Two forgotten articles by Ludwig von Mises on the rationality of socialist economic calculation

1987 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Keizer
Keyword(s):  
Economic Calculation ◽  
Ludwig Von Mises ◽  
Socialist Economic ◽  
Von Mises

Comment on Horwitz's Article

1996 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 308-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allin Cottrell
Keyword(s):  
Government Intervention ◽  
Austrian Economics ◽  
Neoclassical Economics ◽  
Economic Calculation ◽  
Market System ◽  
Neoclassical Theory ◽  
Ludwig Von Mises ◽  
Alternative Approaches ◽  
Von Mises ◽  
Friedrich Hayek

Austrian economics is arousing increasing interest, not to say enthusiasm, these days. No doubt this is in part due to the collapse of the planned economies of the Soviet type, which has lent credibility to the claims of Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek regarding the impossibility of rational economic calculation under socialism-claims which were disputed by the mainstream neoclassical economists of a generation ago. The phenomenon also reflects a relatively long-standing dissatisfaction with neoclassical economics. For many years it was the radical critics of capitalism who felt most keenly the attractions of alternative approaches in economics. Now, increasingly, champions of the market are coming to believe that neoclassical theory does not offer a deep and firm enough basis for asserting the virtues of the market system, and the counterproductive effects of government intervention therein.

Technical or political? The socialist economic calculation debate

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiago Camarinha Lopes
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Austrian School ◽  
Economic Calculation ◽  
Standard Interpretation ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Mainstream Economics ◽  
Political Position ◽  
Socialist Economic ◽  
Technical Terms

Abstract The paper presents both the key arguments and the historical context of the socialist economic calculation debate. I argue that Oskar Lange presented the most developed strategy to deal with bourgeois economics, decisively helping to create the scientific consensus that rational economic calculation under socialism is possible. Lange’s arguments based on standard economic theory reveal that the most ardent defenders of capitalism cannot reject socialism on technical terms and that, as a consequence, the Austrian School was left with no choice but to diverge from mainstream economics in its search to develop a framework that could support its political position. This shows that Mises’ challenge from 1920 was solved and has been replaced by a political posture developed by Hayek and leading Austrians economists, who have been struggling since the 1980s to revise the standard interpretation of the socialist economic calculation debate. I argue that this revision should not be uncritically accepted and conclude that socialism cannot be scientifically rejected; it can only be politically rejected, by those whose economic interests it opposes.

scholarly journals Perfect Capitalism, Imperfect Humans: Race, Migration and the Limits of Ludwig von Mises’s Globalism

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quinn Slobodian
Keyword(s):  
International Order ◽  
Normative Theory ◽  
Habsburg Empire ◽  
Empirical Reality ◽  
Ludwig Von Mises ◽  
Austrian Economist ◽  
Global Mobility ◽  
Open Borders ◽  
International Theory ◽  
Von Mises

While the Viennese origins of key neoliberal intellectuals is well known, the formative influence of the Habsburg Empire on their thought is surprisingly understudied. This article argues that the empire was a silent and open partner in the writings of Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises on international order, especially on questions of migration and the management of a polyglot population. After 1918 Mises conceived of robust forms of multinational governance capable of protecting a world of what he called ‘perfect capitalism’ with total global mobility of labour, capital and commodities. Yet, by 1945 he had scaled back his proposals to the effective recreation of the Habsburg Empire. I show that Mises’s international theory was cleft by a faultline between a normative theory of an open borders world and the empirical reality of a closed borders world, underwritten by what he saw as the stubborn obstacles of human ignorance and racial animus.

scholarly journals Two theoretical approaches to human behavior and social institutions

2021 ◽  
pp. 13-50
Author(s):  
Javier Aranzadi del Cerro
Keyword(s):  
Market Economy ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Dynamic Structure ◽  
Chicago School ◽  
Human Action ◽  
Jel Classification ◽  
Market Process ◽  
Ludwig Von Mises ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Von Mises

