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This paper analyzes the work of Ludwig von Mises in search of commonalities with complexity economics. Alternatively to the literature on the links between Austrian economics and complexity economics, this paper shows that many elements of Misesian economics, such as the notion of entrepreneurship or the characterizations of uncertainty and the market process, can be appealing to a complexity approach. Moreover, it discusses two important implications that Misesian economics may have for complexity. On the one hand, the praxeological emphasis on human purposeful action, and how this is reflected in the notion of entrepreneurship, can help remind of the importance of human intentionality and prevent complexity advocates from producing explanations of the human world drawing on mere "blind" mechanisms. On the other hand, Mises's works combining the equilibrium construct and a process-oriented perspective can inspire present complexity economics to answer relevant unresolved questions such as whether and to what extent equilibrium analysis should be employed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Ludwig von Mises, a prominent representative of the Austrian school, was also a radical critic of authoritarianism and totalitarianism. His criticism was deeply rooted in economic theory, particularly in his authoritative comparative analysis of socialism and capitalism and his original theory of bureaucracy. At the same time, while emphasizing the economic aspects, he ignored the distinction between the two systems, treating any major appropriation of economic power by the state as a fast track to full political and economic control. Reconstructing Mises reasoning, the article discusses in turn the fundamental issues related to the analysis of the socialist order and its relation to authoritarian orders, supplemented by considerations of bureaucracy and war, as well as questions of the importance of democracy and the right to self-determination for the well-being of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resenha do livro: COSTA, João Martins Timóteo da. Ação humana e a teoria do conhecimento: uma leitura kantiana de von Mises. 2. ed. [S. l.]: Editora Escafandristas, 2022. 89 p.

In his 1920 essay "Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth," Ludwig von Mises argued that economic calculation is impossible in a socialist system absent private property and exchange in the means of production. Without the social appraisement process by which the actions of consumers and entrepreneurs produce a money price structure, the commensurate cardinal numbers necessary to engage in capital accounting are not available. We argue that any claims regarding how advances in computer technology can solve the problem of economic calculation are based on an insufficient understanding of Mises' original argument. We restate Mises' argument in consideration of recent developments in big data and artificial intelligence and argue that Mises' original argument concerning the impossibility of economic calculation absent the institutional prerequisites of private property and monetary exchange in goods of all orders remains unrefuted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological advances associated with computing power and the prospect of artificial intelligence have renewed interest on the economic feasibility of socialism. The question of such feasibility turns on whether the problem of economic calculation has fundamentally changed. In spite of the prospect of what King and Petty (2021) refer to as "technosocialism," we argue that technological advances in computation cannot replace the competitive discovery process that takes place within the context of the market. We do so by situating the case for technosocialism in the context of the socialist calculation debate. Understood in these terms, technosocialism represents a restatement of the case for market socialism, which incorrectly framed the "solution" to economic calculation under socialism as one of computing data, rather than the discovery of context-specific knowledge that only emerges through the exchange of property rights. Therefore, the arguments put forth by Ludwig von Mises and F.A. Hayek, and later Israel Kirzner and Don Lavoie, regarding the impossibility of economic calculation under socialism remains just as relevant today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scope of this paper is to analyze Mises's proposed plan for addressing the problems of militant nationalism and economic nationalism that were plaguing Central and Eastern Europe in the interwar and post-war eras. Due to this region's overlapping nationalities and geopolitical tensions, Mises had to identify a pragmatic solution that could work in an age of economic interventionism. Starting from this objective, Mises specifically designed a supra-national institutional framework that could eliminate discrimination, ensure peace in the region, and simultaneously represent a rallying point for collective defence against the menace of the dynamic nations. We will show that Mises thought-out this compromise solution very carefully by using scientific insights and his deep understanding of the relations in the area. Furthermore, his plan had built-in elements that would have been conducive to the re-emergence of the classical-liberal international order. Also, because Mises's plan was never implemented, we will critically assess it considering the actual historical outcome that followed the Second World War. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to Nobel Laureate Edmund Phelps (2013, p. 123), Mises's critique of economic calculation under socialism renders him the originator of the economic analysis of property rights. This paper also suggests that implicit to Mises's impossibility theorem was also the origins of the theory of transaction costs. This raises the following question: what is the relationship, if any, between the process of economic calculation and the concept of transaction costs? Filtered through a Misesian lens, we argue that transaction costs are the costs of engaging in economic calculation. We illustrate our theoretical point utilizing the case of airline oversales auction system first proposed by Julian Simon (1968). In doing so, we reframe the problem of airline oversales from a transaction‐cost approach, one in which property rights in airline seats are initially poorly defined. By doing so, we illustrate that resources expended to discover the valuable attributes of a good (in this case airline seats), the terms of exchange between potential trading partners, as well as enforcing the terms of an exchange, all of which are transaction costs, are also, by definition, the costs of calculating the exchange value of goods. Thus, the airlines oversales auction system is illustrative of an institutional solution to the problem of economic calculation via a reduction of transaction costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

