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This paper examines the emergence of an economic discourse separated from ethics or political philosophy. It argues that the works of Locke are a decisive moment in this process, for disclosing the existence of a sphere of the economy distinct from the sphere of the politics. Furthermore, the article suggests, contrarily to other conventional interpretations, that Locke doesn't consummate the emancipation of the economic discourse, since he approaches the economic sphere on the basis of moral principles.

Martin Stuart ("Marty") Feldstein, currently George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University and President Emeritus of the National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. (NBER), is an American economist who has made important contributions to public finance, macroeconomics, international economics, social insurance, health economics, the economics of national security, and many other fields of economics, trained a large number of prominent economists, served as President of the National Bureau of Economic Research for some thirty years, and served as President Ronald Reagan's chief economic advisor.

This article traces the complex intellectual path of Olivier Blanchard, a personification of the controversial evolution of macroeconomic research over the last three decades. After contributing to consolidation of the core of mainstream macroeconomics, Blanchard recently suggested ‘rethinking’ some of its key aspects to take stock of the lessons of the 2008 Great Recession, which he witnessed as the International Monetary Fund’s Chief Economist. This welcome discussion, which according to Blanchard should open mainstream macroeconomics to heterodox thinking, has so far produced a certainly interesting albeit theoretically contradictory synthesis and limited policy consequences. The most paradigmatic aspect of this rethinking of macroeconomics is represented by the abandonment in teaching of aggregate supply and demand in favor of a revival of the IS–LM model complemented by the Phillips curve. While this change of perspective does allow for the instability of ‘natural’ equilibrium to be emphasized, a deeper reading may prove incompatible with the neoclassical foundations of the mainstream approach.

The letter, dated 14 September 1956, starts a decade long correspondence between Franco Modigliani and Paolo Sylos Labini. Here Modigliani discusses at length a first draft of Sylos Labini’s book on oligopoly theory. Differently from Modigliani’s well known 1958 review of the book, Modigliani focuses here not mainly on the structure of oligopoly industries, but especially on the macroeconomic implications of Sylos Labini’s model. The letter is reproduced with Sylos Labini’s annotated comments on Modigliani’s remarks. Keywords: Macroeconomic theory, Oligopoly, Neoclassical synthesis, Modigliani, Sylos Labini JEL codes: B31, D43, E13, PSL Quarterly Review, V. 67, N. 270 (2014)

Article originally published in Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Quarterly Review, vol. 19 n. 77, June 1966, pp. 99-120. The work provides a first appraisal of the contribution that econometric models can make to long-run economic policy. Rather than a detailed exposition or critique of the individual models, a more general analysis is provided. The author first outlines the econometric models considered, all of which provide a more or less accurate description of the state of the economic system in some future moment of time. In order to appraise the reliability of the information provided by the models their main relationships are examined from the point of view of their simultaneous working in the context of the whole model. Finally, the author examines what utility the more or less reliable information provided by formal models purporting to represent the hypothetical or desired situation of the economy at a certain date can have for economic policy decisions. The author concludes that there is no available econometric model from which reliable and useful information can be obtained for planning and for economic policy. Moreover, no reliable and useful indication is ever likely to be obtained from so-called consistency models. JEL Codes: C52, C01, B31, PSL Quarterly Review, V. 66, N. 266 (2013)

In his Nobel lecture, Friedman built on his earlier argument for a 'natural rate of unemployment' by painting a picture of an economics profession which, as a result of foolish mistakes, had accepted the Phillips curve as offering a lasting trade-off between inflation and unemployment and were thereby led to advocate a policy of inflation. It is argued here that in fact the orthodox economists of the time did not accept Phillips' analysis; almost no one made the mistakes in question; and very few advocated inflation on bases vulnerable to Friedman's theoretical critique. The Phillips curve was put to various uses, but advocating inflation was hardly amongst them. It is suggested that one lasting result of the uncritical acceptance of Friedman's history is to limit what appears to be within the reasonable range of views about macroeconomic policy.

