Friedmanowska krytyka studiów Oskara Langego i Abby Paula Lernera na temat kontroli cen w gospodarce. Metodologiczne różnice w ramach paradygmatu neoklasycznego

• Autorzy: Drabińska D.

Warianty tytułu

EN

Milton Friedman’s critique of Oskar Lange’s and Abba Paul Lerner’s studies of price control in the economy

• Języki publikacji: PL

Abstrakty

EN

The aim of the current article to present the views of Milton Friedman contained in his methodological critiques of two works relating to the significance of the process of how price are determined in the economy. The works in question are Abba Paul Lemer’s Economics of Control. Principles o f Welfare Economics and the monograph by Oskar Lange Price Flexibility and Employment. Both the reviews by Friedman and the works that were subject to his critique were published in the 1940s. They can therefore be regarded as classics in the history of economic thought. Friedman’s critiques were later contained in his retrospective writings on the principles of positive economics. A collection of his essays on that subject was published in Chicago in 1953 under the title Essays in Positive Economics. Both of Friedman’s works discussed in the present article are to be found in the chapter of that book devoted to a criticism of the methodology of positive economics. The present article consist of three sections. The first is devoted to a presentation of two methodologically different approaches to socio-economic order developed within the framework of neo-classical economics. The author draws upon the ideas of another eminent economist of the 20th century, Friedrich von Hayek, who made a distinction between the ideas of a spontaneous social order and the principles a rationally ordered economy, invoking the dichotomous concept of the world prevalent in Greek philosophy, which distinguished between natural order, „cosmos”, and artificial order, reflected in the idea of „taxis”. The idea that the economy can be treated as a reality which is subject to control is reflected in the views held by Lerner and Lange, while Friedman is clearly inclined towards the „cosmos” concept of the economy. The second and third section of the current article contain a discussion of the polemical views expressed by Friedman. The author discusses Friedman’s comments on the works by Lemer and Lange respectively. Since Friedman’s argumentation is based on the highly abstract conventions of deductive economics, the author of the article makes an attempt to reproduce Friedman’s reasoning as closely as possible, trying to show the incisive nature of the economist’s mind and the precision with which he was able to pinpoint the logical flaws in the reasoning of Lemer and Lange. Milton Friedman’s critical paper entitled Lange on Price Flexibility and Employment. A Methodological Criticism, which referred to Oskar Lange’s monograph of 1944, was originally published in the American Economic Review in September 1946, while his polemic with the book by Abba Paul Lemer (which appeared in 1946), entitled Lemer on the Economics of Control was first published in October 1947 in the „Journal of Political Economy”.

Słowa kluczowe

PL

ekonomia; gospodarka; kontrola cen

EN

economy; administration; price controls

• Wydawca: Instytut Historii Nauki im. L. i A. Birkenmajerów Polskiej Akademii Nauk
• Czasopismo: Kwartalnik Historii Nauki i Techniki
• Rocznik: 2002
• Tom: R. 47, nr 2
• Strony: 47--70
• Opis fizyczny: Bibliogr. 15 poz.

Twórcy

autor

Drabińska D.

• Katedra Teorii Systemów Ekonomicznych SGH Warszawa

Bibliografia

• Burns A.F., Mitchell W.C.: Measuring Business Cycles. New York 1946.
• Friedman M.: Essays in Positive Economics. Chicago 1953; wyd.II 1959.
• Friedman M.: Lange on Price Flexibility and Employment. A Methodological Criticism. „American Economic Review” 1946 t.XXXVI, s.613-631.
• Friedman M.: Lerner on the Economics of Control. „Journal of Political Economy” 1947 t.XV s.405-416.
• Godłów-Legiędź J.: Doktryna społeczno-ekonomiczna Friedricha von Hayeka. Warszawa 1992.
• Kowalik T. (red.): Zachodni spór o socjalizm rynkowy. Wybór tekstów. Warszawa 1990.
• Lange O.: Price Flexibility and Employment. Bloomington, Ind. 1944; wyd. polskie Giętkość cen i zatrudnienie W:Lange O.: Dzieła t.1 Kapitalizm. Warszawa 1973-1986 s.559-718.
• Lange O.: Dzieła 1.1-8.Warszawa 1973-1986.
• LangeO.: O ekonomicznej teorii socjalizmu. W: Dzieła t.2 Socjalizm. Warszawa 1973-1986 s. 231-304.
• Lange O.: Podstawy ekonomii dobrobytu. W: Dzieła t.l Kapitalizm Warszawa 1973-1986 s. 462—479.
• Lange O.: Maszyna licząca i rynek. W: Dzieła t. 2 Socjalizm. Warszawa 1973-1986 s. 332-336..
• Lange O., Taylor F.M.: On the Economic Theory of Socialism. Minneapolis 1938.
• Lerner A.P.: The Economics of Control. New York 1944.
• Pareto V.: Cours d’economie politigue. Lausanne 1897.
• Simons H.C.: Personal Income Taxation. Chicago 1938.