archive of the former site EconWPA.wustl.edu

Please do not link or reference this page. Use one of the following URLs:
econpapers.repec.org as http://econpapers.repec.org/paper/wpawuwpmh/9505001.htm
ideas.repec.org as http://ideas.repec.org/p/wpa/wuwpmh/9505001.html

The Varieties of Subjectivism: Keynes and Hayek on Expectations 

Paper:ewp-mhet/9505001
From: "Roger Koppl" <   > 
Date: Tue, 16 May 1995 16:44:41 EST
Date (revised): Wed, 17 May 1995 16:40:03 EST
Date (revised): Wed, 17 May 1995 16:55:00 EST

Abstract:
J.M. Keynes and F.A. Hayek had different economic ideas even though both were subjectivists seriously engaged with issues of time and uncertainty in economics. The source of the difference between their economic ideas was the difference between their philosophical ideas. Keynes was a Cartesian rationalist and justificationist; Hayek a critical rationalist and non-justificationist. We draw on Keynes's "A Treatise on Probability," Hayek's "The Sensory Order," and other works to defend our argument. Although Keynes and Hayek might both be called "subjectivists," there are varieties of subjectivism. Their subjectivist ideas are not fully compatible with one another and conduce to different theories of the market process. Hayek's theory, not Keynes's, allows us to say when markets will behave in the way Keynes described and when they will instead behave in more coordinated ways. In this sense, a Hayekian theory is needed to understand a Keynesian world.

Postscript files:(viewing .ps)
      archive: 9505001.ps  or 9505001.ps.gz  is 66238 bytes, 4-17-95.
Acrobat pdf files:(viewing .pdf)
      archive: 9505001.pdf  is 131048 bytes, 4-17-95, or 9505001.pdf.gz 
Access statistics for this paper at LogEc which is a part of the RePEc project as was/is EconWPA.
Translate to another language with babel.altavista.com EconWPA reference ewp-mhet/9505001
RePEc reference RePEc:wpa:wuwpmh:9505001 send e-mail to

EconWPA began as a conversation between Bob Parks and Larry Blume on January 28, 1993. I located Paul Ginsparg's archive (then xxx.lanl.gov) and he graciously installed his software on a Sun Sparc system which was supporting the department of economics email and computation. EconWPA began accepting papers July 1, 1993 and had ftp, email, gopher and web interfaces. The web interface for submissions was engineered into existence in July 1995. A complete and catastrophic machine failure in 1999 caused the loss of EconWPA's email new paper announcment service at which time there were over 15,000 subscriptions with over 8,000 unique email addresses.

In 2005, Arts and Sciences commandeered the computing services that I had provided to the Department of Economics since 1987. Some might say that the department was sold out, others would (erroneously) claim that centralization is efficient, and still others would claim that I have few marketing skills.

I was told that I could keep operating EconWPA (as well as many other services including rfe.wustl.edu, barnett.wustl.edu, and three RePEc servers) but I would receive no support (hardware, software, or anthing else) and (as had been the case) no compensation. At that point, given the apparent low valuation of my activities by the department, and university, it made no sense for me to continue operating EconWPA or other services.

Thanks to all who have supported EconWPA in the past.

A Chinese curse states May you live in intersting times. I have. Bob Parks - Jan 2006