Israel Kirzner lays the foundations of entrepreneurship as the driving force of the market process by referring to alertness, uncertainty, and plan coordination. His approach, following the footsteps of Mises and Hayek, legitimizes entrepreneurial creativity and profit-making as the heart of the dynamic market process. He argues that an accurate insight into the economic system requires exploring how entrepreneurial dynamics work in society. This statement contrasts with the theories and models that govern modern development economics, such as randomized controlled trials (RCTs), in which the zero-intelligence agents replace the flesh-and-blood entrepreneur. Randomized controlled trials are considered the gold standard in modern development economics to assess treatment intervention efficacy in underdeveloped countries (Rodrik 2009). As a causal inference method, RCTs seek to determine whether a program had the outcome for which it was designed. Experts often utilize purely quantitative and experimental strategies for their guiding insights through trial and error of different interventions. In the ethics domain, experts seek to maximize the cost-benefit of specific interventions subject to a given set of data to rectify the inequalities generated by the market economy in underdeveloped economies. The economist becomes a kind of plumber who designs the creation and distribution of the “social pie,” assigning the respective slices to the specific individuals who participate in the experiments. Consequently, RCTs have justified active government intervention in the market process on behalf of policy advisers.However, Kirzner’s theory of entrepreneurship indicates that modern development economics’s core problem is epistemological and related to using the criterion of static efficiency in applied economics. Although RCTs are considered one of the most rigorous methods to inquire into the effectiveness of development policies, their design lacks interpretative capacity on the essence of economic phenomena. Experts on RCTs do not recognize that economic development is the byproduct of achieving social cooperation and coordination driven by purposeful human action under the division of labor. If the essence of economic phenomena is disregarded, it is impossible to address poverty causes adequately. Accordingly, RCTs are limited to testing cosmetic problems of economic underdevelopment.This article does not seek to offer specific proposals to remedy RCTs’ shortcomings, but it provides a theoretical foundation to guide further theoretical and empirical work. It argues that development economists have overlooked Kirzner’s theory of efficiency, which cannot be omitted without impairing the premise that development theory involves studying the dynamic process of plan coordination. Its relevance lies in the fact that Kirzner’s research can reshape modern development economics, which implies a theoretical advancement in several areas:• Kirzner’s analysis of static efficiency reveals the epistemological and ethical problems of modern development economics.• The framework of Kirzner’s dynamic efficiency clarifies the role of entrepreneurship in understanding how the market works.• Dynamic efficiency recognizes the creative and coordinating potential of entrepreneurship and capital accumulation in economic development.• Kirzner’s economic development theory responds to ethical dilemmas about (in)equality and pure profit within a market economy.• Contemporary research on dynamic efficiency explores new branches, such as the role of psychology, culture, and morality in economic development.Most research on efficiency and underdevelopment is still packaged in mathematical models that reduce the market’s complexity to comparative statics. Fortunately, a growing number of theories have begun to challenge this state of affairs by examining the following: First, psychology’s impact on productivity or the unproductiveness of entrepreneurial profit opportunities. Second, the role of culture in the dynamic process of institutional change and the adaptation of the entrepreneurial performance that ensures or deter economic development. Third, the relationship between personal morality and dynamic efficiency concerns private property and contractual ties. Hence, there are several strands of new literature on dynamic efficiency and development economics. This article focuses on one aspect that concerns both economists and governments in terms of modern thinking and practice: the role of efficiency (static and dynamic) in economic development.

The analysis of sustainable economic growth and development often focuses on how to control the market process through coercive state intervention. While state interventionism may play a significant role in countries’ progress, entrepreneurship is the driving force behind sustainable growth and development. Entrepreneurship is the people’s judgment on ideas, plans, and projects, which promises profit in uncertain times. Its effects are the creation and transmission of information and social coordination as a dynamic process of identifying and solving human problems. Sustainable development is the widening range of entrepreneurial alternatives open to people, and sustainable growth is a phase of sustainable development that depends on genuine savings to finance increasingly capital-intensive production structures. The degree to which people are entrepreneurs and the direction genuine savings take depend on institutional arrangements. Some institutions are more conducive to sustainable growth and development than others. After reviewing principles of growth and development sustainability, how coercive state intervention influences economic performance is discussed, proposing novel policy conclusions and research avenues to cultivate entrepreneurship and genuine savings in a post-COVID-19 world.

This paper provides a theoretical framework to explore how the support policies for renewable energies can promote rent-seeking incentives in private firms. We develop a political economy of rent-seeking that considers the link between the regulatory decisions of political agents and the potential scope of socially wasteful pursuits. We argue that systematic public support schemes bring rent-seeking as a perception shared by entrepreneurs that influencing political allocations of resources is an essential and potentially preferable source of private profit than other for-profit economic avenues. As evidence of our claims, the framework is applied to the case of Spain to illustrate the economic effects of support policies on the production and distribution of renewable energy. We find rent-seeking behavior in Spain’s renewable energy industry, and precisely that: (i) political regulations have induced market concentration and rent-seeking in renewable energy firms, (ii) these firms have required increasing regulations and premiums to survive, and (iii) energy consumers are forced to pay rent-seeking through increasingly expensive electricity bills. The analysis reveals some challenges and opportunities to drive efficient market-based policies to strengthen entrepreneurial competition and curb rent-seeking behavior. These insights have relevant proposals for the Spanish energy industry in complying with the EU Green Deal through a sustainable transition and comprehensive growth.