The aim of this paper is to investigate in some detail the origins of Knight’s antipositism and to assess the main influences that brought him to a change in methodological perspective after 1921. As importantly, what follows is also an attempt to increase our general understanding of the methodological debates taking place during the early decades of the last century and to shed new light on the inherently pluralistic character of US interwar economics. This paper is organized as follows: the first section outlines Knight’s methodological views as presented in his early works; the second section discusses Knight’s “recantation” and his attack on behavioristic social science; the third section analyze Knight’s discussion of the nature and limitations of scientific economics; the fourth section offers a brief digression on Knight’s relationship with American institutionalism; the fifth section deals with the later developments of Knight’s antipositivism; the final section presents some conclusions

In the first quarter of the twentieth century, options began to be widely employed in the main financial centres in Europe and the USA for trading in spot and futures markets. From 1921 onward, Keynes embarked upon investment in these derivatives mainly—but not exclusively—in the commodity markets, showing a true fascination for this method of speculation. This type of financial investment he pursued mainly in the 1920s, with only a few operations undertaken during the 1930s. The option markets in which Keynes traded were metals—in particular copper, lead, spelter and, especially, tin. Besides metals, Keynes dealt in options also in other commodity markets, such as rubber and linseed oil, and sparingly in ordinary stocks and government securities. In this paper we offer a reconstruction of Keynes’s speculative activity in commodity options, drawing on the archival material kept in the Keynes Papers held at King’s College, Cambridge. This reconstruction is, to the best of our knowledge, entirely new to the literature and aims to provide an analysis of this particular aspect of Keynes’s investment behaviour, investigating his capacity to predict market trends and offering a preliminary assessment of his performance.

The Sensory Order (1952) is a work on theoretical psychology, which can be understood as an attempt to explain the relationship between cosmos and mind. By addressing these matters, Hayek established solid basis for his own ideas about economic knowledge and the problem to be solved by economics. The purpose of this essay is to give a plausible account of why The Sensory Order takes a crucial place in the special manner in which Hayek approaches both individualism and economic knowledge. This exercise will help recognize the reasons that led to Hayek’s interest in theoretical psychology, and how his ideas on this field permeate his understanding of the subject matter of the social sciences.

Este artículo explica dos enigmas asociados a la carrera científica de Thomas C. Schelling, premio Nobel de Economía 2005: ¿cómo explicar su capacidad para producir nuevas ideas?, y ¿por qué sus ideas precursoras han tenido más impacto en otras ciencias sociales y no en la economía? A los que responde con tres hipótesis: la poca influencia del conocimiento heredado en su trabajo teórico, una heurística que privilegió siempre la relación entre hechos inéditos y ángulos inusuales, y la creación de una red de conocimiento espontánea que entrelazó diversas disciplinas dedicadas al estudio de la interacción social.

In this contribution, we provide an interpretation of Friedrich von Wieser’s contribution to economics that pays tribute to the originality of his work and particularly to his view of how institutions interfere with individual behavior. This interaction takes place within a disequilibrium framework where social influences such as power or social class, and psychological factors such as force of habit or herd behavior, are the product of human action but also constitute constraints on further action. Section II stresses the institutionalist background of Wieser’s economics. We concentrate on Wieser’s general method—which we assimilate to an example of Joseph Agassi’s (1975) institutional individualism—and his analysis of the emergence and evolution of institutions via the dynamics of leaders and masses. In section III, we reinforce and illustrate the institutionalist stamp of Wieser’s economics by focusing on his work on monetary economics (Wieser 1904, 1909a, 1909b, 1927b) and his analysis of the emergence of money, based on our reading of Wieser’s Social Economics ([1927a] 1967) and The Law of Power ([1926] 1983).

