Cambridge economics in the post-Keynesian era : the eclipse of heterodox traditions

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Cambridge economics in the post-Keynesian era : the eclipse of heterodox traditions

Ashwani Saith

(Palgrave studies in the history of economic thought series)

Palgrave Macmillan, 2022

  • v. 2 : hardcover

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Description and Table of Contents

Description

This book chronicles the rise and especially the demise of diverse revolutionary heterodox traditions in Cambridge theoretical and applied economics, investigating both the impact of internal pressures within the faculty as also the power of external ideological and political forces unleashed by the global dominance of neoliberalism. Using fresh archival materials, personal interviews and recollections, this meticulously researched narrative constructs the untold story of the eclipse of these heterodox and post-Keynesian intellectual traditions rooted and nurtured in Cambridge since the 1920s, and the rise to power of orthodox, mainstream economics. Also expunged in this neoclassical counter-revolution were the structural and radical policy-oriented macro-economic modelling teams of the iconic Department of Applied Economics, along with the atrophy of sociology, development and economic history from teaching and research in the self-purifying faculty. This book will be of particular interest to researchers in the history of economic thought, sociology of knowledge, political economy, especially those engaged in heterodox and post-Keynesian economics, and to everyone wishing to make economics fit for purpose again for negotiating the multiple economic, social and environmental crises rampant at national and global levels.

