Doc 11366.Pdf

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Doc 11366.Pdf SE PROHIBE Subrayar y/o margina,- esta lb" en " sub.nyatia, SE CC r. E DE SU 11MOR f.t 41.1 n7:7, COPYRIGHT 1976 JOSEPH EDWARD KECKEISSEN Propleded de le 1.1111PERSIDAD FRANC15(0 MARIN1111 THE MEANINGS OF ECONOMIC LAW JOSEPH EDWARD KECKEISSEN " ‘\‘10 A thesis presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Business Administration, New York University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. 1976 -76 3 10. PREFACE ZLI It is a distinct source of satisfaction to be able to present to New York University this dissertation entitled "The Meanings of Economic Law." It covers a subject, which though close to the heart of economic theory, has been long neglected in the journals. It presents, for the first time in a single work, an orderly compilation of the many notions that economists have held about law, and attempts to sound out the underlying reasons for and the logic behind such a variety of opinions, perhaps suggesting an answer to that tantalizing question as to whether there are economic laws after all. To accomplish this task it was necessary to research large samplings of the literature of two centuries, at least of that part that is available in English. Unfortunately, it was not possible to broaden this investigation to analyze terms other than law, which might be used to describe the generalizations of economics. Nor could a complete epistemo- logical study be made at this time of what economic law "should" really mean. Hopefully, such studies will not be long in forthcoming. The author wishes to express his utmost thanks to Professors Robert A. Kavesh and Joseph S. Keiper of New York University, who over many years have been an inspiration ii both in the classroom and out. Likewise, a sincere word of appreciation is due the memories of the late Ludwig Von Mises and Herman Krooss, who long ago prepared the ground for this endeavor. Its most immediate guide, however, has been Professor Israel Kirzner, who shared with the writer his vast store of culture and tirelessly ploughed through • the manuscript from the formative stages. The writer, however, accepts full responsibility for the omissions and inaccuracies in the text. Neither could this study have been completed without the assistance of Father Edward and his staff at Salesian Missions, who provided me with the facilities in which to work, to my own Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala, for extending me the necessary time off, as well as to the Alpha Kappa Psi Foundation for generously awarding me its first fellowship award. Immense thanks are also due to Joan Senno, who graciously undertook the laborious task of typing the manuscript, to Elaine Restieri and staff, who helped tie together the many loose ends, and to Maria Auxiliadora, without whose help nothing would have been accomplished. It is hoped that this first attempt at a synthesis of economic law will spark a renewed interest on the part of economists in the study of the epistemology of the science. iii This will help carry on the tradition long followed by Cairnes, Neville Keynes, Menger, Jevons, Mises, and many other pathbreakers in economics. September, 1976 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PREFACE ii CHAPTER I ECONOMIC LAW TODAY - PREVIEW 1 CHAPTER II ECONOMIC LAW UNDER ANALYSIS 18 Law in the Natural and Social Sciences Influence of the Law of Nature on Economic Laws Basis for the Classification of Economic Laws - A Roadmap for the Analysis. CHAPTER III ECONOMICS WITHOUT LAW 89 Historians Against Law - Institutionalists Against Law - Law as a Reflection of Special Interests - Modern Economists and Social Scientists Against Law - Philosophy Against Law - Generalizations that are not Laws - Milton Friedman - All Laws are Guesses - Karl Popper - Law and Complex Phenomena - Frederick Von Hayek - Economics Without Law in Retrospect. CHAPTER IV WEAK ECONOMIC LAWS 142 Empirical Laws - Quantitative Laws - Econometric Assumptions - The Meaning of Econometric Law - Qualities of the Econometric Laws - The Purpose of Econo- metric Law - The Historical Laws - Types of Historical Laws - Assumptions and Epis- temology Underlying the Historical Laws - Qualities and Purpose of the Historical Laws - Says' Law, Keynes, and the Macro- economists-Law in the SocialSciences - Weak Laws in Retrospect. