Literature

1. General. The following bibliography is limited to the most important writings from which I have set out. In all parts of this book a dependency on the works of the Austrian School of economics and those foreign-language writings that have been influenced by the Austrians or are close to them can be seen. In addition to Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, above all William Stanley Jevons and Knut Wicksell have determined the general orientation of my investigations. I presented some basic ideas of this work in September of 1932 in a lecture before the Wiener Nationalökonomischen Gesellschaft and then published in the Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie (vol. 5, 1934) under the title “Lohnfonds und Geldkapital”; there a few additional bibliographical references can also be found. I also had the opportunity to discuss much of what was treated here with my friends from the circle of the Wiener Schule. I must thank them for much valuable advice; even where I did not obtain their complete agreement, such discussions helped me to be more careful and precise in my formulations.

2. Production and Capital. Here one must primarily consider Jevons, Böhm-Bawerk, Wicksell, J.B. Clark, Frank W. Taussig, G. Akerman, Irving Fisher, Joseph Schumpeter and Keynes. Hans Mayer’s article “Production” in the Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenschaften, 4th ed.; Georg Halm “Das Zinsproblem am Geld und Kapitalmarkt” (Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik, 1926); Adolf Lampe, Zur Theorie des Sparprozesses und der Kreditschöpfung, 1926; R. van Genechten, “über das Verhältnis zwischen der Produktivität des Kapitals, den Löhnen und Zinsen,” Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie, vol. 2, 1931. Regarding Böhm-Bawerk’s theory of capital, one thing should be said here: I believe that starting with the theory of roundabout production processes requires a much closer connection between the concept of capital and the wage fund; it will thereby probably be possible to ignore the “three reasons” regarding which I must agree with those critics of Böhm-Bawerk who consider them methodologically incorrect because they cannot be incorporated in the stationary economic course. (Whoever evaluates present needs more highly than future ones will not strive for an even supply now and in the future.)

3. Wage Fund and Wage Theory. The literature on the wage fund theory shall only be mentioned in general. The authors cited in number 2 link the theory of capital more or less closely with the wage fund theory. John R. Hicks, The Theory of Wages, 1933. My Angewandte Lohntheorie, 1926, lacks a foundation in the theory of capital.

4. Price System. The discussion in the text sets out directly from the presentation by the founders of the Austrian School. On more recent formulations and problem, see for example several articles in Die Wirtschaftstheorie der Gegenwart, 2 vols., 1932.

5. “Laws of Return” (the principle of the cooperation of scarce factors of production). Alfred Marshall still provides the best foundation. For a very instructive discussion of the newest literature see Oskar Morgenstern, “Offene Probleme der Kosten und Ertragstheorie,” Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie, vol. 2, 1931; Carter, Distribution of Wealth; Frank Knight, Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit; Lionel Robbins, “Certain Aspects of a Theory of Costs,” Economic Journal, vol. 44, 1934.

6. Money and Credit. I have avoided discussing the general problems of the theory of money in greater detail. One should primarily name Wicksell and Ludwig von Mises, as well as the authors setting out from them. In spite of many reservations, Albert Hahn, Volkswirschaftliche Theorie des Bankkredits, 3rd ed., 1930, is important. (On this see Gottfried Haberler, Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik, vol. 57, 1927; the same on Robertson, ibid., vol. 62, 1929.) The distinction presented in the text between the function of exchange and that of credit follows Komorzynski, Die Nationalökonomische Lehre vom Kredit, 2nd ed., 1909; Fritz Machlup, Börsenkredit, Industriekredit und Kapitalbildung, 1931; J.G. Koopmans in Beiträge zur Geldtheorie, FA. Hayek, ed., 1933.

7. Business Cycle Theory. Of the extensive literature on this topic, the decisive works are those which begin with the theory of credit; thus above all, Wicksell and Mises, then several of the authors named in number 2 and Spiethoff (ignoring the older ones about which, for example, Hayek speaks in his Prices and Production, 1931). As compared to my article “Die Produktion unter dem Einflüsse einer Kreditexpansion,” (Beiträge zur Konjunkturtheorie, Schriften des Vereins für Sozialpolitik, vol. 173, 1928), I have tried to make some changes in the formulation based on an elaborated theory of capital. Alfred Amonn, “Zur gegenwärtigen Krisenlage und inflationistischen Krisenbekämpfungspolitik,” Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie, vol. 5, 1934.

8. On Method. Setting out from a static system as the starting point of the theoretical analysis is probably common practice today. This method has special significance for us here, because we are analyzing a process that is determined by the arrangement of economic magnitudes in the course of time. An arrangement of these magnitudes that follows a single principle of construction can only be recognized if one asks the question under which conditions a process can be maintained in which the arrangement of the magnitudes over time remains unchanged. Only after considering the stationary economic course could we treat the “disruptions” in this course. Lionel Robbins, An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science, 1932; Mises, Grundprobleme der Nationalökonomie, 1933; O. Morgenstern, Die Grenzen der Wirschaft-spolitik, 1934. The methodological orientation (which explains why the cycle theory is not—as the often cited formula of Böhm-Bawerk states—treated as a “last chapter,” but rather as an “appendix” to the economic system) is developed in greater detail in my articles “Die Änderungen in den Daten der Wirtschaft,” (Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik, vol. 128 [Series 3, vol. 73, 1928]). Compare also my work: Die ökonomischen Kategorien und die Organisation der Wirtschaft, 1923.