L’articolo intende proporre una prima sommaria ricognizione delle evidenze presenti nel fondo archivistico Ernesto Rossi in relazione ai rapporti intrattenuti da questi con economisti dell’accademia, tecnici e cultori di materie economiche che abbiano avuto con lui rapporti di frequentazione e collaborazione.

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The paper argues for three points. The first purpose of the paper is to show that Carl Menger would have rejected Ludwig von Mises' methodological apriorism. Second, I argue that Carl Menger was a pluralist about the methods of theoretical economics and that Mises was rather less of a pluralist, if not altogether a monist, about the legitimate method(s) of economic theorising. Finally, I try to establish the broad consistency of Menger's pluralism with the tolerant methodological attitude of his son, the mathematician, logician, and philosopher of science, Karl Menger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Throughout his career, Ludwig M. Lachmann theorized about how economies and societies achieve order in an uncertain world full of heterogeneous agents, heterogeneous production factors, and multilayered subjectivity. This article traces how he began his research agenda by expanding the conventional equilibrium framework of the 1930s to include (potentially diverging) expectations but gradually abandoned price coordination as the sole source of order in an economy. Instead, he set out to formulate an institutional theory of socially embedded plan coordination, which transcended the traditional division between commerce and community. This article illustrates this shift in Lachmann's focus by using two of his neglected German publications. Additionally, it lays out how Lachmann's effort in the "thinking in orders" tradition was principally rooted in his dissatisfaction with approaches to economics that reduced it to a "pure logic of choice." Lachmann instead conceived of his discipline as being something closer to Max Weber's "socioeconomics," and in this he was strongly influenced by the German historical school. This article explains how, ironically, this tradition, which historically positioned itself in stark opposition to the Austrian school, has—through the mediation of Lachmann—had considerable influence on the recent history of the Austrian school in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The City of Man initiative, with a conscious reference to Saint Augustine’s De civitate Dei, wanted to build a system after the First World War that would ensure free and unfettered human development. This initiative was undertaken by emigrants from Europe and eminent American intellectuals: they all hoped that a realized democracy in the classical Greek sense of the word would not only give us peace, but also open a perspective that, among other things, would eliminate socialism in its fascist and Bolshevik variants. Why do I open, however, an article devoted to this somewhat forgotten initiative with remarks on the subject of Hermann Broch, who, though he played an important role in the work of this group, was simply “one of many” (exactly one of the seventeen members of the group)? This is due to the fact that his voice was weighty. I also follow Paul Michael Lützeler’s suggestions; it must be remembered that the issues raised in the manifesto of the aforementioned group were taken up by the writer and philosopher, from the beginning of his activity, i.e. from his debut in 1931. It is worth looking at how the artist solved the same problems, which he then “tried” to describe and analyze as a philosopher and theoretician of economics.

Focusing on the problem of bureaucracy as a striking example of the ‘necessary stupidity’ that real-life forces us to tolerate, the philosophical meaning of Musil’s «intelligent stupidity» will be discussed. To a closer confrontation with the text, and with passages from (italic) Man Without Qualities (/italic) that are particularly relevant to the theme of the relationship between stupidity and bureaucracy, a number of reflections will be anteposed in order to highlight how, by making the concepts of liberalism and bureaucracy react to each other, it is possible to sketch a first outline of that aporetic of stupidity that seems to characterise so substantially the behaviour of modern man.