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER V NORMAL ECONOMIC LAWS 232 The Assumptions of the Normal Law Economists - The Nature of Economic Science - Economic Assumptions - The Meaning of Law - Deduction and the Qualities of the Normal Laws - The Purpose of the Normal Laws - The Normal Laws in Retrospect. CHAPTER VI STRONG ECONOMIC LAWS 323 Strong Economic Laws - Austrian A Priori Laws - Austrian Assumptions - Meaning of Austrian Laws - Marxian Laws - Marxian Assumptions - Strong Laws in Retrospect. CHAPTER VII ECONOMIC LAW TODAY - POSTVIEW 373 BIBLIOGRAPHY 401 vi CHAPTER I ECONOMIC LAW TODAY - PREVIEW ...But you can recollect as well as I can, when a deputation of us went up to a member of parliament--one that was reputed a phi- losopher, and a political economist, and a liberal--and set before him the ever- increasing penury and misery of our trade and of those connected with it; you recollect his answer--that, hawever glad he would be to help us, it was impossible--he could not alter the laws of nature--that wages were regulated by the amount of competition among the men themselves, and that it was no business of government, or any one else, to interfere in contracts between the employer and employed, that those things requlated themselves by the laws of political econamy, which it was madnons and muicide to opposo. ne may have been a wise man. I only know that ho was a rich one. Every one spoaks well of the bridge which carries him over. Every one fanciss the laws which fill his pockots to be Ood's laws. But I say this: If neither government nor members of parlia- mont can help us, wo must help oursolves. Help yoursolves, and Heaven will help you. Combination amonq ourselves is the only chance. One thing we can do--sit still.' "And starvol" said somo ono. "Yos. and •tarvel Better starve than sin. I say, it is a sin to give in to this systam. It is a sin to add our woight to tho crowd of artisans who are now choking and stranglinq each other to doeth. es the prisondare did in the black hole of Calcutta. 1 -2- Let those who will, turn beasts of prey, and feed upon their fellows; but let us at least keep ourselves pure. It may be the law of political civilization, the law of nature, that the rich should eat up the poor, and the poor eat up each other. Then I here rise up and curse that law, that civilization, that nature. Either I will destroy them, or they shall destroy me. Charles Kingsley, Alton Locke, Ta4or and Poet, An Autobiography-L Suchwas the legacy of fear bequeathed by the in- exorable laws of economics, as recounted by a novelist of the mid-nineteenth century. It was the "dismal" science of political economy that allegedly spawned such notions upon mankind. However, about the same time in history, we find another author emphatically telling us that: The general laws of the social world are har- monious, and they tend in all respects toward the improvement of mankind. 1 Charles Kingsley, Alton Locke, Tailor and Poet, An Auto- biography (Harper & Brothers, N. Y. 1858). Republished by (Scholarly Press, Inc., St. Clair Shores, Mich_ 1972), pp. 99-100. 2 Frederic Bastiat, Economic Rarmonies, trans. W. Hayden Boyers, George B. de Huzar (Ed.), (D. Van Nostrand Co., Princeton, N. J., 1962), p. 395. original edition: Les Harmonies Economiques (Guillaumin, Paris, 1850). -3- Authors like McCulloch and Carey were extolling the beneficence of the laws of economics, while a Cliffe Leslie or a Thorold Rogers would be denouncing their fallacies. Yet the greatest economist of the mid-century was able to make the following statement: • Happily, there is nothing in the laws of value which remains [1848] for the present or any future writer to cleir up; the theory of the subject is complete. In the meantime, there was grawing opposition to the rigidity of the classical laws on the part of the Socialists and the historical economists. In the eighties, one of the greatest of the methodological debates in the history 3 John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy with Some of their Applications to Social Philosophy, Sir W. J. Ashley(Ed.),(Longmans , Green, and Co. London, 1910), p. 436. This will be referred to as the Ashley edition. Reference will also be made to John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy, abridged, with critical, biblio- graphical, and explanatory notes, and a sketch of the History of Political Economy, by J. Laurence Laughlin; (D. Appleton and Co., New York, 1910). This will be used for some interesting comments on economic laws by Laughlin; it will be referred to as the Laughlin edition. Original edition 1846. -4- 4 of the science was held between Carl Menger of Austria 5 and Gustavus Schmoller of Germany, Menger upholding the validity of theoretical laws and Schmoller opposing them. After the end of the Methodenstreit, however, tempers calmed and general discussion of the role of laws in economics eased up. In the thirties of this century, dis- cussion temporarily revived in the debate between Lionel 2 Robbins 6 and T. W. Hutchison, until the advent of the Keynesian revolution absorbed the attention of the economic world. If one were to browse through a modern textbook of 4 Carl Menger, Problems of Economics and Sociology, Louis Schneider (Ed.), trans. Francis J.
