Subjectivism, Intelligibility and Economic Understanding: Essays in Honor of Ludwig M. Lachmann on his Eightieth Birthday PDF
Preview Subjectivism, Intelligibility and Economic Understanding: Essays in Honor of Ludwig M. Lachmann on his Eightieth Birthday
SUBJECTIVISM, INTELLIGIBILITY AND ECONOMIC UNDERSTANDING Ludwig M. Lachmann SUBJECTIVISM, INTELLIGIBILITY AND ECONOMIC UNDERSTANDING Essays in Honor of Ludwig M. Lachmann on his Eightieth Birthday Edited by Israel M. Kirzner M MACMILLAN © New York University 1986 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1986 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1986 Published by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world ISBN 978-1-349-08766-2 ISBN 978-1-349-08764-8 (eBook) DOl 10.1007/978-1-349-08764-8 © New York University 1986 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1986 978-0-333-41788-1 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1986 Published by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world ISBN 978-1-349-08766-2 ISBN 978-1-349-08764-8 (eBook) DOl 10.1007/978-1-349-08764-8 Contents Preface vii Notes on the Contributors x "Radical Subjectivism" and the Language of Austrian Economics Mark Addleson 2 Time and Equilibrium: Hayek's Notion of Intertemporal Equilibrium Reconsidered Stephan Boehm 16 3 Methodology and the Individual Decision Maker Lawrence A. Boland 30 4 Toward a Hermeneutical Economics: Expectations, Prices, and the Role of Interpretation in a Theory of the Market Process Richard M. Ebeling 39 5 A Sympathetic Critic of the Austrian Business-Cycle Theory John B. Egger 56 6 Spontaneous Order and the Subjectivity of Expectations: A Contribution to the Lachmann-O'Driscoll Problem Ulrich Fehl 72 7 From Lachmann to Lucas: On Institutions, Expectations, and Equilibrating Tendencies Roger W. Garrison 87 8 Rational Behavior-Observation or Assumption? Sir John Hicks 102 9 Equilibration and Disequilibration in the Market Process Jack High III v vi Contents 10 Philosophical Issues that Divide Liberals: Omniscience or Omni-nescience about the Future? Terence W. Hutchison 122 11 Another Look at the Subjectivism of Costs Israel M. Kirzner 140 12 Conceptions of Equilibrium: The Logic of Choice and the Logic of Production J. A. Kregel 157 13 Coherence and Flexibility: Social Institutions in a World of Radical Uncertainty Richard N. Langlois 171 14 Euclideanism versus Hermeneutics: A Reinterpretation of Misesian Apriorism Don Lavoie 192 15 Economic Policy and the Capital Structure Peter Lewin 211 16 Beyond Choice Willi Meyer 221 17 Mechanomorphism Karl Mittermaier 236 18 Subjectivism, Uncertainty, and Rules Gerald P. O'Driscoll, Jr. and Mario J. Rizzo 252 19 .S ubjectivism and American Institutionalism Mark Perlman 268 20 The Origination of Choice George L. S. Shackle 281 21 The Economics of Information: A Subjectivist View P. D. F. Strydom 288 22 Convergent and Divergent Expectations Christopher Torr 295 23 A Subjectivist Perspective on the Definition and Identification of Money Lawrence H. White 301 Index 315 Preface This volume consists of papers written by 24 scholars from around the world, who share a deep appreciation and admiration for the contribu tions to the social sciences made by Ludwig Lachmann over a long, fruitful-and. happily, still vigorous-scholarly career. Ludwig M. Lachmann, Emeritus Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, and Visiting Research Professor at New York University, attains his eightieth birthday on February 1, 1986. It is with great pleasure indeed that this volume is presented to Professor Lachmann as a token of honor, respect and gratitude, at this most happy occasion. No attempt is made in this volume to present an intellectual biography of Ludwig Lachmann. Such a portrait was written by Walter E. Grinder, under the title "In Pursuit of the Subjective Paradigm," as part of the Introduction to Capital, Expectations, and the Market Process, Essays on the Theory of the Market Economy, by Ludwig Lachmann, edited by Walter E. Grinder (Kansas City: Sheed Andrews & McMeel, 1977). That volume also contains an appendix listing the economic writings of Ludwig M. Lachmann (until 1977). For present purposes it is sufficient to state that for close to half a century Ludwig Lachmann has been a leading figure among the very small number of economists who have consistently appreciated and staunchly upheld the role of subjectivist insights in the explication of social phenomena. In England, in South Africa, and in the United States, he has, from the thirties through the eighties, succeeded by his gently persistent writing and teaching in spreading subjectivist ideas in the profession, unde terred by the powerful intellectual forces that have, during this time, steered economics onto a totally different course. Ludwig Lachmann's profound and sensitive explorations surrounding, in particular, the subjectivism of expectations, and the radical uncertainties introduced by the passage of time, have constituted a courageous, often-lonely voice, in the face of fashionably mechanistic-and so-often sterile approaches to theoretical economics. That the 24 authors of the papers in this volume have contributed studies that probe into the role of vii viii Preface subjectivism in achieving economic understanding is itself eloquent tribute to the far-reaching effect of Professor Lachmann's ideas and intellectual influence. Quite apart from being a tribute to Professor Lachmann's lifelong scholarly output, the appearance of this volume constitutes an affec tionate acknowledgement of Ludwig Lachmann's unique and inspiring personality, both as scholar and as gentleman. Blessed with an extra ordinary memory and intellectual keenness, Ludwig Lachmann has never ceased to impress his colleagues and his students by the honesty and integrity of his utterances, by the gentleness and patience with which he has dealt with intellectual friend and foe alike, and by the unfailing kindness, friendliness, and modesty of his demeanor. The editor of this volume has for a quarter of a century learned to appreciate the benevolent and hard-headed good sense of Ludwig Lachmann's personal advice and counsel. This editor will perhaps be pardoned for drawing attention to the altogether special contributions made by Professor Lachmann to the creation and growth of the Austrian Economics Program at New York University. Through the generosity of the Moorman Foundation, of Quincy, Illinois, Professor Lachmann has, ever since January 1975, been enabled to fulfil a pivotal and seminal role in this program. As a result, Ludwig Lachmann has played a crucially important part in the remarkable revival of interest in Austrian economics that has, defini tely, even if only marginally, occurred in the economics profession. It is wholly appropriate that 11 of the contributors to this volume came under Ludwig Lachmann's intellectual influence, as colleagues or students, at New York University. Despite Ludwig Lachmann's participation in this renaissance of Austrian economics in our time, the present volume is not a collection of Austrian papers. It is a reflection of the impartial integrity of Professor Lachmann's scholarly work that his contribution have, over the years, come to be appreciated by world-renowned scholars from a variety of intellectual camps. Moreover, there have often been impor tant elements in the work of Professor Lachmann's Austrian collea gues, with which he has found himself unable to agree. This has not in the least obscured Ludwig Lachmann's enormously valuable contribu tion to the Austrian Economics Program. And this volume, extending as it does far beyond the confines of Austrian Economics, appropria tely mirrors the breadth of the scope and character of Professor Lachmann's own work.
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