Capital, Expectations, and the Market Process Quotes

“Formalism, in opting for the functional mode making possible precise quantitative determinations within a closed system of variables, forgoes the possibility of making meaningful statements about human action.”
― Ludwig Lachmann, Capital, Expectations, and the Market Process: Essays on the Theory of the Market Econony

“The task of the economist is not merely, as in equilibrium theory, to examine the logical consistency of various modes of action, but to make human action intelligible, to let us understand the nature of the logical structure called "plans," to exhibit the successive modes of thought which give rise to successive modes of action. In other words, all true economics is not "functional" but "causal-genetic.”
― Ludwig Lachmann, Capital, Expectations, and the Market Process: Essays on the Theory of the Market Econony

“...industrial growth is the outcome of conscious and sustained human effort about which "dynamic equations" tell us less than nothing. Growth then is the cumulative effect of individual efforts directed towards the improvement of the productive apparatus of society.”
― Ludwig Lachmann, Capital, Expectations, and the Market Process: Essays on the Theory of the Market Econony

“The Austrian theory rests fundamentally upon the non-reversibility of the investment operation. Once "free capital" has been converted into buildings and machinery, any failure of events to conform to expectations will upset everything.”
― Ludwig Lachmann, Capital, Expectations, and the Market Process: Essays on the Theory of the Market Econony