch. 8. The epistemology of entrepreneurship / Arthur M. Diamond -- ch. 9. A race to the top : enabling juries to make informed decisions when confronted with forensic evidence / E. James Cowan -- ch. 10. Experts and information choice / Roger Koppl -- ch. 11. Model uncertainty and empirical policy analysis in economics : a selective review / Steven N. Durlauf -- ch. 12. Schools of thought in the republic of social science / Robert Garnett -- ch. 13. Nothing new under the sun? : the dialectic of prudence and justice in the modern era / Laurent Dobuzinskis.

In almost every corner of our private and public lives we rely on experts to advise us. This important species of labor is getting increasing attention from economists, who are beginning to learn how to apply their tools and assumptions to the problem of expertise. Under what conditions of supply and demand are experts likely to give us good advice? When is expert failure more likely? Do entrepreneurs challenge existing expertise? Are they experts themselves? And if economists are themselves experts, what happens when we turn the skeptical gaze of economic theory on the economist themselves? This volume publishes papers given at the third biennial Wirth Institute Conference on Austrian Economics. It brings together a heterogeneous collection of thinkers, some "Austrian" and others not, to critically engage the problem of experts. While mostly agreeing that there is a problem of experts, the papers collected here approach the issue from a variety of often-complementary perspectives.

Print version record