The schools of economic thought emerged around the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as a reaction to the physiocratism of the time. These had a leader and a group of disciples who followed the ideas of the first. Some, becoming really successful movements, decided to distribute periodicals, such as magazines. Furthermore, they tended to become the prevailing economic models of important periods in human history (eg, mercantilism, during the Renaissance). They undoubtedly helped shape the economy that is practiced today.
Meanwhile, the Austrian school stands out. It has been placed within the group of heterodox economic thoughts and it is well known that the followers of this school were quite critical of neoclassical methodologies. They affirmed that statistical models are not a completely reliable means for studying economic behavior, both individual and collective; They prefer, instead, the use of techniques framed in methodological individualism (a common practice within sociology, which identifies specific elements of each individual, these with the power to modify the structure of a society), and logical-deductive tools.
Among the antecedents of the Austrian school, the Salamanca School is identified, which had a great presence in Spain during the 16th century, and the Physiocratic, with great importance, as mentioned above, during the 17th and 18th centuries. The first wave of economists of this class emerged towards the end of the 19th century; however, it was not until the twentieth century, when it gained a little more force. After the end of World War II, a considerable portion of the economic community rejected the theoretical foundations of the Austrian School, due to its refusal to use mathematical methods.
