What is extreme about Mises’s extreme apriorism?

There is something extreme about Ludwig von Mises’s methodological apriorism, namely, his epistemological justification of the a priori element(s) of economic theory. His critics have long recognized and attacked the extremeness of Mises’s epistemology of a priori knowledge. However, several of his defenders have neglected what is (and what has long been recognized by his critics to be) extreme about Mises’s apriorism. Thus, the argument is directed less against Mises than against those contributions to the secondary literature that assert his methodological moderation while overlooking what the most prominent critics have found extreme about Mises’s apriorism. Defending Mises as a merely moderate apriorist because he held only a narrow part of the foundation of economics to be a priori is a straw-man defense against criticisms of his apriorism as epistemologically extreme.     

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.     

Who's in charge here?

In previous Congresses, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health would have been free to write the medicare restructuring bill of his dreams. But William M. Thomas, like other chairmen, will have to accommodate his vision to that of the Republican leadership.     

Gordon Tullock and experimental public choice

In this paper, I discuss Gordon Tullock’s views on Experimentation in Economics, his own research experiment, and his influence on the field of experimental public choice. I argue that Tullock can credibly claim to have been an early supporter of the method and that his work is cited more often than that of other public choice scholars active in the same period. His work on rent seeking forms the basis of an extensive experimental literature and studies on trust, demand revelation and voter turnout have been strongly influenced by Tullock’s work.     

MARX@200

ABSTRACT

The article begins by outlining the philosophic anthropology that Marx derived from his reading of Hegel. We continue by arguing that this formed the basis of his materialist conception of history and his analysis of the political economy of the capitalist mode of production, with particular reference being made to Marx’s theory of value and his account of the economic contradictions of the capitalist system. We then discuss his views on the nature of post-capitalist society, concluding with a critical but broadly positive account of the relevance of his ideas to modern capitalism. Marx, we suggest, should not be regarded as a purely 19th-century thinker, as some recent biographers have maintained.     

A Note on a Conversation with Geoff Harcourt

In this note Geoff Harcourt offers his views, via a face to face interview, on a wide range of issues relating to the discipline of economics. He recalls his time as a student at University of Melbourne, his choice of doctoral study and experiences at University of Cambridge, his original intellectual influences and affiliation, and his contributions to economics. He also discusses how economics have evolved over the years, comments on the current status of economic teaching, research and policy advice in Australia, and makes some recommendations to early career researchers. The note also includes a brief bio sketch of Professor Harcourt.     

David Ricardo: on the art of “elucidating economic principles” in the face of a “labyrinth of difficulties”

Abstract

The paper discusses David Ricardo's analytical achievements. These concern his approach to the theory of value and distribution; his analysis of the effects of different forms of technical progress on income distribution; his analysis of exhaustible resources in terms of differential rent; his discussion of machinery and induced technical progress; and his theory of foreign trade and the principle of comparative advantage. It is argued that Ricardo's analysis has been frequently misrepresented and is a great deal more sophisticated than is commonly acknowledged. There are still ideas in his writings that have yet to be fully explored.     

威廉姆森交易费用理论述评

通过对威廉姆森关于交易费用的界定、合同人的假设、交易维度及契约类型和治理结构等内容介绍和评价,并且概括了威廉姆森关于交易费用理论应用范围和领域,旨在客观地评价威廉姆森关于交易费用理论的学术贡献及其理论渊源及实质。     

Technology and Oliver Williamson's transaction cost economics

Oliver Williamson has greatly contributed to refining neoclassical economics by incorporating transaction costs and internal organization; yet, his new institutional economics too easily dismisses the role of technology. In doing so, he has replaced the determinism of technological production efficiencies with the determinism of transaction cost efficiencies. A review shows that Williamson's new institutionalism has evolved through three stages in terms of the focus of his analysis and his views of transactions. Throughout this evolution, however, his proposed solutions to organizational failures have actually continued to rely heavily upon technology.     

勒庞思想在中国的传播及其影响

法国学者古斯塔夫·勒庞的群体心理研究对后世产生了深刻且持久的影响，这一研究所针对的社会背景至今仍是人类政治生活中重要的现象。本文试图梳理勒庞思想在中国的传播史，并选取几个有代表性的知识分子对勒庞思想的介绍与评说来剖析勒庞的群体心理研究对中国学界所产生的影响，同时也揭示了勒庞思想对社会群体运动的警示作用。     

The auctioneerless economics of Axel Leijonhufvud: the 'dark forces of time and ignorance' and the coordination of economic activity

Leijonhufvud focuses his analysis on the coordination of economicactivities. In a world tossed and torn by ever new episodesof instability, macroeconomic theory must finally admit andproperly analyse the limits of collective and individual rationality.Starting from the system's coordination, Leijonhufvud underlinesthe crucial role of information, learning and institutions.Coming to individual choice, he unremittingly rejects unboundedrationality. Methodologically, however, his use of general equilibriumas a benchmark seems to have conditioned his analysis. In bringingto light the ‘dark forces of time and ignorance’,Leijonhufvud himself seems to have fallen under the influenceof the siren represented by general equilibrium theory.     

