The Brown economics department has its Louis Putterman (Yale Ph.D., 1980) much as the Harvard economics department had its Overton Hume Taylor (Harvard Ph.D., 1928). Both of these economists have been interested in the philosophical underpinnings of economics as well as the intersection of politics and economics in the history of economic ideas.
I presume many visitors to Economics in the Rear-view Mirror are kindred spirits to Taylor and Putterman. This reading list is for you and your students!
Overton Hume Taylor’s 1948 course (Economics and Political Ideas) reading list was transcribed for an earlier post. Here is a link to Taylor’s A History of Economic Thought (1960).
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The History and Philosophical Context of Economic Thought
[Fall, 1995]
Louis Putterman
Department of Economics
Requirements: You may choose one of the following options. (a) A paper of 8 to 10 double-spaced pages on an assigned theme or themes after each three units of the course, totalling four papers, each worth 20% of term grade; (b) a midterm exam worth 30% and a final exam worth 50% of term grade; (c) a paper on a topic approved by the instructor, worth 20% of term grade, plus midterm and final exams, worth 20% and 40%, respectively. Under (c), your paper is due at the final exam, and will be 10-15 pages in length. Under each option, the remaining 20% of the term grade will be determined by class participation.
Part I: A Short History of Political Economy
- Classical Economics: Smith, Malthus, and Ricardo.
Readings:
1. Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations [1776], Book 1, Ch. 1, 2, 3, 7, and 10 (Part I); Book II, Ch. 2 (pp. 420-423).
2. Thomas Malthus, Essay on Profits [1798], Chapters 2 and 5.
3. David Ricardo, Essay on Profits [1815], pp. 10-31.
4. William Barber, History of Economic Thought (1967), Chapters on Smith, Malthus, and Ricardo (pp. 23-93).
5. (Optional) Encyclopedia of Social Sciences: (a) “Economic Thought”: subsections on Ancient and Medieval Thought, Mercantilist Thought, and Physiocratic Thought; (b) “Adam Smith”; “Thomas Malthus”; “David Ricardo”. NOR.
- Marx’s Economics
Readings:
1. Karl Marx, Capital, Volume I: [1867], Ch. 1, Sec. 1 (pp. 35-41); Chs. IV, V, VI, and VII (pp. 146-7, 167-73, 175-6, and 190-5; Ch. XIV, Sec. 4, 5 (pp. 350-363); Ch. XXXII (pp. 761-764). Volume III: [1894], Ch. X (pp. 173-199) but especially pp. 188-191; Chs. XXI-XXIV (pp. 338-399), skim except for pp. 338-9, 391-3.
2. Maurice Dobb, Theories of Value and Distribution Since Adam Smith (1973), Ch. 6: “Karl Marx.”
3. Robert Heilbroner, Marxism for and Against (1980), Ch. “The Socioanalysis of Capitalism.”
4. (Optional) Frederick Engels, Prefaces to Volumes II and III of Capital (pp. 5-19 and 8-21, only), and Appendix to Vol. III, “Law of Value and Rate of Profit” (891-907).
5. (Optional) Mark Blaug, Economic Theory in Retrospect (1968), Chapter 7, “Marxian Economics.”
6. (Optional) Paul Sweezy, The Theory of Capitalist Development, especially first chapters.
7. (Optional) Joseph Schumpeter, Ten Great Economists, Chapter 1, “Karl Marx.”
- The Marginalists
Readings:
1. Alfred Marshall, Principles of Economics [1890], Preface to 1st Edition (pp. v-xi); Book 1, Chapter I, Section 4 (pp. 5-10); Book III, Chapters 3, 4, and 6 (pp. 92-116, 124-137); Book V, Chapters 2 and 3 (pp. 331-350); Book VI, Chapter 13, Sections 11-15 (pp. 712-722); (Optional: Appendix B. The Growth of Economic Science, pp. 754-769.
