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 This shows that Mises’ challenge from 1920 was solved and has been replaced by a political posture developed by Hayek and leading Austrians economists, who have been struggling since the 1980s to revise the standard interpretation of the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.

Great Britain, International Law, and the Evolution of Maritime Strategic Thought, 1856–1914

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela A. Frei
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
International Law ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Maritime Law ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
State Practice ◽  
Sea Power ◽  
Maritime Strategy ◽  
Strategic Thought

The book addresses the interaction between international maritime law and maritime strategy in a historical context, arguing that both international law and maritime strategy are based on long-term state interests. Great Britain as the predominant sea power in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries shaped the relationship between international law and maritime strategy like no other power. The book explores how Great Britain used international maritime law as an instrument of foreign policy to protect its strategic and economic interests, and how maritime strategic thought evolved in parallel to the development of international legal norms. The book offers an analysis of British state practice as well as an examination of the efforts of the international community to codify international maritime law in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As the predominant sea power and also the world’s largest carrier of goods, Great Britain had to balance its interests as both a belligerent and a neutral power. With the growing importance of international law in international politics, the book examines the role of international lawyers, strategists, and government officials who shaped state practice. Great Britain’s neutrality for most of the period between 1856 and 1914 influenced its state practice and its perceptions of a future maritime conflict. Yet, the codification of international maritime law at The Hague and London conferences at the beginning of the twentieth century demanded a reassessment of Great Britain’s legal position.

scholarly journals The Long Rehabilitation of Frank Fetter

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew McCaffrey
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Austrian School ◽  
Historical Records ◽  
History Of ◽  
Austrian Tradition ◽  
David Ricardo

Economics has long history of “rehabilitations,” including W.H. Hutt’s rehabilitation of Say’s law, and Alfred Marshall’s attempt to rehabilitate David Ricardo. The rehabilitation of Frank A. Fetter should be as important as either of these, especially for economists working in the contemporary Austrian tradition. The historical records reveal that for the last century there has been underway a nearly unbroken series of efforts, especially by Austrian economists, to rehabilitate Fetter’s contributions and use them to revitalize economic theory. This paper relates this history, which chronicles the rise, decline, and rise again of one of the great American economic theorists. Yet crucially, this is not a story about Fetter alone, but also of the fortunes of the Austrian school and its rise, decline, and renaissance.

scholarly journals Mainstream economics and the Austrian school: toward reunification

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam K. Pham
Keyword(s):  
Research Program ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Revealed Preference ◽  
Austrian School ◽  
Philosophical Foundation ◽  
Mainstream Economics ◽  
Research Paradigms

In this paper, I compare the methodology of the Austrian school to two alternative methodologies from the economic mainstream: the 'orthodox' and revealed preference methodologies. I argue that Austrian school theorists should stop describing themselves as 'extreme apriorists' (or writing suggestively to that effect), and should start giving greater acknowledgement to the importance of empirical work within their research program. The motivation for this dialectical shift is threefold: the approach is more faithful to their actual practices, it better illustrates the underlying similarities between the mainstream and Austrian research paradigms, and it provides a philosophical foundation that is much more plausible in itself.

scholarly journals Vínculos entre la Escuela Austriaca de Economía y el método de la inversión en valor

2021 ◽  
pp. 255-304
Author(s):  
Diego E. Quijano Durán
Keyword(s):  
Common Sense ◽  
Jel Classification ◽  
Austrian School ◽  
Economic Calculation ◽  
Austrian School Of Economics ◽  
Value Investing ◽  
Palabras Clave ◽  
The World ◽  
The Common

The Austrian school of economics and the investment method known as value investing have a similar conception of the world, so that it is possible to find multiple links between them and form a coherent structure. To the economist, this allows for a much deeper understanding of the entrepreneurial function and the manner in which economic calculation is actually performed. To the investor, it offers a theoretical framework that explains economic phenomena, permitting him to better understand the role of the entrepreneur and to protect his investment when dangerous patterns can be observed. In this essay, we begin from the common stance of both schools of thought towards common sense, the use of realistic assumptions, the importance of prudence and the low value of complex mathematics in the fields of economics and finance. We then proceed to develop in greater depth nine aspects that have strong philosophical and scientific links. Key words: Value investing, Austrian school of economics, entrepreneurship, dynamic efficiency, economic calculation. JEL Classification: A12, G17, M20. Resumen: La Escuela Austriaca de Economía y el método de inversión en valor tienen una concepción similar del mundo que permite entrelazarlas coherentemente. Al economista, le permite profundizar el conocimiento del ejercicio de la función empresarial y la realización del cálculo económico en la práctica. Al inversor, le ofrece un marco teórico para comprender mejor el papel del empresario y los fenómenos económicos y detectar temprano patrones peligrosos y así protegerse. En este trabajo partimos de la base de que ambas escuelas de pensamiento tienen sus raíces en el sentido común y los supuestos realistas, que son prudentes a la hora de ver el futuro y que dudan de la utilidad de las matemáticas complejas en los campos económicos y financieros. Sobre ello, desarrollamos nueve aspectos en los cuales hay fuertes conexiones como, por ejemplo, la manera en que el ejercicio de la empresarialidad mejora la eficiencia del mercado y coordina los planes de las personas. Palabras clave: Inversión en valor, escuela austriaca de economía, empre-sarialidad, eficiencia dinámica, cálculo económico. Clasificación JEL: A12, G17, M20.

