scholarly journals Michael Polanyi and Early Neoliberalism

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 31-44
Author(s):  
Martin Beddeleem ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Close Contact ◽  
The State ◽  
Central Planning ◽  
Michael Polanyi ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Laissez Faire ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Post War ◽  
Common Agenda

Between the late 1930s and the 1950s, Michael Polanyi came in close contact with a diverse cast of intellectuals seeking a renewal of the liberal doctrine. The elaboration of this “neoliberalism” happened through a transnational collaboration between economists, philosophers, and social theorists, united in their rejection of central planning. Defining a common agenda for this “early neoliberalism” offered an opportunity to discard the old laissez-faire doctrine and restore a supervisory role of the state. Ultimately, post-war dissensions regarding the direction of these efforts led Polanyi away from the neoliberal core.

Government Role and Public Spending

2020 ◽  
pp. 11-31
Author(s):  
Vito Tanzi
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Public Spending ◽  
The State ◽  
Central Planning ◽  
Role Of Government ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Laissez Faire ◽  
Past Experiences

This chapter considers two polar cases in the role of government: Laissez faire and central planning. Past experiences with central planning, its difficulties and its influence, are discussed. The chapter looks at the role of the state during periods of laissez faire and the influence of Adam Smith. Low spending and low taxes characterize laissez faire policies. Economists put their trust in evolution and progress. The chapter then goes on to anaylze how the role of the state changed in the twentieth century and the new functions of stabilization and redistribution. The Industrial Revolution had a major impact on the role of the state in the nineeenth century, and in the twentieth, after World War Two, many states saw a growth in taxation and public spending. Finally the chapter considers whether more public spending leads to more social welfare

scholarly journals Spontaneous Order Versus Central Planning: A comparison of MICHAEL POLANYI & F.A. VON HAYEK

2021 ◽  
pp. 173-215
Author(s):  
Patrick Reimers
Keyword(s):  
Free Market ◽  
Central Planning ◽  
Spontaneous Order ◽  
Austrian School ◽  
Michael Polanyi ◽  
Ludwig Von Mises ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Carl Menger ◽  
Von Mises

This paper evaluates and compares the main philosophic and economic thoughts of the two great liberal minds Michael Polanyi and Friedrich A. von Hayek in regards to the concept of a ‘spontaneous order’. In several of their books and papers, both Michal Polanyi (1941, 1948, 1951) and F.A. von Hayek (1944, 1945, 1964, 1973) strongly emphasised on the impossibility of socialism and the superiority of a free market versus public interventionism. Both highlighted their conviction that central planning cannot be more efficient than a spontaneous order, since knowledge is dispersed (Hayek) and tacit (Polanyi). Although both shared very similar concerns in regards to economic matters, they did not always come to the same conclusions. Thus, also the differences between Polanyi’s and Hayek’s concepts will be discussed, such as Polanyi’s emphasis on defending subsystems as the basic units of society, and his focus on maximizing “public freedom”. Both came to different conclusions in regards to the institutional character of science, and even concluded somewhat differently on the character of knowledge. Most importantly, they developed different concepts on political economy and the ideal role of the State. Moreover, this paper will consider the impact of M. Polanyi on the concept of polycentricity and on the ideas of Elinor Ostrom, while also referring to the different understanding of the role of the State in the ideas of F.A. Hayek compared to other Austrian School economists, such as Murray N. Rothbard. In addition, the paper pretends to historically analyse the emergence of the term ‘spontaneous order’, showing that it is not the product of one mind’s design, but the consequence of the thoughts of several great minds, such as Carl Menger, Ludwig von Mises, F.A. von Hayek, Michael Polanyi, Walter Eucken, and Wilhelm Röpke. Keywords: liberalism, libertarianism, capitalism, Austrian school of economics, interventionism, collectivism, spontaneous order, dynamic efficiency, free market economy, polycentricity, catallactics, extended order, tacit knowledge, dispersed knowledge, F.A. Hayek, Michael Polanyi JEL Classification: A12, B10, B13, B25, H10, H40, K11, P10, P14, P16, P26, P48, P51 Resumen: Este artículo evalúa y compara los principales pensamientos económicos y filosóficos de las dos grandes mentes liberales Michael Polanyi y Friedrich A. von Hayek con respecto al concepto del orden espontáneo. En sus obras principales, tanto Michael Polanyi (1941, 1948, 1951) como F.A. von Hayek (1944, 1945, 1964, 1973) destacaron fuertemente la imposibilidad del socialismo y la superioridad de un mercado libre versus el intervencionismo público. Ambos estaban convencidos de que la planificación central no puede ser más eficiente que un orden espontáneo, ya que el conocimiento es disperso (Hayek) y tácito (Polanyi). Aunque ambos compartían preocupaciones muy similares con respecto a los asuntos económicos, no siempre llegaron a las mismas conclusiones. Por lo tanto, también se discutirán las diferencias entre los conceptos de Polanyi y Hayek, como el énfasis de Polanyi en defender los sub-sistemas como unidades básicas de la sociedad y su enfoque en maximizar la “libertad pública”. Ambos llegaron a conclusiones diferentes con respecto al carácter institucional de la ciencia y al carácter del conocimiento. Además, este artículo considerará sus diferentes conceptos sobre economía política y el papel ideal del Estado, y analiza el impacto de M. Polanyi en el concepto de policentrismo y en las ideas de Elinor Ostrom. Por otra parte, el artículo pretende analizar históricamente la aparición del término “orden espontáneo”, mostrando que no es producto del diseño de una sola mente, sino la consecuencia de los pensamientos de varias grandes mentes, como Carl Menger, Ludwig von Mises, FA von Hayek, Michael Polanyi, Walter Eucken y Wilhelm Röpke. Palabras clave: liberalismo, libertarismo, capitalismo, escuela austriaca de economía, intervencionismo, colectivismo, orden espontáneo, eficiencia dinámica, economía de libre mercado, policentrismo, orden extendido, conocimiento tácito, conocimiento disperso, F.A. Hayek, Michael Polanyi Clasificación JEL: A12, B10, B13, B25, H10, H40, K11, P10, P14, P16, P26, P48, P51