Recommended publications
  • The Essential Von Mises
    The Essential von Mises The Essential von Mises Murray N. Rothbard LvMI MISES INSTITUTE Scholar, Creator, Hero © 1988 by the Ludwig von Mises Institute The Essential von Mises first published in 1973 by Bramble Minibooks, Lansing Michigan Copyright © 2009 by the Ludwig von Mises Institute and published under the Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0/ New matter copyright © 2009 by the Ludwig von Mises Institute Ludwig von Mises Institute 518 West Magnolia Avenue Auburn, Alabama 36832 Mises.org ISBN: 978-1-933550-41-1 Contents Introduction by Douglas E. French . vii Part One: The Essential von Mises 1. The Austrian School. 3 2. Mises and “Austrian Economics”: The Theory of Money and Credit . .13 3. Mises on the Business Cycle . 21 4. Mises in the Interwar Period . 25 5. Mises on Economic Calculation and Socialism . 29 6. Mises on the Methodology of Economics. 31 7. Mises and Human Action . 35 8. Mises in America . .41 9. The Way Out . 45 Part Two: Ludwig von Mises: Scholar, Creator, Hero 1. The Young Scholar . 51 2. The Theory of Money and Credit. 55 3. The Reception of Mises and of Money and Credit . 67 4. Mises in the 1920s: Economic Adviser to the Government . 73 5. Mises in the 1920s: Scholar and Creator . 79 6. Mises in the 1920s: Teacher and Mentor . 91 7. Exile and the New World . 99 8. Coda: Mises the Man . 115 v Introduction he two essays printed in this monograph were written by my Tteacher Murray N. Rothbard (1926–1995) about his teacher Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973).
    [Show full text]
  • Foundational Research in Accounting: Professional I Memoirs and Beyond ______
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Research Papers in Economics Richard Mattessich: Foundational research in accounting: professional I memoirs and beyond _____________________________________________________________________________________ FOUNDATIONAL RESEARCH IN ACCOUNTING: PROFESSIONAL MEMOIRS AND BEYOND Richard Mattessich Arthur Andersen & Co. Alumni Professor Emeritus Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration University of British Columbia Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6T 1Z2 _____________________________________________________________________________ DE COMPUTIS Revista Española de Historia de la Contabilidad Spanish Journal of Accounting History No. 5 Diciembre 2006 Richard Mattessich: Foundational research in accounting: professional II memoirs and beyond _____________________________________________________________________________________ Foundational research in accounting: professional memoirs and beyond. Mattessich, Richard - Accounting, autobiography, history, foundations, research. First edition (1995), published by Chuo University Press, Higashinakano 742-1/ Hachioji/ Tokyo 192-03/ Japan. ISBN (Canada) Copyright 8 1995 Richard Mattessich Second extended edition (until 2006), published by Asociación Española de Contabilidad y Administración de Empresas (AECA), Rafael Bergamín, 16-B, 28043 Madrid, in DE COMPUTIS, Revista Española de Historia de la Contabilidad (Spanish Journal of Accounting History), no. 5, December 2006. ISSN: 1886-1881 Copyright 2006 Richard Mattessich
    [Show full text]
  • The Nationalökonomische Gesellschaft from Its Foundation to the Postwar Period: Prosperity and Depression
