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Oskar R. Lange

Polish economist (1904-1965)

Oskar Ryszard Lange (July 27, 1904 – October 2, 1965) was a Polish economist and diplomat. He was most known for advocating the use of market pricing tools in socialist systems and providing a model of market socialism.

Oskar R. Lange

Quotes

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  • If people want to anticipate the development of Capitalism over a long period a knowledge of Marx is a much more effective starting point than a knowledge of Wieser, Boehm-Bawerk, Pareto or even Marshall (though the last-named is in this respect much superior). But Marxian economics would be a poor basis for running a central bank or anticipating the effects of a change in the rate of discount.
    • "Marxian Economics and Modern Economic Theory", The Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 2, No. 3 (Jun., 1935)
  • I have pointed out that the real source of the superiority of Marxian economics is in the field of explaining and anticipating a process of economic evolution. It is not the specific economic concepts used by Marx, but the definite specification of the institutional framework in which the economic process goes on in capitalist society that makes it possible to establish a theory of economic evolution different from mere historical description. Most orthodox Marxists, however, believe that their superiority in understanding the evolution of Capitalism is due to the economic concepts with which Marx worked, i.e. to his using the labour theory of value. They think that the abandonment of the classical labour theory of value in favour of the theory of marginal utility is responsible for the failure of "bourgeois" economics to explain the fundamental phenomena of capitalist evolution. That they are wrong can be easily shown by considering the economic meaning of the labour theory of value. It is nothing but a static theory of general economic equilibrium. In an individualistic exchange economy, based on division of labour, in which there is no central authority to direct which commodities, and in what quantities, are to be produced, the problem is solved automatically by the fact that competition enforces such a distribution of productive resources between the various industries that prices are proportional to the amount of labour necessary for producing the respective commodities (these being the "natural prices" of classical economics).
    • "Marxian Economics and Modern Economic Theory", The Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 2, No. 3 (Jun., 1935)
  • Our results may be summarised as follows:
    (1) The superiority of Marxian economics in analysing Capitalism is not due to the economic concepts used by Marx (the labour theory of value), but to the exact specification of the institutional datum distinguishing Capitalism from the concept of an exchange economy in general.
    (2) The specification of this institutional datum allows of the establishment of a theory of economic evolution from which a "necessary" trend of certain data in the capitalist system can be deduced.
    (3) Jointly with the theory of historical materialism this theory of economic evolution accounts for the actual changes occurring in the capitalist system and forms a basis for anticipating the future.
    • "Marxian Economics and Modern Economic Theory", The Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 2, No. 3 (Jun., 1935)
  • The fundamental propositions of the theory of interest being obtained from a theory of production into which time does not enter as a variable, it follows that interest is not connected with time in any different way from the way in which the general theory of production is connected with time.
    • "The Place of Interest in the Theory of Production," Review of Economic Studies, vol. 3, (1936)
  • Having treated the theoretical determination of economic equilibrium in a socialist society, let us see how equilibrium can be determined by a method of trial and error similar to that in a competitive market. This method of trial and error is based on the parametric function of prices. Let the Central Planning Board start with a given set of prices chosen at random. All decision of the managers of production and of the productive resources in public ownership and also all decisions of individuals as consumers and as suppliers of labour are made on the basis of these prices. As a result of these decisions the quantity demanded and supplied of each commodity is determined. If the quantity demanded of a commodity is not equal to the quantity supplied the price of that commodity has to be changed. It has to be raised if demand exceeds supply and lowered if the reverse is the case. Thus the Central Planning Board fixes a new set of prices which serves as a basis for new decisions, and which results in a new set of quantities demanded and supplied. Through this process of trial and error equilibrium prices are finally determined. Actually the process of trial and error would, of course, proceed on the basis of the prices historically given. Relatively small adjustments of those prices would constantly be made, and there would be no necessity of building up an entirely new price system.
    • "On the Economic Theory of Socialism", Review of Economic Studies, Vol. IV, Nos. 1 and 2 (October, 1936, and February, 1937)