Table of Contents

  • Volume I. 1 Cambridge, That Was: The Crucible of Heterodox Economics. 1.1 The Narrative. 1.2 Evolutions and Revolutions. 1.2.1 The Great Banyan of Heterodox Traditions. 1.2.2 Cohorts. 1.2.3 The Cambridge Habitat. 1.2.4 Which Cambridge?. 1.3 Regime Change. 1.3.1 The World of Cambridge: Stories Within. 1.3.2 Worlds Beyond Cambridge: Neoliberalism at the Gates. 1.4 The Dialectic of Competing Paradigms. 1.4.1 Laissez-Faire: "Receding at last into the distance". 1.4.2 The Force of Ideas. 1.4.3 Opposition Brewing. 1.4.4 Evolutions and Hegemonic Incorporation. 1.4.5 Ideological: Not the Techniques but the Purposes of Economics. 1.4.6 Sociological: Mathematical Whiz-Kids and Ageing Dinosaurs. 1.4.7 Beyond Kuhnian Reductionism. 1.4.8 Mankiw's Pendulum. 1.4.9 Solow's A La Carte Approach. 1.4.10 Silos and Trenches. 1.4.11 Joan Versus Hahn-History Versus Equilibrium. 1.5 Semantics and Pedantics. References. 2 The Warring Tribes. 2.1 A Sanctuary of Sages. 2.1.1 Class to Community: The Cement of War. 2.1.2 Community to Conflict: Cement to Sand. 2.1.3 A Pride of Savage Prima Donnas. 2.2 Faculty Wars. 2.2.1 Paradise Lost. 2.2.2 Fault Lines Within. Wynne Godley: No Legacy No Synthesis, No Textbooks-The Samuelson Factor. Shifting Student Preferences?. "Irrelevance" and Irreverence: Joan and K-Theory. Inbred Insularity, Complacency. Simultaneities in the Demographic Lifecycle. Lack of Internal Group Coherence. The Heterodox Camp: No Chairs-Sorry, Standing Room Only. A Break in Intergenerational Transmission, in the Reproduction of Traditions. 2.3 Godfathers, Uncles and Nephews: The Gathering Foe. 2.3.1 The Trojan Horse: By the Pricking of My Thumbs. 2.3.2 Forming the Academy. Meanwhile, at the Orthodox Party-A Merry Game of Musical Chairs. 2.3.3 The Chess Master. 2.4 The Campaign: How the War Was Lost and Won. 2.4.1 The Orthodox Gambit: Capture the External Commanding Heights. 2.4.2 Carrots and Commanders. 2.4.3 Modus Operandi: Masters, Mandarins and Interlocking Committees. References. 3 Worlds Beyond Cambridge: The Global Web of the 'Neoliberal Thought Collective'. 3.1 Conjunctures. 3.1.1 1930s, The Prelude. LSE Versus Cambridge. Emigre Economists: The Benefactions of Lenin and Hitler. 3.1.2 1940s, The Cascade. 3.1.3 Keynesianism: Divergent Receptions. Post-war Affinity in the UK. Post-New Deal Hostility in the USA. 3.2 Spreading the Word: Messiahs, Messages, Methods. 3.2.1 Ideas and Ideologies: Manufacturers and Retailers. 3.2.2 USA: Early Ideological Entrepreneurs of Libertarianism. Harold Luhnow: The Volker Fund and its Dollars. Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) and its Facilitators. 3.2.3 Europe: Friedrich Hayek and the Mont Pelerin Society. Antecedents. Pilgrims Atop a Mountain, Mont Pelerin, Switzerland, April 1947. Financial Sponsors. The First Meeting of Minds. Sarcastic Schumpeter, Sceptical Solow, Scathing Samuelson. 3.2.4 UK: Antony Fisher, Global Venture Capitalist of Think Tanks. 3.3 Branding the Message: The 'Nobel' Prize. 3.3.1 The Stockholm Connection: Ideological Entrepreneurs. 3.3.2 Some Early Awards: Setting the Direction. Jan Tinbergen-Ragnar Frisch 1969. Samuelson 1970. Gunnar Myrdal-Friedrich von Hayek 1974. Milton Friedman 1976. 3.3.3 Mont Pelerin Society and the 'Nobel'-A Golden Embrace. 3.3.4 Cambridge Heterodoxy?. 3.3.5 'An Ideological Coup'. 3.4 Reaching Politics: Weaponising the Message. 3.4.1 Santiago de Chile: Pinochet the Pioneer. Chicago and its Cowboys. Thatcher: Romancing Pinochet's Chile. 3.4.2 The White House: Reagan, a Disciple. 3.4.3 10 Downing Street: Thatcher, a Devotee. More than its Weight in Gold-The Market Price of Symbolic Capital. 3.4.4 Pulling Together. 3.5 Besieging Cambridge: The Chicago-MIT-LSE Trinity. 3.5.1 A Cross-Atlantic Triangle. 3.5.2 Diversity of Practice. 3.5.3 Unity of Purpose. References. 4 Camp Skirmishes Over Interstitial Spaces: Journals, Seminars, Textbooks. 