Social Economy as an Extension of the Austrian Research Program

Contemporary Austrian scholars have attempted to develop a research program in social economy (including a focus on mental models, generalized norms, social networks, and culture) to complement the school’s already well-developed research program in political economy. Rather than settling on a single approach or adopting a single perspective, however, they have pursued a number of different strategies. As a result, Austrian contributions to understanding how social factors affect economic action have yet to be systematized as part of a coherent social economy research program. The aim of this chapter is to fill that gap. Further, we will argue that although it is broadly interdisciplinary, a social economy research program is one in which Austrian economics has a particularly important role to play given the school’s emphasis on developing an economics of meaning and its focus on the discovery role that markets play in generating widespread social coordination.