===================== HES POSTING ==================== 
 
I'd like to second Bruce Caldwell's suggestion that the term "incentive" is 
a 
fairly recent addition to the economics vocabulary and that it is related 
to the 
economics of socialism.  
 
 When I was first looking into the calculation debates, I came across an 
article written by Oskar Lange after he had returned to Poland.  In it, he 
acknowledged that Hayek had a point about getting workers and managers 
in socialist firms to do what was expected of them.  I believe he used the 
word "incentives" in that article to describe what was necessary for 
efficient 
socialist management.  That was a little before Hurcwitz starting writing 
about 
"incentive compatible systems."  I am sorry to be so hazy about the article 
or 
the date, but I can't find it in my files.  I believe it was around 1960 
give or 
take a few years.  At any rate, whether or not Lange was the first to use 
the 
term, I do think its introduction is linked to the economics of socialism.  
Karen Vaughn 
============ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ============ 
For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]