Gottfried von Haberler (; July 20, 1900 – May 6, 1995) was an Austrian-American economist. He worked in particular on

international trade International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (see: World economy) In most countries, such trade represents a significant ...

. One of his major contributions was reformulating the Ricardian idea of

comparative advantage In an economic model, agents have a comparative advantage over others in producing a particular good if they can produce that good at a lower relative opportunity cost or autarky price, i.e. at a lower relative marginal cost prior to trade. Comp ...

in a neoclassical framework, abandoning the

labor theory of value The labor theory of value (LTV) is a theory of value that argues that the economic value of a good or service is determined by the total amount of " socially necessary labor" required to produce it. The LTV is usually associated with Marxian ...

for an opportunity cost concept.

Early life

Haberler was born in

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

in 1900, and was educated in the

Austrian School The Austrian School is a heterodox school of economic thought that advocates strict adherence to methodological individualism, the concept that social phenomena result exclusively from the motivations and actions of individuals. Austrian schoo ...

of economics. In 1936 he moved to the United States, joining the economics department at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. There he worked alongside

Joseph Schumpeter Joseph Alois Schumpeter (; February 8, 1883 – January 8, 1950) was an Austrian-born political economist. He served briefly as Finance Minister of German-Austria in 1919. In 1932, he emigrated to the United States to become a professor at H ...

Academic Career and Views

Haberler's two major works were ''Theory of International Trade'' (1936) and ''Prosperity and Depression'' (1937). He was President of the

International Economic Association The International Economic Association (IEA) is an NGO established in 1950, at the instigation of the Social Sciences Department of UNESCO. To date, the IEA still shares information and maintains consultative relations with UNESCO. In 1973 the IE ...

(1950–1953). In 1957 the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade commissioned a report on the

terms of trade The terms of trade (TOT) is the relative price of exports in terms of imports and is defined as the ratio of export prices to import prices. It can be interpreted as the amount of import goods an economy can purchase per unit of export goods. An i ...

for primary commodities, and Haberler was appointed Chairman. The report found that there was a decline in the terms of trade for primary producers, since 1955 commodity prices were said to have fallen by 5%, while industrial prices rose by 6%. Haberler's report seems to echo the report written by

Raúl Prebisch Raúl Prebisch (April 17, 1901April 29, 1986) was an Argentine economist known for his contributions to structuralist economics such as the Prebisch–Singer hypothesis, which formed the basis of economic dependency theory. He became the executi ...

in 1949 as well as Hans Singer in 1950. However, when a second report by Prebischf or the

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is an intergovernmental organization within the United Nations Secretariat that promotes the interests of developing countries in world trade. It was established in 1964 by the ...

(UNCTAD) came out in 1964, Haberler denounced it. His particular disagreement was with the idea that there was a systematic long-term (secular) decline in the terms of trade. In 1971, Haberler left Harvard to become a resident scholar at the

American Enterprise Institute The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, known simply as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), is a center-right Washington, D.C.–based think tank that researches government, politics, economics, and social welfare. A ...

. Among other things, Haberler is credited with developing the theory of opportunity cost, which was pioneered by the Englishman John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) and the Austrian

Friedrich von Wieser Friedrich Freiherr von Wieser (; 10 July 1851 – 22 July 1926) was an early (so-called "first generation") economist of the Austrian School of economics. Born in Vienna, the son of Privy Councillor Leopold von Wieser, a high official in the war m ...

(1851-1926) further developed it. Haberler died from

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

in 1995.

Major works

* ''Der Sinn der Indexzahlen'', 1927. * "Irving Fisher's 'Theory of Interest'", 1931, ''QJE''. * "Money and the Business Cycle", in Wright (ed.), ''Gold and Monetary Stabilization'', 1932 * ''Der Internationale Handel'', 1933.
''The Theory of International Trade''
1936. * "Mr Keynes' Theory of the Multiplier", 1936, ''ZfN''
''Prosperity and Depression: A theoretical analysis of cyclical movements''
1937. (this is the 3rd edition pub. in 1946) * "The General Theory After Ten Years", in Harris (ed.), ''The New Economics'', 1947. * "The Market for Foreign Exchange and the Stability of the Balance of Payments", 1949, ''Kyklos''. * "Some Problems in the Pure Theory of International Trade", 1950, ''EJ''. * "The Pigou Effect Once More", 1952, ''JPE''. * "Sixteen Years Later", in Lekachman (ed.), ''Keynes's General Theory'', 1963. * "Integration and Growth of the World Economy in perspective", 1964, ''AER''. * ''Money in the International Economy'', 1965.
''Inflation: Its causes and cures''
1960. * "Monetary and Fiscal Policy for Economic Stability and Growth", 1967, ''Il Politico''. * "Theoretical Reflections on the Trade of Socialist Countries", 1968, in Brown and Neuberger (eds.), ''International Trade and Central Planning''. * ''Incomes Policy and Inflation'', 1971. * ''Economic Growth and Stability'', 1974. * ''Two Essays on the Future of the International Monetary Order'', 1974. * ''The World Economy and the Great Depression'', 1976. * ''The Problem of Stagflation: Reflection on the Microfoundation of Macroeconomic Theory and Policy'', 1985. * ''Essays of Gottfried Haberler'' (ed. A. Koo), 1985. * ''The Liberal Economic Order'', (ed. A. Koo), 1993.

References

External links

*
Biography of Haberler from mises.org
* *
Gottfried Haberler
(in German) from the online-archive of the Österreichischen Mediathek {{DEFAULTSORT:Haberler, Gottfried 1900 births 1995 deaths 20th-century American economists American libertarians Austrian School economists Neurological disease deaths in Washington, D.C. Deaths from Parkinson's disease Harvard University faculty Libertarian economists Fellows of the Econometric Society Presidents of the American Economic Association Austrian emigrants to the United States Member of the Mont Pelerin Society

Early life

Academic Career and Views

Major works

References

Further reading

External links