4.1 The Battle of Teruel-The Day before. 4.2 Journals. 4.2.1 EJ Leaves 'Home'-The Loss of a Flagship. 4.2.2 CJE Arrives-A Forum of One's Own. 4.2.3 Cambridge Economic Policy Review: One Crowded Hour of Glorious Life. 4.3 Seminars. 4.3.1 Cambridge Economic Club-A Marshallian Precursor: 1884-1890, 1896-?. 4.3.2 Political Economy Club: From Keynes to Robertson to Kahn-Dazzling to Dour. 4.3.3 The Marshall Society: A Socialisation into Economics and Its Purposes. 4.3.4 Piero Sraffa's Research Students Seminar: A Precocious Nursery. 4.3.5 In Retrospect, Austin Robinson on the Cambridge Circus: The Engine Room of The General Theory. 4.3.6 Cambridge-LSE Joint Seminar: Jousting Juniors. 4.3.7 Kahn's 'Secret' Seminar at King's: Fires in the Kitchen. 4.3.8 The Richard Stone Common Room: Typhoo and Typhoons. 4.3.9 Ajit Singh's Political Economy Seminar at Queens': Young Turks. 4.3.10 Arestis and Kitson Political Economy Seminar at St. Catherine's College. 4.3.11 Hahn's Churchill Seminar: Only Maths and Neoclassicals, Others Beware. 4.3.12 Cambridge Growth Project Seminar at DAE. 4.3.13 Hahn's 'Quaker' Risk Seminar: The Rising Tide. 4.3.14 Matthews's CLARE Group: The Master's Lodge of Moderate Practitioners. 4.3.15 Lawson-Realism and Social Ontology: Ways of Seeing and Framing. 4.4 Textbooks. 4.4.1 Distant Thunder: Keynes and McCarthy, Tarshis and Samuelson. 4.4.2 Lawrence Klein and the Paradox of The Keynesian Revolution. Puzzle. Ph.D.-At Samuelson's Feet. Cowles Commission-The New Dealers. The Keynesian Revolution: The Extra Chapter- Klein, Then a Closet Marxist?. Beyond Keynes. UMich and McCarthyism. Policy to Forecasting. Resolution. 4.4.3 'Death of a Revolutionary Textbook': Robinson and Eatwell. 4.4.4 An 'Applied Economics' Textbook That Wasn't: Joan and Young Friends. 4.5 The Battle of Teruel-The Day After. Appendix 4.1: First off the Blocks: Mabel Timlin's Keynesian Economics, 1942. References. 5 The DAE Trilogy. 5.1 Origins and Evolution. 5.1.1 Origins. 5.1.2 Evolution: Substance and Styles. 5.1.3 Foundations of Stone. 5.1.4 Reddaway's Method: Eclectic Development. 5.1.5 Godley: Turbulent Times. 5.2 End of the Golden Age: The Decade of Discontent. 5.3 The Trilogy: Discrete Episodes or a Serial Campaign?. Appendix 5.1: DAE-Finding a Good Home. References. 6 Cambridge Economic Policy Group: Beheading a Turbulent Priest. 6.1 Charged Conjuncture. 6.1.1 Imbroglios of 1974: Old Versus New Cambridge Versus the Establishment. 6.1.2 The Enigma of Kahn. 6.1.3 Kaldor: On Radical Policy Implications of New Cambridge, 1976. 6.1.4 Cambridge Squabbles: Spillover into Whitehall?. 6.1.5 Triggering Crisis: The Pivot of the OPEC Price Hikes. 6.1.6 1979: Enter Margaret Thatcher, Right-Wing, Upfront. 6.1.7 The Case of the Odd Consensus: The Letter by 364 Economists, 1981. 6.1.8 Thatcher in the Garage of the Federal Reserve. 6.1.9 1981: Brixton Riots, Toxteth Fires: "A Concentration of Hopelessness". 6.1.10 The CEPG: A Thorn in the Thatcher Hide. 6.1.11 The Bogey of Import Controls and the Spectre of Bennism. 6.2 SSRC and CEPG: Dispensing Instant Injustice. 6.2.1 Posner's Parlour. 6.2.2 Posner's Process. 6.3 Epilogue. 6.3.1 Vengeance. 6.3.2 The Team Scattered. 6.3.3 The Model Reincarnated. 6.3.4 The Rehabilitation of Wynne. 6.3.5 Wynne Godley: 'My Credo' .... 6.3.6 The Pacification of the CEPG. Appendix 6.1: Old Cambridge, New Cambridge, 1974: and All the King's Men. 1. Letter WG to RFK 23 May 1974. JVR/ vii/228/3/3. 2. Letter NK to RFK 20 May 1974. JVR/ vii/228/3/14-16. 3. Letter from RFK and MP to NK 24 May 1974. JVR/vii/228/3/17-20. 4. Letter from RFK and MP to NK 28 May 1974. JVR/vii/228/3/24. 5. Letter from FC to RFK 29 May 1974. JVR/7/228/3/25. 6. Reply from RFK to FC 6 June 1974. JVR/7/228/3/24. 7. In the interim, NK replied to RFK and MP. JVR/7/228/3/26. 8. Letter from NK to RFK. RFK/12/2/132/3. References. 7 'Unintended' Collateral Damage? The Cambridge Economic Policy Group and the Joseph-Rothschild-Posner SSRC Enquiry, 1982. 