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

ROGER KOPPL AND GARY MONGIOVIbook on Max Weber, but he appears to have recognised theimportant co-ordinating function of institutions much earlier (seeLachmann 1937).Throughout his long and fruitful career Lachmann embracedproblems that fall outside the reach of the conventional tools ofeconomics. His enthusiasm for his subject never waned, though hecould not have been unaware that his words were often cast beforean indifferent, sometimes hostile, audience. The enduring relevanceof his message is evident in the work of Austrian and Post Keynesianscholars who continue to grapple with, and cast new light upon,those same problems.The characteristic themes and problems of Lachmann’smethodological thought have been taken up in various ways by theauthors of this volume.In Chapter 2, Brian Loasby draws on his correspondence withLachmann to compose an intellectual portrait of him as ‘an optimistwithout illusions.’ Loasby shows how several elements ofLachmann’s personal and intellectual life fit together. Lachmann’spersonal openness is related to both his methodological pluralismand his political pluralism. Lachmann eschewed grandiose claimsfor open societies. In Loasby’s interpretation this reflects, in part,Lachmann’s own treatment at the hands of powers who thoughtthemselves uniquely competent to judge the truth. Loasby showshimself to share Lachmann’s intellectual honesty and humility whenhe describes his portrait as ‘an interpretation’ which is ‘defensible’but ‘certainly not definitive’.Stephen Parsons in Chapter 3 views Lachmann’s notion of ‘aPlan’ from, e.g., The Legacy of Max Weber as both developmentand criticism of Mises’s praxeological theory of action. Lachmann’semphasis on institutions and his later emphasis on ‘the context ofintersubjective meaning’ call into question Mises’s claims regardingthe role of deduction in understanding human action. They may alsoinduce us to question the ‘privileging’ of the Cartesian subjectcharacterising Mises’s theory of action.In Chapter 4, Koppl attempts to examine the ‘problem ofexpectations’ as Lachmann represented it. Koppl relates theproblem to the ideas of Keynes and Mises whose systems are foundunable to resolve the problems Lachmann posed. Drawing onHayek and Schutz, he adumbrates a theory of expectations thatsatisfies Lachmann’s call for a subjectivism of active minds.The gifted Hungarian economist Lásló Csontos died tragically ofcongenital heart failure at the age of 43. His work was notable for8