The Austrian school economics and neo-Marxist theories both have been reviving in recent years. However, the current academic discussion lacks a debate between two schools of economics with diametrically opposed views. This paper is the first and an initial Austrian challenge to Neo-Marxist scholars Nieto and Mateo’s argumentation that cyber-communism and the Austrian theory of dynamic efficiency are consistent to enhance economic development. Their argument focuses on two issues: (a) the existence of circular reasoning in the Austrian theory of dynamic efficiency, and (b) dynamic efficiency and full economic development could be strongly promoted in a socialist system through new information and communication technologies (ICT) and the democratization of all economic life. While cyber-communism refers to cyber-planning without private property rights through ICT, dynamic efficiency refers to the entrepreneurs’ creative and coordinative natures. In this paper, first, we argue that the hypothesis that dynamic efficiency and cyber-communism is not compatible. Contrary to the above cyber-communist criteria, the Austrian theory of dynamic efficiency argues that to impede private property rights is to remove the most powerful entrepreneurial incentive to create and coordinate profit opportunities. Second, we argue that the cyber-communism system is inconsistent with economic development. In this regard, we explain how the institutional environment can cultivate or stifle dynamic efficiency and economic development. Having briefly outlined the central argument of Nieto and Mateo, we examine the institutional arrangement supporting cyber-communism. After that, we evaluate the implications of cyber-communism in the dynamic efficiency process. It becomes manifest that Nieto and Mateo’s accounts are too general to recognize the complexity of how economic development works.

This article explores some of the epistemological problems that have been neglected in the history of mainstream development economics. The research is focused on how epistemology influences the conception of develop- ment and the role of the economist in development policy. The epistemological foundations of economics and its methodological and theoretical implications were analyzed first. Then, these points of view were connected to explain the rise of development economics as a purely technical field. The main develop-ment theories were contrasted with empirical evidence to reveal their disregard for reality. Furthermore, the Austrian theory of dynamic efficiency was pre-sented to overcome the epistemological problems of development economics. The results helped in redefining the concept of development based on purpose-ful human action. Finally, some patterns of economic progress were identified to challenge the mainstream role of the economist in development policy. Keywords: Epistemology, Positivism, Development, Dynamic Efficiency, Prop-erty rights, Capital-theory JEL Classification: B41, B53, O11, O12 Resumen: Este artículo explora algunos de los problemas epistemológicos que se han descuidado en la historia de la economía del desarrollo convencional. La investigación se centra en cómo la epistemología influye en la concepción del desarrollo y el papel del economista en la política de desarrollo. Primero se analizaron los fundamentos epistemológicos de la economía y sus  implica- ciones metodológicas y teóricas. Luego, estos puntos de vista fueron conectados para explicar el surgimiento de la economía del desarrollo como un campo puramente técnico. Las principales teorías del desarrollo fueron con-trastadas con evidencia empírica para revelar su desprecio por la realidad. Además, se presentó la teoría austriaca de la eficiencia dinámica para superar los problemas epistemológicos de la economía del desarrollo. Los resultados ayudaron a redefinir el concepto de desarrollo basado en la acción humana decidida. Finalmente, se identificaron algunos patrones de progreso econó-mico para desafiar el papel convencional del economista en la política de desarrollo. Palabras clave: Epistemología, Positivismo, Desarrollo, Eficiencia Dinámica, Dere-chos de propiedad, Teoría del capital Clasificación JEL: B41, B53, O11, O12

Last year, 2020, was the 50th anniversary of the opening of the ‘Chilean road to socialism’ by Salvador Allende. Although the Allende government is the political reference for the 'socialism of the 21st century’ in Latin America, international supporters tend to disregard the primary cause of its downfall, focusing instead on the circumstances of Allende's death. This article explains the link between the Allende government's development policies and its macroeconomic outcomes between 1970 and 1973. It finds that Chile's economic collapse had an endogenous cause related to government policies. This supports the views of Mises and Hayek on the feasibility of socialist economic policies. Policymakers and commentators should recognise essential lessons from the Chilean experience to learn from past errors and effectively promote Latin America's economic development.

The “new development economics” (also called behavioral development economics) consists of microeconomic experimentation based on behavioral economics and randomized controlled trials. This approach would illuminate the close relationships between preferences, culture, and institutions and point to new political opportunities. This paper describes and analyzes the new development economics’s main components and argues that the new development economics is just like the old development economics in terms of its central assumptions, objectives, and recommendations. Despite the growing recognition that social, cultural, and institutional factors profoundly affect decision-making, old and new development economists generally lean toward the extreme reductionism of the neoclassical paradigm. It is observed that research on the essence of economic development has been neglected or treated inadequately in the school’s literature. It is suggested that the findings of the Austrian theory of dynamic efficiency, based on human action’s creative and entrepreneurial feature, may allow the development economics to overcome its analytical challenges.

Este artículo revisa y discute las observaciones del profesor Maxi Nieto sobre algunos temas importantes de la moderna teoría del socialismo. En particular, su interpretación del argumento contra la “posibilidad” del cálculo económico sin derechos de propiedad privada desarrollado por la nueva generación de autores de la escuela austriaca. Centra la atención en cuestiones metodológicas para resaltar las deficiencias teóricas de algunas de las principales ideas defendidas por Nieto. También analiza su propuesta del ciber-comunismo como alternativa para superar el desafío del cálculo económico a través de las nuevas tecnologías de la información y la comunicación. Argumenta que su análisis es superficial y que el desafío de los austriacos sobre la imposibilidad del socialismo sigue siendo sólido.