Este artículo explora la conexión entre Bernard Mandeville y Jeremy entham. La complementariedad entre ellos se evidencia en dos puntos: primero, el sentido enunciativo del principio de la utilidad, axioma fundamental del utilitarismo de Bentham, reposa sobre una concepción antropológica implícita que puede ser comprendida gracias a Mandeville. Segundo, la lección de Mandeville es que “los vicios privados a través de la diestra administración de un político capaz pueden ser transformados en beneficios públicos”. El arte de la legislación de Bentham permite entender en qué consiste esta “diestra administración” y quién es el “político capaz”. Además, Mandeville explica en detalle el surgimiento del legislador, figura central tanto en su análisis como en el de Bentham pues garantiza la cohesión social. Palabras clave: Bernard Mandeville, Jeremy Bentham, legislador, naturaleza humana, cohesión social. Clasificación JEL: B11, B12, B31 Abstract: This article explores the connection between Bernard Mandeville and Jeremy Bentham. Their analyses are complementary on two points: first, the descriptivesense of the utility principle, main axiom of Bentham's utilitarianism, relies on an implicit anthropological conception which Mandeville explains in detail. Second, the latter's great lesson is that “private vices by the dextrous management of a skillful politician may be turned into public benefits”. Bentham's art of legislation allows understanding of “the dextrous management and knowing” “who the skillful politician is”. Furthermore, Mandeville accounts for the emergence of the legislator, central figure in his theory as well as in Bentham's because it guarantees social cohesion. Keywords: Bernard Mandeville, Jeremy Bentham, legislator, human nature, social cohesion. JEL: B11, B12, B31 Résumé: Cet article est une analyse de la connection entre Bernard Mandeville et Jeremy Bentham. Ces auteurs sont complémentaires en deux points: D'abord, le sens énonciative du principe de l'utilité, principal axiome de l'utilitarisme benthamien, repose sur une conception anthropologique implicite qui peut être comprise à travers la théorie de Mandeville. Ensuite, la grande leçon de cet auteur est que “les vices privés a travers la gestion adroite d'un politicien habile peuvent être transformés en bénéfices publics”. L'art de la législation de Bentham permet de donner un contenu à “la gestion adroite” et de déterminer qui est-ce “le politicien habile”. Par ailleurs, Mandeville explique en détail l'émergence du législateur, figure centrale aussi bien dans sa propre théorie que dans celle de Bentham car elle assure la cohésion sociale. Mots clés: Bernard Mandeville, Jeremy Bentham, législateur, nature humaine, cohésion sociale.

As a departing point, the paper presents the historical genesis of the concept of industrial district focusing on the scientific views of the pioneer of this field, Alfred Marshall. The concept has its origins in the observation of the current industrial reality, mainly of the British one. The purpose is to give an explanation to the difficulties of the classic theory and to study the challenges of the class conflicts. The economic conditions which launched British industrial districts were present, grosso modo, in Italy after the second World War. Some contributions have dealt with the little industrialisation of some Italian regions and using Marshallian thoughts have rediscovered the industrial districts phenomenon. This is the starting point of a high number of scientific contribution in Italy and abroad. Some of these international studies, particularly the ones made by Spanish experts, are quoted. The text analyses the link between districts-made in Italy with the competitive advantages of Italian products in many economic activities (i.e. clothing, shoes, furniture, etc.). Finally, in the third part the paper reviews some new contributions on the industrial district in Italy.

Introducing the publication of a long 1956 letter by Franco Modigliani (FM) to Paolo Sylos Labini (PSL) on the draft of PSL’s book, Oligopoly and Technical Progress, the paper critically reviews the theoretical background of FM’s comments, showing how the pre-Keynesian roots dominate the so-called neoclassical synthesis as well as its shaky foundations. The paper also discusses FM’s interpretation of PSL’s oligopoly theory, as well as their collaboration (and differences) on policy issues, such as their opposition to the 100% money wage indexation adopted in Italy from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. Keywords: Macroeconomic theory, Oligopoly, Neoclassical synthesis, Modigliani, Sylos Labini JEL code: B31, D43, E13, E64, PSL Quarterly Review, V. 67, N. 270 (2014)

Published version of an article in the journal: Econ Journal Watch. Also available from the publisher at: http://econjwatch.org/articles/a-reply-to-olav-bjerkholt-on-the-postwar-norwegian-economy Open Access Professor Olav Bjerkholt has provided a spirited critique of our 2014 article titled “Ragnar Frisch and the Postwar Norwegian Economy.” Here we reply briefly, noting that many of the quotations he provides actually support our interpretation, that it is naïve of him to play the ideology card, and that he offers no response whatsoever to our central point: that Norway’s postwar growth rates have to be understood in light of the country’s exceptionally high investment ratios, which meant that Norwegian consumers were consuming less in order to sustain those growth rates.

