Economie als wiskundige abstractie of als uitdrukking van zingeving? Strijdende visies bij het ontstaan van het Centraal Planbureau

Abstract

The emergence of the Central Planningbureau. The economy as a mathematical abstraction or as the expression of meaning? This article analyses two different ways of conceptualising the economy (Jan Tinbergen's and Eduard van Cleeffs), and their related views on planning and ordering methodologies in the Netherlands in the period 1930-1955. What sort of knowledge did each consider necessary to support the planning process? Tinbergen and Van Cleeff both started working at the Central Planningbureau in 1945, the time of the Dutch 'Doorbraak' (the collapse of the pillarized society). The article argues that the failure of this 'Doorbraak' meant the breakthrough of Tinbergens view of the economy as a mathematical model. His use of models enabled national economic policy making within a divided (pillarized) social structure.