IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/79807.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Rise and Fall of the Subsistence Fund as a Resource Constraint in Austrian Business Cycle Theory

Author

Listed:
  • Braun, Eduard
  • Howden, David

Abstract

The “subsistence fund” was once an integral part of Austrian business cycle theory to indicate the resource constraint on the ability to complete investments. Early agrarian and industrial economies were constrained by resource availability in a manner consistent with that alluded to by the subsistence fund. This link became more tenuous as the growth of the financial economy in the 20th century removed the apparent importance of pre-saved goods to complete investments. At this point the subsistence fund came to be used only as a metaphor and was jettisoned from Austrian business cycle theory. The present paper points to the merits of the subsistence fund in explaining the turning point of the business cycle as compared to alternative explanations. It also works out the deficiencies in historical expositions of the Austrian theory based on the subsistence fund, and traces the evolution of the resource constraint at the core of Austrian economists´ treatment of the business cycle.

Suggested Citation

  • Braun, Eduard & Howden, David, 2017. "The Rise and Fall of the Subsistence Fund as a Resource Constraint in Austrian Business Cycle Theory," MPRA Paper 79807, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:79807
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/79807/1/MPRA_paper_79807.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Boivin, Jean & Kiley, Michael T. & Mishkin, Frederic S., 2010. "How Has the Monetary Transmission Mechanism Evolved Over Time?," Handbook of Monetary Economics, in: Benjamin M. Friedman & Michael Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Monetary Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 8, pages 369-422, Elsevier.
    2. Roger W. Garrison, 2004. "Overconsumption and Forced Saving in the Mises-Hayek Theory of the Business Cycle," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 36(2), pages 323-349, Summer.
    3. Doris G. Phillips, 1967. "The Wages Fund in Historical Context," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(4), pages 321-334, December.
    4. Peter Phillips, 2010. "Financial crisis of metaphor," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 23(3), pages 223-242, September.
    5. Bagus, Philipp & Howden, David, 2010. "The Term Structure of Savings, the Yield Curve, and Maturity Mismatching," MPRA Paper 79592, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. John C. H. Fei, 1965. "Per Capita Consumption and Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 79(1), pages 52-72.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Romain Baeriswyl, 2014. "Intertemporal discoordination in the 100 percent reserve banking system," Working Papers 14.06, Swiss National Bank, Study Center Gerzensee.
    2. Howden, David, 2013. "The Rise and Fall of the Icelandic Economy," MPRA Paper 79603, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Tomas Konecny & Oxana Babecka-Kucharcukova, 2016. "Credit Spreads and the Links between the Financial and Real Sectors in a Small Open Economy: The Case of the Czech Republic," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 66(4), pages 302-321, August.
    4. Patrick A. Imam, 2015. "Shock from Graying: Is the Demographic Shift Weakening Monetary Policy Effectiveness," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(2), pages 138-154, March.
    5. Ács, Attila, 2014. "Pénzintézeti mérlegadatok monetáris politikai újraértelmezése. A brókerkereskedő szervezetek reálgazdasági és likviditási jelentősége [Reconsidering the role of financial institutions balance sheet," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(2), pages 166-192.
    6. Gunther Schnabl, 2012. "Monetary Policy Reform in a World of Central Banks," Global Financial Markets Working Paper Series 26-2012, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    7. Schnabl, Gunther, 2013. "The global move into the zero interest rate and high debt trap," Working Papers 121, University of Leipzig, Faculty of Economics and Management Science.
    8. Armendáriz Villarreal Thelma & Ramírez Claudia, 2015. "Estimation of a Financial Conditions Index for Mexico," Working Papers 2015-17, Banco de México.
    9. Ahnert, Toni & Anand, Kartik & König, Philipp Johann, 2022. "Real interest rates, bank borrowing, and fragility," Discussion Papers 48/2022, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    10. Tobias Adrian & Nina Boyarchenko & Domenico Giannone, 2019. "Vulnerable Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(4), pages 1263-1289, April.
    11. David Howden & Amadeus Gabriel, 2015. "The Interest Rate Brake on Maturity Transformation," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(4), pages 1100-1111, October.
    12. Hoffmann, Andreas & Schnabl, Gunther, 2016. "Monetary policies of industrial countries, emerging market credit cycles and feedback effects," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 855-873.
    13. Arteta,Carlos & Kose,Ayhan & Stocker,Marc & Taskin,Temel, 2016. "Negative interest rate policies : sources and implications," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7791, The World Bank.
    14. Jose E. Gomez-Gonzalez & Ali M. Kutan & Jair N. Ojeda-Joya & María Camila Ortiz, 2016. "The Bank Lending Channel of Monetary Policy: Does the Financial Structure of Banks Matter," Borradores de Economia 953, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    15. Agnès Bénassy‐Quéré & Matthieu Bussière & Pauline Wibaux, 2021. "Trade and currency weapons," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 487-510, August.
    16. Philipp Bagus & David Howden & Amadeus Gabriel, 2015. "Oil and Water Do Not Mix, or: Aliud Est Credere, Aliud Deponere," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 197-206, April.
    17. Popescu, Iulia Vasile, 2012. "Effects of monetary policy in Romania. A VAR approach," MPRA Paper 41686, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Michael T. Kiley, 2014. "The Response of Equity Prices to Movements in Long‐Term Interest Rates Associated with Monetary Policy Statements: Before and After the Zero Lower Bound," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 46(5), pages 1057-1071, August.
    19. Knut Are Aastveit & Gisle James Natvik & Sergio Sola, 2013. "Economic uncertainty and the effectiveness of monetary policy," Working Paper 2013/17, Norges Bank.
    20. Kiley, Michael T., 2015. "An evaluation of the inflationary pressure associated with short- and long-term unemployment," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 5-9.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    subsistence fund; early business cycle theories; Austrian business cycle theory; wages fund;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B13 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Neoclassical through 1925 (Austrian, Marshallian, Walrasian, Wicksellian)
    • B25 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Austrian; Stockholm School
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:79807. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.