Tony Atkinson and his Legacy

Tony Atkinson is universally celebrated for his outstanding contributions to the measurement and analysis of inequality, but he never saw the study of inequality as a separate branch of economics. He was an economist in the classical sense, rejecting any sub‐field labelling of his interests and expertise, and he made contributions right across economics. His death on 1 January 2017 deprived the world of both an intellectual giant and a deeply committed public servant in the broadest sense of the term. This collective tribute highlights the range, depth and importance of Tony's enormous legacy, the product of almost fifty years’ work.     

The Economist Watcher: Economic Contributions of David Colander

ABSTRACT

This article gives an appraisal of the work of David Colander. After a brief biographical summary, we look at his work in methodology and the role that institutions and ‘vision’ play in his economic analysis. A crucial part of his work in this area is viewing not only the economy but also the economic profession as an adaptive complex system. This leads us to his major contributions to macroeconomics and economic education. We conclude with an overall assessment of his contributions to economics.     

Zvi Griliches's contributions to the economics of technology and growth*

Zvi Griliches's contributions to the economics of technology and growth are identified. Included is a discussion of his contributions on: the determinants of differences in speed of adoption of innovations; the use of patents to measure technology; the private and social returns to R&D; and spillover effects from R&D. Griliches's own evaluation of his research contribution is compared to the evaluation of others in the field, using as evidence citation counts of his works collected from the online Web of Science. Griliches's most important contribution is his 1957 Econometrica hybrid corn paper that is a foundation of the economics of technological innovation. Remarkably, the trend in annual citations to the paper has continued to increase for over 40 years. Finally, we summarize Griliches's most recent views on the practice of economics and on the most important unanswered questions in the economics of technology and growth.     

Richard Thaler and the Rise of Behavioral Economics

Richard Thaler was awarded the 2017 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for his contributions to behavioral economics. In this article, I review and discuss these contributions.     

David Gawen Champernowne, 1912-2000: in appreciation

David Champernowne, who died in August 2000 aged 88, was notdirectly associated with the Cambridge Journal of Economics,but his major contributions belong to and serve to extend theapproach to economics which the journal wishes to preserve andadvance. This short obituary article records the journal's appreciationof his life and work.     

Richard H. Thaler: A Nobel Prize for Behavioural Economics

ABSTRACT

This paper provides an overview of Richard Thaler’s career and the contributions to behavioural economics that earned him the 2017 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. It focuses on his role in exposing and making sense of empirical anomalies in orthodox economics, his analysis of mental accounting, and his work with Cass Sunstein on the notion of libertarian paternalism and the ‘nudge’-based behavioural approach to economic policy. It then considers his contributions critically and explores how, unlike previous behavioural economics, Thaler succeeded in getting his new approach to behavioural economics accepted by mainstream economists.     

Scitovsky's The Joyless Economy and the economics of happiness

Abstract

Scitovsky's The Joyless Economy is especially well-known in recent economic studies on happiness. However, his insightful contributions have not been taken up as they deserve, mainly because they were, and still are, too original. By reconstructing Scitovsky's analysis on the basis of all his relevant writings, this article integrates his most original concepts, such as novelty, consumption skill, endogenous preferences, pleasurable uncertainty, into conventional economics; it compares Scitovsky's analysis to the economic thought of his time and to current consumer theory and it reveals his contributions to happiness economics, such as an original interpretation of the Easterlin paradox.     

Economic Institutions and the Satisfaction of Human Needs

This article examines John Kenneth Galbraith’s contributions to the field of economic development. Galbraith’s works on economic development were numerous, but they remain largely ignored by his critics and fans alike. He approached the economic development problem with a keen understanding of both the economic and political forces shaping the development debate. Galbraith’s contributions to development economics were always focused on how to get the job done. Doing so required different strategies in an exceedingly diverse community of nations. His work remains relevant. The literature is only now beginning to recognize that this holistic approach to development is a necessary alternative to single-causation theories of world poverty. Galbraith’s approach to development problems is consistent with (and perhaps inspired by) original institutional economics (OIE) in the tradition of Thorstein Veblen and Clarence Ayres.     

Radical scholarship taking on the mainstream: Murray Rothbard’s contribution

Does one have to make a choice between ideological purity and success as an economist? Many free-market economists believe that one has to choose one or the other. Murray Rothbard (1926?C1995) held views on economics and government far outside the accepted mainstream. Nevertheless he was extremely prolific in both mainstream and non-mainstream outlets and his work has influenced many people. This article surveys Rothbard??s contributions to top ranked economics journals and discusses some of the attention his work received in those journals and elsewhere. Rothbard left a bold and uncompromising research program in political economy that has inspired many to follow.     

Institutionalism,Critical Theory,and the Administered Society

Paul Krugman recently suggested that John Maynard Keynes helped economists study and resolve mass unemployment at a time when few of them could understand the problem and institutionalists seemed unable to articulate a clear policy strategy. This article responds by outlining John R. Commons' case for full employment with liberty and his three-part strategy (addressing money, people and politics) for curing joblessness while saving capitalism. Commons' argument and recommendations offer insights that extend beyond Keynesian economics in important ways, and his contributions have special relevance today in light of the recent global financial crisis and still ongoing Great Recession.     

From R&D management to knowledge management: An overview of studies of innovation management

This article is intended to establish links and seek connections between the contributions made to the study of innovatory phenomena. Specifically, it analyzes the evolution undergone by studies on the topic of the technological innovation (TI) process carried out by different disciplines from the point of view of the objectives they pursue and the suppositions on which they are based. Hence, it attempts to provide evidence for the relationships existing between research done at macro level (sociology, history, economics, and industrial economics) and that undertaken at micro level (management).     