In this paper I analyse the problem of free will and determinism as it pertains to the Austrian School of Economics. I demonstrate that despite the fact they subscribe to the concept of causality, contemporary Austrians generally reject determinism at the level of human action, thus remaining proponents of what is known as metaphysical libertarianism. However, as I then show, Ludwig von Mises, the founding father of the modern Austrian School, was probably a determinist. My purpose is to test which metaphysical foundations best fit Austrian theory. I come to the conclusion that the economic theory of the Austrian School is consistent both with determinism (compatibilism) and metaphysical libertarianism (incompatibilism). In light of this, the determinist world-view widely embraced by scientists does not threaten the economic theory propounded by the Austrian School. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Procesos de Mercado is the property of Procesos de Mercado. Revista Europea de Economia Politica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper seeks to show the State in its historical and analytical approaches. In view of history, we find two principal solutions. In this text they are called metaphysical and contractual. The metaphysical solution is characteristic of the pre-modern era with its Aristotelian claim that we carry the social principle in our human nature; the principle is the spawning ground for the State. Now, the contractual, i.e. the modern, approach defines the State as a result of human negotiation. Historically speaking, there have been many proposals along the spectrum from an overgrown institution to its, much atrophied, form. The author proposes a modest approach to our understanding of the State: it is needed from the well-being of social community. The condition, however, of this well-being is that the State be limited, allowing much space for its society to grow and form indispensable interrelations.

The article focuses on the anti-naturalism of Menger and Mises. It presents a methodological approach formulated by both scholars as stemming from epistemological anti-naturalism and demonstrating similarities to social phenomenology. The article also discusses the development of the anti-naturalistic perspective on the basis of Hayek’s conception of sensory order. The latter allowed addressing the problem of validity of methodological dualism and established a sound foundation for the methodological approach of the Austrian School of Economics.

There are three intentions (aims) of this paper. First, to focus the attention of readers to three not so well known and least frequently quoted by economists of Mises’s books, namely his 1957 Theory and History: An Interpretation of Social and Economic Evolution, and two closely related The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science: An Essay on Method (1962), and Epistemological Problems of Economics (1933/1960).

Focusing on the problem of bureaucracy as a striking example of the 'necessary stupidity' that real-life forces us to tolerate, the philosophical meaning of Musil's «intelligent stupidity» will be discussed. To a closer confrontation with the text, and with passages from (italic) Man Without Qualities (/italic) that are particularly relevant to the theme of the relationship between stupidity and bureaucracy, a number of reflections will be anteposed in order to highlight how, by making the concepts of liberalism and bureaucracy react to each other, it is possible to sketch a first outline of that aporetic of stupidity that seems to characterise so substantially the behaviour of modern man. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quinn Slobodian's Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism (2018), attempts to draw a picture of the interwar and postwar periods of the 20th century that sees neoliberalism as a political and economic idea meant to preserve the power of private "capital" over democratic "labor" for the exploitation of the latter by the former. In doing so, he sees a group of economists associated with the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland as central players in designing a new order for capitalist oppression. This article challenges both the facts and the interpretation offered by Dr. Slobodian, by analyzing the purpose behind and the scholars associated with the Graduate Institute in, especially, the 1930s, with particular attention to his criticisms of the Austrian economists, Ludwig von Mises and F.A. Hayek. It is shown that his story is far more fiction than fact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Litteraria Polonica is the property of Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Lodzkiego and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

