Chapter 7 - Alfred Marshall: Aschehoug and the Adoption of Marginal Theory

Summary

The Importance of Principles

Another huge influence on Aschehoug, namely the publication of Alfred Marshall's (1842–1924) Principles of Economics in 1890, is important in understanding his work. It must be remembered that he was the first Norwegian economist who had a clear ambition in understanding, presenting and incorporating marginal theory in his analysis. It was an event which contributed to the evolution of political economy into economics, sending a signal that it was as much a formal science as physics, mathematics or other precise bodies of knowledge. But Skousen adds, ‘Later in life, Marshall was to regret this attempt to scientize economics, suggesting that we are still greatly ignorant of economic behaviour, but the die was cast. Economics would soon become a social science second to none in rigor and professional status.’ Principles is the single most quoted book in Socialøkonomik, which makes it worthy of further investigation. What did Marshall write that was so important to Aschehoug, and how did he follow or use the theories of Marshall? The clue lies in the prefaces, Book I and the appendices, and more obviously Book V. As Marshall wrote himself in 1920, ‘But of course economics cannot be compared with the exact physical sciences: for it deals with the ever changing and subtle forces of human nature.’ The marginal revolution was already ongoing long before the first edition of Principles and other authors were well known to Aschehoug, but Marshall was the first, according to Aschehoug, to explain marginal theory correctly.