Scitovsky is known as a forerunner of behavioural economics simply because he drew heavily on psychology and claimed that people’s choices may be ‘joyless’ (Scitovsky, The joyless economy, 1976). However, a careful reformulation of his analysis shows that he anticipated a number of insights (also with respect to Kahneman’s ‘two-systems of thought’) which suggest new lines of inquiry from an original and different perspective. These insights of Scitovsky regard the following aspects: Uncertainty as a condition where the outcomes of choosing a particular option (novelty) is partially unknown; the case of individual ‘consumption skill’ (inclusive of emotions) that finds this uncertainty desirable when it is challenging; the case of increasing such skill so as to change preferences and make choices more efficient; the case of failing to increase such skill so as to make addictive harmful products an alternative and more tempting option.

Schumpeter’s remarks on Ricardo’s criticisms of Smith’s system of thought (1954, p.472) can be further articulated by noting that while Ricardo’s most explicit and fundamental criticisms reach a climax in his chapter On Value, a number of explicit criticisms are concerned with apparently more specific or practical issues. One of these issues can be found in Chapter XXII, Bounties on Exportation, and Prohibitions of Importation of his Principles. This chapter provides a criticism of Chapter V, Of Bounties, Book IV of the Wealth of Nations and is intended to prove that “perhaps in no part of Adam Smith’s justly celebrated work, are his conclusions more liable to objection, than in the chapter on bounties” (1821, p.304). The historical relevance of Ricardo’s criticisms on this issue is confirmed in two opposite directions. One goes back to the years between the fist edition of the Wealth and that of Ricardo’s Principles. The other brings us forward to the years of Sraffa’s publication of Ricardo’s works and to the following revival of interest on Ricardo’s thought, either as such or as an alternative to Smith’s. Thus the issue has eventually fallen into the hands, or between the lines, of a growing number of authors who have dealt with Ricardo’s or Smith’s systems of thought in recent years. Among these recent authors are Peach (1993, 2008, 2009), S. Hollander (1973, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1987 [1992], 1992), O’Brien (1981 [2004]), O’Donnell (1990), West (1982), Gibbard (1994), Samuelson (1977, 1992), Elmslie (2004), Hueckel (2000a, 2000b, 2009) and others. The scope of this paper is narrower than that of the whole literature developed in the two periods above. It will not be confined, however, to the details of Ricardo’s criticisms of Smith’s argument but will reach for the analytical foundations both of these criticisms and of that argument. At this deeper level, the paper will be structured so as to provide, wherever possible, Smith’s virtual self-defence against Ricardo’s criticisms. Thus it will proceed by assessing, fist, whether or to what extent Smith and Ricardo are on this particular issue consistent “with themselves”, i.e. with the foundations (or other parts) of their different works; and, secondly, whether Ricardo’s criticisms are based on a misunderstanding of at least some of the foundations (or other parts) of his predecessor’s work. Smith’s virtual self-defence will be carried out by focusing on some diverging foundations of his system vis-à-vis Ricardo’s and, more particularly, on the temporary vs. permanent, money vs. real and market vs. natural price of labour (work to be done) as distinct from the temporary vs. permanent, money vs. real and market vs. natural price of commodities as products of labour (work done

The 1951 Treasury–Federal Reserve Accord is an important milestone in central bank history. It led to a lasting separation between monetary policy and the Treasury's debtmanagement powers and established an independent central bank focused on price and macroeconomic stability. This paper revisits the history of the Accord and elaborates on the role played by Marriner Eccles in the events leading up to the Accord. As chairman of the Board of Governors since 1934, Eccles was also instrumental in drafting key banking legislation that enabled the Federal Reserve System to assume a more independent role following the Accord. The global financial crisis has generated renewed interest in the Accord and its lessons for central bank independence. This paper shows that Eccles' support for the Accord—and central bank independence—was clearly linked to the strong inflationary pressures in the US economy at the time, and that he was equally supportive of deficit financing in the 1930s. This broader interpretation of the Accord holds the key to a more balanced view of Eccles's role at the Federal Reserve, where his contributions from the mid-1930s up to the Accord are seen as equally important. Accordingly, the Accord should not be viewed as the final triumph of central bank independence, but rather as an enlightened vision for a more symmetric policy role for central banks, with equal weight given to fighting inflation and preventing depressions.

