Abstract
In this chapter, I shed light on the issue of world view or public opinion: a different aspect of economics from vision held by an economist. I examine in what way and why Hayek was interested in the issue of world view and which positions he took regarding vision and world view in the theory of the market and money. While an economist's vision has an indispensable role in creating any new theory and thought, “world view” (Weltanschauung) or “prevailing opinion” of the public has an important role in diffusing economic theories and thoughts and thereby transforming the present reality. Finally, after briefly reviewing the issues and contrasting them with the arguments of other researchers, I will present, along the lines of Hayek, my interpretation of a comprehensive picture of economics that is comprised of vision, world view, theory, methodology, and reality.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
We clearly distinguish Schumpeter’s “vision” that economists hold to define the economic realm from Hayek’s “world view” as the prevailing public opinion on the economic reality. However, Maki fused the latter into the former without making such a distinction between them (Maki 2001, pp. 4–5).
- 2.
The term “Weltanschauung” was initially used by Immanuel Kant in Critique of Judgment (1790) and ever since has been widely used by many German philosophers and writers as Dilthey, Husserl, Jaspers, Mannheims, Freud, Heidegger, and Gadamer. It is also well known that Adolf Hitler frequently used the term in his book, Mein Kampf. So such a connection to the term might have prevented Hayek from frequent use of the term “world view.”
- 3.
Since Hayek strongly felt after WWII that socialism had completely defeated liberalism and it was necessary to form a liberal Utopia, he must have taken an initiative to hold a conference with 39 liberal scholars and urged foundation of The Mont Pelerin Society in 1947.
- 4.
Schumpeter (1954) in Chap. 4 “’The Sociology of Economics” explains “ideology.” Truly, the concept might seem to be that of world view or public opinion, but in fact it is completely different. For Schumpeter regards it only as rationalization or political bias of class interests of the public according to conventional Marxist interpretation and as something to be detached from “economic analysis” that is what he regards as scientific contents, not as something that can affect or change reality. On the other hand, “economic thought” is defined as normative statements for economic policies for the economists.
References
Caldwell, B. J. (1982). Beyond positivism: Economic methodology in the twentieth century. London: Allen & Unwin.
Caldwell, B. J. (1985). The case for pluralism. In N. De Marchi (Ed.), The Popperian legacy in economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Caldwell, B. J. (1988a). Hayek’s transformation. History of Political Economy, 20, 4.
Caldwell, B. J. (1988b). Hayek’s ‘trend of economic thinking’. Review of Austrian Economics, 2, 175–178.
Caldwell, B. J. (2004). Hayek’s challenge: An intellectual biography of F.A. Hayek. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Fleetwood, S. (1995). Hayek’s political economy. London: Routledge.
Foss, N. J. (1995). More on “Hayek’s transformation”. History of Political Economy, 27(2), 345–364.
Hayek, F. A. (1931). Prices and production (1st ed.). London: Routledge.
Hayek, F. A. (1933a [1991]). The trend of economic thinking. Economica, 13, 121–137.
Hayek, F. A. (1933b). Monetary theory and the trade cycle. London: Routledge.
Hayek, F. A. (Ed.). (1935). Collectivist economic planning. London: George Routledge.
Hayek, F. A. (1937a [1948]) Economics and knowledge. Economica, 4(new series), 33–54.
Hayek, F. A. (1937b [1999]). Monetary nationalism and international stability. Publication No. 18, The Graduate Institute of International Studies.
Hayek, F. A. (1943a [1948]). The facts of the social sciences. Ethics, 54(1), 1–13.
Hayek, F. A. (1943b [1999]). A commodity reserve currency. Economic Journal, 53, 176–84.
Hayek, F. A. (1944a [1991]). On being an economist.
Hayek, F. A. (1944b). The road to Serfdom. London: George Routledge.
Hayek, F. A. (1945 [1948]). The use of knowledge in society. American Economic Review, 35(4), 519–529.
Hayek, F. A. (1946 [1948]). The meaning of competition.
Hayek, F. A. (1947 [1948]). “Free” enterprise and competitive order.
Hayek, F. A. (1948). Individualism and the economic order. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Hayek, F. A. (1949 [1997]). The intellectuals and socialism. University of Chicago Law Review, 16, 417–433.
Hayek, F. A. (1954 [1991]). History and politics.
Hayek, F. A. (1960). The constitution of liberty. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Hayek, F. A. (1968 [1978]). Competition as a discovery procedure.
Hayek, F. A. (1976). Denationalization of money. London: The Institute of Economic Affairs.
Hayek, F. A. (1978). New studies in philosophy, politics and economics. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Hayek, F. A. (1991). The trend of economic thinking. In W. W. Bartley & S. Kresge (Eds.). The trend of economic thinking: Essays on political economists and economic history. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Hayek, F. A. (1997). Socialism and war (B. Caldwell, Ed.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Hayek, F. A. (1999). Good money, Part I, II (S. Kresge, Ed.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Hurwicz, L. (1960). Optimality and informational efficiency in resource allocation process. In K. J. Arrow, et al. (Eds.), Mathematical methods in social sciences. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Hurwicz, L. (1971). Centralization and decentralization in economic process. In C. B. McGuire (Ed.), Decision and organization. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Hutchison, T. W. (1981). The politics and philosophy of economics. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Keynes, J. M. (1936). The general theory of employment, interest and money. London: Macmillan.
Lawson, T. (1994). Realism and Hayek: A case of continuous transformation (in Colona and Hageman 1994).
Maki, U. (2001). The economic world view: Studies in the ontology of economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mises, L. V. (1920). Economic calculation in the socialist commonwealth (in Hayek 1935).
Nishibe, M. (2006). Redefining evolutionary economics. Evolutionary and Institutional Economic Review, 3(1), 3–25.
Nishibe, M. (2010). Hayek’s transformation of market-images in the 1930-40s. In H. Hagemann, T. Nishizawa, & Y. Ikeda (Eds.), Austrian economics in transition. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Schumpeter, J. A. (1954). History of economic analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Nishibe, M. (2018). The Trend of Economic Thinking on Markets and Money: What Is Hayek’s Position on These Issues?. In: Godart-van der Kroon, A., Vonlanthen, P. (eds) Banking and Monetary Policy from the Perspective of Austrian Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75817-6_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75817-6_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-75816-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-75817-6
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)