Ecological economics and the politics of knowledge: the debate between Hayek and Neurath

Hayek's epistemic arguments against planning were aimed notjust against socialism but also the tradition of ecologicaleconomics. The concern with the physical preconditions of economicactivity and defence of non-monetary measures in economic choicewere expressions of the same rationalist illusion about thescope of human knowledge that underpinned the socialist project.Neurath's commitment to physicalism, in natura calculation andplanning typified these errors. Neurath responded to these criticismsin unpublished notes and correspondence with Hayek. These highlightedthe epistemological premises his work shared with Hayek's, representinga response to Hayek from Hayek's own assumptions. This paperexamines the cogency and continuing relevance of the argumentsin this debate.     

F. A. Hayek: The Liberal as Communitarian

At the heart of Friedrich A. Hayek's social philosophy is a regard for the socially-constituted nature of man: the individual is not taken to be asocial or pre-social, but rather it is recognized that society defines the individual. The neglect of this aspect of Hayek's work by both liberal and communitarian, as well as libertarian, writers within political philosophy has led to his position being misrepresented, for Hayek's brand of liberalism is more akin to one variant of modern communitarianism than it is to the libertarian strain of liberal thought.     

Some Reflections on F.A. Hayek's The Sensory Order

Though F.A. Hayek is principally known for his work in economics, he also made contributions, both positive and critical, to the field of psychology. His most important piece in the latter field is his 1952 book, The Sensory Order. This paper attempts to locate The Sensory Order in relation to some of Hayek's other works. The origins of Hayek's interests in psychology, as revealed by an early student paper that provided a starting point for his later book, is noted. We then examine what may have motivated Hayek some 25 years later to return to psychology. Finally, the larger role that the book came to play in Hayek's overall system is explored. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Normative judgments and spontaneous order: The contractarian element in Hayek's thought

This paper explores the apparent tension between Hayek's moral skepticism and his role as a defender of liberal institutions. It looks at Hayek's concept of spontaneous order, and asks whether there are any grounds for claiming that spontaneous orders have moral value. The argument from group selection is considered but rejected. Hayek is interpreted as putting most weight on arguments which show, for specific orders (such as the market and common law) that their rules assist each individual in the pursuit of his or her ends, whatever those ends may be. It is suggested that this form of argument is contractarian in character. However, Hayek's contractarianism is distinctive in that it looks for agreement among individuals within an ongoing social order, rather than among rational agents who stand outside any particular society. This paper was written while I was a Visiting Scholar at the Social Philosophy and Policy Center, Bowling Green State University; I am very grateful for the Center's support. An early version was presented at the Friedrich August von Hayek Memorial Symposium in Freiburg, in June 1993. In revising the paper, I have benefited from the comments of the participants at that symposium.     

On reading Hayek: Choice, consequences and The Road to Serfdom

The basic thesis in The Road to Serfdom is that the lure of socialist ideology has the unintended and undesirable consequence of economic depravation and political tyranny when countries follow its policy agenda. Socialist planning requires economic planners to assume a level of responsibility for economic life in a country which is both cumbersome to the point of impossible, and powerful beyond any reasonable limit that could be safely trusted to any one individual or group of individuals. The papers in this symposium provide a critical reading of the Hayek's thesis on socialism. While many strong points are made in the discussion, the critical reading of Hayek offered must ultimately be judged unsatisfactory. The issues of choice and consequences are not addressed, and as a result the basic argument presented in The Road to Serfdom is never adequately engaged.     

From The Sensory Order to the Liberal Order: Hayek's Non-rationalist Liberalism

Hayek's arguments for a constitutionally constrainted government are consistent with, and to some extent rest upon, his work in theoretical psychology. By exploring his view of the mind in The Sensory Order, we can see the psychological and epistemological underpinnings of Hayek's belief in the mind's limits and the indispensibility of spontaneously emergent social institutions. The Austrian view of microeconomic coordination is a logical outgrowth of Hayek's theory of mind. Constraints on government are necessary not because self-interest leads rational government actors into temptation, but because even altruistically-motivated actors are epistemically unable to intervene effectively in spontaneously emergent institutions.     

Bringing Social Structure Back into Economics: On Critical Realism and Hayek's Scientism Essay

This paper offers a critique of the critical realist (CR) interpretation of Friedrich Hayek's famous essay Scientism and the Study of Society presented in Tony Lawson's recent Economics and Reality. It is argued, contrary to Lawson's reading, that Hayek's social structures (1) do have an existence over and above the conceptions of the individual actors and (2) serve as a precondition for human action on the lines proposed by CR. Some links are made between Hayek's essay and the theory of social reality recently proposed by John Searle, and some comparisons drawn with CR.     