Distinguished Fellow of the Economic Society of Australia, 2008: Alan Woodland

This citation acknowledges Professor Alan Woodland as an eminent Australian economist and surveys his exceptional international record of scholarship and research with a selection of his insightful contributions to the understanding of the complex issues of international trade, taxation and welfare. These issues are at the forefront of our nation's economic priorities and it is appropriate that we formally recognise his outstanding contributions to the discipline study of economics with the award of Distinguished Fellow of the Economic Society of Australia.     

‘… More of Keynes and Less of Milton Friedman!’ 1

This paper gives an account of the scientific work of a pioneer whose heterodox ideas stimulated debate in development economics for more than three decades. It will be shown that his intellectual biography—in particular, his experiences as a victim of National Socialism—provided an important stimulus for his commitment to the problems of the socially underprivileged. This led him to initiate several studies of unemployment in the depressed areas of Great Britain during the Great Depression and the Second World War. Then, starting from the late 1940s, during the years of his affiliation with the UN, he made pathbreaking contributions to the economics of underdevelopment in fields such as the deterioration of terms of trade, the basic needs strategy, and food security. The topics will be discussed both in the context of history of thought and with regard to recent work in development economics.     

Environmental and resource economics: A Canadian retrospective

The paper reviews research contributions to environmental and resource economics by scholars in Canada. We focus mainly on work from the past 25 years but also highlight earlier pathbreaking work. We begin by looking at broad trends in research both internationally and within Canada. We then review Canadian contributions to various topics in the field. Canadians have played a leading role in the development of the field, especially in resource economics, international environmental economics and the valuation of environmental amenities.     

Akira Takayama: A Memoir

When Akira Takayama passed away this winter, the economics profession lost one of its most productive and most passionate members. This memoir catalogues Professor Takayama's publications and offers some insight into his contributions and personality from a few of his colleagues.     

A Note on a Conversation with Geoff Harcourt

In this note Geoff Harcourt offers his views, via a face to face interview, on a wide range of issues relating to the discipline of economics. He recalls his time as a student at University of Melbourne, his choice of doctoral study and experiences at University of Cambridge, his original intellectual influences and affiliation, and his contributions to economics. He also discusses how economics have evolved over the years, comments on the current status of economic teaching, research and policy advice in Australia, and makes some recommendations to early career researchers. The note also includes a brief bio sketch of Professor Harcourt.     

互补性、概念格、塔尔斯基不动点定理

本文综述 1 998年以来经济学和认知科学交界处的三个基本概念 ,它们来自代数学“格论” :(1 )“概念格” ,这是代数理论在“观念拓扑”及“知识表达”方面的运用 ;(2 )“互补性” ,这是格论在不完全竞争博弈、技术扩散、网络现象、学习过程等的运用 ;(3)塔尔斯基不动点定理 ,这是在三类“不动点定理”当中应用最为广泛的一类 ,在人工智能“归纳推理”、逻辑学“谓词演算”、语义学及“知识表达”、经济学“互补 (或互替 )策略博弈”、网络理论“模型检验”、计算理论“收敛与逼进”算法等方面 ,正日渐成为基础性的定理之一。“新经济”的主要特征是 :(1 )“观念”在适当的制度安排下成为物质生产及其效率的决定因素 ;(2 )“知识”在收益递增经济活动中表现出来的强烈的互补性 ;(3)新古典经济学的以“凸性假设”为基础的分析方法 ,在收益递增经济现象面前显得格外无力。“概念格”理论 ,作为认知科学的最新成果 ,对于知识的经济学研究极端重要。本文对上述三个基本概念的讨论 ,将以知识的经济学研究为贯穿始终的视角     

The Cambridge challenge to the Ricardian analysis of poverty

The Ricardian economists’ famous model of economic growth employed the Malthusian population doctrine, the law of diminishing returns, and the classical or iron law of wages. This analysis was based on utilitarian moral philosophy. The gloomy Stationary State conclusions of the Ricardian growth model — maldistribution of income and widespread poverty — were challenged by both economists and moral philosophers. A particularly important challenge was that offered by William Whewell (1794–1866), Professor of Moral Philosophy and the dominant figure at the University of Cambridge. Whewell is remembered today for his early contributions to mathematical economics. This article begins with a review of the Ricardian growth model. Next, Whewell’s system of moral philosophy is examined and the scientific and religious basis of Whewell’s antagonism to Ricardian economics is considered. After considering Whewell’s treatment of agricultural progress, economic classes, and rent doctrine, his own model of economic growth is analyzed. Finally, Whewell’s appraisal of the duty of government to those harmed by development is explored.     

Is Pragmatism Good for Anything? Towards a Theory of Impractical Economics

This article discusses the relationship between classical pragmatism, political economy and economic policy. Classical pragmatism is contrasted with vulgar meanings and uses of the term pragmatism. Classical pragmatism aims at a deep, substantive theoretical understanding of real-world economic systems and supports application of well-warranted claims to knowledge to improve the human condition. The article reviews the contributions of the founder of pragmatism, Charles Sanders Peirce, to the areas of ontology and epistemology as well as their further development by contemporary classical pragmatist philosopher Susan Haack. Hilary Putnam’s argument that we can have ethics without ontology and objectivity without objects is then critiqued. We need ethics based on an ontology that is rooted in actual human experience; this provides better guidance for evaluating policy proposals. The paper concludes by discussing the affinity of classical pragmatism with different approaches to political economy and policy.