Article originally published in Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Quarterly Review, vol. 37 n. 149, June 1984, pp. 119-149. The work surveys the Italian experience with reference to growth and public debt. It does not seek to test conflicting views, as the effects of some financial and policy innovations are too recent and some data is of poor quality. Rather, its more limited scope is to draw on past experience and, more importantly, assess future prospects in order to discuss some problems regarding both fiscal and monetary policy. The author examines debt formation with reference to borrowing requirements, their composition and their adjusted measure, before taking into consideration financing policies pursued by the authorities and the changes in the composition, ownership and cost of debt. Finally, possible future developments and some connected policy problems are examined. JEL Codes: H63, F34, B31, PSL Quarterly Review, V. 66, N. 266 (2013)

The paper is a contribution to a series of recollections and reflections on the professional experiences of distinguished economists which the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Quarterly Review started in 1979. Hargourt describes is becoming an economist and subsequent academic life as a "Christian socialist". JEL Codes: A10, B31, PSL Quarterly Review, V. 48, N. 194 (1995)

Este artículo comenta algunas de las ideas sobre los orígenes intelectuales del capitalismo que Albert Hirschman expone en Las pasiones y los intereses. Montesquieu, James Steuart y Adam Smith consideraron el interés como un tipo de pasión benévola que podía dominar o mantener a raya las pasiones malvadas, como la violencia o el despotismo de los gobernantes. Los vínculos entre el comercio –y el ánimo de lucro que hoy lo impulsa– y el progreso de la civilización no eran para ellos una ley natural, y tampoco eran indiscutibles, como ahora se suele pensar.

This paper is one of three contributions to a symposium commenting on papers previously published by the other authors. Allain (Allain, O. (2009) Effective demand and short-term adjustments in the General Theory, Review of Political Economy, 21, pp. 1–22) argues that Keynes elides a distinction between aggregate demand and global expenditure that is necessary to explain the formation of price expectations by individual entrepreneurs. Allain's conclusions depend upon redefinitions of aggregate and effective demand and the consumption function. Hartwig (Hartwig, J. (2007) Keynes vs. the Post Keynesians on the principle of effective demand, European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 14, pp. 725–739) argues that entrepreneurs must take into account the state of the economy as a whole, in order to form price expectations independently and not as a market equilibrium determined by aggregate supply and demand. This leaves demand price expectations to be determined outside the principle of effec...

Les travaux ont fait l'objet d'un Working Paper SMART – LERECO N°12-08: voir la notice et son lien suivant: http://prodinra.inra.fr/record/170110; Qualitative change is widely recognised as a defining feature of evolution. Schumpeter and Georgescu-Roegen put it at the centre of their methodological reasoning. I revisit important contributions of these two authors, paying attention to the immediate relationship of the major traits and treated issues between their works. With reference to qualitative change, their joint approach provides answers as to (i) why an evolutionary analysis has to necessarily apply a varied less formal set of methods as compared with modern static and dynamic analysis, (ii) why an evolutionary analysis is a necessary component of economic analysis and (iii) how it can be seen as complementary to modern statics and dynamics. They argued for methodological pluralism, where the choice of methods shall derive from close observation of the subject matter under scrutiny. Georgescu-Roegen’s reasoning shows the necessity of interdisciplinary contributions and the interrelation of economic activity and environmental impact and constraints, putting environmental issues immediately on the evolutionary economics agenda. The paper provides a new ground for evaluating Georgescu-Roegen’s own and their joint contribution to modern research.

