Ludwig M. Lachmann contro la Scuola di Cambridge

Ferlito, Carmelo (2015): Ludwig M. Lachmann contro la Scuola di Cambridge. Published in: Ludwig von Mises Italia (28 October 2015)

Abstract

While in the early 1930s Keynes and Hayek were the major figures in a heated academic debate about money and capital, in which Keynes also and especially involved the Italian Piero Sraffa, it might seem at first sight that the Austrian economist set aside an organic demolition of the ideas expressed in 1936 by his rival in the General Theory. But the ‘Austrian knight’ of a new Vienna-Cambridge debate, in the subsequent decades, was the German economist Ludwig M. Lachmann (1906-1990), a student of Hayek at LSE during the 1930s and later a professor in Johannesburg and New York. Lachmann was one of the protagonists of the Austrian revival after 1974 and the founding leader of the ‘hermeneutic stream’, opposed by the Rothbardian stream. Lachmann, defending Keynes’s subjectivism and expectation theory, revived the Vienna-Cambridge controversy, criticising not Keynes but his followers, in particular the ‘new’ Cambridge School, developed by Joan Robinson and Piero Sraffa. Lachmann’s life sight was to build a new economics paradigm, centred on the idea of market process, expectations and kaleidic society (Shackle).

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• English Title: Ludwig M. Lachmann against the Cambridge School
• Language: Italian
• Keywords: Lachmann, Sraffa, Keynes, Hayek, Expectations, Macroeconomics, Innovation, Business Cycles
• Subjects: B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B1 - History of Economic Thought through 1925 > B13 - Neoclassical through 1925 (Austrian, Marshallian, Walrasian, Stockholm School); B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B2 - History of Economic Thought since 1925 > B24 - Socialist ; Marxist ; Sraffian; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B2 - History of Economic Thought since 1925 > B25 - Historical ; Institutional ; Evolutionary ; Austrian; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B4 - Economic Methodology > B41 - Economic Methodology; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E3 - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles > E32 - Business Fluctuations ; Cycles

References

D. Antiseri (2011), Contro Rothbard. Elogio dell’ermeneutica, Soviera Mannelli, Rubbettino.

J. Blundell (2014), IHS and the Rebirth of Austrian Economics: Some Reflections on 1974–1976, «The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics», 17, 1, pp. 92-107.

P.J. Boettke, S. Horwitz e D.L. Prychitko (1986), Beyond Equilibrium Economics: Reflections on the Uniqueness of the Austrian Tradition, in Modern Austrian Economics. Archaeology of a Revival, II, The Age of Dispersal, a cura di P.J. Boettke e S. Boehm, London, Pickering & Chatto, 2002, pp. 121-132.

P.J. Boettke e S.T. Sullivan (1998), Lachmann’s Policy Activism. An Austrian critique of Keynesian proclivities, in Koppl e Mongiovi (1998), pp. 163-182.

E. von Böhm-Bawerk (1910), Capitale, in E. von Böhm-Bawerk, Capitale Valore Interesse, Rome, Archivio Guido Izzi, 1998, pp. 91-106.

C. Ferlito (2011), Sylos Labini’s Unpublished Notes on Schumpeter’s Business Cycles, «The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics», 14, 1, pp. 88-129.

C. Ferlito (2013), Phoenix Economics. From Crisis to Renascence, New York, Nova Publishers. Edizione italiana: Economica Fenice. Dalla Crisi alla Rinascenza, Chieti, Solfanelli, 2013.

C. Ferlito (2014), The Natural Cycle: Why Economic Fluctuations are Inevitable. A Schumpeterian Extension of the Austrian Business Cycle Theory, «Journal of Reviews on Global Economics», 3, pp. 200-219. Traduzione italiana: Il Ciclo Naturale. Perché le fluttuazioni economiche sono inevitabili. Un’estensione schumpeteriana della teoria austriaca del ciclo economico, «Ludwig von Mises Italia», 4 October 2014, http://vonmises.it/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/CICLO-NATURALE-Materiale.pdf.

C. Ferlito (2015), Entrepreneurship: State of Grace or Basic Feature of Human Action? Schumpeter’s Leadership vs. Kirzner’s Alertness, «European Journal of Economic and Social Systems», in corso di pubblicazione.

