November 29, 2010 9:20AM 

# What Austrian Economics Is 

By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) 

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…and what it is not. That’s Steve Horwitz’s topic in [this post](http://www.coordinationproblem.org/2010/11/what-austrian-economics-is-and-what-austrian-economics-is-not.html) at Coordination Problem. He notes a [recent post](http://www.frumforum.com/why-the-austrian-economists-won) at FrumForum about “the Austrian school’s disdain for American foreign policy and willingness to call Lincoln a tyrant.”

No, Horwitz says. Austrian economics is “*an approach to the study of human action and the social world, not a set of policy conclusions*.” Austrian economics is not the same thing as libertarianism, natural rights, or any perspective on American wars past or present.

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