Abstract
The paper starts off with a portrayal of Eduard März’ life in Vienna and of the impact that environment had on his early scientific work. The paper proposes that the shared experience had a strong bearing on the relationship between the student M¨arz, “that fascinating immigrant” (James Tobin), and his teacher Schumpeter, the “high priest of his science” (M¨arz). The paper highlights the various facets of this unique relationship including the interesting differences in the interpretations of the student and his teacher regards Marxian theory, Austro-Marxism and social policy.
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Notes
1James Tobin who knew März when he was in Harvard writes of him (in a preface to the English translation) as “that fascinating immigrant”.
2A fuller biography can be found in “März – 75 Jahre”, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, Vol.9 (4), 1983, pp.473-76.
3 The Austrian Chamber of Labour (Arbeiterkammer) is – just like the corresponding Chambers of Trade and Agriculture – a basic element in Austria’s corporate economy. All dependent employees in the private sector have to be members of this institution which has many advisory functions in the economic sphere. Its research section and its library play an important part in the economic science establishment.
4 März always pleaded for one economic science in which all these sources should be critically combined. With his spread of interest and knowledge among the three mentioned “giants” he was to some extent in the same league as Oscar Lange and Paul Sweezy.
5 The titles of these five papers are:
(1) The Theory of Joseph Schumpeter in its Relation the Marxian System (Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, Vol.6 (3), 1980)
(2) Schumpeter´s Vienna or the Bauer-Mises-Schumpeter Controversy (in N. Leser, Das geistige Leben Wiens in der Zwischenkriegszeit, Wien 1981)
(3) On the Origins of the Schumpeterian Theory of Economic Development (in T. Kowalik, On Political Economy and Econometrics, Warszawa 1964)
(4)On the Recent Discussions of the Theory of Imperialism (in K. Laski, E. Matzner, E. Nowotny eds., Beiträge zur Diskussion und Kritik der neoklassischen Ökonomie, 1979)
(5)Joseph A. Schumpeter as Austrian Minister of Finance (in H. Frisch ed., Schumpeterian Economics, Eastbourne 1982)
6 An English translation of the book including an eight-page preface by James Tobin was published by Yale University Press (New Haven and London) in 1991 under the title ” Joseph Schumpeter : Scholar, Teacher and Politician”. Tobin’s preface is also available as Nr.995 of Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers
7 This might very well have been the case. As Oskar Morgenstern relates in his “Obituary: Joseph A.Schumpeter, 1883-1950” (Economic Journal, Vol.LXI, March 1951, p.202) “[Schumpeter´s] friendliness was especially shown to students and younger colleagues. He gave them freely of his time, never counting the costs”.
8 In his contribution to the 350 th Aniversary Syymposium of Harvard University Paul Samuelson made the following remark: “The Keynesian revolution was the most significant event in 20 th-century economic science. It was Harvard University that played the pivotal role in bringing it to America” (quoted in Paul Samuelson, “In the Beginning”, Challenge, Vol.31/4, July/August 1988, pp.32-34).
9 See the article by Günter Krause “On a Virtually Forgotten Essay: Joseph A, Schumpeter´s ’The Sociology of Imperialisms’ ” in Jürgen Backhaus (ed.), Joseph Alois Schumpeter. Entrepreneurship, Style and Vision, Boston/Dordrecht/London 2003, pp.179-89.
10 Goethe is not easy to translate. So here is the original version of the above quotation.“Ich habe niemals einen präsumptuoseren Menschen gekannt als mich selber, und dass ich das sage zeigt schon, dass wahr ist, was ich sage. Niemals glaubte ich, dass etwas zu erreichen wäre, immer dachte ich, ich hätte es schon. Man hätte mir eine Krone aufsetzen können, und ich hätte gedacht, das versteht sich von selbst. Und doch war ich dadurch nur ein Mensch wie andere. Aber dass ich das über meine Kräfte Ergriffene durchzuarbeiten, das über mein Verdienst Erhaltene zu verdienen suchte, dadurch unterschied ich mich von einem wahrhaft Wahnsinnigen“. (Goethe 1840)
References
Goethe JW v (1840) Aus meinem Leben. In: Goethe’s Sämtliche Werke, Vollständige Ausgabe, Band 27, Cotta’scher Verlag, pp 505-509
Krause G (2003) On a virtually forgotten essay. Joseph A. Schumpeter’s ‘the sociology of imperialisms’. In: Jürgen Backhaus (ed) Joseph Alois Schumpeter. Entrepreneurship, Style and Vision Boston pp 179-189
März E (1983) Eduard März – 75 Jahre Wirtschaft und gesellschaft vol 9, pp 473-476
März E (1982) Joseph A. Schumpeter as Austrian minister of finance. In: Frisch H (ed) Schumpeterian economics, Eastbourne
März E (1991) Joseph Schumpeter : Scholar, teacher and politician, Revised edition. Yale University Press
März E (1964) On the origins of the schumpeterian theory of economic development.In: Kowalik T (ed) Political economy and econometrics, Warszawa
März E (1979) On the recent discussions of the theory of imperialism. In: Laski K, Matzner E, Nowotny E (eds) Beiträge zur Diskussion und Kritik der neoklassischen Ökonomie
März E (1984) Schumpeter’s Vienna or the Bauer-Mises-Schumpeter controversy. In: Leser N (ed) Das geistige Leben Wiens in der Zwischenkriegszeit, Wien
März E (1980) The theory of Joseph Schumpeter in its relation the Marxian system, vol. 6. Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft
Morgenstern O (1988) Obituary: Joseph A. Schumpeter, 1883–1950, Economic Journal LXI (March), 951,202 Samuelson, P., In the beginning, Challenge 31(4),32–34
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Kurt Rothschild is deceased
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Rothschild, K. Eduard März and Joseph Schumpeter. J Evol Econ 25, 229–237 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00191-014-0364-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00191-014-0364-6
Keywords
- Eduard März
- Joseph A. Schumpeter
- Schumpeterian economics
- Austrian economics
- Marxist theory
- Austro-Marxism
- Social policy