  • The rules of consistency of decisions and of efficiency in carrying them out in a socialist economy are exactly the same as those that govern the actual behavior of entrepreneurs on a purely competitive market. Competition forces entrepreneurs to act much as they would have to act were they managers of production in a socialist system. The fact that free competition tends to enforce rules of behavior similar to those in an ideal planned economy makes competition the pet idea of the economist. But if competition enforces the same rules of allocating resources as would have to be accepted in a rationally conducted socialist economy, what is the use of bothering about socialism? Why change the whole economic system if the same result can be attained within the present system, if only it could be forced to maintain the competitive standard?
    But the analogy between the allocation of resources in a competitive capitalist and a socialist economy is only a purely formal one. The formal principles are the same, but the actual allocation may be quite different.
    • "On the Economic Theory of Socialism", Review of Economic Studies, Vol. IV, Nos. 1 and 2 (October, 1936, and February, 1937)
  • The capitalist system is far removed from the model of a competitive economy as elaborated by economic theory. And even if it conformed to it, it would be, as we have seen, far from maximizing social welfare. Only a socialist economy can fully satisfy the claim made by many economists with regard to the achievements of free competition.
    • "On the Economic Theory of Socialism", Review of Economic Studies, Vol. IV, Nos. 1 and 2 (October, 1936, and February, 1937)
  • The actual capitalist system is much better described by the analysis of Mrs. Robinson and of Professor Chamberlin than by that of Walras and of Marshall. But the work of the latter two will be more useful in solving the problems of a socialist system.
    • "On the Economic Theory of Socialism", Review of Economic Studies, Vol. IV, Nos. 1 and 2 (October, 1936, and February, 1937)
  • It seems to us, indeed, that the real danger of socialism is that of a bureaucratization of economic life, and not the impossibility of coping with the problem of allocation of resources. Unfortunately, we do not see how the same, or even greater, danger can be averted under monopolistic capitalism. Officials subject to democratic control seem preferable to private corporation executives who practically are responsible to nobody.
    • "On the Economic Theory of Socialism", Review of Economic Studies, Vol. IV, Nos. 1 and 2 (October, 1936, and February, 1937)
  • An economic system based on private enterprise and private property of the means of production can work only as long as the security of private property and of income derived from property and from enterprise is maintained. The very existence of a government bent on introducing socialism is a constant threat to this security. Therefore, the capitalist economy cannot function under a socialist government unless the government is socialist in name only.
    • "On the Economic Theory of Socialism", Review of Economic Studies, Vol. IV, Nos. 1 and 2 (October, 1936, and February, 1937)
  • The administration of scarce resources is influenced by the standards of civilisation and by the organisation and institutions of the society in which men live. The influence is a two-fold one. The wants which the resources serve to satisfy are produc of standards of civilisation historically developed in society. The ways in which scarce resources are procured, adapted to various purposes, distributed among different persons are all results of social organisation and social institutions. Forms of ownership, institutions like corporations and banks, technical knowledge acquired in institutes of research and transmitted by schools, regulation by government agencies, habits and moral standards all influence the ways of administering scarce resources.
    • "The Scope and Method of Economics", The Review of Economic Studies, 1945 - 1946, Vol. 13, No. 1 (1945 - 1946)
  • No scientific law applies when its prerequisite conditions do not occur. Since the administration of scarce resources is influenced by social organisation and institutions, such organisation and institutions are among the conditions implied in economic laws. Consequently, economic laws which hold under one type of social organisation may fail to do so under another type. Most economic laws are thus "limited historically" to certain given types of social organisation and institutions. This, however, does not imply any basic difference between the laws of economics (or of other social sciences) and the laws of the natural sciences. The latter, too, are contingent upon conditions which are subject to change. Different laws of the natural sciences have different degrees of historic permanence, usually a much higher one than the laws of economics, though even this is not always the case (some laws of meteorology are less permanent than some laws of economics). The differences is but one of degree. Like all scientific laws, economic laws are established in order to make successful prediction of the outcome of human actions.
    • "The Scope and Method of Economics", The Review of Economic Studies, 1945 - 1946, Vol. 13, No. 1 (1945 - 1946)