“Was Hayek Right About Group Selection After All?” Review Essay of Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior,by Elliott Sober and David Sloan Wilson

One of the most controversial aspects of Hayek's social theory was his acceptance of the concept of cultural group selection. The publication of Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior provides an opportunity to revisit this much-maligned component of Hayek's thought. Sober and Wilson are concerned with biological group selection, but much of their argument is equally applicable to cultural group selection. This essay revisits Hayek's views on cultural group selection in light of the model proposed by Sober and Wilson. Comparing their model to Hayek's model suggests that group selection theories are more plausible than traditionally thought and that their viability in any given situation is an empirical, not an a priori, question. So long as there are benefits to a group from greater levels of altruism and cooperation, and so long as free rider problems can be mitigated, group selection models are plausible.     

On Political Competition: Democracy, Opinion and Responsibility

In this paper, I consider the influence of political competition on opinion. After reflecting on the notion opinion as a concept in the economic analysis of politics, I turn to Hayek's Constitution of Liberty and consider his argument for democracy on the grounds that it is the form of government which best promotes progress in opinion. Yet Hayek's claim that democratically formed opinion improves is unsubstantiated. I turn to accounts of expressive voting thereafter to show why opinions which are realised in the form of votes may be anything other than propitious to democratic culture. I then return to Hayek and consider what becomes of opinion in Law, Legislation and Liberty. His claim that opinion improves under democratic institutions is no longer of great significance to him. Indeed, his account of the rise of bargaining politics provides evidence against the claim that opinion improves. I conclude by asking how democracy can be shielded from opinion, that is, how opinion might be improved in ways which go beyond Hayek's model of political competition outlined in Constitution of Liberty. To this end, I look to accounts of deliberative democracy and expressive politics for support.     

Enrico Barone's ‘Ministry of Production’: Content and Context

Abstract

Enrico Barone's famous article on economic planning, ‘Il Ministro della Produzione nello Stato Collettivista’ (‘The Ministry of Production in the Collectivist State’), which showed the theoretical possibility of an economically efficient collectivist planned economy, was published in Giornale degli Economisti in 1908. Barone's article has been widely cited, particularly in the comparative economic systems literature, but it has not been very widely read or analysed in recent years, and there is not much literature that places Barone's ‘Ministry’ model in the context of his other works or in its historical, social, or ideological context. The aims of this article are: (a) to analyse and clarify Barone's model in depth; (b) to place it in the context of Barone's other writings and the literature on the subject; and (c) to examine the apparent contradiction between Barone's hostility to socialism and his attempt to formulate the pure theory of the collectivist economy.     

Karl Polanyi on economy and society: a critical analysis of core concepts

The Review of Social Economy was founded to highlight the irreducible social aspects of economic activity. Yet, the nature of the ‘social’ and the ‘economic’ are both unresolved, and they are much more problematic than often assumed. This article probes Karl Polanyi’s depiction of the relationship between the ‘social’ and the ‘economic’ and subsequent discourse on ‘embeddedness’. In his Great Transformation (1944) Polanyi associated the ‘economic’ with motives of material gain, while ‘social’ referred to norms of reciprocity and redistribution: his distinction between the ‘social’ and the ‘economic’ then focused primarily on different kinds of motivation. But in a 1957 essay he brought in different kinds of institutions that engender different types of motivation. Polanyi (1944) argued that after 1800 Britain was transformed into a market-oriented ‘economic’ system, based on motives of greed and material gain. He also proposed that an effective market system had to be ‘self-adjusting’ and free of political interference, despite his important additional claim that the state was involved in its creation. Some of Polanyi’s core concepts and arguments are contradictory and problematic, and need to be reconsidered, especially if his enduring insights are to be salvaged.     

Hayek contra Pangloss on Evolutionary Systems

Some analysts have criticized Friedrich Hayek's theory of cultural evolution for implying that the rules, customs, norms, and institutions that emerge from the evolutionary process are necessarily efficient or desirable in all cases. This charge is unfounded. The present article defends Hayek versus his critics in two ways: First, it restates Hayek's own objections to the idea that cultural evolution produces optimal outcomes. Second, it shows, through an analogy with biological evolution, that Hayek's theory need not imply any such conclusion. Contrary to a widely held misconception, biological evolution does not produce organisms that are perfectly adapted to their habitats; insofar as cultural evolution shares common features with biological evolution, cultural evolution may be expected to display similar types of suboptimality or mal-adaptation. Insights from the theory of biological evolution also help to illuminate some areas of controversy with regard to Hayek's theory of cultural evolution, including: Hayek's advocacy of gradual change; the question of what selective forces drive the process of cultural evolution; and the alleged conflict between group selectionism and methodological individualism.     

