8 - W. A. S. Hewins and the Webbs: applied economics, economic history, and the LSE

Summary

In an 1894 lecture on the state of economic teaching in England, W. A. S. Hewins characterized it as “one-sided, and badly organized.” Further, it was “too elementary and theoretical, and probably leaves scarcely any permanent impression on the minds of the students.” Economic teaching at Oxford he judged to be particularly barren. At Cambridge, he found it more “systematic, thorough, and continuous.” Only at his own newly founded London School of Economics and Political Science did he consider it able to stand up to the superior status that the subject enjoyed in the United States and on the Continent. Despite the obvious bias in Hewins's views, the founding of the LSE in 1895 did provide a considerable stimulus to the academic study of economics in Britain. Under the leadership of Hewins and the patronage of the Webbs, the LSE became a “dissenters alternative” to Marshall's Cambridge. It provided a fertile environment for the study of economic history, applied economics, and heterodox economic theory. The school played a central role in Hewins's career. Its early curriculum reflected his historical economic views, and it provided a platform from which he launched his neomercantilist political career. The school also expressed the social and economic views of the Webbs, who have often been categorized as socialists but can also be viewed as within the tradition of historical economics.

Hewins: in search of a career as a historical economist

The distinguishing feature of Hewins's career was his often reiterated belief that careful statistical and historical investigation of imperial and social problems was the true province of the historical economist.