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Subjectivism and Economic Analysis: Essays in memory of Ludwig ...

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LACHMANN’S POLICY ACTIVISMwithdrawal <strong>of</strong> a factor, or its failure to turn up at theappo<strong>in</strong>ted time, will equally endanger the success <strong>of</strong> theproduction plans.(Lachmann 1956:107, italics <strong>in</strong> orig<strong>in</strong>al)We can recognise here the added analytical value <strong>of</strong> heterogeneity—producers who had expected resources to be available which were tobe needed at later dates (now the present) have organised theirproduction processes <strong>and</strong> generated highly specific resources to beused <strong>in</strong> comb<strong>in</strong>ation with the expected output <strong>of</strong> their suppliers.Many <strong>of</strong> these <strong>in</strong>ventories <strong>of</strong> midstream products are uselesswithout the complementary resources, <strong>and</strong> those capitalcomb<strong>in</strong>ations which generated them are not costlessly or<strong>in</strong>stantaneously re-specified:Rates <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>terest which are too low, i.e. fail to establish ex anteequilibrium between sav<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>vestment, are apt toconvey such a mislead<strong>in</strong>g picture <strong>and</strong> thus lead to wrongspecify<strong>in</strong>g decisions….The essence <strong>of</strong> the matter is that <strong>in</strong>vestment decisions arenot merely irreversible <strong>in</strong> time, so that excessive <strong>in</strong>vestment <strong>in</strong>period 1 as a rule cannot be <strong>of</strong>fset by dis<strong>in</strong>vestment <strong>in</strong> period2, but that they are also irrevocable <strong>in</strong> k<strong>in</strong>d. Even if, at a laterpo<strong>in</strong>t dur<strong>in</strong>g the boom, <strong>in</strong>terest rates start to rise, the messagecomes too late for those who have made their irrevocabledecision before.(Lachmann 1956:118, italics added)This phenomenon, born out <strong>of</strong> heterogeneity <strong>and</strong> multiplespecificity, embeds plan failure <strong>in</strong> the system.Lachmannian stabilisation policyIf we found ourselves as Lachmannian capital theorists ‘on themorrow <strong>of</strong> the crisis’, asked to formulate a policy to shepherd theeconomy back to its more normal degree <strong>of</strong> plan co-ord<strong>in</strong>ation, whatwould we do? The post-boom economy, as Lachmann tells us, is <strong>in</strong>crisis because the <strong>in</strong>terest rate or price system has sent the wrongsignals—projects have been undertaken <strong>and</strong> have drawn scarceresources away from other projects based upon false <strong>in</strong>formation onpr<strong>of</strong>itability, factor availability <strong>and</strong> the buy<strong>in</strong>g public’s will<strong>in</strong>gnessto delay consumption. The l<strong>and</strong>scape is littered with failed <strong>and</strong> fail<strong>in</strong>g173

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