When he arrived in the US, Ludwig von Mises faced financial difficulties and had to find new sources of income. I use archival material to build on the existing narratives and to present a more informed version of Mises's finances and employment after his arrival. First, I document the financial struggles of the Mises family after arriving in the US and show that they were not as severe as other accounts suggest. Second, I look at Mises's appointment letters from New York University (NYU) and find inconclusive the claims that private donors funded all his NYU income. Third, I look at some of the other noteworthy episodes of Mises's financial history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the text entitled Zur Philosophie der industriellen Unternehmung / Uwagi filozoficzne o przedsiębiorstwie przemysłowym („Towards the Philosophy of Industrial Enterprise"), Józef I. M. Bocheński OP (?1995) attempts at discovering the function of the entrepreneur as a factor connecting capital and labor. The Dominican philosopher fails to notice, however, that there is no artificial division of consumer goods and capital goods. This is determined by the calculating mind of the acting man, whose point of reference is private property. It is a necessary element of economic calculation, without which there is no economic rationality. In his analysis, Bocheński does not take into account private property, and therefore he does not distinguish between the functions of a manager and an entrepreneur. The Dominican thinker's attempt to define philosophically an enterprise is innovative, based on anthropological principles consistent with Christian personalism, but incomplete. Ludwig von Mises and the Austrian School of Economics advocate a subjectivist theory of value that explains the essence of economic exchange based on private property. The author of this article, as a theologian, also reaches for economic personalism and John Paul II who taught that without private property man is not able to understand his dignity fully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Veritas is the property of EDIPUCRS - Editora Universitaria da PUCRS and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Ludwig Von Mises defendeu a polêmica tese de que a economia é regida por princípios apriorísticos, erguendo-se contra o positivismo metodológico vigente. Pretendo, neste ensaio, apresentar uma defesa da tese de Mises. Para tal, começo por analisar a influência da epistemologia kantiana no projeto de Mises e os aperfeiçoamentos que este legou à mesma. Dadas as objeções à posição kantiana, posteriormente, tendo em conta a crítica wittgensteiniana do psicologismo, argumento, com base numa recente análise de Roderick T. Long, que o projeto de Mises pode ser visto, na verdade, como uma elaboração do de Wittgenstein. Os argumentos para conclusão, de que tudo o que conta como pensamento envolve princípios lógicos, podem se estender de forma a mostrar que tudo o que conta como ação envolve princípios econômicos, argumento que sumarizaria a praxiologia de Mises.

The present work analyses the writings of Mises and Hayek on the relation between a liberal order and a free market, and the role of economic theory in advancing the appreciation of democratic institutions, considering the context of their expositions. Subsequently, it tries to address the contemporary state of political and economic affairs in the light of their teachings, highlighting missing aspects in today’s public debate and what should be taken into account for a coherent defense of the liberal order.

O objetivo geral deste estudo é examinar como a praxiologia lida com os problemas relacionados ao caráter empirista das formulações do indutivismo, do positivismo lógico e do falsificacionismo na filosofia da ciência. Um objetivo secundário é criticar essas propostas com base na discussão que vem sendo travada na filosofia da ciência há décadas. Outro objetivo secundário é divulgar a proposta metodológica da praxiologia em Economia. Em resposta a problemas diversos na filosofia da ciência que têm inspirado a teorização econômica dominante por muito tempo, a praxiologia apresenta uma alternativa para a Economia. Merece mais consideração por parte dos acadêmicos da área, não porque seja imune a considerações críticas de diversos tipos, mas sim por causa de sua inserção no debate metodológico que demanda atenção mais cuidadosa por parte dos economistas e, principalmente, por causa das novas questões que ela tem estimulado.

This year, 2019, marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of Ludwig von Mises's lesser known book, Nation, State, and Economy, which appeared in the immediate aftermath of the First World War. One of its leading themes was to trace out the interactions between language, nationalism, and the emergence of the political movement for national self-determination. On this basis, Mises formulated an explanation of nationalist imperialism within parts of, especially, Central and Eastern Europe where there were territories with overlapping linguistic or ethnic groups. Out of this came his proposed answer to national and ethnic conflicts through a system of plebiscites for a greater degree of individual self-determination to minimize intergroup tensions between and within nation-states. His proposal is then applied for an analysis of the recent international controversies over the Russian annexation of Crimea and the United Kingdom's vote to secede from the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews Ludwig Von Mises' concerns surrounding unrestricted immigration and relates them to the current debate surrounding immigrants' impact on destination countries' institutions. It then outlines a policy of generally unrestricted immigration with selective restrictions that addresses Mises' concerns and concerns about destination country institutions, while still achieving the majority of the economic gains that unrestricted immigration is forecast to achieve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]