Tensions between theory and history in von mises’s critique of socialism

Abstract

The article investigates the relation between praxeology and history in the critique Mises directs at the possibility of the long-term existence of a socialist commonwealth. We argue that Mises makes no clear distinction between the praxeological concept of ‘private property’ (associated with the possession of means of production) and the historical concept of the ideal-type ‘private property’ (associated to property rights – see HODGSON, 2015). The lack of precision between the theoretical and the historical concepts of private property prevents Mises’s critique from being an ‘exact law’, as he would have it. Finally, we show in the last section the consequences for Mises’s critique of socialism of having a historical and a praxeological concept of private property.