R. Garrison (1986), From Lachmann to Lucas: on institutions, expectations, and equilibrating tendencies, in Subjectivism, Intelligibility, and Economic Understanding: Essays in Honor of Ludwig M. Lachmann on His Eightieth Birthday, a cura di I.M. Kirzner, New York, New York University Press, pp. 87-101.

D. Glasner e P.R. Zimmerman (2012), The Sraffa-Hayek Debate on the Natural Rate of Interest, SSRN working paper series, http://ssrn.com/abstract=2221695 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2221695.

F.A. von Hayek (1928), The System of Intertemporal Price Equilibrium and Movements in the ‘Value of Money’, in Classics in Austrian Economics. A Sampling in the History of a Tradition, III, The Age of Mises and Hayek, a cura di I.M. Kirzner, London, William Pickering, 1994, pp. 160-198.

F.A. von Hayek (1929), Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle, New York, Kelley, 1966.

F.A. von Hayek (1931a), Prices and Production, New York, Kelley, 1967.

F. A. von Hayek (1931b), Reflections on the Pure Theory of Money of Mr. J.M. Keynes, «Economica», XI, 33, pp. 270-295.

F.A. von Hayek (1931c), The Pure Theory of Money: A Rejoinder to Mr. Keynes, «Economica», XI, 34, pp. 398-403.

F.A. von Hayek (1932a), Reflections on the Pure Theory of Money of Mr. J.M. Keynes, Part 2, «Economica», XII, 35, pp. 22-44.

F.A. von Hayek (1932b), Money and Capital: A Reply to Mr. Sraffa, «Economic Journal», 42, pp. 237-249.

F.A. von Hayek (1933), Aspettative di prezzo, perturbazioni monetarie e investimenti sbagliati, in F.A. von Hayek, Conoscenza, mercato, pianificazione. Saggi di economia e di epistemologia, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1988, pp. 441-458.

F.A. von Hayek (1939), Profits, interest and Investment, in F.A. von Hayek, Profits, Interest and Investment and Other Essays on the Theory of Industrial Fluctuations, Clifton, Augustus M. Kelley, 1975, pp. 3-71.

F.A. von Hayek (1941), The Pure Theory of Capital, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1952.

S. Horwitz (2000), Microfoundations and Macroeconomics. An Austrian Perspective, London e New York, Routledge.

J. Huerta de Soto (1998), The Ongoing Methodenstreit of the Austrian School, «Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines», 8, 1, pp. 75-113.

J. Huerta de Soto (2000), The Austrian School. Market Order and Entrepreneurial Creativity, Cheltenham and Northampton, Edward Elgar, 2010.

J.G. Hülsmann (2000), A Realist Approach to Equilibrium Analysis, «The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics», 3, 4, pp. 3-51.

J.M. Keynes (1930), A Treatise on Money, in J.M. Keynes, Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes, V-VI, London, Royal Economic Society, 1971.

J.M. Keynes (1931), The Pure Theory of Money. A reply to dr. Hayek, «Economica», XI, 34, pp. 389-403.

I.M. Kirzner (1963), Market Theory and the Price System, Princeton, D. van Nostrand.

I.M. Kirzner (1973), Competition and Entrepreneurship, Chicago, University of Chicago Press.

I.M. Kirzner (1992), The Meaning of Market Process. Essays in the development of Modern Austrian Economics, London e New York, Routledge.

I.M. Kirzner (1997), Entrepreneurial Discovery and the Competitive Market Process: An Austrian Approach, «Journal of Economic Literature», XXXV, pp. 60-85.

I.M. Kirzner (2000), The Driving Force of the Market. Essays in Austrian Economics, London e New York, Routledge.

R. Koppl e G. Mongiovi (1998), a cura di, Subjectivism and Economic Analysis. Essays in memory of Ludwig M. Lachmann, London e New York, Routledge. 2003.

L.M. Lachmann (1935), Capital Structure and Depression, Tesi inedita, London University.

L.M. Lachmann (1943), The Role of Expectations in Economics as a Social Science, in L.M. Lachmann, Capital, Expectations, and the Market Process, a cura di W.E. Grinder, Kansas City, Sheed Andrews And McMeel Inc., 1977, pp. 65-80.