This paper deals with theoretical approaches to the real economic crisis we are suffering. I set out the poverty of the theoretical solutions offered by mainstream neoclassical economics and the necessity of a new theoretical approach, which is not obsessed by the positivist method. My argument is based on the work of Ludwig von Mises who was considered to give the best theoretical arguments in the debate on the impossibility of efficient economic calculation under centrally planned socialism. Although nowadays the Austrian School is considered old-fashion and lacking in scientific rigour, I agree with the late Professor Sumantra Ghoshal that it is necessary to escape from strait-jacketed methods and try to understand real economics problems. Our market economy is suffering from what he described as the consequences of bad theories destroying good entrepreneurial practices. For I do think that the triumph over communism is in danger of becoming a Pyrrhic victory if we lose our understanding of the market economy and its dynamic structure based on entrepreneurs and firms. Key words: Human action, Ludwig von Mises, Chicago School, entrepre - neurship, market process, social institutions. JEL Classification: A10; B41; B53; D00. Resumen: Este artículo compara los modelos teóricos con los que se analiza la crisis económica que estamos sufriendo. Planteo la pobreza teórica ofrecida por el paradigma neoclásico dominante y defiendo la necesidad de nuevas aproximaciones teóricas que no estén obsesionadas por el método positivista. Mi argumento se basa en la obra de Ludwig von Mises quien fue considerado el economista que esgrimió los mejores argumentos tóricos en el debate sobre la imposibilidad de una cálculo económico eficiente en una económica de planificación central. Aunque hoy en día se considera que la Escuela Austriaca está pasada de moda y falta de rigor científico, estoy de acuerdo con el difunto profesor Sumantra Ghoshal sobre la necesidad de abandonar los métodos encorsetados e intentar comprender los problemas económicos reales. Nuestra economía de mercado está sufriendo las consecuencias de lo que él describe como malas teorías que destruyen buenas prácticas empresariales. Son estas las razones por las que pienso que el triunfo sobre el comunismo está en riego de convertirse en una victoria pírrica si perdemos nuestra comprensión de la economía de mercado y su estructura dinámica basadas en la empresarialidad y la empresa privada. Palabras clave: Acción humana, Ludwig von Mises, Escuela de Chicago, empresarialidad, proceso de mercado, instituciones sociales. Clasificación JEL: A10; B41; B53; D00.

scholarly journals A Filosofia da Liberdade na Saga de Filmes Star Wars – Parte 2

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 563-590
Author(s):  
Alex Catharino
Keyword(s):  
Ludwig Von Mises ◽  
Star Wars ◽  
George Lucas ◽  
Von Mises

O artigo analisa a Filosofia Moral e a Teoria Política que permeiam a saga de filmes Guerra nas Estrelas, do cineasta George Lucas. O autor relaciona a queda da personagem Anakin Skywalker com a ascensão do Império Galáctico e discute alguns temas da estória que podem ser apropriadas como metáforas explicativas de algumas propostas teóricas da Escola Austríaca de Economia, em especial das ideias de Ludwig von Mises e de F. A Hayek.

scholarly journals Ludwig Erhards Konzept der sozialen Marktwirtschaft und seine wettbewerbstheoretischen Grundlagen

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Rhonheimer
Keyword(s):  
Ludwig Von Mises ◽  
Franz Böhm ◽  
Von Mises

Abstract Erhards Konzeption einer sozialen Marktwirtschaft durch marktwirtschaftlichen Wettbewerb ist auch heute noch wegweisend. Doch wurde die Idee des Sozialen im Programm der Sozialen Marktwirtschaft mit der Zeit verfälscht. Zudem beruht Erhards Konzept auf einer wettbewerbstheoretischen Grundlage – dem neoklassischen Modell der vollständigen Konkurrenz –, die seinen wohlstandsfördernden Intentionen zuwiderläuft. Erhards Position stimmte mit derjenigen der Freiburger Schule (Walter Eucken, Franz Böhm) nur teilweise überein, unterscheidet sich aber ebenso in wesentlichen Punkten vom Denken der Österreichischen Schule der National-ökonomie (Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich August Hayek) und deren dynamisch-evolutionärem Verständnis von Wettbewerb. Gerade für eine im Sinne Erhards wettbewerbsorientierte Konzeption der Sozialen Marktwirtschaft erscheint das Österreichische Verständnis von Wettbewerb als das realitätsnähere und adäquatere.

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