2. Barber, Chapter 6, “Alfred Marshall and the Framework of Neo-Classical Economics.”
3. William Jaffe, “Menger, Jevons and Walras Dehomogenized,” Economic Inquiry, 1976.
4. Mark Blaug, “Was There a Marginal Revolution?” and G.L.S. Shackle, “Marginalism: The Harvest,” in Black, Coats, and Goodwin, eds., The Marginal Revolution in Economics (1973).
5. (Optional) Emil Kauder, A History of Marginal Utility Theory (1965).
6. (Optional) Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, “Economic Thought”: subsections on the Historical School, The Austrian School, and the Institutional School. NOR.
Part II: Disciplinary Shifts and Disciplinary Boundaries
- Political-Economy versus Economics
Readings:
1. Phyllis Deane, The Evolution of Economic Ideas (1978), Chapters 6, 7, and 9 (“Scope and Methodology of Classical Political Economy,” “The Marginal Revolution and the Neoclassical Triumph,” and “The Marxian Alternative”).
2. Philip Mirowski, “Physics and the Marginalist Revolution.”
3. Dobb, Ch. 7, “The Jevonian Revolution,” Section I (pp. 166-183), in Theories of Value…
4. Paul Sweezy, “Editor’s Introduction,” Karl Marx and the Close of His System (1949).
5. Rudolf Hilferding [1904], “Bohm-Bawerk’s Criticism of Marx,” in Sweezy, ed., ibid.: pp. 130-134, 137-140, and 184-189.
6. Assar Lindbeck, The Political Economy of the New Left: An Outsider’s View (1977), Part One, and “Comment” by Stephen Hymer and Frank Roosevelt.
7. (Optional) Frank Hahn, “General Equilibrium Theory,” pp. 123-138 in Daniel Bell and Irving Kristol, eds., The Crisis in Economic Theory, 1981.
8. Ronald Meek, “Marginalism and Marxism,” in The Marginal Revolution in Economics (cited above).
9. (Optional) Thorstein Veblen, “Professor Clark’s Economics,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1908 (reprinted in The Place of Science in Modern Civilization).
- General Equilibrium Theory
Readings:
1. F.M. Scherer, “General Equilibrium and Economic Efficiency,” The American Economist, 1966.
2. F.M. Bator, “The Simple Analytics of Welfare Maximization,” originally in American Economic Review, March 1957.
- The Shift to Ordinal Utility
Readings:
1. Vincent Tarascio, “Paretian Welfare Theory: Some Neglected Aspects,” Journal of Political Economy, 1969.
2. Robert Cooter and Peter Rappaport, “Were the Ordinalists Wrong About Welfare Economics?” Journal of Economic Literature, 1984.
3. Amartya Sen, “Personal Utilities and Public Judgments: or What’s Wrong with Welfare Economics?” Economic Journal, 1979.
Part III: Epistemology and the Methods of Economic Analysis
- Background on Method and Epistemology
Readings:
1. Blaug, The Methodology of Economics. Part I: “What you always wanted to know about the philosophy of science but were afraid to ask,” and Part II: “The history of economic methodology,” except Chapter 5 (all listed as “From Received View to View of Popper”).
2. (Optional) Karl Popper, “Three Views Concerning Human Knowledge,” pp. 97-119 in Conjectures and Refutations, 1963.
3. (Optional) Bruce Caldwell, “Clarifying Popper,” Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 29, No. 1, March 1991.
- Contending Views on Methodology; The Making of an Economist
Readings:
1. (Optional) John Neville Keynes, The Scope and Method of Political Economy (1980), pp. 9-30.
2. Daniel Hausman, “Economic Methodology in a Nutshell,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2(3) 1989.
3. Ludwig von Mises, “Epistemological Problems of Economics,” pp. 17-22, and “The Scope and Meaning of the System of a Priori Theorems,” pp. 23-30, in Epistemological Problems of Economics [1933].
4. Milton Friedman, “Methodology of Positive Economics,” pp. 3-43 in Essays in Positive Economics, 1953.
5. (Optional) Amartya Sen, “Description as Choice,” Oxford Economic Papers, 1980.