scholarly journals Samfundets trosbekendelse

Politik ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ove Korsgaard
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Democratic Education ◽  
The State ◽  
World War ◽  
The Core ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Post War ◽  
Political Turn ◽  
Liberal Position

After World War II, there was broad consensus that schools in Denmark should educate for democracy. But there was no consensus on the role of the state: Should the state ensure that everyone receives a democratic education? Or should the state ensure pluralism, and remain neutral in relation to different life philosophies? Or must both the state and citizens develop a knowledgeable stance in relation to democracy’s fundamental dilemmas? It was without doubt the liberal position that became most influential in post-war Danish educational policy. The core of this strategy was that in a democracy the state should adopt a neutral stance towards the various philosophies of life. However, with the values-political turn of recent years the liberal position is now in retreat. This new trend became clear in 2000, with the then Minister of Education Margrethe Vestager’s manifesto Values in the Real World, in which she stressed that „Now more than ever we need to put in words just what attitudes and values we hold in common“. And the present government has focused on the same issue since 2001, and has commissioned among other things a literary canon, a cultural canon and a democracy canon. The activist values policies of recent years have once again given rise to a number of questions concerning democratic upbringing and the role of the state in efforts to strengthen society’s cohesiveness. 

scholarly journals Editorial introduction to ‘Collectivist planning’ by Michael Polanyi (1940)

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 1055-1074
Author(s):  
Geoffrey M. Hodgson ◽  
Michael Polanyi
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
Michael Polanyi ◽  
Early Article ◽  
Economic Role ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The Social ◽  
Post War

AbstractAfter an esteemed academic career as a chemist, Michael Polanyi switched to the social sciences and made significant contributions to our understanding of the nature and role of knowledge in society. Polanyi's argument concerning knowledge led him to emphasise the vital importance of decentralised mechanisms of adjustment and coordination, including markets. His article ‘Collectivist Planning’ (1940) enters into debates about the possibility (or otherwise) of centrally planning scientific and economic activity. This early article also foreshadows post-war debates within the Mont Pèlerin Socierty (formed in 1947) concerning the economic role of the state and the future of liberalism.

scholarly journals SCIENTIFIC, CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION BETWEEN THE KINGDOM OF SERBS, CROATS AND SLOVENES AND BULGARIA IN THE 1920s

