Subjectivism and Economic Analysis: Essays in memory of Ludwig ...

9LACHMANN’S POLICYACTIVISMAn Austrian critique of KeynesianproclivitiesPeter J.Boettke and Steven T.SullivanIntroductionW.H.Hutt, upon noticing that Ludwig Lachmann was to be one ofthe main lecturers at the first Austrian Economics InstructionalConference in South Royalton, VT in the summer of 1974, supposedlyturned to a crowd of students and said, ‘Why is Lachmann here? Heis a Keynesian, not an Austrian.’ Hutt, one of the foremost critics ofKeynesian economics, was someone with authority to comment onthis issue. Indeed, why was Lachmann there if he possessed Keynesianproclivities in public policy? 1 Roger Garrison, perhaps the leadingcontemporary authority on Austrian macroeconomics, often refersin lectures to Lachmann’s approach to economics as ‘Austro-Keynesianism’. 2 There can be no doubt that in the history of Austrianeconomics, Lachmann was the most charitable interpreter of Keyneswithin the Austrian tradition. Indeed, in a 1983 essay Lachmannsought to delineate the common ground that existed between Keynesand his followers and the Austrians. 3 Lachmann adhered soconsistently to the ‘principle of charitable interpretation’ with respectto Keynes and many other of the Austrian School’s rivals that itbecame known around the NYU colloquium as ‘Lachmann’s Law’. 4Mises and Hayek certainly lacked both the patience and theintellectual sympathy required to deal with Keynes in the mannerthat Lachmann did. Those familiar with the history of Austrianeconomics will also note that when Lachmann’s subjectivism ismentioned, Keynes and Shackle are never far behind.163