    Empirica https://doi.org/10.1007/s10663-019-09439-4 ORIGINAL PAPER The Nationalökonomische Gesellschaft from its foundation to the postwar period: prosperity and depression Hansjörg Klausinger1 © The Author(s) 2019 Abstract The Nationalökonomische Gesellschaft (NOeG) was founded in June 1918 by a group of young scholars, mostly based in Vienna, as a forum for theoretical debate. Despite the prominent economists involved (e.g. Schumpeter, Mises, Mayer, Spann, Amonn) its activities soon petered out. The relaunch of the NOeG in 1927 origi- nated from the necessity of the two strands of the Austrian school, led by Mayer and Mises, to fnd some tolerable arrangement; Spann and economists outside the University of Vienna were excluded. Around 1930 the NOeG and Vienna in gen- eral proved an attraction for many well-known economists from abroad, and many of the papers presented were printed and cited in frst-rate journals. Yet with the emigration of many Austrian economists during the 1930s the NOeG mirrored the general decline of academic economics in Austria and the number and quality of the papers presented decreased. After the Anschluss 1938 the NOeG and its president Mayer were quick in dismissing its Jewish members and in the following adhered to a strategy of inconspicuous adaptation; its formal existence did not lead to any substantial activities. The post-war period was characterized by the restoration of the situation before 1938, with Mayer’s continued presence at the university as well as at the NOeG a case in point. In the end, it led Austrian academic economics into a state of international isolation and “provincialization” much lamented by the émigré economists of the Austrian school.
    [Show full text]
  • Richard Cobden, Educationist, Economist
    RICHARD COBDEN, EDUCATIONIST, ECONOMIST AND STATESMAN. BY PETER NELSON FARRAR M.A. (oxoN), M.A. (LVPL). THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD. Division of Education, June 1987. ii CONTENTS Page Ref. Summary iv Abbreviations vi Photographs vii Preface and Acknowledgements viii Part I. An Analysis of Cobden's Ideas and the Formative Influences. Chapter 1. An introductory analysis of Cobden's social philosophy and political activities. 1, 18 2. Cobden's character and formative years. 21, 39 3. Cobden's religious, moral and educa- tional philosophy. 41, 63 4. Cobden's approach to economics. 65, 81 Part II. Thought and Action 1835-1865. 5. The pen of "a Manchester manufacturer". 85, 98 6. Education for the people of Sabden and Chorley. 100, 120 7. Awakening Manchester 1835-1836 123, 147 8. The establishment of the Manchester Society for Promoting National Education. 152, 173 9. Educating the working class: schools and lyceums. 177, 195 10. "The education of 17 millions" the Anti-Corn Law League. 199, 231 11. Cobden and Frederic Bastiat: defining the economics of a consumer society. 238, 264 12. Amid contending ideals of national education 1843-1850. 269, 294 13. Guiding the National Public School Association 1850-1854. 298, 330 14. The Manchester Model Secular School. 336, 353 15. Cobden's last bid for a national education 1855-57. 355, 387 iii Page Ref. 16. The schooling of Richard Cobden junior. 391, 403 17. Newspapers for the millions. 404, 435 18. Investing in a future civilisation: the land development of the Illinois Central Railroad.
