Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T15:27:35.206Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

HES PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: WHAT’S WRONG WITH ECONOMICS?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2012

Abstract

The piece begins with the proposition that the economic perspective on human activity must reflect the fact that human beings transact in a world defined for the actors by social norms. An analysis of the crisis of 2008 is offered as a demonstration of the value of adopting such a broader perspective. Part II offers an historical model based on Adam Smith’s Moral Philosophy of such a broader analysis. The piece closes with the case that the history of ideas offers alternative perspectives on the questions we explore in economics today, and thus can serve as a valuable resource for constructive skepticism of the current discourse.

Type
Research Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The History of Economics Society 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

American Economic Association . The American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings. http://www.aeaweb.org/aer/papers.php. Accessed 3 October 2010.Google Scholar
Arrow, Kenneth, Douglas Bernheim, B., Feldstein, Martin S., McFadden, Daniel L., Poterba, James M., and Solow, Robert M.. 2011. “100 Years of the American Economic Review: The Top 20 Articles.” American Economic Review 101, 1 (Februrary): 18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, Gary . 1976. The Economic Approach to Human Behavior. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berger, Peter L., and Luckmann, Thomas. 1966. The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. New York: Doubleday.Google Scholar
Buchanan, James, Tollison, R. D., and Tullock, G., eds. 1980. Toward a Theory of A Rent-Seeking Society. College Station: Texas A&M University Press.Google Scholar
Coddington, Ronald S . 2011. “Pastor Witherspoon Goes to War.” In “Opinionator: Disunioin.” New York Times. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/disunion/. Accessed 1 May 2011.Google Scholar
Diaz-Giménez, Javier, Glover, Andy, and Riios-Rull, José-Victor. 2011. “Facts on the Distribution of Earnings, Income, and Wealth in the United States: 2007 Update.” Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Quarterly Review 34 (1): 131.Google Scholar
Dobb, Maurice . 1973. Theories of Value and Distribution Since Adam Smith. London: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dutkowsky, Donald, Grove, Wayne, and Grodner, Andrew. 2007. “Survive Then Thrive: Determinants of Success in Economics Ph.D. Programs.” Economic Inquiry 45 (4): 864871.Google Scholar
Edgeworth, F. Y. 1891. “Report of the Proceedings at the Meeting which Inaugurated the British Economic Association.” The Economic Journal 1 (1): 114.Google Scholar
Evensky, Jerry . 2005. Adam Smith’s Moral Philosophy: A Historical and Contemporary Perspective on Markets, Law, Ethics, and Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evensky, Jerry . 2008. Economics: Ideas and the Issues for a Sustainable World. Second edition. Don Mills: Pearson Publishing.Google Scholar
Grove, Wayne A., and Wu, Stephen. 2007. “The Search for Economics Talent: Doctoral Completion and Research Productivity.” The American Economic Review 97 (2): 506511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keynes, John Maynard . 1956. “Robert Malthus 1766–1835.” Essays and Sketches in Biography. New York: Meridian Books.Google Scholar
Keynes, John Maynard . 1964. The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money. First Harbinger edition. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.Google Scholar
King, Martin Luther . 2001. “I Have a Dream.” In Carson, C. and Shepard, K., eds., A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: IPM/Warner Books, pp. 8187.Google Scholar
Kruger, Anne O . 1974. “The Political Economy of Rent-Seeking Society.” American Economic Review 64 (3): 291303.Google Scholar
Leijonhufvud, Axel . 1973. “Life Among the Econ.” Western Economic Journal (now Economic Inquiry) 11 (3): 327337.Google Scholar
Lewis, Michael . 2010. The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.Google Scholar
Lincoln, Abraham . “Second Inaugural Address.” OurDocuments.gov. http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=38&page=transcript. Accessed 24 April 2011.Google Scholar
Marshall, Alfred . 1936. Principles of Economics. Eighth edition. London: MacMillan and Co.Google Scholar
McCloskey, Deidre . 1985. The Rhetoric of Economics. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Nicholson, L. K. , ed. 1948. The Times-Picayune 112 (147).Google Scholar
Schumpeter, Joseph . 1954. History of Economic Analysis. Edited from Manuscript byBoody Schumpeter, Elizabeth . New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Shakespeare, William . 2005. Macbeth. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Shakespeare, William . 2006. Julius Caesar. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Adam . 1976a. The Theory of Moral Sentiments . Edited by Raphael, D. D. and Macfie, A. L.. Volume 1 of The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith. General editing by D.D. Raphael and Andrew Skinner. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Adam . 1976b. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations . Edited in two volumes byTodd, W. B. . Volume 2 of The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith. General editing by D.D. Raphael and Andrew Skinner. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Adam . 1978. Lectures on Jurisprudence . Edited by Meek, R. L., Raphael, D. D., and Stein, P. G.. Volume 5 of The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith. General editing by D.D. Raphael and Andrew Skinner. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Adam . 1980. Essays on Philosophical Subjects . Edited by Wightman, W.P. D. and Bryce, J.C.. Volume 3 of The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith. General editing by D.D. Raphael and Andrew Skinner. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Spence, Michael . 1973: “Job Market Signaling.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 87 (3): 355374.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stigler, George . 1976. “The Successes and Failures of Professor Smith.” Journal of Political Economy 84 (6): 11991213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
United States Department of Commerce . 1949. “Income Payments – Annual Changes in Percentage Shares of Total Income Payments in Current Prices (Kuznets) 1919-1938.” Historical Statistics of the United States 1789–1945. http://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/HistoricalStatisticsoftheUnitedStates1789-1945.pdf. Accessed 22 April 2011.Google Scholar
Wikipedia . “Kellyposter1970.jpg.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kellyposter1970.jpg. Accessed 2 Nov. 2010.Google Scholar