DECODING ECONOMIC IDEOLOGY

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World Review of Political Economy

Volume 2, Issue 1

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DECODING ECONOMIC IDEOLOGY

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Author(s): Michael Perelman

Publication date (Print): 1 April 2011

Journal: World Review of Political Economy

Publisher: Pluto Journals

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Abstract

Economics derives its power from an illusion of scientific objectivity. From the very beginning of the discipline, economists have gone to great lengths to craft their work, excluding work, workers, and working conditions. Two particular episodes illustrate this failing. Adam Smith's story about the pin factory never mentioned that the pin manufacturers were working with the world's largest industrial operation in the world, located outside of Smith's little village and that the owners were close friends. The French documents, which he plagiarized, described pin makers' unhealthy working conditions. A much older steam-driven pin factory was famous. Finally, other than describing the division of labor work, workers, and working conditions mostly disappears from his work. After the Paris Commune, to respond to Marx, economists crafted marginalism, but, they opposed marginalism in their policy recommendations and organized the American Economic Association as a bulwark against marginalism.

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Journal ID (jstor): worlrevipoliecon

Journal ID (doi): 10.2307/j50005553

Title: World Review of Political Economy

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Print): 2042891X

Publication date (Print): 1 April 2011

Volume: 2

Issue: 1

Pages: 76-89

Article

DOI: 10.2307/41931919

SO-VID: 600e7f79-d3b2-47c1-97f5-61848528aadd

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All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Political economics

References

Adams, Charles Francis, Jr. (1870) "Railroad Commissions," Journal of Social Science 2: 233-236.
---(1877) Railroads: Their Origin and Problems. New York: Harper & Row, 1969.
Alchian, Armen A., and Harold Demsetz (1972) "Production, Information Costs, and Economic Organization," American Economic Review 62, 5 (December): 777-796.
Allen, Robert C. (2009) The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Campbell, Joan (1989) Joy in Work, German Work: The National Debate, 1800-1945. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Campbell, Roy Hutcheson (1961) Carron Company. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd.
Chandler, Alfred D. Jr. (1977) The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press.
Cheung, Steven N. S. (1983) "The Contractual Nature of the Firm," Journal of Law and Economics 26, 1 (April): 1-22.
Clark, Gregory (1994) "Factory Discipline," Journal of Economic History 54, 1 (March): 128-163.
Duhamel du Monceau, H.-L. (1761) Art de l'e'pinglier. Paris: Saillant et Noyon.
Hadley, Arthur Twining (1879) "Letter to E. D. Worcester, 29 July," cited in Morris Hadley, Arthur Twining Hadley. New Haven: Yale University, 1948, p. 32.
---(1903) Railroad Transportation: Its History and Its Laws (10th ed.). New York: G. P. Putnam's and Sons, 1903; New York: Johnson Reprint Co.
Hamilton, Henry (1967) English Brass and Copper Industries to 1880. New York: Augustus M. Kelley.
Hoar, Senator George (1879) "Speech on Wages and Hours of Labor: United States. Congress," The Congressional Globe (13 December), Vol. 27, Part 2, p. 102.
Horwitz, Morton J. (1987) " Santa Clara Revisited: The Development of Corporate Theory," in Warren J. Samuels and Arthur S. Miller, eds., Corporations and Society: Power and Responsibility. New York: Greenwood Press, pp. 13-64.
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---(1874) "The Mathematical Theory of Political Economy," Journal of the Statistical Society of London 37, 4 (December): 478-488.
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McCraw, Thomas K. (1984) Prophets of Regulation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Meek, Ronald L. (1972) "Marginalism and Marxism," History of Political Economy 4: 499-511. Reprinted in Ronald Meek, Smith, Marx, and After: Ten Essays in the Development of Economic Thought. London: Chapman & Hall; New York: Wiley, 1977, pp. 165-175.
Nardinelli, Clark (1982) "Corporal Punishment and Children's Wages in 19th Century Britain," Explorations in Economic History 19, 3 (July): 283-295.
Peaucelle, Jean-Louis (2006) "Adam Smith's Use of Multiple References for his Pin Making Example," European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 13, 4 (December): 489-512.
Perelman, Michael (2006) Railroading Economics: The Creation of the Free Market Mythology. New York: Monthly Review Press.
Rae, John (1881) "The Socialism of Karl Marx and the Young Hegelians," Contemporary Review 40 (October): 585-607.
Smith, Adam (1759) Early Draft of The Wealth of Nations in Lectures on Jurisprudence, eds. R. L. Meek, D. D. Raphael, and P. G. Stein. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978.
---(1762-66) Lectures on Jurisprudence, eds. R. L. Meek, D. D. Raphael, and P. G. Stein. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978.
---(1789) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (2 vols.), R. H. Campbell and A. S. Skinner, eds. New York: Oxford University Press, 1976.
Wheen, Francis (2000) Karl Marx: A Life. New York: Norton.
Willis, Kirk (1979) "The Role in Parliament of the Economic Ideas of Adam Smith, 1776-1800," History of Political Economy 11,4 (Summer): 505-544.
Young, Arthur (1772) A Six Months Tour Through the Southern Counties of England and Wales (3rd ed.). London: W. Straham.

