Two Enigmas in Kalecki’s Methodology

Abstract

Kalecki’s writings reveal a unique style of analysis and exposition of ideas. His theoretical essays are contributions to theory with very little explicit reference to the theoretical debates of his time and to the tradition of economic thought which they sought to continue. At the same time, at critical points in his analysis, Kalecki’s argument is moved by explicitly empirical, rather than theoretical considerations. An examination of his way of working suggests an intuitive deductive way of drawing conclusions from his ideas. However, when this style of work is viewed in combination with its empirical content, and the chronological schedule of his contributions to economic theory, it becomes clear that Kalecki’s analysis is essentially an empirical deductive one that is similar to that used by the classical economists, Ricardo and Marx. This explains the absence of any explicit theoretical nexus, and the importance of empirical considerations in his theoretical discourse.

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Notes on contributors

Jan Toporowski

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Department of Business and Finance, South Bank Polytechnic, 103 Borough Road, London SEI OAA. This paper was presented at the Sixth HETSA Conference, Monash University, 1991. The author wishes to remind readers that strictly speaking there should be accents in the appropriate places in Osiatynski, Lipinski, Badan etc.