English historical school of economics

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The English historical school of economics, although not nearly as famous as its

deductive approach of David Ricardo in the early 19th century.[1] The school considered itself the intellectual heirs of past figures who had emphasised empiricism and induction, such as Francis Bacon and Adam Smith.[2][3] Included in this school are William Whewell, Richard Jones, Thomas Edward Cliffe Leslie, Walter Bagehot, Thorold Rogers, Arnold Toynbee, William Cunningham, and William Ashley.[1]

Concepts

The economists of the English historical school were in general agreement on several ideas. They pursued an inductive approach to economics rather than the deductive approach taken by

statistical research. They rejected the hypothesis of "the profit maximizing individual" or the "calculus of pleasure and pain" as the only basis for economic analysis and policy. They believed that it was more reasonable to base analysis on the collective whole of altruistic individuals.[4] Historical economists of the nineteenth century also rejected the view that economic policy prescriptions, however derived, would apply universally, without regard to place or time, as followers of the Ricardian and Marshallian
schools did.

Alfred Marshall acknowledged the force of the historical school's views in his 1890 synthesis:

[T]he explanation of the past and the prediction of the future are not different operations, but the same worked in opposite directions, the one from effect to cause, the other from cause to effect. As Schmoller well says, to obtain "a knowledge of individual causes" we need "induction; the final conclusion of which is indeed nothing but the inversion of the Syllogism which is employed in deduction.... Induction and deduction rest on the same tendencies, the same beliefs, the same needs of our reason."[5]

Influences

urbanisation, finance, and empire. The rise of the historical school of jurisprudence provided "allies in the struggle against the dominance of the abstract theory."[7] Historical economists viewed classical and neoclassical economics as too formal and as a rationalisation of free-trade policies[1] in a colonial and imperial
setting.

References

  1. ^ a b c Spiegel, 1991
  2. ^ Cliffe Leslie, 1870.
  3. ^ Thorold Rogers, 1880
  4. ^ Goldman (1989)
  5. ^ Marshall, 1890.
  6. ^ Ashton, 1948.
  7. ^ Spiegel, 1991.

Further reading

External links

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