Calculation in Kind and Marketless Socialism
* Article: Calculation in kind and marketless socialism: On Otto Neurath’s utopian economics. Thomas Uebel. Euro. J. History of Economic Thought 15:3 475–501, September 2008
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Abstract:
"Otto Neurath is notorious amongst economists for his plans for a socialist economy with calculation in kind in place of a market. This paper considers the common criticism of ‘‘utopianism’’ from an immanent point of view. To do so, it will first be established in what Neurath recognized a negative sense of utopianism that was opposed to his own self-confessed ‘‘scientific utopianism’’. Then it will be considered in what respect, if any, Neurath’s stance in the socialist calculation debate can be shown to be objectionably utopian in this sense by the counter-arguments put forward by Ludwig von Mises."
From the introduction:
"Otto Neurath was not shy to declare himself a utopian thinker. His standing as an economist depends on what one makes of this feature of his thought. Here I shall be attempting an immanent critique, on Neurath’s own terms.
Without discussing the meaning of utopianism in general, I shall argue that while much of his work in economics amounts to what he called ‘scientific utopianism’ – something he was within his rights to consider part of social-scientific activity – there are also aspects to this work in economics that are utopian in a more problematic sense. I will isolate what these elements are and investigate how, if at all, their presence in Neurath’s thought can be understood without de-legitimizing the rest of his program."
More information
The author, Thomas Uebel writes in a bibliographic footnote:
"I have provided comparisons with other more or less utopian economic thinkers elsewhere: with the ideas of his father Wilhelm Neurath and, indirectly, those of the French utopian socialists Saint-Simon, Enfantin and Proudhon, as well as with Bellamy and Bebel in Uebel (1995); and with other socialization schemes that were discussed around 1919 in Central Europe, especially Kautsky’s, in Uebel (2004, section 3); a detailed comparison with Otto Bauer’s and Karl Korsch’s socialization plans was given in Cartwright et al. (1996: 22–9). A comparison of Neurath’s and Gustav Landauer’s utopian engagements in the Bavarian revolution is given in Nielsen and Uebel (1999)."
- works by the author on 'utopian economics' and utopian economists:
Uebel, T.E. (1995). Otto Neurath’s idealist inheritance: The social and economic thought of Wilhelm Neurath. Synthese, 103: 87–121.
—— (2004). Introduction: Neurath’s economics in critical context. In E. Uebel and R.S. Cohen (Eds.), Economic Writings. Selections 1904–1945. Dordrecht: Kluwer, pp. 1–107.
—— (2005). Incommensurabilty, ecology, and planning: Neurath in the socialist calculation debate, 1919–1928. History of Political Economy, 37: 309–42. Weber, M. (1904). Die ‘Objektivita¨t’ sozialwissenschaftlicher und sozialpolitischer Erkenntnis. Archiv fu¨r Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik, 19: 22–87. [Translated as Weber, M. (1949). ‘Objectivity’ in social science and social policy. In E.A. Shils (Ed.), The Methodology of the Social Sciences. New York: The Free Press, pp. 49–112.]
—— (1918). Der Sozialismus. Vienna . [Translated in Weber, M. (1994). Socialism. In P. Lassman and R. Speirs (Eds.), Political Writings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 272–303.]
—— (1921). Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Grundriss der verstehenden Soziologie, 4th revised edition. Tu¨bingen: Mohr (Siebeck). [Edited by J. Winckelmann (1956); translated as Roth, G. and Wittich, C. (Eds.) (1978). Economy and Society. An Outline of Interpretive Sociology. Berkeley: University of California Press.]
* from the bibliography:
Bayertz, K. (1984). From utopia to science? The development of socialist theory between utopia and science. In E. Mendelsohn and H. Nowotny (Eds.), Nineteen Eighty-Four: Science between Utopia and Dystopia. Sociology of the Sciences Yearbook VIII/1984. Dordrecht: Reidel, pp. 93–110.
Boettke, P. (1998). Economic calculation. The Austrian contribution to political economy. Advances in Austrian Economics, 5: 131–58. [Reprinted in Boettke, P. (2001). Calculation and Coordination. Essays on Socialism and the Transitional Economy. London: Routledge, pp. 29–46.]
Cartwright, N., Cat, J., Fleck, K. and Uebel, T. (1996). Otto Neurath: Philosophy between Science and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Chaloupek, G.K. (1990). The Austrian debate on economic calculation in a socialist economy. History of Political Economy, 24: 659–74.
Hayek, F.A. (ed.) (1935). [Socialist calculation II:] The present state of the debate. In F. A. Hayek (Ed.), Collectivist Economic Planning. London: Routledge & Sons, pp. 201–43. [Reprinted in Hayek, F. A. (1948) Individualism and Economic Order. Chicago: Chicago University Press, pp. 148–80.]
—— (1940). [Socialist calculation III:] The competitive ‘solution’. Economica, 7. [Reprinted in Hayek, F. A. (1948) Individualism and Economic Order. Chicago: Chicago University Press, pp. 181–208.] Thomas Uebel Downloaded by [Universite Laval] at 08:07 05 September 2013
—— (1945). The use of knowledge in society. American Economic Review, 35: 519–30. [Reprinted in Hayek, F. A. (1948) Individualism and Economic Order. Chicago: Chicago University Press, pp. 77–91.
— (1948). Individualism and Economic Order. Chicago: Chicago University Press