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Your analysis of Austrian Economics is interesting, I guess I don't see the 'sect' part where people are excluded if they happen to disagree of a few points. They may be heatedly debated, but are still free to refer to themselves as 'Austrians'. All Austrians (economists not the state) do not agree with each other on every point - that makes them sound like a bunch of mind-washed idiots and would be an impossibility in addition.

BTW: I was proud of my 98% score.

In regard to your question regarding Booms and Busts, I can tell you why I would choose (A). First off the economy is made up of and extremely diverse population of producers (businesses) and consumers. the success or failure of one business in one sector has extremely minor effects on other businesses in other sectors. So to have 'recurring cycles of cross-industry booms and busts' tells me that there has to be a commonality between all businesses to be affected all at the same time. The only economic commonality I can see (with my limited intellectual and educational experience) is the core engine of the money. The fact that the money supply and all aspects of its use and creation is controlled by a single entity and this entity has definite political affiliations makes the central Bank/federal Reserve/entire Fiat Money System suspect in my mind.

Besides this one centralizing theme, I believe that economies can be influenced by large catasrophies that effect large areas and populations, this could be anything from extreme weather conditions, to a aberrent increase in tornados/hurricanes/wildfires, to a meteor impact, or war. Other things that could influence economies are sociological factors that influence purchasing decisions like fads, holidays, religious events, or anything else that can influence peoples thoughts across the board.

Yes, businesses will always be failing and succeeding, BUT to have such a large amount of businesses experience the same problems at the same time on a recurring basis is highly unlikely, in fact, without an outside influence, I would say that it would never occur 'naturally' to the degree that we experience and quantity we experience.