Presentations

福澤の自由主義をウェーランドとの対比で限定的なものととらえ、かなりの程度それが介入主義的なニュアンスを持つことを示した。

Friedrich Hayek denied that the concept of social justice—a general expression widely used in daily face-to-face conversations and the mass media—had any practical meaning in a modern society. The champion of the market economy claimed that it can be justified only in those societies in which there is a strict order of preference. This was not the case in a capitalist society in which the preferences of the players are totally diversified. Thus, the concept itself is a typical example of what Hayek called the animistic way of thinking and is justifiable only in old tribal societies or in families with a limited number of the members. Using Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom [1944], Law, Legislation and Liberty [1973-79] and his last book, The Fatal Conceit [1988], I adopt an economist’s perspective to investigate his social political theories with special attention to this concept.

Presented here is another look at Carl Menger, the founder of the Austrian School of Economics. Since his main works are written in the field of economic theories and economics methodology, his standing point in matters of economic policy remains to be unknown. He planned to publish further volumes following his Principles including one on economic policies, but this task was never accomplished. On the other hand, later Austrians are famous or notorious for being vehement supporters of economic liberalism; typical examples are Ludwig Mises, Friedrich Hayek and Murray Rothbard. In this paper we concern ourselves with economic liberalism of Menger, relying upon his lectures to the Prince Rudolf, his lectures on Public Finance at Vienna University as well as his 1883 book on methodology. Although Menger’s liberalism is quite apparent in his lectures to Rudolf, his arguments in the Public Finance lectures can be interpreted differently. There Menger endeavours to show the importance of progressive taxation. Thus it can be safely said that his liberalism, if any, is a moderate one compared with later Austrians. In the paper I also sketch an intriguing difference between Rudolf and his mentor, seen in their interpretations of French Enlightenment.

お雇い外国人経済学者、ギャレット・ドロッパーズの慶應義塾における財政学講義を扱ったもの。慶應義塾大学福沢研究センター所蔵の講義ノートによる。

Together with Johann Heinrich von Thünen and Hans von Mangoldt, Hermann Heinrich Gossen remains to be an episode of the early forerunners of the Marginal Revolution. Although William Stanley Jevons and Leon Walras discovered him and the latter went so far to translate his work into French, Gossen was still a minor player in the history of economic thought. It is true enough that he is not totally ignored. His work IS mentioned in the prehistory of the Marginal Revolution. But we still need a solid explanation of his life based on the archive materials as well as substantial analysis of his contributions in economic theories. In this paper I scrutinize Gossen’s contributions in his only work, “The Laws of Human Relations and the Rules of Human Action Derived Therefrom”(1854), mainly from the standing point of modern microeconomics. I investigate how Gossen succeeded in solving the maximization problem of economics using very simple geometrical inferences without any knowledge of the formal procedure such as a Lagrangian multiplier. The paper enables to have a new point of view on the long development of microeconomics, including a prehistory of the topic before the 1870s.

ドイツ歴史学派についてのサーヴェイ論文を報告した。エアフルト大学のユルゲン・バックハウス教授の招待による。ドイツ連邦銀行エアフルト支店から財政的な補助を受けた。

メンガーの貨幣理論の変遷をたどったもの。報告タイトルは英文タイトルを記しているが、実際の報告はドイツ語で行った。

メンガーの貨幣理論についてその内実と変遷について検討したもの。演題タイトルは英文だが、実際の報告はドイツ語で行われた。

メンガー貨幣理論の内実と変遷について報告したもの。フランクフルト大学教授ベルトラム・シェフォールト氏の招聘によるもの。

It is well-known that Friedrich Hayek denies the concept of social justice, a general expression widely used in daily face-to-face conversations and mass media. The champion of the market economy claims that it can be justified only in the societies in which there is a strict order of preference. In the capitalist society where the preferences of the players are totally diversified, this concept simply cannot make sense, he thought. Thus the concept itself is a typical example of animistic way of thinking in his terminology, justifiable only in old tribunal societies or in families with limited number of the members. Using Hayek’s best seller, Road to Serfdom (1944), Law, Legislation, and Liberty (1973-79) as well his last book, Fatal Conceit (1988), I shall investigate his social political theories with special attention to this concept. I shall also mention his understanding of utilitarianism and critic of Keynes’s My Early Beliefs. The paper contributes to identify Hayek’s unique and provocative position in the long history of utilitarianism.

スミス経済学のドイツ語圏への導入という視点から、メンガーのスミス理解を問うたもの。