Lachmann, Keynes, and Subjectivism

Christopher Torr

A chapter in Including a Symposium on Ludwig Lachmann, 2019, vol. 37B, pp 69-81 from Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Abstract: The Austrian economist Ludwig Lachmann claimed that Keynes was a lifelong subjectivist. To evaluate this, we start by distinguishing Keynes’ writings on probability theory from his writings on economics. In theGeneral Theory(1936), Keynes’ treatment of expectations provides the basis for Lachmann’s view that Keynes was a subjectivist at heart. In hisTreatise on Probability(1921), Keynes refers explicitly to the subjectivism–objectivism divide in probability theory and pins his colors to the objectivist mast. In this essay, we present the objectivist slant in Keynes’ earlier writings on probability theory. Thereafter, we evaluate the criteria Lachmann employed to cast Keynes as a subjectivist.

Keywords: Subjectivism; objectivism; divergent expectations; logical theory of probability; Keynes; Lachmann (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:rhetzz:s0743-41542019000037b008

DOI: 10.1108/S0743-41542019000037B008

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