David Prychitko republishes “The Market Process” exploring economic topics

A new book, edited by NMU’s own economics professor, addresses a multitude of economic issues including philosophy and methodology.

David Prychitko co-edited “The Market Process: Essays in Contemporary Austrian Economics,” which contains a collection of articles from a journal called “Market Process” that explore and topics such as the equilibrium and economic modeling of the economy.

Prychitko and his co-editor Pete Boettke began working with the “Market Process” journal while at graduate school at George Mason Unviersity in the 1980s. The two were drawn to the journal because it discussed an Austrian model of economics that was less focused on formal and mathematical models of economics, Prychitko said.

The book was originally published in the 1990s as an expensive hardcover book “destined for school libraries,” he said. He added that they decided to revisit the book and republish it to be more accessible for students, graduate students and professors and add to current discussions of economics.

“There have been a number of roads from different perspectives chipping away at the formal models that we use and teach our students all the time,” Prychitko said. “That’s why getting this book back in print and in paperback could help contribute to that conversation.”

The editing process included selecting articles and writing an introduction, he said.

“I’ve edited a number of books and the fun part is, in fact, deciding which articles to select and the fun part is also writing an introduction that ties the whole theme of the book together,” Prychitko said. “It gave the reader a comprehensive overview of what these articles are about, the questions they’re asking, the subjects they’re interested in exploring. That’s the fun part.”

Prychitko has edited six other books, published two of his own and is a co-author of a textbook.

“It’s always a real pleasure to have a published book of mine in my own hands. It’s something that I can point out and say hopefully there’s something of value in this book to students, other professors that they might appreciate just as much as I appreciate,” Prychitko said. “It’s always fun to see the final work done.”

As a professor, it is important to continue to engage in research and scholarly development, Prychitko said. He added that there is good support for research at NMU and he enjoys seeing his colleagues conducting research.

“Our main objective at Northern as professors is to teach, but also our responsibility is to be engaged in our professions and go beyond just communicating ideas here on campus but be part of the communication of ideas across universities,” Prychitko said.