James Buchanan's contributions to social and economic thought: Citation counts,self-assessment,and peer review

This paper demonstrates James Buchanan's impact on socio-economic thought through citation analysis of his published works, a discussion of Buchanan's own views of what his work means and is, and summary discussions of the assessments of other scholars. Thus the central themes of his work are illuminated as well. These themes include a deep distrust of government interference in the economy and in the personal lives of members of the polity, and his absolute conviction that collective decisionmaking should take place only within the framework of a contractual agreement, the fundamental principles of which have been derived through near unanimity.     

Scitovsky's The Joyless Economy and the economics of happiness

Abstract

Scitovsky's The Joyless Economy is especially well-known in recent economic studies on happiness. However, his insightful contributions have not been taken up as they deserve, mainly because they were, and still are, too original. By reconstructing Scitovsky's analysis on the basis of all his relevant writings, this article integrates his most original concepts, such as novelty, consumption skill, endogenous preferences, pleasurable uncertainty, into conventional economics; it compares Scitovsky's analysis to the economic thought of his time and to current consumer theory and it reveals his contributions to happiness economics, such as an original interpretation of the Easterlin paradox.     

Foundations of an Institutional Theory of Regulation

Although the work of Clarence Ayres is held in high regard within the tradition of American Institutionalism, it has made little impact upon the study of technology more generally. Moreover, even within the Institutionalist tradition, his work is seen to embody a tension - on the one hand his dichotomy between technology and institutions is too strict, but to the extent that it is "softened," his main contributions are undermined. This paper argues that Ayres' work does have something to contribute to current technology debates, but that this contribution cannot be made if his conception is "softened" in the way that recent contributions suggest.     

凯恩斯经济学方法的科学哲学评价

主流经济学在凯恩斯经济学形成之后,一直存在着争论,如何理解凯恩斯经济学理论的真谛,是当前研究现代经济学一个值得关注的问题,而在理解凯恩斯经济学理论中有关他的研究方法的哲学思想内涵是方法论的根本,也是构成其经济学理论的重要组成部分。本文以凯恩斯的《通论》为基础,分析凯恩斯经济学方法的哲学基础,并在方法论意义上进行了评价。分析结果表明,对于凯恩斯经济学的理解应当以全面发展的眼光看待,宏观经济学只是其理论起源的一个方面,追求经济思维的合理性和适应人类经济活动的需要是凯恩斯经济学方法论的根本。     

FACT AND FALLACY IN LABOUR MARKET ANALYSIS: A REPLY TO MR. LANDO*

Mr. Mordechai E. Lando has devoted his entire ‘Comment’ to one paragraph in my article, ‘Full Employment and the New Economics’, which ran to 36 paragraphs. Despite this rather narrow concentration, Mr. Lando has seriously misstated my argument in that one paragraph, and he has supported his criticisms by misstatements of fact and errors in analysis. Since his criticisms go to the heart of a thesis that I have developed in some detail during the past decade, I think that I should answer them rather fully.     

The Socioeconomic Thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi: As an Origin of Alternative Development

This paper tries to present the overall socioeconomic thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi as an origin of alternative development. The first section of the paper provides Gandhi's criticism of modern civilization, that of economics and that of Marxist socialism and communism. The second section analyzes his ideas for a "post-modern" construction of India, where his views on Swadeshi (self-reliance), his theory of trusteeship (theory of class and distribution) and his images of an ideal village economy are examined. The paper, referring to the works of E. F. Schumacher and the Other Economic Summit as well, concludes that Gandhian style of development theories have persistently furnished a critique of "modern" ways of thinking and presented alternative visions of socioeconomic development.     

克拉申语言习得理论的再认识

文章旨从克拉申的情感过滤假设出发,分析克拉申二语习得理论的优点和不足之处,给出自已的观点,以更有效地提高外语教学质量。     

微博社会资本的影响因素

采用新浪微博的数据,通过聚类分析、社会网络分析和回归分析,研究了微博用户的主动行为和真实世界中的社会资本对其微博社会资本的影响。研究结果显示:微博用户的主动行为和线下社会资本对其微博社会资本都有正向影响,且线下社会资本的影响较大;线下桥接社会资本对微博纽带社会资本的影响较大。     

Malthus on causality

Allegations of inconsistency and self-contradiction have regularly been levied against Malthus, but some of the allegations might be the result of inadequate appreciation of his use of a distinctive methodology involving a complex structure of causal relations. After an introductory summary of his general statements on causality, this paper analyses 26 selected topics that show how he deployed this methodology.