Emil Lederer: Review of Kasdorf and Winkler (1911)

Lederer’s brief joint review examines two studies of milk costs and supply, particularly in Vienna. Its central judgment distinguishes useful cost data from adequate economic calculation:

Sie bringen gute Daten über Gestehungskosten der Milch, aus denen zu entnehmen, daß eine wirkliche Kalkulation bisher meist nicht erfolgt und gar nicht erfolgen kann.

English translation: They provide good data on the prime costs of milk, from which it is to be gathered that a genuine costing has hitherto mostly not been carried out and cannot be carried out at all.

The data thus expose the limits of existing cost accounting rather than establish a reliable calculation; Lederer does not explain the stronger claim that such calculation is impossible.

The review then differentiates the studies by scope. Kasdorf connects the threat of cartelization in milk production with proposals to ease railway transport, regulate the milk trade, and establish a municipal milk office. Winkler’s contribution is narrower:

Winkler gibt nur Preiskalkulationen und Tabellen über die bei den verschiedenen Arten der Milchverwertung erzielbaren Preise.

English translation: Winkler gives only price calculations and tables of the prices obtainable with the various kinds of milk utilization.

Lederer’s contrast places market organization and municipal intervention alongside calculations of returns from different uses of milk. The review’s relevance lies in this compact framing of Vienna’s milk question as both an accounting problem and a matter of supply policy, without developing an independent explanation of price increases.