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Adams, Charles Francis, Jr. (1870) "Railroad Commissions," Journal of Social Science 2: 233-236.

[2] ---(1877) Railroads: Their Origin and Problems. New York: Harper & Row, 1969.

[3] Alchian, Armen A., and Harold Demsetz (1972) "Production, Information Costs, and Economic Organization," American Economic Review 62, 5 (December): 777-796.

[4] Allen, Robert C. (2009) The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[5] Campbell, Joan (1989) Joy in Work, German Work: The National Debate, 1800-1945. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

[6] Campbell, Roy Hutcheson (1961) Carron Company. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd.

[7] Chandler, Alfred D. Jr. (1977) The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press.

[8] Cheung, Steven N. S. (1983) "The Contractual Nature of the Firm," Journal of Law and Economics 26, 1 (April): 1-22.

[9] Clark, Gregory (1994) "Factory Discipline," Journal of Economic History 54, 1 (March): 128-163.

[10] Duhamel du Monceau, H.-L. (1761) Art de l'e'pinglier. Paris: Saillant et Noyon.

[11] Hadley, Arthur Twining (1879) "Letter to E. D. Worcester, 29 July," cited in Morris Hadley, Arthur Twining Hadley. New Haven: Yale University, 1948, p. 32.

[12] ---(1903) Railroad Transportation: Its History and Its Laws (10th ed.). New York: G. P. Putnam's and Sons, 1903; New York: Johnson Reprint Co.

[13] Hamilton, Henry (1967) English Brass and Copper Industries to 1880. New York: Augustus M. Kelley.

[14] Hoar, Senator George (1879) "Speech on Wages and Hours of Labor: United States. Congress," The Congressional Globe (13 December), Vol. 27, Part 2, p. 102.

[15] Horwitz, Morton J. (1987) " Santa Clara Revisited: The Development of Corporate Theory," in Warren J. Samuels and Arthur S. Miller, eds., Corporations and Society: Power and Responsibility. New York: Greenwood Press, pp. 13-64.

[16] Jevons, William Stanley (1871) The Theory of Political Economy. Baltimore: Penguin, 1970.

[17] ---(1874) "The Mathematical Theory of Political Economy," Journal of the Statistical Society of London 37, 4 (December): 478-488.

[18] Lerner, Abba (1972) "The Economics of Politics and Consumer Sovereignty," American Economic Review 62, 2 (May): 258-262.

[19] Marshall, Alfred (1903) "Letter to Herbert Somerton Foxwell (6 October)," in John K. Whitaker, ed., The Correspondence of Alfred Marshall, 3 vols. Vol. 3. Towards the Close, 1903-1924. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, pp. 61-63.

[20] McCraw, Thomas K. (1984) Prophets of Regulation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

[21] Meek, Ronald L. (1972) "Marginalism and Marxism," History of Political Economy 4: 499-511. Reprinted in Ronald Meek, Smith, Marx, and After: Ten Essays in the Development of Economic Thought. London: Chapman & Hall; New York: Wiley, 1977, pp. 165-175.

[22] Nardinelli, Clark (1982) "Corporal Punishment and Children's Wages in 19th Century Britain," Explorations in Economic History 19, 3 (July): 283-295.

[23] Peaucelle, Jean-Louis (2006) "Adam Smith's Use of Multiple References for his Pin Making Example," European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 13, 4 (December): 489-512.

[24] Perelman, Michael (2006) Railroading Economics: The Creation of the Free Market Mythology. New York: Monthly Review Press.

[25] Rae, John (1881) "The Socialism of Karl Marx and the Young Hegelians," Contemporary Review 40 (October): 585-607.

[26] Smith, Adam (1759) Early Draft of The Wealth of Nations in Lectures on Jurisprudence, eds. R. L. Meek, D. D. Raphael, and P. G. Stein. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978.

[27] ---(1762-66) Lectures on Jurisprudence, eds. R. L. Meek, D. D. Raphael, and P. G. Stein. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978.

[28] ---(1789) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (2 vols.), R. H. Campbell and A. S. Skinner, eds. New York: Oxford University Press, 1976.

[29] Wheen, Francis (2000) Karl Marx: A Life. New York: Norton.

[30] Willis, Kirk (1979) "The Role in Parliament of the Economic Ideas of Adam Smith, 1776-1800," History of Political Economy 11,4 (Summer): 505-544.

[31] Young, Arthur (1772) A Six Months Tour Through the Southern Counties of England and Wales (3rd ed.). London: W. Straham.

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