    [Show full text]
  • Theory, Application and the Canon: the Case of Mill and Jevons
    University of Richmond UR Scholarship Repository Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book Jepson School of Leadership Studies chapters and other publications 2001 Theory, Application and the canon: The ac se of Mill and Jevons Sandra J. Peart University of Richmond, speart@richmond.edu Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.richmond.edu/jepson-faculty-publications Part of the Economic Theory Commons, and the Political Economy Commons Recommended Citation Peart, Sandra J. "Theory, Application and the Canon: The asC e of Mill and Jevons." Reflections on the Classical Canon in Economics: Essays in Honor of Samuel Hollander. Ed. Evelyn L. Forget and Sandra J. Peart. London: Routledge, 2001. 356-77. Print. This Book Chapter is brought to you for free and open access by the Jepson School of Leadership Studies at UR Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications by an authorized administrator of UR Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact scholarshiprepository@richmond.edu. 19 Theory, application and the canon The case of Mill and Jevons Sandra Peart Boundary questions, it has been well said, are always perplexing. (Economist 1882: 845) Introduction Whatever disputes remain about the nature and content of the "canon" of economics, it is widely accepted that the boundary of economic science was narrowed throughout the nineteenth century (Winch 1972). This chapter offers a partial explanation for that narrowing in the methodological develop­ ments that occurred during the second half of the century. For reasons of practicality in the face of pronounced "multiplicity of cause," John Stuart Mill called, ~n his 1836 Essay On the Definition ofPolitical Economy; and on the Method of Investigation Proper to It, and again in his 1843 Logi,c, for a separate and specialized science of political economy.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction 1
    Notes Introduction 1. For a comprehensive and interesting overview of this tendency, see The Economist, “A Survey of the World Economy: Who’s in the Driving Seat?” 7 October 1995. 2. See, e.g., John Gerard Ruggie, “Territoriality and Beyond: Problematizing Modernity in International Relations,” International Organization (Vol. 47, No. 1, 1993), pp. 139–74; James N. Rosenau, Turbulence in World Politics: A Theory of Change and Continuity (London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1990); Dani Rodrik, Has Globalization Gone Too Far? (Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics, 1997); Susan Strange, The Retreat of the State: The Diffusion of Power in the World Economy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996); Jean Marie Guéhenno, The End of the Nation-state, Trans. Victoria Elliott (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1995 [originally published as La fin de la démoc- ratie, 1993]); and Mathew Horsman and Andrew Marshall, After the Nation-state: Citizens, Tribalism and the New World Disorder (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994). 3. Harry G. Gelber, Sovereignty Through Interdependence (London: Kluwer Law International, 1997); Paul Hirst and Grahame Thompson, Globalization in Question, second edition (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1999 [first published 1996]); Linda Weiss, The Myth of the Powerless State: Governing the Economy in a Global Era (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1998); Jan Aart Scholte, “Global Capitalism and the State,” International Affairs (Vol. 73, No. 3, 1997), pp. 427–52; Janice E. Thomson and Stephen D. Krasner, “Global Transactions and the Consolidation of Sovereignty,” in Ernst-Otto Czempiel and James N. Rosenau (eds.), Global Changes and Theoretical Challenges: Approaches to World Politics for the 1990s (Toronto: Lexington Books, 1989); and Paul Kennedy, Preparing for the Twenty-first Century (New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1994 [first published 1993]), pp.
    [Show full text]
  • An Attempt to Reshape Capitalism's Image
    Volume 6 Article 7 2012 An Attempt to Reshape Capitalism’s Image Ross A. Nichols Gettysburg College Class of 2013 Follow this and additional works at: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/ger Part of the Economic History Commons, Economic Theory Commons, and the Macroeconomics Commons Share feedback about the accessibility of this item. Nichols, Ross A. (2012) "An Attempt to Reshape Capitalism’s Image," Gettysburg Economic Review: Vol. 6 , Article 7. Available at: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/ger/vol6/iss1/7 This open access article is brought to you by The uC pola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of The uC pola. For more information, please contact cupola@gettysburg.edu. An Attempt to Reshape Capitalism’s Image Abstract John Stuart Mill claimed to be a disciple of both Jeremy Bentham and David Ricardo. This was a strange proclamation because each man advocated a competing theory of value; Bentham’s utilitarianism laid the foundation for the utility theory of value and Ricardo developed the labor theory of value. Mill’s goal in attempting to unify these theories of value was to provide a solution for the growing class conflict that plagued capitalism. Class conflict arose as feudalism was phased out and industrial capitalism replaced merchant capitalism as the dominant economic system. The orC n Laws symbolized this competition between classes. Capitalists were against the Corn Laws because the subsequent tariffs would lower their rate of profit. Landowners supported the Corn Laws because they increased the rent on land. Even Karl Marx held spoke out against the Corn Laws on behalf of the working class.
