Lord Lionel Robbins was born in 1898, and was one of the many great economists of our time. Robbins was known for his contributions to economic policy, methodology, and the history of ideas, but made his name as a theorist. Robbins was made famous for his definition of economics, "Economics is a science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses." (The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics 2007) Robbins was able to change the Anglo-Saxon thought economics off its Marshallian process and onto the Continental train of thought.
In the twenties, he fought the idea of Alfred Marshall's concept of the "representative firm." He argued that the concept did not help one understand the equilibrium of the firm or of an industry. He also did some of the earliest work on labor supply, showing that an increase in the wage rate had an ambiguous effect on the amount of labor supplied. (The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics 2007) He was a follower of William Stanley Jevons and Philip Wicksteed. William Stanley Jevons wrote the book The Theory of Political Economy (1871) which expanded on the themes of his earlier 1866 paper and launching the Marginalist Revolution in the process. (History of Economic Thought WJ 2007) Philip Wicksteed was also a follower of Jevons and fellow economist writing The Common Sense of Political Economy in 1910, which comprehensively presents Wicksteed's economic system. Robbins was also heavily influened by many other Continental European economists as well.
In 1929, he became the chair of the London School of Economics. During that time, one of his first appointements was Friedrich Hayek. Friedrich Hayek was considered a twentieth-century Renaissance man in the world of economics. Hayek was the best-known advocate of what is now called Austrian economics. (The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics 2007) Robbins early essays were quite controversial and combative in nature towards Anglo-Saxon economics. He stressed the ideas of subjectivist theory of value beyond what Anglo-Saxon economics were used to.
Robbins also involved himself in the socialist calculation debate also called the economic calculation problem, which was criticism against socialist economics in short. Robbins was sided with Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises, who first proposed the idea, against Abba Lerner, Fred Taylor, and Oscar Lange. The argument was based on, “without information provided by market prices it is impossible to rationally allocate resources.” (Hayek., F.
In Alexander Kern’s “Emerson and Economics,” Kern draws attention to the economical aspects found in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s texts. Specifically, Kern discusses the lack of attention that Emerson’s economical notions receive. Emerson is not associated with being an economist writer, but Kern draws attention to how “he so frequently touched the subject than an understanding of his economic ideas is a prerequisite to the evaluation of his entire thought on any relative or absolute scale” (Kern 678). Kern’s theory that readers must extract the economics out of Emerson in order to comprehend his texts is extremely useful because it sheds insight on the difficult problem of viewing Emerson as an economist, yet he views Emerson as a moral philosopher because of the author’s views towards society. Alexander Kern’s call to view Emerson as an economist is yet to be answered. Moreover, it is crucial to evaluate Emerson as an economist in order to analyze his texts differently. Consequently, using economics to evaluate Emerson’s “Self Reliance” in a new way will show it is meant to be a call for social reformation. More specifically, by considering the economic panic of 1837 and its effects on Emerson’s views towards society, a new way to interpret “Self Reliance” is achieved.
William Graham Sumner came from a hard working family. He grew up in the environment where he was taught to respect Protestant economic virtues. Hard work and efficiently utilizing money leads to the result in success. After reading, Illustration of Political Economy written by Harriet Marti he became aware of the wage fund doctrine, and other theories associated with that. His understanding of capital, labor, money and trade were based upon the book, Illustration of Political Economy. He published books like Earth hunger, The Absurd Effort to Make the World Over, The Forgotten Man, Folkways and others. His intellectual ideas were passed through the columns of popular journals and from the lecture platform, he waged a holy war against reformism, protectionism, socialism, and government interventionism.
Marx, Karl, and T. B. Bottomore. "Wages of Labour." Early Writings. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964. N. paragraph.16 Print.
Even though Adam Smith lived in a different century then us, he fully understood how wealth can be accumulated. His concepts of capitalism and free market are still the root of many nations and still bring much wealth to these nations. With all these accomplishments, we can, with no doubt, say Adam Smith is the father of economics.
Smith, Adam. “Of the Principle of the Commercial or Mercantile System.” A World Of Ideas. Ed. Lee Jacobus. Boston: Bedford Books, 1998. 195-205.
... New Deal, because he believed it was not providing enough help for the poor. He developed his own alternative to the New Deal that he called “Share Our Wealth”. This plan called for the introduction of progressive government taxes in order to spread the nation’s money more evenly among class lines.
Karl Marx, Adam Smith and Andrew Carnegie came up with various perspectives on how capitalism could be improved or changed for the betterment of society.
Milton Friedman’s ideas where thought to be radical, but he was the most authoritative figure in the economics field in the 20th century, (Placeholder2) and was known most for his thoughts on free enterprise, classical liberalism and limited government. (Placeholder3) His views shaped modern capitalism. (Placeholder2) He was against government intervention and favored free markets (Placeholder6).
body of ideas known as Marxism. In his youth he was deeply affected by the
	One of the most highly regarded and best known economist of the early eighteen hundreds was Henry Carey. Of all the many American economists in the first half of the nineteenth century, the best known, especially outside of America, was Henry Carey. Being born in Philadelphia, Carey's views were that typically of an American. The manor, in which he opposed other economists and established his own theories, distinguished him as a prominent figure not only in his hometown of Philadelphia but in the entire United States. He rejected Malthus and Ricardo on several grounds and accused them of deviating from the views of Adam Smith. His belief in the revision of economic thought stemmed from the fact that early classical thinking, developed in Europe, was not suitable for a newly discovered country such as the United States which consisted of abundant land and scarce labour. These aspects will be viewed in detail while examining Carey's principle theories. However, before tackling the unprecedented theories of Carey, a description of the man's life and career, and writings should first be examined.
He looked to fellow theorists such as Karl Marx, Max Weber and Ludwig Wittenstein in his work. He also rejected the idea of the ‘total intellectual’ as embodied by Jean-Paul Sartre. (Wikipedia, 2014)
The dominant figure in British economics of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, who’s Principles ... still, has the power to fascinate and excite the reader. Though he wrote infrequently, his teaching at Cambridge was a major source of influence on his contemporaries. An able mathematician, he sought to express himself in the simplest lan...
The theory of economics does not furnish a body of settled conclusions immediately applicable to policy. It is a method rather than a doctrine, an apparatus of the mind, a technique for thinking, which helps the possessor to draw correct conclusions. The ideas of economists and politicians, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist." (John Maynard Keynes, the General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money p 383)
payment, and method of hiring. Karl Marx had also written an essay “Wage Labour and Capital” on
John Locke was a British philosopher and Oxford academic and medical researcher. Locke was regarded as one of the most influential thinkers and was known as the “Father of Classical Liberalism”. Locke was considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, and was equally important to social contract theory. His work significantly influenced the development of epi...