  • Our conclusion about the objectivity of economic science may seem startling. Economists are rather notorious for being unable to reach agreement and for being divided into opposing "schools of thought," "orthodox" and "unorthodox," "bourgeois" and "socialist," and many others. The existence of profound disagr ment among economists, however, does not refute our thesis about the objectivity of economics as a science.
    • "The Scope and Method of Economics", The Review of Economic Studies, 1945 - 1946, Vol. 13, No. 1 (1945 - 1946)
  • The existence of an ideological element in each science has caused some representatives of the sociology of knowledge to deny the objective validity of scientific statements, particularly in the domain of the social sciences. Such a conclusion is unwarranted. The validity of scientific statements can be ascertained with impersonal objectivity through an appeal to facts. Predictions derived from scientific statements are or are not borne out under the test of verification. The outcome is entirely independent of human motivations, conscious or subconscious; it depends entirely on the correctness of the scientific procedure applied in establishing the statements.
    • "The Scope and Method of Economics", The Review of Economic Studies, 1945 - 1946, Vol. 13, No. 1 (1945 - 1946)
  • Planning and the market do not exclude each other. Planning may utilise the uniformity of behaviour patterns of units operating in the market as one of the means of influencing their decisions. This happens, for instance, when the planning authority imposes tariffs or pays subsidies in order to influence the quantities bought or sold. Sometimes regulation—a special method of planning—is necessary in order to enable the market to achieve co-ordination of the units' decisions. The two methods of co-ordination co-exist with each other. However, in different historic societies, one or the other of these methods plays the preponderant role and appears as the chief means of co-ordinating all the units in the economy. The development of economics as a science is closely connected with the growing preponderance of the market in modern times. The co-ordinating operation of the market and, at times, the failure of the market to achieve co-ordination of decisions have posed the intellectual problems which have led to the emergence and growth of economic science.
    • "The Scope and Method of Economics", The Review of Economic Studies, 1945 - 1946, Vol. 13, No. 1 (1945 - 1946)
  • Capitalism operates only on the basis of private costs, only private costs are rewarded and repaid, and not social costs. And even in a competitive capitalism where competition forces producers to sell at cost price takes into account only private costs and not social costs.
    • "The Economic Operation of a Socialist Society: I", lectures in 8 May 1942, published in Contribution to Political Economy (1987)
  • Human needs, although originally derived from biological necessity, are thus a result of the existence of society and are conditioned by the stage of development which society has reached.
    • Political Economy: Vol. 1. General Problems (1963), Chap. 1: The Subject Matter of Political Economy: Elementary Concepts
  • In my essay I refuted the Hayek-Robbins argument by showing how a market mechanism could be established in a socialist economy which would lead to the solution of the simultaneous equations by means of an empirical procedure of trial and error. [...] Were I to rewrite my essay today my task would be much simpler. My answer to Hayek and Robbins would be: so what’s the trouble?
    Let us put the simultaneous equations on an electronic computer and we shall obtain the solution in less than a second. The market process with its cumbersome tatonnements appears old-fashioned. Indeed, it may be considered as a computing device of the preelectronic age.
    • "The Computer and the Market" in C. H. Feinstein (ed.), Socialism, Capitalism and Economic Growth: Essays Presented to Maurice Dobb (1967)
  • Mathematical programming assisted by electronic computers becomes the fundamental instrument of long-term economic planning, as well as of solving dynamic economic problems of a more limited scope. Here, the electronic computer does not replace the market. It fulfils a function which the market never was able to perform.
    • "The Computer and the Market" in C. H. Feinstein (ed.), Socialism, Capitalism and Economic Growth: Essays Presented to Maurice Dobb (1967)

Quotes about Lange

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  • The basic sources of the defects in Lange's theoretical analysis are the emphasis on formal structure, the attempt to generalize without first specifying in detail the facts to be generalized, and the failure to recognize that the ultimate test of the validity of a theory is not conformity to the canons of formal logic but the ability to deduce facts that have not yet been observed, that are capable of being contradicted by observation, and that subsequent observation does not contradict. In consequence, these defects are found in much economic theorizing that is not taxonomic in character. They are, however, especially likely to arise when the taxonomic approach is adopted, as their presence in the writings of so able and careful a theorist as Lange testifies.
    • Milton Friedman, "Lange on Price Flexibility and Employment: A Metgodological Criticism", The American Economic Review, Vol. 36, No. 4 (Sep., 1946)
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