About Me

My name is Michael Valcic and Kaleidic Catallaxy will be the blog where I’ll post my thoughts on various aspects of economics from a Lachmannian and Misesian point of view. The name Kaleidic Catallaxy was chosen to stress two notions that I believe are paramount in explaining human action.

Firstly, as George Shackle explained it, kaleidic, stemming from the word kaleidoscope, implies a “…society, interspersing its moments or intervals of order, assurance and beauty with sudden disintegration and a cascade into a new pattern”.[1] This view stresses that we live in a world where individual actors’ subjective valuations, expectations and knowledge are in flux. Some actions may spur coordination, while other actions may destroy them and bring about a variety of new elements. The word catallaxy, as used by Mises and Hayek, stresses that instead of viewing the market as an ‘economy’ – a view where actors have common values and goals – the various properties of a market are outgrowths of the many unique values and goals of the human actors within it.[2]

I’ve had an interest in the social sciences, especially economics and history since I was an adolescent.  Hearing stories about daily life affairs in socialist Yugoslavia from my grandparents with all of their struggles piqued my interest in economics and comparative institutional analysis.  I began to seriously look at the works of Marx and Engels and Milton Friedman’s Free to Choose in an effort to gain some understanding.  Eventually, at some point in 2007, I discovered Mises’ essay, “Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth”, which was an enlightening first introduction to Austrian economics.  I soon began to read the other works of Mises, Rothbard, and Böhm-Bawerk, among others.  I would eventually start reading the works of Lachmann around 2010 and have been tremendously influenced by his thought ever since. 

Why would I wait until now to start a blog?  Well, I honestly didn’t care much about writing about economics, especially from a radical subjectivist position, but after an event held in tandem by the Boston and Manchester Austrian Economics groups, I have changed my mind. I presented a brief sketch of Lachmann’s life and important ideas at this event, – see a write up of it by my friend, Andrew Criscione, here[3] – which generated a positive reception.  On top of this, there seems to be a dearth of blogs coming from a similar viewpoint.[4]  So why not start now!

Using Lachmann’s own terms, it seems that his work has been lost “in the wilderness”[5] in the mainstream, as well as in orthodox Austrian thought.  With this blog, I will aim to raise some interest in his work and attempt to find a way out of the wilderness and back to civilization. 

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[1] Shackle, G. L. S.. Epistemics and Economics: A Critique of Economic Doctrines. (New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 1991), 76.

[2] Shenoy, Sudha R.. Towards a Theoretical Framework for British and International Economic History: Early Modern England. (Auburn, Ala: Mises Institue, 2010), 47.

[3] Criscione, Andrew. "Resurrecting Lachmann." Boston Austrian Economics Group. http://www.misesboston.com/2014/05/resurrecting-lachmann/ (accessed May 22, 2014).

[4] At the time of this writing, the only two I know of are: http://radicalsubjectivist.wordpress.com/ and http://austrianomnibus.blogspot.com/

[5] Lachmann, Ludwig M., “The Salvage of Ideas” in Expectations and the Meaning of Institutions, ed. Don Lavoie.   (London: Routledge, 1994), 161.