L.M. Lachmann (1947), Complementarity and Substitution in the Theory of Capital, in L.M. Lachmann, Capital, Expectations, and the Market Process, a cura di W.E. Grinder, Kansas City, Sheed Andrews And McMeel Inc., 1977, pp. 197-213

L.M. Lachmann (1956), Capital and Its Structure, Kansas City, Sheed Andrews and McMeel, 1978.

L.M. Lachmann (1958), Mrs. Robinson on the Accumulation of Capital, in L.M. Lachmann, Capital, Expectations, and the Market Process, a cura di W.E. Grinder, Kansas City, Sheed Andrews And McMeel Inc., 1977, pp. 214-234.

L.M. Lachmann (1966), The Significance of the Austrian School of Economics in the History of Ideas, in L.M. Lachmann, Capital, Expectations, and the Market Process, a cura di W.E. Grinder, Kansas City, Sheed Andrews And McMeel Inc., 1977, pp. 45-64.

L.M. Lachmann (1971), The Legacy of Max Weber, Berkeley, The Glendessery Press.

L.M. Lachmann (1973), La teoria macroeconomica e l’economia di mercato, in La Scuola Austriaca contro Keynes e Cambridge, a cura di S. Ricossa, Soveria Mannelli, Rubbettino, 2000, pp. 229-289.

L.M. Lachmann (1976a), Austrian Economics in the Present Crisis of Economic Thought, in L.M. Lachmann, Capital, Expectations, and the Market Process, a cura di W.E. Grinder, Kansas City, Sheed Andrews And McMeel Inc., 1977, pp. 25-41.

L.M. Lachmann (1976b), On the Central Concept of Austrian Economics: Market Process, in The Foundations of Modern Austrian Economics, a cura di E.G. Dolan, Kansas City, Sheed & Ward, pp. 126-132.

L.M. Lachmann (1976c), Toward a Critique of Macroeconomics, in The Foundations of Modern Austrian Economics, a cura di E.G. Dolan, Kansas City, Sheed & Ward, pp. 152-158.

L.M. Lachmann (1976d), Austrian Economics in the Age of the Neo-Ricardian Counterrevolution, in The Foundations of Modern Austrian Economics, a cura di E.G. Dolan, Kansas City, Sheed & Ward, pp. 215-223.

L.M. Lachmann (1976e), From Mises to Shackle: An Essay on Austrian Economics and the Kaleidic Society, «Journal of Economic Literature», 14, 1, pp. 54-62.

L.M. Lachmann (1976f), On Austrian Capital Theory, in The Foundations of Modern Austrian Economics, a cura di E.G. Dolan, Kansas City, Sheed & Ward, pp. 145-151.

L.M. Lachmann (1982), Why Expectations Matter, in Modern Austrian Economics. Archaeology of a Revival, I, A Multi-Directional Revival, a cura di S. Gloria-Palermo, London, Pickering & Chatto, 2002, pp. 251-269.

L.M. Lachmann (1983), John Maynard Keynes. A view from an Austrian window, in L.M. Lachmann, Expectations and the Meaning of Institutions, a cura di D. Lavoie, London e New York, Routledge, 1994, pp. 179-191.

L.M. Lachmann (1986a), Attacco all’economia austriaca. Lo scontro Hayek-Sraffa in retrospettiva, in La Scuola Austriaca contro Keynes e Cambridge, a cura di S. Ricossa, Soveria Mannelli, Rubbettino, 2000, pp. 203-228.

L.M. Lachmann (1986b), The Market as an Economic Process, New York, Basil Blackwell.

L.M. Lachmann (1990), Austrian Economics: A Hermeneutic Approach, in Lavoie (1990), pp. 132-144.

D. Lavoie (1990), a cura di, Economics and Hermeneutics, London e New York, Routledge.

M. McCaffrey (2012), The Influence of the Currency-Banking Dispute on Early Viennese Monetary Theory, in Theory of Money and Fiduciary Media: Essays in Celebration of the Centennial, a cura di J.G. Hülsmann, Auburn, Ludwig von Mises Institute, pp. 127-165.

M. McCaffrey (2013), Conflicting Views of the Entrepreneur in Turn-of-the-Century Vienna, «History of Economics Review», 58, pp. 27-43.

