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From Methodological Individualism to Complexity: The Case of Ludwig Lachmann

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  • Sandye Gloria

Abstract

It is argued in this paper that strict methodological individualism (MI) is a limit to progress in Austrian economics. It is possible to find already in Menger, in the older Hayek, and in the next generation of radical subjectivists led by Lachmann, the seeds of a distinct ontological and methodological position that may offer an interesting prospect of developing this school of thought. This alternative path suggests the replacement of strict MI with institutional individualism, compatible with the concept of emergence and all its ontological and methodological implications. It implies redefining the Mengerian project as part of the complexity economics paradigm. Lachmann is the Austrian author whose project is the most explicitly oriented toward this possibility. This paper does not aim to rediscover the relevance and originality of Lachmann's work, the second Austrian revival of the new millennium has indeed a lachmannian flavor. The aim is rather to provide a coherent framework for the dispersed recent work, which more or less explicitly links Austrian economics with complexity.

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  • Sandye Gloria, 2019. "From Methodological Individualism to Complexity: The Case of Ludwig Lachmann," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(2), pages 216-232, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:revpoe:v:31:y:2019:i:2:p:216-232
    DOI: 10.1080/09538259.2019.1662153
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