6. (Optional) Axel Leijonhufvud, “Life Among the Econ.,” Western Economic Journal, 1973.
7. Benjamin Ward, “Economics as a Science,” in What’s Wrong with Economics?” (1972), pp. 5-13.
8. David Colander and Arjo Klamer, “The Making of an Economist,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 1987.
Some additional, strictly optional, material of interest for this topic and topic 10 is:
E.K. Hunt and Howard J. Sherman, excerpts from Economics: An Introduction to Traditional and Radical Views, 1972.
Oscar Lange, “The Scope and Method of Economics,” 1945.
Karl Polanyi, “The Economy as Instituted Process,” (ca.) 1957.
Alfred Marshall, “The Scope and Method of Economics,” 1890.
Ronald Meek, “Economics and Ideology.”
Lionel Robbins, “The Subject Matter of Economics,” in The Nature and Significance of Economic Science, 1932.
Hugh Stretton, “Paul Streeten: An Appreciation,” in Theory and Reality in Development, 1986, especially pp. 4-13 and 26-27.
- Examples of Economic Controversy
We will study either the controversy over the effect of “separating” ownership and control in the corporation, or that over the effect of team- versus family-based farming in China, using both theoretical and empirical readings. Readings will be announced after the topic is selected.
Part IV: Economics and Social Philosophy
- Political Philosophy and Economics
Readings:
1. John Locke, Treatise of Civil Government [1688], Chapter V, “Of Property.”
2. Selections from Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan [1651], Chapters 13 and 17.
3. S.H. Peterson, ed., Readings in the History of Economic Thought: Bernard de Mandeville, “Fable of the Bees,” [1714], pp. 2-18; Jeremy Bentham, “An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation,” [1789], pp. 178-182; John Stuart Mill, “On Liberty” [1859] and “Utilitarianism,” [1863], pp. 270-290 (all listed under Mandeville).
4. Gunnar Myrdal, The Political Element in the Development of Economic Thought, 1953 [1929] Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4 (further reading guidelines to be announced).
- Economics and Values
Readings:
1. Frank Knight, “The Ethics of Competition,” (1935).
2. Herbert Gintis, “A Radical Analysis of Welfare Economics and Individual Development,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1978.
3. Dan Usher, “The Value of Life for Decision Making in the Public Sector,” in E.F. Paul et al., eds., Ethics and Economics, 1985.
4. Richard Thaler and Sherwin Rosen, “The Value of Saving a Life: Evidence from the Labor Market,” in Terleckyj, ed., Household Production and Consumption,, National Bureau of Economic Research, 1976 (read for general idea).
5. (Optional) J.A. Mirrlees, “The Economic Uses of Utilitarianism,” and Frank Hahn, “On Some Difficulties of the Utilitarian Economist,” in Amartya Sen and Bernard Williams, eds., Utilitarianism and Beyond (1982).
- Utilitarianism and Other Views of Justice
Readings:
1. R. M. Hare, “Ethical Theory and Utilitarianism,” and John C. Harsanyi, “Morality and the Theory of Rational Behavior,” in Sen and Williams, Utilitarianism and Beyond.
2. John Rawls, “Justice as Fairness” [1958] in Laslett and Runciman, Philosophy, Politics and Society.
3. John Roemer, “An Historical Materialist Alternative to Welfarism,” 1981 reprinted with revisions in Jon Elster, ed., Foundations of Social Choice Theory.
4. James Buchanan, “A Hobbesian Interpretation of the Rawlsian Difference Principle,” (1979) in Karl Brunner, ed., Economics and Social Institutions.
Optional Readings on The Best of All Possible Worlds
5. Murray Rothbard, “Property and Exchange,” from For a New Liberty (1973) (optional).
6. Shlomo Avineri, “The Stages of Socialism,” from The Social and Political Thought of Karl Marx (1968) (optional).
Source: Internet Archive “Wayback Machine” webpage capture from November 20, 1996.
Image Source: Louis Putterman home page at Brown University. (Screen capture from April 8, 2018)