The paper provides an introduction to the special issue in honour of Josef Steindl (1912-1993) celebrating the centennial anniversary of his birth. Steindl contributed to the theory of the firm, applying a stochastic methodology to study firms’ growth and their distribution by size; to the analysis of technology and education, stressing among other things the link between technical progress and skilled manpower requirements; to growth and business cycle theory, connecting the basic idea of a tendency to stagnation in a capitalist economy to Keynesian-Kaleckian macroeconomics and to a post-Keynesian theory of income distribution where investments determine profits; to the analysis of personal income distribution through the use of stochastic processes, with a critique of the traditional mainstream interpretation of the so-called Pareto Law. Behind all this, there was a general vision of the economy and society in which history, institutions and social tensions all played a central role. Relying on all this, there was a constant flow of applied analyses, always rich in intuition, aimed at understanding the real world so as to be able to better intervene in it in support of human progress. JEL Codes: B31, O40, E32, O33, PSL Quarterly Review, V. 65, N. 261 (2012)

This paper reviews and discusses the contribution by Franco Modigliani to macroeconomic model building for economist forecasting and policy making. As Paul Samuelson observed, Modigliani's theoretical work was fundamental in the development of the basic framework within which the "post-Keynesian eclecticism" of the later twentieth century developed. In the move from theory to practice two aspects of Modigliani's work are considered: 1) the systemic approach that focuses on the relationship between the short and the long term; 2) the special reference to the mechanism of monetary policy transmission in the use of the macroeconomic model for economic stabilisation policy. What is left today of this contribution is finally briefly discussed, also with reference to some recent proposals on macroeconomic model building. JEL Codes: B21, B22, B31, D91, E21, PSL Quarterly Review, VOL 58, NN. 233-234 (2005)

In questo articolo, Alessandro Roncaglia rende un attento e dettagliato omaggio intellettuale alla memoria di Paolo Sylos Labini. Il contributo di Roncaglia fornisce allo stesso tempo un racconto biografico e racconta la traiettoria intellettuale del suo collega italiano. Mentre la teoria di Sylos Labini sull’ oligopolio e le sue forme di mercato costituisce, ovviamente, il centro della scena in queste riflessioni, essi vanno anche molto più lontano, includendo l'economia politica, dinamiche economiche, interrelazioni tra occupazione, crescita e distribuzione del reddito, l'economia dello sviluppo e la storia del pensiero economico. Questo lavoro mette in evidenza, in egual misura, i contributi e le realizzazioni dell'economista, così come le qualità della persona e del cittadino imparziale ed impegnato Paolo Sylos Labini. In this article, Alessandro Roncaglia renders a careful and detailed intellectual tribute to the memory of Paolo Sylos Labini. Roncaglia’s contribution provides at once a biographical account and recounts the intellectual trajectory of his Italian colleague. While Sylos Labini’s theory of oligopoly and his market forms obviously take centre stage in these reflections, they also reach much further afield, including political economy, economic dynamics, interrelations between employment, growth and income distribution, development economics and the history of economic thought. This paper highlights, in equal measure, the contributions and achievements of the economist, as well as the qualities of the person and the impartial and engaged citizen Paolo Sylos Labini. JEL Codes: B31 Kyewords: Biography; Economic Thought; History of Economic Thought, Moneta e Credito, V. 59, N. 233 (2006)

Franco Modigliani's first published paper became one of the basic documents of modern Keynesian economics. In it he formalized the model (or at least one model) implicit in The General Theory. Modigliani argued that the characteristic Keynesian conclusions rest fundamentally on the (realistic) rigidity of nominal wages. In particular, he showed that if wages and prices were flexible, the liquidity preference theory of money could not generate persistent involuntary unemployment; but if wages were rigid, even the quantity theory of money could do so. Sixty years later Modigliani returned to a statement of "the Keynesian gospel" and proposed essentially the same interpretation. This paper reviews and discusses this approach to macroeconomics, with some reference to its implications for policy. JEL Codes: B22, B31, PSL Quarterly Review, VOL 58, NN. 233-234 (2005)

Steindl’s work on stochastic processes aims to describe the economy as in a state of imbalance, due to the fact that its starting conditions are an accident of history, and nobody has a clue what tomorrow will bring. This does not mean that we cannot imagine a balanced distribution – when the various forces of change are constant – as a way of pointing out certain fundamental characteristics. Such a purpose is compatible with the use of stochastic models, because these also entail the study of systematic phenomena. In fact, what we often describe as ‘random’ is the result of lots and lots of independent forces acting together on a particular phenomenon. JEL Codes: E12, B16, B25, B31, PSL Quarterly Review, V. 65, N. 261 (2012)