哈耶克诘难、权威转变与经济成长:中国分权式改革的逻辑

中国的分权式改革一定是做对了什么才产生了我们见到的经济奇迹,那是什么呢?中国的分权式改革从事实上回应了哈耶克诘难,即信息和知识的分散性使得计划体制不可能实现其理想状态。通过经济上放权让利和政治上的集权,调动社会各阶层的能动性,使得权威和信息相匹配,形成了有效的层级分工创新体制,从而实现经济成长。由于分工的深化和经济活动的扩展,经济分权体现出必然性。在这一过程中,每一个分立的个体都凭借个体知识在分工体系中分享收益,因而实现了共享式的发展,从自由的角度看,个体的自由也得到了极大的扩展。如果要释放更多的经济增长潜力,进一步的改革是必需的。     

Marx's socialism in the context of his typology of economic systems

This paper restates the major structural properties of Marx's conception of socialism in the broader context of his typology of economic systems, commencing with feudalism and ending with his unique vision of postcapitalist economy. It also discusses briefly some of the major applications of this typology to contemporary practice, notably to Soviet experience. Clarification and systematic examination of Marx's views on the basic organizational properties of socialism in the broader context of Marx's views on economic systems, although important in its own right, can also sharpen critical understanding of debates concerning relations between the classical Marxian vision and contemporary practice.     

哈耶克反对社会主义的时代和理论背景分析

哈耶克是新自由主义的旗手,一生反对社会主义。学术界往往从哈耶克理论的本身去探讨其反对社会主义的原因,事实上哈耶克反对社会主义有其社会背景和知识根源,前者主要是苏德经济政治制度的弊端和凯恩斯主义失效后西方对新自由主义的重视,后者主要是哈耶克自身接触和掌握的心理学知识及自由主义政治经济理论。     

Hodgson on Hayek: a critique

In his book Economics and Evolution, Geoffrey Hodgson offersa detailed critique of F. A. Hayek's writings on cultural evolution.Certain aspects of Hodgson's treatment appear to be inaccurate.This paper criticises Hodgson's critique.     

Inter-war trade cycle theories in a poem by James Meade

John Caruthers (1836–1914), the Scottish civil engineer who built canals and railways many parts of the world, was a good friend of William Morris and an active supporter of the Scoialist League and then the Hammersmith Socialist Society. He advocated a non-bureaucratic socialism, which had only a limited state machinery and made considerable use of the market system, with money, banks and flexible prices. His ideas were elaborated in a long boon Communal and Commercial Economy (1883) and in a substantial article (1884) in To-Day (a leading London socialist periodical of the time) and elsewhere. The paper sets out his economic ideas in some detail, including his (implicit) emphasis on the Golden Rule in he choice of technique. These ideas were a considerale achievement for the early 1880s and it is perhaps unfortunate that they did not have a greater influence on the socialist movement.     

The Emergence of Hayek's Ideas on Cultural Evolution

F. A. Hayek's writings on cultural evolution are an essential part of his work, and some aspects of these writings (e.g., his defense of group selection) have generated considerable controversy. This historical paper traces the circumstances that led Hayek to introduce cultural evolution and related ideas into his work.     

Polanyi and Post-neoliberalism in the Global South: Dilemmas of Re-embedding the Economy

Although Karl Polanyi Studied a different epoch and focused on Europe, his ideas have inspired an outpouring of studies on contemporary problems and prospects in the neoliberal era. The bulk of these studies pertain to industrial countries or global economic issues. However, the human, environmental and financial impact of market deregulation is arguably more devastating in the ‘developing’ countries than in the core. A question thus arises: do Polanyi's reflections on progressive alternatives to liberalism clarify contemporary debates on development alternatives in the Global South? I contend that democratic socialism – Polanyi's preferred remedy to the ‘demolition’ of society and nature occasioned by market civilisation – is problematical in light of what we have learned from the twentieth century, but his framework for evaluating alternatives – featuring the re-embedding of economy in society – remains as powerful as ever, I support this argument with an exploration of socialism and social democracy – as well as community – based alternatives arising from ‘reciprocity’. Each possibility raises distinctive dilemmas, as an analysis of cases reveals.