The Economic Thought of Michael Polanyi

189 Pages·2019·1.354 MB·English

by  Gábor Bíró

The Economic Thought of
Michael Polanyi
Michael Polanyi is most famous for his work in chemistry and the philosophy
of science, but in the 1930s and 1940s he made an important contribution to
economics.
Drawing on rich archival materials of Polanyi and his correspondents,
Gábor Bíró explores their competing worldviews and their struggles to popu-
larize their visions of the economy, economic expertise and democracy.
Special focus is given to Polanyi’s pioneering economics film and postmodern
ideas.
This volume will be of interest to advanced students and researchers of the
history of economics, philosophy of science, and science and technology
studies.
Gábor Bíró is an Assistant Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of
Philosophy and History of Science at the Budapest University of Technology
and Economics, Hungary.
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217 Economic Crisis and Economic Thought
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Edited by Tommaso Gabellini, Simone Gasperin and Alessio Moneta
218 Schumpeter’s Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy
A Twenty First Century Agenda
Edited by Leonardo Burlamaqui and Rainer Kattel
219 Divine Providence in Early Modern Economic Thought
Joost Hengstmengel
220 Macroeconomics without the Errors of Keynes
The Quantity Theory of Money, Saving, and Policy
James C.W. Ahiakpor
221 The Political Economy of the Han Dynasty and Its Legacy
Edited by Cheng Lin, Terry Peach and Wang Fang
222 The Economic Thought of Michael Polanyi
Gábor Bíró
223 A History of Utilitarian Ethics
Samuel Hollander
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The Economic Thought
of Michael Polanyi
Gábor Bíró
First published 2020
by Routledge
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© 2020 Gábor Bíró
The right of Gábor Bíró to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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ISBN: 978-0-367-24563-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-28317-8 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
To my mother, Éva Pénzes

Contents
Acknowledgements viii
Introduction 1
1 Polanyi’s work against extreme liberalism and socialist
planning 13
2 The first economics film 36
3 Rival schools of thought in the 1930s and 1940s 56
4 Polanyi’s visual method 86
5 Correspondence on the spirituality of science and
economics 104
6 Economic evil and machineness 134
7 Epilogue: towards a Polanyian personal economics 150
Bibliography 161
Index 176
Acknowledgements
This book was written in the inspiring intellectual and scholarly milieu of the
two Polanyi societies, The Polanyi Society and the Michael Polanyi Liberal
Philosophical Association. It owes much to excellent scholars who dedicated
their lives not only to study Polanyi but also to introduce novices to the tacit
dimension of science: the fiduciary framework which makes the scientific
community more than a sum of its parts, and more than what could be
grasped by the finest- grained scientometrics. I was particularly lucky to be
able to learn from the earliest days of my PhD from Phil Mullins, president of
the Polanyi Society, former editor of Tradition and Discovery: The Polanyi
Society Periodical, and a remarkable scholar of Polanyi from the 1970s. Mullins
played a pivotal role in shifting my scholarly interest towards the economic
thought of Michael Polanyi. I remember one of our first discussions in Buda-
pest back in 2014 about Keynes, Hayek and the undiscovered economic
thought of Polanyi. Without this discussion, my research could have taken a
very different path and, probably, this book would have never been written.
Special thanks are due to Márta Fehér and Tihamér Margitay for making
available a plethora of Polanyi materials they collected through the last two
decades. I feel privileged to get regular advice from Fehér, who was the most
influential in shaping my perception of Polanyi’s liberalism and epistemology.
Special thanks must also go to Gábor Áron Zemplén for grating me access to
the Polanyi materials donated to the department by Mihály Beck (mostly
Polanyi’s early chemical writings), and for providing me early Hungarian
literature on the Polanyi family written before the Hungarian Democratic
Transition. I feel honoured to have had illuminating talks with Eduardo
Beira, a remarkable Polanyi scholar and a great translator of Polanyi’s works,
who has recently rediscovered Polanyi’s economics film and made it available
to study for others. I am particularly grateful for his invitation to the Trade,
Employment and Public Policy: Polanyi Then and Now workshop (November
2017) co-o rganized by the MIT and the Polanyi Society where I had the
chance to present my research leading to this book.
This book has indissoluble ties to the Philosophy and History of Science
Department at Budapest University of Technology and Economics and its
Doctoral School of History of Philosophy of Science. One cannot wish for a
Acknowledgements ix
more open atmosphere or a more inspiring scholarly milieu. I am particularly
thankful to those who were working tirelessly to maintain and develop this
great community, most importantly to Márta Fehér, Tihamér Margitay,
Gábor Forrai, Benedek Láng, János Tanács, Gábor Zemplén, István Danka,
Mihály Héder and Krisztina Szabó. They all influenced my thinking as a
scholar for which I will always be grateful. I want to express my sincere
thanks to Tibor Frank and Karl Hall, who influenced my research towards
exciting new directions. I am thankful for the close reading and the useful
advice of Phil Mullins. His exemplary scholarly guidance was a beacon for me
through the years of writing this book. Several colleagues listed above have
offered insightful feedback on earlier drafts, and three anonymous reviewers
gave thoughtful suggestions for improving the manuscript.
I am grateful to Natalie Tomlinson, editor of the Routledge Studies in the
History of Economics, for her support of the project from 2018. I could always
rely on her precious guidance and comprehensive expertise when it was most
needed. I owe many thanks to Lisa Lavelle, editorial assistant for economics at
Routledge. Special thanks must go to Steve Turrington for his dedication and
excellent editing, and to Pip Clubbs for her outstanding professional guid-
ance. I am very grateful to John C. Polanyi and the Special Collections
Research Center of the University of Chicago Library for giving me permis-
sion to publish direct quotations from the papers of Michael Polanyi. Part of
the research of this book appeared elsewhere, helping to refine my ideas
through peer review. Elements from Chapter 3 appeared in Changing Know-
ledge in the Early Economic Thought of Michael Polanyi (Springer, 2018); from
Chapter 2 in my dissertation, Projecting the Light of Democracy: Michael Polanyi’s
Efforts to Save Liberalism via an Economics Film, 1933–48.
Throughout this journey, my family’s support, love and patience have
been unwavering. Much love always.