Виктор Валентинович Новожилов: недописанная глава «австрийской» книги

Abstract

The increasing complexity of economic phenomena demands improved analytical tools. The 21st century saw a discernible trend where diverse economic schools and various social sciences converged to collaboratively analyze complex economic phenomena. Traces of this trend, however, can be discerned in an earlier period in Soviet science, as illustrated by the work of Viktor Novozhilov, a leading figure in the mathema­tical school of optimal planning during the late 1930s. Despite this subsequent focus, a series of articles from the 1920s, which positioned Novozhilov among the country’s foremost economists, reflect entirely different theoretical positions. Classified as a liberal economist in the comprehensive scientific biography by Nikolai Ya. Petrakov and Natalia S. Kozerskaya, the article aims to highlight the consistency of Novozhilov’s 1920s views with the approaches of the Austrian school of economics, using content analysis as the primary research method. The article views Novozhilov’s change in research approach as the scholar’s strategic response to repressive conditions, driven by his apprehensions about potential persecution. Novozhilov’s principal concept for determining socialist national economic efficiency was rooted in the principle of opportunity costs from the Austrian school. Future research may explore parallels between Novozhilov’s approach and Friedrich von Wieser’s perspective on the valuation of capital goods.