The Iceberg Problem - Power in Economics

Selected Essays
1. Auflage 2020
ISBN: 978-3-7316-1109-7
Verlag: Metropolis

Buch, Englisch, 280 Seiten, PB, Format (B × H): 135 mm x 208 mm

Kurt W. Rothschild was an Austrian Economist who died in 2011 at the age of 96. In 1938 he was forced to migrate to Glasgow (Scotland) where he was involved in the Keynesian debate from the very beginning. In 1947 he returned to Austria where he worked at the Austrian Institute of Economic Research for two decades before he became Professor of Economics at the University of Linz in 1966. Throughout his live Rothschild’s academic endeavour was directed at issues of unemployment and distribution. Hereby he particularly considered the issue of power in economics. Rothschild called the power issue an iceberg problem: „The disregard of power aspects is greatly helped by the fact that concentration on the mechanics of economic and market adjustment within a given framework enables the economist to avoid the detailed occupation with facts which powerful social groups prefer to keep under a cloud of uncertainty. This desire for secrecy is in itself a real and objective difficulty. Nowhere is the analogy of the iceberg more appropriate than in this sphere: only a tiny fraction of the power play becomes visible (and that in a distorted form).“ The volume contains Rothschild’s most important articles in scientific journals and edited volumes dealing with questions of power and distribution. It is amazing how topical even his older contributions in this field are for contemporary economics.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Rothschild, Kurt W.

Altzinger, Wilfried