Yes, there are irrefutable axioms, for instance that people act purposefully. This axiom is irrefutable since you cannot prove otherwise without immediately (and necessarily) confirm it: through acting purposefully to prove the point. From this follows (and is implied) that individuals have ends, and they act purposefully to fulfill those ends. Economics study human behavior and therefore this axiom is, naturally, the core.

I do not necessarily agree with everything in Austrian Economics and certainly not with all Austrian economists in everything they say. But I do disagree with much of the contemporary mainstream inductive (yes, inductive) approach to economics where we have, it seems, forgotten a lot of the basics.

Much of contemporary economics has become primarily technical and therefore focuses only on details while not thinking about the bigger picture (or context). For example, how can one combine micro and macro? These sub disciplines have evolved into separate sets of dogma that do not fit together. It seems to me that the neoclassicals have tried so much to separate themselves from classical economics that they have totally distanced themselves from big picture discussions.

It is today the case that classical economics was big picture economics, whereas neoclassical economics is the economics of specifics where the specifically studied areas do not fit together. One of the great advantages of Austrian Economics is that it supplies a picture where all pieces fit together and both specifics and generalities are explained.

(It is also based on realistic assumptions rather than focusing on situations of “perfect competition,” “perfect information,” etc.)

What do you make of axiomatic economics in the Austrian School? Do you believe there is a certain set of axioms that are irrefutable that we can use to make economic models?