astronomy

Israel Kirzner

Israel Kirzner is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Israel Kirzner rather than just read about it. In short: Israel Meir Kirzner (also Yisroel Mayer Kirzner ; born February 13, 1930) is a British-born American economist, historian, rabbi, and Talmudist closely identified with the Austrian School. Early life and education The son of a well-known rabbi and Talmudist, Kirzner was born in London to a Jewish family and reached the United States by way of South Africa.

Key takeaways

Israel Kirzner belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Israel Kirzner to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Israel Kirzner from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Israel Meir Kirzner (also Yisroel Mayer Kirzner ; born February 13, 1930) is a British-born American economist, historian, rabbi, and Talmudist closely identified with the Austrian School.

Early life and education

The son of a well-known rabbi and Talmudist, Kirzner was born in London to a Jewish family and reached the United States by way of South Africa. After studying at the University of Cape Town, South Africa in 1947–48, and with the University of London External Programme in 1950–51, Kirzner received his B.A. summa cum laude from Brooklyn College in 1954, and an MBA in 1955 and Ph.D. in 1957 from New York University, where he studied under Ludwig von Mises.

Economics

Kirzner is emeritus professor of economics at New York University and a leading authority on Ludwig von Mises's thinking and methodology in economics. Kirzner's research on entrepreneurship economics is also widely recognized. His book, Competition and Entrepreneurship criticizes neoclassical theory for its preoccupation with the model of perfect competition, which neglects the important role of the entrepreneur in economic life. Kirzner's work integrating entrepreneurial action into neoclassical economics has been more widely accepted than nearly any other Austrian idea of the late twentieth century. In 2006, Kirzner received the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research "for developing the economic theory emphasizing the importance of the entrepreneur for economic growth and the functioning of the capitalist process." While Kirzner's ideas have greatly impacted the field of entrepreneurship studies, he has mainly been associated with the opportunity discovery view. However, a careful reading of Kirzner's work would suggest that his work on entrepreneurship can be split into two camps, one focusing on discovery and the other on creation. Like Joseph Schumpeter, Kirzner's work can arguably be divided into Kirzner Mark I and Kirzner Mark II. Kirzner's major work is in the economics of knowledge and entrepreneurship and the ethics of markets. Kirzner has said that he agrees with Roger Garrison's statement that Kirzner's work takes the middle ground, as opposed to the recent, more extreme position of some Austrian School economists who deny the relevance of market equilibrium. Universidad Francisco Marroquín granted him an Honorary Doctorate Degree for his contributions to economic theory. Honorary Doctoral Degrees at Universidad Francisco Marroquín UFM also named its Kirzner Entrepreneurship Center in his honor.

Publications Liberty Fund is currently publishing Israel Kizner's Collected Works in ten volumes under the supervision of Peter Boettke and Frederic Sautet. The first volume, The Economic Point of View, came out in December 2009, the second volume, Market Theory and the Price System, in May 2011 and the third volume, Essays on Capital, in June 2012. The fourth volume, Competition and Entrepreneurship, came out in 2013, which will also be the year of the 40th anniversary of the publication of the book. Some of his works on economics include: Books

The Economic Point of View: An Essay in the History of Economic Thought. Kansas City: Sheed and Ward, 1960. Market Theory and the Price System. Van Nostrand, 1963. An Essay on Capital. A.M. Kelley, 1966. Competition and Entrepreneurship. Chicago, 1973. ISBN 0226437760. Perception, Opportunity and Profit: Studies in the Theory of Entrepreneurship. Chicago, 1979. Discovery and the Capitalist Process. University of Chicago Press, 1985. ISBN 0226437779. Discovery, Capitalism and Distributive Justice. Basil Blackwell, 1989. The Meaning of Market Process. Routledge, 1992. ISBN 0415137381, 0415068665. The Driving Force of the Market. Routledge, 2000. ISBN 0415228239. Articles

"Fifty Years of FEE – Fifty Years of Progress in Austrian Economics". The Freeman, Vol. 46, No. 5, May 1996. Archived[link removed] from the original.Deprecated link archived 2020-10-09 at archive.today Full issue available. Archived 2017-10-20 at the Wayback Machine "Reflections on the Misesian Legacy in Economics". The Review of Austrian Economics, Vol. 9, No. 2, 1996, pp. 143–154. doi:10.1007/BF01103334. ISSN 0889-3047. S2CID 144925158. "Entrepreneurial Discovery and The Competitive Market Process: An Austrian Approach". Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 35, No. 1, March 1997, pp. 60–85. JSTOR 2729693. "Human Action, 1949: A Dramatic Episode in Intellectual History". The Freeman, Vol. 59, No. 7, September 2009, pp. 8–11. Archived[link removed] from the original.Deprecated link archived 2020-10-09 at archive.today Full issue available.

Judaic scholar Kirzner is also an ordained rabbi and Talmudic scholar and serves as the rabbi of the congregation once headed by his father in Brooklyn, New York. He is one of the most famous disciples of Rabbi Isaac Hutner, the late dean of the Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, where he studied for many years during the same time that he obtained his academic training. Kirzner is an authority on Hutner's writings and is one of the few official editors of all sources that Hutner quotes.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Israel Kirzner

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Israel Kirzner claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Israel Kirzner before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Israel Kirzner ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Israel Kirzner

In research: Israel Kirzner appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Israel Kirzner in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Israel Kirzner is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1930 births, 20th-century American male writers, 20th-century American non-fiction writers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Israel Kirzner outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Israel Kirzner in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Israel Kirzner means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Israel Kirzner out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Israel Kirzner in simple terms?

Israel Meir Kirzner (also Yisroel Mayer Kirzner ; born February 13, 1930) is a British-born American economist, historian, rabbi, and Talmudist closely identified with the Austrian School. Early life and education The son of a well-known rabbi and Talmudist, Kirzner was born in London to a Jewish f…

Why does Israel Kirzner matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Israel Kirzner?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Israel Kirzner.