    [Show full text]
  • Bibliography
    BIBLIOGRAPHY This biography aims to list the major sources of information about the history of the British Liberal, Social Democrat and Liberal Democrat parties. It concentrates on published books. Some references are made to archival sources for major figures but a guide to archive sources can be found elsewhere on the website and the books listed will guide towards collections of articles. It is organised in four sections: § The philosophic and policy background § The history of the party and Liberal governments § Elections § Biographies and autobiographies of leading party members The list does not attempt to be comprehensive but most of the major works included in this list will contain references to other relevant works. Those new to the subject are referred to our shorter reading list for an introduction to the subject. Unless otherwise indicated, the place of publication is usually London. THE PHILOSOPHIC AND POLICY BACKGROUND GENERAL R Bellamy, Liberalism and Modern Society: An Historic Argument, (Cambridge University Press, 1992) Duncan Brack and Tony Little (eds) Great Liberal Speeches (Politico’s Publishing, 2001) Duncan Brack & Robert Ingham (eds) Dictionary of Liberal Quotations (Politico’s Publishing, 1999) Alan Bullock (ed), The Liberal Tradition from Fox to Keynes, (Oxford University Press, 1967). Robert Eccleshall (ed) British Liberalism: Liberal thought from the 1640s to 1980s (Longman, 1986) S Maccoby (ed), The English Radical Tradition 1763-1914, (1952) Conrad Russell An Intelligent Person’s Guide to Liberalism (Duckworth,
    [Show full text]
  • A Transatlantic History of the Social Sciences: Robber Barons, the Third Reich and the Invention of Empirical Social Research
    "In the Shadow of Nazi Rule: Two Generation Units of Social Scientists." A Transatlantic History of the Social Sciences: Robber Barons, the Third Reich and the Invention of Empirical Social Research. Fleck, Christian. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2011. 111–164. Bloomsbury Collections. Web. 27 Sep. 2021. <http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781849662932.ch-004>. Downloaded from Bloomsbury Collections, www.bloomsburycollections.com, 27 September 2021, 03:03 UTC. Copyright © Christian Fleck 2011. You may share this work for non-commercial purposes only, provided you give attribution to the copyright holder and the publisher, and provide a link to the Creative Commons licence. 4 IN THE SHADOW OF NAZI RULE: TWO GENERATION UNITS OF SOCIAL SCIENTISTS At the end of the first third of the twentieth century, German-language sociology suffered a dramatic caesura. For a long time, René König’s dictum that after 1933 the discipline had been ‘brought to a brutal standstill’ (König 1958: 14) was accepted as the ultimate description of the impact of the Nazis’ rise to power on sociology. Helmut Schelsky’s contrary opinion, at the time, that ‘it was our sociol- ogy itself that had run out of subject matter, the melodies had all been played through, the fronts were consolidating, and little evolutionary momentum was left within the discipline itself’ (Schelsky 1959: 36), did not register. Decades later the debate resurfaced under the new heading of ‘sociology in National Socialism’ (Rammstedt 1985; Klingemann 1996). At the end of his life, König vehemently protested against what he felt to be an exculpation of Nazi sociologists (König 1987).