Bayesian rationality is the paradigm of rational behavior in neoclassical economics. A rational agent in an economic model is one who maximizes her subjective expected utility and consistently revises her beliefs according to Bayes’s rule. The paper raises the question of how, when and why this characterization of rationality came to be endorsed by mainstream economists. Though no definitive answer is provided, it is argued that the question is far from trivial and of great historiographic importance. The story begins with Abraham Wald’s behaviorist approach to statistics and culminates with Leonard J. Savage’s elaboration of subjective expected utility theory in his 1954 classic The Foundations of Statistics. It is the latter’s acknowledged fiasco to achieve its planned goal, the reinterpretation of traditional inferential techniques along subjectivist and behaviorist lines, which raises the puzzle of how a failed project in statistics could turn into such a tremendous hit in economics. A couple of tentative answers are also offered, involving the role of the consistency requirement in neoclassical analysis and the impact of the postwar transformation of US business schools.

Irving Fisher's monograph Appreciation and Interest (1896) proposed his famous equation showing expected inflation as the difference between nominal interest and real interest rates. In addition, he drew attention to insightful remarks and numerical examples scattered through the earlier literature, and he derived results ranging from the uncovered interest arbitrage parity condition between currencies to the expectations theory of the term structure of interest rates. As J. Bradford DeLong wrote in this journal (Winter 2000), “The story of 20th century macroeconomics begins with Irving Fisher” and specifically with Appreciation and Interest because “the transformation of the quantity theory of money into a tool for making quantitative analyses and predictions of the price level, inflation, and interest rates was the creation of Irving Fisher.” I discuss the message of Appreciation and Interest, and assess how original he was.

This paper examines Adam Smith’s vision of family life and the role of the family in society as it stems from the Theory of Moral Sentiments. We first discuss textual evidences of Smith’s vision of gender differences and of the relationships between the sexes. Then we turn to TMS’s analysis of marriage and family life, exploring the importance of sentiments in strengthening family bonds and in fostering individuals’ moral education. Then we enlarge our perspective, considering Smith’s view on the role of the family within society, especially as market and non market relationships are concerned. Finally, we focus on Smith’s vision of the possible threats which life in Commercial societies may impose to family life, loosening parental ties and weakening those fellow-feelings which, according to Smith, play a paramount role in the moral education and proper behaviour of individuals in a free society. On the whole this paper acts as a first step in a wider project which includes the Wealth of Nations and focuses especially on economic issues regarding family life.

This paper examines Jacob Viner's contribution to the debate and the policy decision-making concerning international monetary policy from the Great Depression to the Bretton Woods agreements. An outstanding member of the so-called 'early Chicago School of Political Economy', Viner was actively engaged in the debate over the causes and cures of the Depression, emphasizing the important role international economic problems played in producing its onset and in reinforcing its duration. During the 1930s Viner was an outspoken supporter of international monetary cooperation, set up to secure exchange rates stability, which he regarded as a paramount factor in restoring business confidence and fostering recovery. As a close assistant to Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr, Viner was able to exert a positive influence on the administration's foreign economic policy, from the Gold Stabilization Act of 1934 to the Tripartite Agreement of 1936. Although not directly involved in the Bretton Woods Conference, he played a role in preparing the ground for the establishment of multilateral agencies such as the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. By means of his unpublished papers and other archival sources, as well as his writings, I shall examine Viner's analysis of the Great Depression, his contribution to the debate over American foreign economic policy and his work as economic adviser from 1930 to 1945. © 2011 Taylor & Francis.

