The conference wasn\u2019t just an academic exercise; it was also an opportunity for dynamic debates. During a dinner conversation with Dennis Venter,2<\/a><\/sup> Chenxi Gao from Kyushu Sangyo University, and Jianwen Tang from Hitotsubashi University, we delved into discussions about free trade, price controls, and government systems. This lively exchange underscored how deeply economics is intertwined with real-world decisions and governance, and I was particularly struck by how much I\u2019ve absorbed through Mannkal\u2019s teachings and from my own independent study, especially on free market principles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The debates were invigorating, and I was surprised by how well I articulated my thoughts, especially when discussing the absurdity of price controls in the housing market. I even managed to sway one of my colleagues, a Chinese Marxist,3<\/a><\/sup> to reconsider his stance on this issue. These discussions4<\/a><\/sup> underscored the value of open dialogue and debate, which foster intellectual growth and challenge preconceptions.5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Attending the HETSA conference has broadened my understanding of economic thought and demonstrated the relevance of these theories to my own professional and personal endeavours. I look forward to applying what I\u2019ve learned, especially in areas such as industrial innovation, business negotiation (i.e. really understanding people\u2019s drivers, wants and needs) and collaboration to make a tangible impact in the future. This is my dream, and I\u2019ll do anything I can to achieve it. I am sincerely grateful to Mannkal for providing me the opportunity in learning about economic theory which, like my science, business and engineering skills, is just another set of tools I can use in achieving my dream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [1] T. Aspromourgos, \u201cKeynes, Policy and Environmental Crisis,\u201d in History of Economic Thought Society Australia 2024, Sydney, Australia, 2024. The History of Economic Thought Society Australia (HETSA) Conference, held from 25-27 September 2024 in Parramatta, Sydney, was a remarkable experience. Sponsored by the Mannkal Economic Education Foundation, I had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":20881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":"[{\"content\":\"Whether it was my introduction to economics as a field through the Austrian lens via Mannkal \u2013 of which, admittedly perhaps I haven\u2019t read enough of the \u2018other side\u2019, (but that\u2019s my fault and not Mannkal\u2019s) \u2013 or perhaps my family history in Europe and reading of history, both of which heavily skews my views against Marx\u2019s (or, more notably, his radical subsidiaries), I followed up and read the Marx text.\",\"id\":\"7352bfbd-a411-43c9-8da5-16afba3eac20\"},{\"content\":\"Another presentation that resonated with me was \\\"Early Evolutionary Institutionalists and Quest for Better Agent-Based Models,\\\" by Dennis Venter [3], also from the University of Sydney. Venter critiqued the current use of agent-based models (ABMs) in economics, especially in understanding social complexity. Drawing from early institutionalists like Veblen and Keynes, he argued that current ABMs fail to adequately model the nuanced behavior of economic agents, offering instead preliminary recommendations for improvement. The technical aspects of the discussion were fascinating, particularly as they paralleled some of the challenges I encounter in engineering research, where accurate models are vital to predicting outcomes. Comparatively, Newton's Law of gravitational attraction between two masses is far more idealistic and simpler compared to economic models criticised by Venter, only a small set of simultaneous equations is needed to make a good estimate in the former case!\",\"id\":\"746c393f-6c8e-4a83-9b4c-76307d4ddf83\"},{\"content\":\"What an unbelievable descriptor for someone in this day in age\u2026 do we all read the same history books? Evidently not\u2026\",\"id\":\"83251d07-2ebd-4ab8-9e4b-deaa13be89e3\"},{\"content\":\"An interesting part of the discussion here from our conversation at dinner was a very exciting debate where he'd criticise 'the west's' government terms of several years which always prevents consistent growth and I, although partially agreeing, asserted that this system was infinitely better than an autocratic system with no checks on power and enabling dictatorships that always hurt the people through economic means and vicious ideologies. We continued to talk about free trade, price controls (especially with the housing situation in Australia) and I surprised myself with my eloquence and how much I learned through Mannkal. I felt that the debate was invigorating and well-spoken from both sides. It was all in good faith, and as a joke at the end of it they were all satirically calling me \u201cMarx\u201d by the end of it due to my detesting of his ideology (aside from the industry by-product use mentioned previously).\",\"id\":\"74ff060f-8556-4950-8b3a-d6074d5bf3fa\"},{\"content\":\"We talked about the corrupt media, both in Asia and the West, and how much we may all potentially be \u201cin the dark\u201d with regards to truth. This was quite sobering and depressing, they talked about COVID conspiracies from the Chinese perspective which was very interesting. Whatever the case, where I represented mostly (but not entirely) the Australian economic scholars, and the others (mostly) represented the Marxist ones; one thing was evidently true between both schools in the past and at that dinner table: The people representing the Austrian school were dressed better than the Marxists!\",\"id\":\"b88a979a-2e40-47d0-9930-005baf07cdb4\"}]"},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.mannkal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/1.jpg\")
Footnotes and References<\/h3>\n\n\n
[2] K. Marx, \u201cUtilisation Of The Excretions Of Production,\u201d in Capital: a Critique of Political Economy, vol. 3, F. Engels, Ed., International Publishers, 1894, pp. 101-103.
[3] D. Venter, \u201cEARLY EVOLUTIONARY INSTITUTIONALISTS AND THE QUEST FOR BETTER AGENT-BASED MODELS,\u201d in History of Economic Thought Society Australia 2024, Sydney, Australia, 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"