The Uses and Abuses of Economics: Contentious Essays on History and Method

329 Pages·1994·1.31 MB·English

by  Terence Hutchison

THE USES AND ABUSES
OF ECONOMICS
BY THE SAME AUTHOR:

The Significance and Basic Postulates of Economic Theory
(Macmillan, 1938; Kelley, 1960)
A Review of Economic Doctrines, 1870–1929
(Oxford University Press, 1953; Greenwood Press, 1973)
‘Positive’ Economics and Policy Objectives
(Allen & Unwin, 1964; Gregg Revivals, 1992)
Economics and Economic Policy in Britain, 1946–1966
(Allen & Unwin, 1968; Gregg Revivals, 1992)
Knowledge and Ignorance in Economics
(Blackwell, 1977; University of Chicago Press, 1977)
On Revolutions and Progress in Economic Knowledge
(Cambridge University Press, 1978; Gregg Revivals, 1992)
The Politics and Philosophy of Economics
(Blackwell, 1981; Gregg Revivals, 1992)
Before Adam Smith
(Blackwell, 1981; Gregg Revivals, 1993)
Changing Aims in Economics
(Blackwell, 1992)
THE USES AND ABUSES
OF ECONOMICS

Contentious essays on history and method

Terence Hutchison

London and New York
First published 1994
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

© 1994 Terence Hutchison
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from
the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Hutchison, T.W. (Terence Wilmot)
The uses and abuses of economics: contentious essays on
history and method/Terence Hutchison.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Economics—History. 2. Economics—Methodology.
I. Title.
HB75.H793 1995 330´.09–dc20
94–2482 CIP

ISBN 0-203-05052-5 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-22075-7 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-09404-6 (Print Edition)
To my great-grandchildren:
in the hope that the maintenance and
growth of useful economic knowledge
may help to make the twenty-first
century rather less unpleasantly
unstable than, at the moment,
it looks like becoming.

CONTENTS

Foreword ix
Part I Progress and regress in political economy:
Smith-Ricardo-Jevons
1 FROM WILLIAM PETTY TO ADAM SMITH AND THE
ENGLISH CLASSICALS 3
2 JEREMY BENTHAM AS AN ECONOMIST 27
3 JAMES MILL AND RICARDIAN ECONOMICS 50
4 ON THE INTERPRETATION AND
MISINTERPRETATION OF ECONOMIC LITERATURE:
THE PREPOSTEROUS CASE OF DAVID RICARDO 84
5 ‘RICARDIAN POLITICS’: ANOTHER CASE OF
RICARDIAN HAGIOGRAPHY? 107
6 THE POLITICS AND PHILOSOPHY IN JEVONS’S
POLITICAL ECONOMY 127
7 THE JEVONIAN REVOLUTION AND ECONOMIC
POLICY IN BRITAIN 140
8 FROM ‘DISMAL SCIENCE’ TO ‘POSITIVE
ECONOMICS’: A CENTURY-AND-A-HALF OF
PROGRESS? 168
Part II Subjectivism, methods and aims
9 NOTES TOWARDS THE IDENTIFICATION AND
HISTORY OF ‘SUBJECTIVISM’ IN ECONOMIC
THEORY 189
vii
CONTENTS
10 HAYEK, MISES AND THE METHODOLOGICAL
CONTRADICTIONS OF ‘MODERN AUSTRIAN’
ECONOMICS 212
11 A METHODOLOGICAL CRISIS? 241
12 THE WISDOM OF JACOB VINER: ‘OUTSTANDING
ALL-ROUNDER’, AND PROFOUND AND PERSISTENT
METHODOLOGICAL CRITIC 260
13 THE USES AND ABUSES OF ACADEMIC ECONOMICS 282
Index 307

viii
FOREWORD

I
Of the papers in this volume the earliest published, in very nearly its present
form, is No. 2 on Jeremy Bentham as an Economist, which first appeared in
1956. At least one paper, however, incorporates material from earlier essays or
reviews, notably No. 3 on James Mill and Ricardo, which draws on writings
from 1952 and 1953. Quite a large proportion of the volume, however, has
originated since 1991, that is, No. 5 on Ricardian Politics, No. 9 on
Subjectivism, No. 12 on Jacob Viner, and No. 13 on The Uses and Abuses of
Academic Economics; while much of No. 10 on Hayek and Mises has been
written since 1990. Brief ‘Addenda (1993)’ have been appended to Nos. 1, 2,
3, 6 and 11. No. 9 on Subjectivism has not been published before, nor have
most of Nos. 10, 12 and 13. Fuller details of the origins and previous history
of all papers are given in the first Note to each item. I would add that though
I have sought to eliminate superfluous repetitions, I have not assumed that all
readers will read all the papers; so I have occasionally repeated points or
quotations from one paper in another paper (or papers) where these may also
be highly relevant.
II
Two items in this volume (Nos. 3 and 7) have appeared before, not as articles
in journals, or conference papers, but as chapters of books. This may seem
rather unusual. The reprinting of journal articles, however, has now become a
major industry. Vast compendia of articles on the major economists, or on
particular branches or ‘schools’ of economics, have been produced, which may
well be useful to students and researchers. In concentrating so exclusively on
journal articles, however, these mammoth collections may be encouraging the
neglect of books, which still contain, and will continue to contain, an important
part of the literature of many, or most subjects.
I must declare an interest at this point, as one who has published several
fairly large books, which have been comprised mainly of separable chapters, or
ix