I\u27d Weep with Thee

I\u27d weep with thee, if tears could keep,The memories of the past from me,I\u27d weep with thee, if tears could keep The memories of the past from me,Or happier far if I could weep,One hour of gladness back to thee;Or happier far if I could weepOne hour of gladness back to thee!I\u27d weep with thee, if tears could keep,The memories of the past from me; I\u27d weep with thee;I\u27d weep with thee. I\u27d weep with thee, if tears could bring,Again the sunny hopes we knew,I\u27d weep with thee, if tears could bring Again the sunny hopes we knew,Until my heart had tried each spring,Until my heart had tried each spring, of slumb\u27ring sorrow,O\u27er anew, of slumb\u27ring sorrow o\u27er anew,I\u27d weep with thee, if tears could bring,Again the sunny hopes we knew,I\u27d weep with thee,I\u27d weep with thee

Public Debt Requirements in A Regime of Price Stability

The logic of this paper is based on a modernisation of Austrian capital theory as applied to a closed economy growing in a steady state. Here the philosophy is this: capital is time embodied in produced goods. In steady states, this philosophy works well as an aggregation device for an arbitrary number of distinct produced goods. The basic theorem of this approach (Section VII) is this: in a capital market equilibrium without public debt and hence in a general equilibrium without public debt the average period of production equals the average waiting period of households. Calibration of the parameters of the production sector and the consumption sector then leads to the result that the equilibrium risk free real rate of interest (Wicksell´s "natural rate of interest") is negative for the OECD+China area. What distinguishes the twenty-first century from earlier times is the high life expectancy of people and the ensuing extensive average pension period. These characteristics are responsible for the high average waiting period. Only with a negative real rate of interest can the average period of production catch up with the high average waiting period. Under price stability the risk free real rate of interest cannot become negative. Public debt causes the equilibrium risk free rate of interest to rise: the public debt period () plus the average period of production (DT) equal the average waiting period (Z). Thus substantial public debt is required for the goal of price stability. We thus come to a different view of public debt: it is inconsistent with the goal of a zero public debt. This different view of public debt (even apart from "Keynesian" considerations) has been introduced by Samuelson already in the year 1958. My "Austrian" capital theoretic approach allows me to show that it is the relevant view for the 21 st century.

Risk Financing in Labour Managed Economics: The Commitment Problem

Labour managed firms face some serious problems with regard to the provision of capital, especially of risk-bearing capital. These difficulties are discussed in the first part of the paper. Subsequently it is argued that these problems are rooted in the fact that the workers are insufficiently committed to the long run well-being of the labour managed firm, i.e. in the lacking of a sufficient commitment mechanism. An interchange of the roles which capital and labour play under capitalism would require tradable job rights, an arrangement which is not feasible. It is concluded therefrom that any workable labour managed economy needs a special commitment mechanism. A high rate of unemployment might serve for this purpose, or, more attractively, a reduction of labour mobility through appropriate incentives like seniority-dependent remuneration schemes

Risk Financing in Labour Managed Economics: The Commitment Problem

Labour managed firms face some serious problems with regard to the provision of capital, especially of risk-bearing capital. These difficulties are discussed in the first part of the paper. Subsequently it is argued that these problems are rooted in the fact that the workers are insufficiently committed to the long run well-being of the labour managed firm, i.e. in the lacking of a sufficient commitment mechanism. An interchange of the roles which capital and labour play under capitalism would require tradable job rights, an arrangement which is not feasible. It is concluded therefrom that any workable labour managed economy needs a special commitment mechanism. A high rate of unemployment might serve for this purpose, or, more attractively, a reduction of labour mobility through appropriate incentives like seniority-dependent remuneration schemes.Commitment; labour management; tradable job rights; mobility

Philipp Johann Gustav von Jolly

Nachruf der Münchener Akademie auf den aus Mannheim stammenden Physiker und Mathematiker Philipp von Jolly, der von 1834 bis 1854 in Heidelberg lehrte