K.H.M. Mittermaier (1992), Ludwig Lachmann (1906-1990), A Biographical Sketch, in Modern Austrian Economics. Archaeology of a Revival, I, A Multi-Directional Revival, a cura di S. Gloria-Palermo, London, Pickering & Chatto, 2002, pp. 252-269.

L.S. Moss (2000), a cura di, Ludwig M. Lachmann (1906-1990): Scholar, Teacher, and Austrian School Critic of Late Classical Formalism in Economics «American Journal of Economics and Sociology», 59, 3, pp. 367-417.

R. Murphy (n.d.), Multiple Interest Rates and Austrian Business Cycle Theory, paper inedito.

G.P. O’Driscoll e M.J. Rizzo (1985), The Economics of Time and Ignorance, London e New York, Routledge, 2002.

P.L. Porta (1990), David Ricardo: la sistemazione teorica della concorrenza e del mercato, in Il pensiero economico moderno, a cura di G. Becattini, Torino, Utet, pp. 101-147.

M.J. Rizzo (1979), Disequilibrium and All That: An Introductory Essay, in Time, Uncertainty, and Disequilibrium, a cura di M.J. Rizzo, Lexington, D.C. Heath and Company, pp. 1-18.

M.J. Rizzo (1992), Equilibrium Visions, in Modern Austrian Economics. Archaeology of a Revival, II, The Age of Dispersal, a cura di P. Boettke e S. Boehm, London, Pickering & Chatto, 2002, pp. 175-190.

J. Robinson (1956), The Accumulation of Capital, London, Macmillan.

A. Roncaglia (1990), Le scuole sraffiane, in Il pensiero economico moderno, a cura di G. Becattini, Torino, Utet, pp. 233-274.

M.N. Rothbard (1989), The Hermeneutical Invasion of Philosophy and Economics, in M.N. Rothbard, Economic Controversies, Auburn, Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2011, pp. 119-136.

M.N. Rothbard (1992), The Present State of Austrian Economics, in Modern Austrian Economics. Archaeology of a Revival, II, The Age of Dispersal, a cura di P. Boettke e S. Boehm, London, Pickering & Chatto, 2002, pp. 1-59.

D. Sanz Bas (2011), Hayek’s Critique of The General Theory: A New View of the Debate between Hayek and Keynes, «The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics», 14, 3, pp. 288-310.

zapG.A. Selgin (1988), Praxeology and Understanding: An Analysis of the Controversy in Austrian Economics, Auburn, Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1990.

G.L.S. Shackle (1967), The Years of High Theory. Invention & Tradition in Economic Thought 1926-1939, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2010.

G.L.S. Shackle (1972), Epistemics and Economics: A critique of economic doctrines, New Brunswick e London, Transaction Publishers, 2009.

P. Sraffa (1932a), Dr. Hayek on Money and Capital, «Economic Journal», 42, pp. 42-53.

P. Sraffa (1932b), A Rejoinder, «Economic Journal», 42, pp. 249-251.

P. Sraffa (1960), Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities. Prelude to a Critique of Economic Theory, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

P. Sylos Labini (1956), Oligopoly and Technical Progress, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1962.

P. Sylos Labini (1981), I Mutamenti Tecnologici nelle Condizioni Odierne: Riflessioni di un Economista, «Moneta e Credito», 34, 133, pp. 41-62.

P. Sylos Labini (1984), The Forces of Economic Growth and Decline, Cambridge and London, MIT Press.

P. Sylos Labini (1989), Nuove Tecnologie e Disoccupazione, Rome and Bari, Laterza.

P. Sylos Labini (1993), Progresso Tecnico e Sviluppo Ciclico, Rome and Bari, Laterza.

P. Sylos Labini (2004), Torniamo ai classici. Produttività del lavoro, progresso tecnico e sviluppo economico, Roma-Bari, Laterza.

L.A.W. Tieben (2012), The Concept of Equilibrium in Different Economic Traditions. A Historical Investigation, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar.

K. Vaughn (1994), Austrian economics in American. The migration of a tradition, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

C. Zappia (1999), L’influenza di Sraffa sull’evoluzione della teoria di Hayek, Quaderni del Dipartimento di Economia Politica dell’Università degli Studi di Siena, n. 241.