 Carl Menger and Friedrich von Wieser on the Role of Knowledge and Beliefs in the Emergence and Evolution of InstitutionsICER Working Papers from ICER - International Centre for Economic Research Abstract: In this article we start from the well-known contribution of the Austrian school with respect to the problem of knowledge and its role in inter- individual coordination. Focusing on two authors of this school - his founding father Carl Menger and Friedrich von Wieser, we show that the y both appreciate the role of knowledge in the emergence of economic and social institutions. However, their divergences regarding methodological individualism and subjectivism lead them to provide two different perspectives concerning the emergence and dynamics of institutions. This is exemplified by Menger and Wieser’s way of dealing with the emergence of money: on one hand, Menger takes for granted the involuntary formation of shared knowledge about the validity of social institutions such as money; on the other hand, Wieser favours an explanation whereby collective beliefs are more than shared knowledge since they do have some autonomy vis-à-vis individuals. Pages: 30 pages Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:icr:wpicer:39-2007 Access Statistics for this paper More papers in ICER Working Papers from ICER - International Centre for Economic Research Corso Unione Sovietica, 218bis - 10134 Torino - Italy. Contact information at EDIRC. |
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