Human Action: dag 4

Jag befinner mig nu på sidan 140 i Human Action. Senaste läspasset läste jag kapitlen V och VI, samt nästan hela VII. Några höjdpunkter var Mises behandling av osäkerhet (kapitel VI), speciellt distinktionen mellan class probability och case probability, och hans framläggning av lagen om marginalnytta. Nu börjar boken komma mer in på nationalekonomi än meta-nationalekonomi. Lagen om avkastning (law of returns) presenteras utmärkt. Resonemanget är kristallklart och mycket lätt att hänga med i.

Några citat.

It is, especially in the processing industries, for the most part easier to attain the optimum combination by expanding the size of the plant or enterprise than by restricting it. If the smallest unit of one or of several factors is too large to allow for its optimal exploitation in a small or medium-size plant or enterprise, the only way to attain the optimum is by increasing the outfit’s size. It is these facts that bring about the superiority of big-scale production. (pp. 130-1)

Och, vem får inte lite John Galt-vibbar av:

Far above the millions that come and pass away tower the pioneers, the men whose deeds and ideas cut out new paths for mankind. For the pioneering genius to create is the essence of life. To live means for him to create.

[...]

He lives in creating and inventing. For him there is not leisure, only intermissions of temporary sterility and frustration. His incentive is not the desire to bring about a result, but the act of producing it. The accomplishment gratifies him neither mediately nor immediately. It does not gratify him mediately because his fellow men at best are unconcerned about it, more often even greet it with taunts, sneers, and persecution. Many a genius could have used his gifts to render his life agreeable and joyful; he did not even consider such a possibility and chose the thorny path without hesitation. The genius wants to accomplish what he considers his mission, even if he knows that he moves toward his own disaster.

[...]

It is, furthermore, impossible to substitute other people’s work for that of the creators. If Dante and Beethoven had not existed, one would not have been in a position to produce the Divina Commedia or the Ninth Symphony by assigning other men to these tasks. Neither society nor single individuals can substantially further the genius and his work. The highest intensity of the ”demand” and the most peremptory order of the government are ineffectual. The genius does not deliver to order. Men cannot improve the natural and social conditions which bring about the creator and his creation. It is impossible to rear geniuses by eugenics, to train them by schooling, or to organize their activities. But, of course, one can organize society in such a way that no room is left for pioneers and their path-breaking.

Nästa pass blir alltså andra delen av boken, Action Within the Framework of Society. Det blir bara mer och mer spännande…