著者

酒井 泰弘

出版者

滋賀大学経済学会

雑誌

彦根論叢 (ISSN:03875989)

巻号頁・発行日

no.第394号, pp.38-57, 2012-12 (Released:2013-01-21)

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The main purpose of this paper is to explore the economic thought of Frank H. Knight (1885-1972) with special reference to his ideas of risk and uncertainty. Knight, the “Grand Old Man” of Chicago, is one of the most influential thinker American economics has ever produced. Although hefailed to acquire many faithful followers around himself, we can see some traces of his perspective in the work of Martin Bronfenbrenner(1914-1997), a Chicago Ph.D., with whom I established a close acquaintance at Kobe and Pittsburgh. According to Knight, uncertainty must be taken categorically distinct from the familiar notion of risk. Risk means a quantity susceptible of measurement, so that it is not in effect anuncertainty at all. In contrast, uncertainty is ofthe non-quantity type in the sense that it cannotbe described by any distribution function.It is this “true” uncertainty, and not risk, whichforms the basis of a valid theory of profit. Business decisions deal with situations which are far too unique for any sort of statistical tabulation to have any value of guidance. Such true uncertainty gives the characteristic form of enterprise to economic organization as a whole and accounts for profit or the peculiar income of the entrepreneur. We live in the world of risk and uncertainty.The Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011 has demonstrated a great lesson against the myth of absolute safety, indicating the necessity of rethinking of presumably “unthinkable events.” We can learn new lessons from old teachings : The legacy of Frank H. Knight is still alive and will remain so throughout the new century.