scholarly journals Amartya Kumar Sen’s ethical interpretation of poverty

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 157-169
Author(s):  
Damian Szymczak
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Fundamental Question ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Specific Time ◽  
Or Education ◽  
Running Water ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Good And Evil

On the threshold of the 21st century, the problem of poverty remains unresolved. Many still suffer from hunger, and many more have no access to running water, or education. This raises a fundamental question that has bothered economy researchers for centuries: What determines the wealth of some countries, and the poverty of others? One of the contemporary researchers analysing the causes of poverty and development barriers is Indian economist Amartya Kumar Sen. Referring to the socio-economic theory of Sen, the author indicates that modernity implies the need for reflection on the definition of poverty. The author attempts to justify the thesis which focuses on the discord between the evaluation concepts of good and evil with objective economic factors defining poverty. The author suggests that the definition of poverty should be grounded in considerations concerning good and evil in a specific time, as well as cultural and historical context.

The Laws of Nature Are the Laws of God in Leviathan

2021 ◽  
pp. 146-155
Author(s):  
A.P. Martinich
Keyword(s):  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Standard View ◽  
Standard Interpretation ◽  
Civil Laws ◽  
Technical Terms

The standard interpretation that the laws of nature in Leviathan are not laws because he calls them theorems is mistaken. The theorems, or “dictates of reason,” are the propositions that Hobbes proves. But they need the force of a command to be, as he says “properly called Lawes.” Hobbes uses reason to prove them, and reason is the “undoubted word of God.” The author argues against John Deigh’s ingenious defense of the standard view. Deigh maintains that words in phrases that are technical terms do not retain their meaning outside of the phrase. But if that were true, then “civil laws” and “natural liberty” would not be laws or liberty respectively. Also, if they were not laws, Hobbes’s division of two kinds of law, civil and natural, would be absurd.

scholarly journals Nash Equilibrium and the History of Economic Theory

1999 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 1067-1082 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger B Myerson
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Economic Theory ◽  
Nash Equilibrium ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Noncooperative Game ◽  
Noncooperative Game Theory ◽  
History Of Social Science ◽  
History Of

John Nash's formulation of noncooperative game theory was one of the great breakthroughs in the history of social science. Nash's work in this area is reviewed in its historical context to better understand how the fundamental ideas of noncooperative game theory were developed and how they changed the course of economic theory.

Book Reviews

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-121
Keyword(s):  
Business Cycles ◽  
Austrian Economics ◽  
Austrian School ◽  
Market Process ◽  
Florida State University ◽  
State University ◽  
Economic Calculation ◽  
The Core

Roger W. Garrison of Auburn University reviews “Advanced Introduction to the Austrian School of Economics”, by Randall G. Holcombe. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Provides an introduction and summary of the core principles, ideas, and diversity of modern Austrian economics. Discusses the market process; decentralized knowledge—the role of firms and markets; economic calculation; money, banking, and business cycles; and the resurgence of the Austrian school. Holcombe is DeVoe Moore Professor of Economics at Florida State University.”

scholarly journals Does Culture Matter in Economic Behavior?

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward O'Boyle
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Human Person ◽  
Economic Behavior ◽  
Economic Systems ◽  
Mainstream Economic ◽  
One Dimensional ◽  
Mainstream Economics ◽  
The One

In this article we address the following question: does culture play a role in economic behavior? We conclude that culture influences economic behavior in all three areas of economic activity: work, consumption, and leisure. Our proof lies not so much in replicating certain experimental results, but in documenting in real-world circumstances how culture influences economic behavior. Attention to the role of culture in economic affairs acknowledges that humans are more than the one-dimensional, autonomous, individuals, as premised in mainstream economics, whose very existence is temporal, whose role in economic affairs is strictly instrumental, and whose behavior is virtually the same across cultures. We have argued that humans are two-dimensional twice over. First, humans are individual beings and social beings: solitary and communal, self-made and culture-bound, autonomous and dependent, rational and emotional, self-centered and other-centered. Second, humans are both matter and spirit. The duality of the human person, rooted in individuality and sociality, affords an opportunity to unify economic theory wherein individuality is the focus of microeconomics and sociality is the center of macroeconomics. Putting the isolated individual at the very heart of economics closes down that opportunity and assures that mainstream economic theory will remain truncated indefinitely. The makeover of mainstream economics will take place once neo-classical economists accept that the ultimate end of economic systems relates not to maximum personal net advantage but to integral human development.

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