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-----Original Message-----
From: Marcel Claessen
Sent:  12/07/2011, 17:05 
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [SHOE] GET and gothic cathedrals


To the editor of  the List.

I cannot contribute to our list a new link, as requested by AlainAlcouffe, between GET and gothic cathedrals. But I can point to a pre-GETlink between the "economic reglementization in medieval towns"and "the most beautiful monuments of Gothic architecture". Inmy 2002 PhD thesis on Condorcet's "Monopole et Monopoleur", hislittle known 1775 letter in tacit support of Turgot's liberalizationpolicy, I referred to the 1916 Dutch pdh thesis about the "Foodsupply policy in the towns of the Low Countries during the MiddleAges" by Willem Sybrand Unger [Amsterdam, 1916, in Dutch: "Delevensmiddelenvoorziening der Hollandsche steden in demiddeleeuwen", Amsterdam, 1916; a digital copy on www.archive.org].On my p.89 I mentioned Unger's view on his p.16, that the combination ofurban growth and poor development of trade and traffic had necessitated aneed for economic selfsufficiency in the medieval towns, that induced adetailed regulation of  economic life, which was, according to Unger"to be considered, in its sort, a masterpiece". In my n.164 Ithen encapsulated Unger's quote, in his n.48, from the well known Belgianhistorian Henri Pirenne, with whom Unger had studied in Gent in1912-1913. On p.107 of his "Les anciennes d�mocraties desPays-Bas" [Paris, Flammarion, 1910; repr. 1922; a copy of pp.106-113onwww.unibuc.ro/CLASSICA/pirenne/cap43.pdf (http://www.unibuc.ro/CLASSICA/pirenne/cap43.pdf)],Pirenne had characterized the strict reglementation of the economicsystem in the medieval towns as a "municipal socialism" thatwas "aussi cons�quente dans ses principes, aussi coh�rente dans sesparties, aussi riche dans ses d�tails que les plus beaux monuments del'architecture gothique ou que les grandes 'sommes' des philosofiquesscolastiques". Or in my English translation: "as consequent inits principles, as coherent in its parts, as rich in its details as themost beautiful monuments of Gothic architecture or the great 'sommes' bythe scholastic philosophers". 

Marcel Claessen, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.

==

At 10:18 12-7-2011, you wrote:
Hi ,

Werner Hildenbrand wrote in his  Introduction, to Mathematicaleconomics : twenty papers of Gerard Debreu, Cambridge , Cambridgeuniversity press, 1983 

?The edifice of General Equilibrium Theory has been compared to the greatgothic cathedrals. These cathedrals were designed by inspired architectsand constructed by great master builders who quite often extended andimproved on the original design?. p. 29 

I'm not sure  whom is alluded to by WH.

To describe the GET, or more exactly the neoclassical theory, RichardSwedberg and alii 1987 used the same metaphor which he traced back toGudmund Hernes, Forhandlingsokonomi og blandingsadministrasjon(Bergen: Universitetsforlaget, 1978) where the latter wrote : ?If I, inall friendliness, were to allow myself a frivolous analogy, I would likenneo-classical theory to a gothic cathedral.? (quoted and translated bySwedberg p. 172 from pages 201-202). 

Richard Swedberg, Ulf Himmelstrand, G�ran Brulin, The Paradigm ofEconomic Sociology: Premises and Promises, in Theory and Society,Vol. 16, No. 2 (Mar., 1987), pp. 169-213. 

I have no idea if WH knew about Hernes 1978 and/or alluded to him.

Of course, some intertextual hints could be found previoulsly. Forexample, in Oskar Lange 1937 where Oskar Lange quoted an other use of thesame image of ?gothic cathedral? related to great achievements. Langequoted the Manifesto where Marx wrote ?The bourgeoisie has been the firstto show what man's activity can bring about. It has accomplished wondersfar surpassing Egyptian pyramids, Roman aqueducts, and Gothic cathedrals;[..] The bourgeoisie, during its rule of scarce one hundred years, hascreated more massive and more colossal productive forces than have allpreceding generations together. (quotation is on page 128 in ?On theEconomic Theory of Socialism?: Part , Oskar Lange, The Review ofEconomic Studies, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Feb., 1937), pp. 123-142. 

I will be thankful if anybody knows about previous links between the GETand gothic cathedrals.

Thanks in advance 
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