    [Show full text]
  • Ludwig Von Mises: Scholar, Creator, Hero
    Murray N. Rothbard Ludwig von Mises: Scholar, Creator, Hero Introduction The purpose of this essay is to discuss and celebrate the life and work of one of the great creative minds of our century. Ludwig von Mises was born on September 29, 1881, in the city of Lemberg (now Lvov), in Galicia, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father, Arthur Edler von Mises, a Viennese construction engineer working for the Austrian railroads, was stationed in Lemberg at the time. Ludwig’s mother, Adele Landau, also came from a prominent family in Vienna: her uncle, Dr. Joachim Landau, was a deputy from the Liberal Party in the Austrian Parliament. The Young Scholar Though the pre-eminent theorist of our time, Mises’s interest, as a teenager, centered in history, particularly economic and administrative history. But even while still in high school, he reacted against the relativism and historicism rampant in the German-speaking countries, dominated by the Historical School. In his early historical work, he was frustrated to find historical studies virtually consisting of paraphrases from official government reports. Instead, he yearned to write genuine economic history. He early disliked the State orientation of historical studies. Thus, in his memoirs, Mises writes: “It was my intense interest in historical knowledge that enabled me to perceive readily the inadequacy of German historicism. It did not deal with scientific problems, but with the glorification and justification of Prussian policies and Prussian authoritarian government. The German universities were state institutions and the instructors were civil servants. The professors were aware of this civil-service status, that is, they saw themselves as servants of the Prussian king”.[1] Ludwig von Mises entered the University of Vienna at the turn of the twentieth century and his major professor was the economic historian Karl Grünberg, a member of the German Historical School and a statist who was interested in labor history, agricultural history, and Marxism.
    [Show full text]
  • Prudence and Constitutional Rights
    PRUDENCE AND CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS EDWARD F. MCCLENNEN [T]he object of man's desire is not to enjoy once only and for one in- stant of time, but to assure forever the way of his future desires. And therefore the voluntary actions and inclinations of all men tend not only to the procuring, but also to the assuring of a contented life.' INTRODUCTION A great deal of historical and contemporary work in the economic theory of institutions has focused on what the representative person can expect in the way of economic benefits by participating in various institutional arrangements. Starting with Adam Smith, and running like a bright thread throughout virtually all the subsequent theoretical literature on political economy, one can mark a preoccupation with the conditions under which individuals can transact with one another to their mutual expected economic gain. In the more formal litera- ture on welfare economics, this concern culminates, in the middle of the twentieth century, in a fundamental theorem, according to which individuals can, under conditions of perfect competition, achieve an outcome that is Pareto-optimal and Pareto-efficient relative to the outcome in which no transactions take place . The theme of Pareto- efficient changes in institutional structures is also central to many other contemporary works, including Coase's analysis of the firm and t Centennial Professor of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, London School of Economics. THOMAS HOBBES, LEVIATHAN ch. xi, para. I (A.P. Martinich ed., Broadview Press 2002) (1651). 2 Of special historical note here are the discussions in JOHN LOCKE, THE SECOND TREATISE OF GOVERNMENT ch.
    [Show full text]
  • The Market for Political Economy: the Advent of Economics in British University Culture, 1850-1905
    THE MARKET FOR POLITICAL ECONOMY THE MARKET FOR POLITICAL ECONOMY The advent of economics in British university culture, 1850–1905 Edited by Alon Kadish and Keith Tribe London and New York First published 1993 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge Inc. 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003. © 1993 Alon Kadish and Keith Tribe All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 0-203-40617-6 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-71441-5 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-03874-X (Print Edition) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The Market for political economy: the advent of economics in British university culture, 1850–1905/ edited by Alon Kadish, Keith Tribe. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-415-03874-X 1. Economics—Study and teaching (Higher)—Great Britain— History. 2. Universities and colleges—Great Britain— Curricula—History. 3. Economics—Great Britain—History. I. Kadish, Alon, 1950– II. Tribe, Keith, 1949– HB74.9.G7M37 1993
    [Show full text]