: A theistic analysis of the Austrian theories of capital and interest

This thesis examines the philosophical background that culminates in the Austrian School of economics' theories of capital and interest. In chapter two, I describe the character of the school, its history, and the educational, environmental and social background of the main authorities. The school is characterised by an adherence to Carl Menger's doctrines, with Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, Friedrich von Hayek, and Ludwig von Mises as disciples who elaborated and developed subjectivism. In chapter three, I introduce and explain the philosophical position used in this study, which is the ontology and epistemology developed by Cornelius Van Til. In chapter four, I argue that the main Austrian authorities hold different epistemologies and ontologies, which conflict even with their apparently shared commitment to methodological individualism and subjectivism. I use Cornelius Van Til's philosophy to elucidate the commitments of the Austrians and claim that differences in epistemology emerge from distinctive ontologies. In chapter five, Carl Menger's work on value, goods, and price is assessed. He developed a subjectivist theory of capital, in which time demarcates the value of present and future goods, with value determined by the want-satisfying individual. In chapter six, I examine the development of capital theory by Böhm-Bawerk, Hayek, and Mises: productivity and value differentials over time are the elements that Austrian capital theory attempts to explain. In chapter seven, I examine how Böhm-Bawerk, Hayek, and Mises produced distinctive theories of interest. Mises included elements of Menger's, Böhm-Bawerk's, and Frank Fetter's work within the framework of his epistemology of praxeology and affirmed a pure time-preference theory of interest. I maintain that Mises's capital and interest theories are the distinctive representative theories of the Austrian School.