2018 ◽  
pp. 149
Author(s):  
Ivan Ristić
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Scientific Contribution ◽  
Cultural Contact ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Political Relations ◽  
Post War ◽  
Mutual Relations

The topic of the paper is the scientific, cultural and educational cooperation between individuals and institutions of the Kingdom of S.C.S. and Bulgaria during the first post-war decade, the role of the state (government) and political circumstances in making scientific, cultural and educational connections. We will show that there was a very pronounced correlation between political relations and relations, conditionally speaking, on the "non-political" level. “High politics” dictated the dynamics of relations in all other fields. However, linguistic and geographical closeness has made it possible to survive cultural contact, at least to a minimum, regardless of the very unfavorable political environment. The research, based on unpublished and published sources, press, and historiographic literature, represents a scientific contribution to the knowledge of mutual relations, as this topic is not researched in both domestic and Bulgarian historiography.

Liberals, the Irish Famine and the role of the state

1995 ◽  
Vol 29 (116) ◽  
pp. 513-536 ◽  
Author(s):  
George L. Bernstein
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
British Government ◽  
Ruling Elite ◽  
Irish Famine ◽  
Great Famine ◽  
The People ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Laissez Faire

The Irish mythology of the Great Famine of the 1840s explained the failure of the British government to prevent the deaths of some one million people in terms of a Whig government and ruling élite driven by a commitment to laissez-faire ideology which left them indifferent to the loss of Irish lives. At its most extreme, this mythology attributed a wilful genocide to the English. The term myth as used here does not necessarily imply that the account is untrue. Rather, the myth comprises a combination of fact, fiction and the unknowable in a narrative of such power that, for the people who accept it, the myth provides a guide to future understanding and action. In this respect, Irish mythology about the English and the Famine is rooted in facts: the resistance of the Whig government to any interference with the market; the staunch commitment to ideology of central figures in the making of famine policy such as Charles Trevelyan (assistant secretary to the treasury) and Sir Charles Wood (chancellor of the exchequer) and shapers of liberal opinion such as the political economists Nassau Senior and James Wilson (editor of The Economist); and the indifference to Irish suffering, and indeed the hostility to the Irish, as demonstrated in the language of the radical M.P.J.A. Roebuck.

The State and Economic Development

2020 ◽  
pp. 455-473
Author(s):  
Tassos Giannitsis
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Pension System ◽  
The State ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Macroeconomic Imbalances ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Post War

The chapter focuses on the role and impact of public policies on Greece’s economic development mainly in the period after 1974. The aim is to investigate the key interactions between state policies and economic development, identify the factors hampering or driving economic development during this long period, provide a deeper insight into the links and causalities between the short- and long-term dimensions of policy-making and its nexus to economic development, and reveal the underlying social and political dynamics. In a first part, the focus is on the long-term determinants of Greece’s post-war development, (role of the state, weak technological and innovation capabilities, macroeconomic imbalances, over-indebtedness, and pension system). In a second part, six major phases are distinguished and the focus is on the economic performance, the role of governance, deindustrialization, and structural weaknesses, the significant changes regarding the integration of Greece into the European Union and the eurozone, and the unfolding of the business sector during these phases. Regarding the crisis period, the chapter examines how besides its macroeconomic nature, the crisis was also the outcome of accumulated structural weaknesses and inappropriate long- and short-term policy choices. Finally, it displays the complexity involved in overcoming deeply entrenched attitudes and behaviours, including government practices, which appear to generate satisfactory results in the short- or medium-run, but make necessary extensive and highly painful interventions at later stages.

scholarly journals Peter Bauer’s Market-Liberal Vision

2005 ◽  
pp. 140-150
Author(s):  
J. Dorn
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Economic Freedom ◽  
The State ◽  
Market Revolution ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The World ◽  
Laissez Faire ◽  
Liberal Vision ◽  
Individual Choices

The article is devoted to P. Bauer who promoted the principles of liberty around the world. Lord Bauer considered that the development is the expansion of individual choices. He underlined that the role of the state was to protect life, liberty, and property. Bauer's works focus on the process of development measured by the extent of economic freedom. P. Bauer insists that economic development depends on institutions, culture, and conduct. J. Dorn declared P. Bauer a hero of market revolution and a protector of "laissez-faire".

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