7.1 Joseph-Rothschild-Posner-Godley. 7.2 The Posner-the-Saviour Narrative. 7.3 Setting Up the Enquiry. 7.4 Who Proposed Rothschild?. 7.5 Rothschild Report Writing Process. 7.6 The Judgement of Rothschild. 7.7 Between Draft and Release and Response: Handshakes and Cigars. 7.8 Did Posner Get Away with Just a Change of Name?. 7.9 CEPG-Collateral Damage? Or, Traded Down the River?. 7.10 The Rothschild Report: Gleanings on Macroeconomic Modelling. 7.11 Lord Kaldor-Off the Record, Off the Cuff, Off the Mark?. 7.12 Lord Harris' Vitriol. 7.13 Catholicity and Independence. 7.14 Rothschild's Last Word. 7.15 Joseph's Last Laugh. References. 8 Cambridge Growth Project: Running the Gauntlet. 8.1 Background and Conjuncture. 8.1.1 The Decision. 8.2 Substantive Issues. 8.2.1 No Innovation?. 8.2.2 Catholicity, Turnover and the Value of Disaggregation. 8.2.3 Use of Input-Output Tables. 8.2.4 CGP Presence in Policy Debates. 8.2.5 Insularity. 8.2.6 On Exploiting the Cheap Labour of Graduate Students. 8.3 Issues of Procedural Probity. 8.3.1 Shifting Goalposts Across Evaluations. 8.3.2 Unequal Application of Criterion of Commercial Funding. 8.3.3 Public Good or Private Resource?. 8.3.4 ESRC Ignored CGP Model Performance: Why?. 8.3.5 Compromised 'Independent' Evidence. 8.4 Other Concerns. 8.4.1 'Reds'?. 8.4.2 Crowding Out Competitors?. 8.4.3 Deadweight Loss of Built-up Intellectual Capital. 8.4.4 Gratuitously Offensive: Up Close and Out of Order. 8.4.5 The Consortium: 'Revived Talk of Conspiracy Theory'. 8.4.6 In Defence, a Lone Voice, Overruled. 8.5 Epilogue: CGP-Life After Death?. Appendix 8.1: CGP Staff Members, Timeline 1960-1987. Appendix 8.2: Publications of CGP Staff. References. 9 The DAE Review 1984-1987: A Four-Year Inquisition. 9.1 The Campaign of Attrition. 9.1.1 Occluded Origins. 9.1.2 Two Stages, Two Committees. 9.2 The Orthodox Gambit. 9.2.1 The Agenda Revealed. 9.2.2 The Game Plan: Four Options. Closure. Separation. Absorption. Capture. 9.2.3 External Critiques: Collusion as Consultation?. 9.3 The Heterodox Defence. 9.3.1 Solidarity, Testimonies, Rebuttals. 9.3.2 Chinks in the DAE Armour?. 9.4 On the Rack: Bleeding the DAE. 9.4.1 The Secretary General, The Prince and the Chess Master. 9.4.2 The Capture. 9.4.3 How it Transpired, Perhaps Not Just by Chance. 9.4.4 Checkmate: A Constitutional Coup. 9.5 Epilogue. Appendix 9.1: DAE Review Committees: Composition and Terms of Reference. First Advisory Committee. Constituted: Easter Term 1984
  • Reported: May 1985. Second Advisory Committee: Constituted: Easter Term 1985
  • Reported April 1987. Appendix 9.2: Labour Studies Group: Dispersed, Not Defeated. References. Volume II. 10 Sociology: The Departure of 'Stray Colleagues in a Vaguely Cognate Discipline'. 10.1 Early Years: Hostility, Neglect, Subordination. 10.2 Sociology: Growing Up Amongst Economists. 10.3 Hostile Public Spaces: SSRC, Rothschild-1982 and Sociology. 10.3.1 Entrenched Resistance to the Emergence of SSRC. 10.3.2 In the Court of Public Opinion: Open Season on Sociology. 10.3.3 The Joseph-Rothschild Assault. 10.4 Back in Cambridge, 1984-1986: To Remain Or to Exit, That Was the Question. 10.4.1 Sociology in the DAE Review: Crossfire and Crossroads. 10.4.2 Cometh the Hour, Cometh ... Tony Giddens. 10.5 Archival Insights: Harboured Preferences Revealed. 10.5.1 Do Please Stay, Pleaded the Heterodox. 10.5.2 Clear Out Now, Growled the Orthodox. 10.5.3 Do What Is Best for You, Whispered the Faculty Board. 10.5.4 Time to Choose: The Sociologists Speak. 10.6 Leaving Home, a Space of Its Own. References. 11 Development on the Periphery: Exit and Exile. 11.1 Cambridge Development Studies: The Heterodox Inheritance. 11.1.1 The Capitalist Economy and Its Cambridge Critics. 11.1.2 Bridges to Development. 11.2 Evolution of the Teaching Project: Multiple Identities. 11.2.1 Timelines. 