Public concern over the so called “trust problem” in the United States between the end of the nineteenth century and 1914, the year of the passage of the Clayton and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Acts, was reflected in the considerable contemporary literature on the subject. Not surprisingly, professional economists actively participated in this debate. Their thinking directly and indirectly influenced the legislation of 1914 in a way that cannot be said of the Sherman Act of 1890 (Mayhew 1998). A survey of the most important of these professional writings shows that, among the several voices animating the discussion, John Bates Clark's was perhaps the most influential. In this connection, Joseph Dorfman argues that John Bates Clark's second edition of hisControl of Trusts(1912), co-authored with his son John Maurice, “played a formative historical role in policy making, for it provided the most systematic exposition of the view on trusts, that was embodied in 1914, at President Woodrow Wilson's urging, in the Clayton Act and the FTC Acts.” “From this standpoint,” continues Dorfman quite emphatically, “The Control of Trustscaught the dominant reform interest and in turn became a contributing force in shaping the trend of the socio-economic development of the nation” (1971, p. 17). Apart from the 1912 monograph, John Bates Clark devoted considerable attention to the problems of trusts and industrial combinations during much of his career, both in his professional writings and in his frequent contributions to newspapers and popular reviews.

This paper explores the contribution and evolution of Persio Arida concept about the stabilization of high and chronic inflation in the brazilian economy. He was an important economist of the team responsible for the formulation of Cruzado Plan and Real Plan. In the beginning, the heterodox stabilization with indexed money was presented as better than others stabilizations alternatives because of two stressed characteristics: the stabilization program would be almost painless and guided by the neutrality principle. However, both the neutrality and almost painless notions will be abandoned in yours reflections after several failed stabilizations in Brazil. Palavras-chave: estabilizacao de precos, inflacao alta e cronica, reforma monetaria com moeda indexada, principio da neutralidade; liquidez excessiva da divida Key-words: price stabilization, chronic and high inflation, monetary reform with indexed money, neutrality principle, excess liquidity debt

This paper forms part of a research project investigating conceptions of the relationship between micro-level self-seeking agent behaviour and the desirability or otherwise of the resulting macro-level social outcomes in the history of economics. I identify two kinds of conservative rhetorical strategy, characterised by reductionism, and by holism plus an invisible hand mechanism, respectively. Like the reductionist (Friedman, Lucas) and holistic (Smith, Hayek) proponents of laissez-faire, Malthus, too, is a defender of ‘the present order of things’ and an advocate of dependence on spontaneous forces. Malthus starts out within the eighteenth-century providentialist paradigm epitomised by Adam Smith and Dugald Stewart, but he later abandons providentialism, adopting a more reductionist standpoint. Like Smith and Stewart, he takes a conservative political stance and opposes radical reform of society. But in taking up the arguments of the leading reformers of the day, Godwin and Condorcet, he is drawn to a position very far removed from Smith’s stoic optimism. Though a potent weapon against the utopians, the principle of population also undermines providentialism In the First Essay he tries to mitigate this by presenting a theodicy to reconcile his theory with a version of providentialism, but within weeks of publication he begins work on its replacement, a secular and reductionist argument that individual self- interest can guide us to socially desirable outcomes.

Since the beginning of the 1970s, the questions related to ecology come in the forefront and progressively led to the adoption of the concept of sustainable development, which now appears to be a new world-wide objective. We argue that numerous writings of Keynes contain the premises of such a sustainable development. We present his views relatively to the three pillars of sustainability: ecological, social and financial. Indeed, Keynes’ positions on uncertainty, money, the place of economics, arts, financing, philosophy, etc. are consistent with a strong sustainability. Finally, we try to give some insights for an indispensable 21st century post Keynesian sustainable development program.

Modigliani became interested in Keynes's General Theory even before knowing anything about economics. After becoming a professional economist, through his research both theoretical and applied, his teaching, his policy recommendations to fight mass unemployment, Modigliani became worldwide known as one of the great Keynesian economists. Yet, there are many building blocks of Keynes's General Theory that in Modigliani's work cannot be found. In this lecture, it is shown that his pursuit of the task of "digesting"--as he put it--Keynesian innovative ideas into the theoretical framework of Walrasian economics entails the loss of Keynes's genuine revolutionary ideas. The author argues--with some personal recollections--that Keynes's conviction of the necessity of a radically novel "monetary theory of production" remains as relevant today as it was when originally proposed. More than attempting to "digest" the Keynesian revolution, we should attempt to make it fully accomplished. JEL Codes: B21, B22, B31, D43, E00, PSL Quarterly Review, VOL 58, NN. 233-234 (2005)