Recently and unexpectedly, Juan Carlos Cachanosky (1953–2015) left this world. I have always thought that he was, by far, the best and brightest Austrian economist of the Spanish speaking world. And above all, he was an apostle of Liberty.
After graduating in Economics at the Catholic University of Argentina, Juan Carlos went to the United States to get a PhD. He got it under the supervision of Hans Sennholz. His Doctoral Thesis dealt with the use (and abuse) of Mathematics in the realm of Economics. With his thesis, Juan Carlos helped Dr. Sennholz pay a debt he had with Ludwig von Mises himself. This is because Mises asked Sennholz to write about this subject and he never had time. After Juan Carlos thesis, Sennholz felt that he finally paid his debt to his master.
His intellectual contributions are multiple. Besides his above mentioned thesis on the use of Mathematics he also wrote about value and price, the reasons of the “great depression” of 1929, and value based management. I remember a talk he gave in Vienna about of these topics. According to Juan Carlos, Marx did not have an objective theory of value but an objective theory of prices.
That Summer University we co-organized in Vienna in 2014 was one of many projects we did together…
How did I meet Juan Carlos? Due to an educational effort, of course.
Back in 2009 I was helping with the organization of a year-long introductory program on Austrian Economics. Collaborating with terrific young guys such as Matías Spelta, Marcelo Ballardini, Ariel Tejera, Leandro Verón, and the “usual suspects” of Fundación Bases (Diego, Valeria, Lucre, Pablo, Seba, Martín, and Julia) we put together a great program with people like Juan Carlos himself, Rafael Beltramino, Juan Sebastián Landoni, Guillermo Covernton, Martín Krause, Nicolás Cachanosky (Juan Carlos’s son), Adrián Ravier, and many more. Juan Carlos gave the final lecture of that program and he seemed very pleased. In 2010 he was one of the Keynote Speakers of our International Conference: “The Austrian School of Economics in the 21st Century.” Thanks to him, scholars such as Lawrence White, Christopher Lingle, Ben Powell, and Kurt Leube came to Rosario (Argentina) to participate in the conference.
Our “joint ventures” were just starting. In 2012 we launched, with the support of the Naumann Foundation, an Annual Online Program to teach the ideas of Liberty and Open Society. Some of the greatest minds from Latin America and the rest of the world have taught for us throughout these years. We have truly provided the world with a treasure of liberty which is accessible to everybody.
Juan Carlos was also responsible for a Festschrift in honor of Alberto Benegas Lynch (Jr). He not only invited me to submit a paper but also put me as co-editor of the book. That was his level of generosity.
Juan Carlos and I closely collaborated in Vienna (Austria), too. In 2014 CMT Group and the Austrian Economics Center co-organized a Summer University in Vienna I made reference above. People from all over Latin America -and even Israel- participated. In fact, we were planning to repeat the event this year.
Last time I saw him was in the end of October. He came to Vienna and, of course, he accepted Agostina Lorenzini’s invitation to speak for the Austrian Economics Center and European Students for Liberty Vienna. Afterwards, Agos, I, and a small group took him for dinner. We had, as always, a great time. However, he complained that Alfonso, my Fox Terrier, didn’t join us. He claimed that he had more interesting conversations with him than with me…
Juan Carlos had a keen mind. We talked about many things and I always learnt a lot. He had also a great sense of humour. He was constantly making jokes. He was also extremely humble. Many people I know called him “Charly.” I never dared to do so. I didn’t even address him informally (“tutear” in Spanish). Although I felt quite close to him, it seemed to me that he deserved a certain level of reverence.
It will take me a long time to realize the exact caliber of his figure. It will take even longer to realize that he’s no longer with us.
Juan Carlos had a beautiful family. If we judged him by his two sons and daughter, we would definitely have to say that his time in this Earth was fertile. His son Iván has written a very touching article on his father in which he promises to follow his example. All of us should try to follow Juan Carlos example.
I’m going to miss you, my dear friend. But I take comfort in knowing that your legacy will live forever.
PS: many articles have been written since Juan Carlos passed away. Running the risk of being unfair I would like to mention the ones by Iván Cachanosky, Nicolás Cachanosky (in English), Roberto Cachanosky, Adrián Ravier, Martín Krause, Alberto Benegas Lynch (h), Kurt Leube (in English), and Thomasz Froe (in German). Finally, this interview done by Adrián Ravier is a great introduction to Juan Carlos’s ideas.
* Federico N. Fernández is Executive Director at Somos Innovación (a Latin American pro-innovation alliance) and CEO at We Are Innovation (Somos Innovación’s sister organization for Europe). Federico is Founder and President of Fundación Internacional Bases (Rosario, Argentina) and also the Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the International Conference “The Austrian School of Economics in the 21st Century,” which takes place in Europe and LatAm alternatively.
Source: Fundación Internacional Bases