11.2.2 In University Space: The Professionalisation of 'Development Studies'. The Early Years: Fine-tuning Imperial Instruction, 1926-1969. Turbulence and Transformation: Revising the Mandate, 1969-1982. 11.2.3 In Faculty Space: The Disciplining of 'Development Economics'. 11.2.4 Against the Mainstream: Subaltern Perspectives. 11.3 Development Research: Ebbs and Flows. 11.3.1 Cambridge-India Highway: Cambridge in India. 11.3.2 Cambridge-India Highway: India in Cambridge. 11.3.3 Not Just India. 11.3.4 Bi-modal Distribution of Development Interest. 11.4 1996: Divorce and Eviction. 11.5 A Credible Counterfactual. Appendix 11.1: Arguments in Support of Continuation of Development Studies Course in Cambridge. References. 12 From Riches to Rags? Economic History Becomes History at the Faculty of Economics. 12.1 Introduction: Economics and Economic History. 12.2 The Pre-War Period: 1939, Marshallian. 12.2.1 At the Faculty of History. Cunningham to Clapham via Marshall. Clapham to Postan via Power. 12.2.2 At the Faculty of Economics and Politics. Maurice Dobb, 1900-1976. 12.3 Post-War Period-I, 1945-1980s: Post-Keynesian. 12.3.1 At the Faculty of Economics and Politics. On the DAE Side. On the Faculty Side. 12.3.2 At the Faculty of History. 'Munia' Postan. The Turn to Business Studies-I, David Joslin 1965-1970. The Turn to Business Studies-II, Donald Coleman 1971-1981. 12.4 Post-War Period-II, 1980s: Unravelling and Divergence. 12.4.1 At the Faculty of History. The Turn to Business Studies-III, Barry Supple 1981-1993. Modern Times: Martin Daunton 1997-2015. 12.4.2 At the Faculty of Economics: Turbulence, Transitions and Affinities. Cluster 1: Humphries-Horrell. Cluster 2: Kitson-Solomou-Weale. Cluster 3: Ogilvie-Edwards. Cluster 4: Toke Aidt. 12.5 c.2020, Here, to Where?. 12.5.1 Economic History at the Faculty of Economics: Full Stop?. 12.5.2 At the Faculty of History: New Turnings. Appendix 12.1: Economic History and Accounting at the DAE. Appendix 12.2: Locating Phyllis Deane in National Accounting and Feminist Discourse: A Supplementary Note. References. 13 Research Assessment Exercises: Exorcising Heterodox Apostasy from 'Economics'. 13.1 The Agenda. 13.2 The Teaching Body: Unification, Hierarchy, Control. 13.3 1986: Swinnerton-Dyer and the Genesis of the RAE. 13.4 1986-1989: Frank Hahn and the Orthodox Capture of the RES. 13.5 Through the RES: Controlling Panel Selection. 13.6 Outcomes. 13.7 Consequences and Critiques. 13.7.1 Gaming. 13.7.2 Competition and Conflict: Managerialism. 13.7.3 Individual Stress. 13.7.4 Medium Over Message: Diamonds for Ever. 13.7.5 Unethical Research Practices and Shaky Quality Proxies. 13.7.6 The Atrophy of Collective Research Traditions and Environments. 13.7.7 The Loss of Intrinsic Values. 13.7.8 Undervaluation of Undergraduate Teaching. 13.8 The Suppression of Heterodox Economics and Economists. 13.9 Follow Big Brother: Elimination of Heterodoxy in USA. 13.10 1662, Deja Vu. References. 14 Reincarnations. 14.1 In a Nutshell, a la Joan. 14.2 Purges and Purification. 14.3 Triumphalism. 14.4 A Royal Mess: The Queen's Question. 14.5 Students Speak Up. 14.5.1 In Cambridge. 14.5.2 Elsewhere. 14.6 Faculty Performance: A Summary Report Card. 14.6.1 Global Ranks. 14.6.2 RAEs, REFs. 14.7 Exiles and Reincarnations. 14.7.1 The DAE Flagships: CGP and CEPG. 14.7.2 DAE Industrial Economics: Alan Hughes and the CBR. 14.7.3 Judge Business School. 14.7.4 The Economic Historians. 14.7.5 Sociology: That 'Vaguely Cognate Discipline'. 14.7.6 Development. 14.8 Reluctant Regrets. 14.8.1 Robin Matthews. 14.8.2 Frank Hahn. 14.8.3 David Newbery. 14.8.4 Tony Atkinson. 14.8.5 Francois Bourguignon. 14.8.6 Alan Blinder. 14.8.7 Peter Diamond. 14.8.8 Partha Dasgupta via Robert Neild. 14.8.9 Another Snowflake Moment?. 14.9 Donors: Leveraging a Reboot?. 14.10 The Great Banyan. Appendix 14.1: Letter of Protest by Graduate Students, 2001 1073 References.

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