------------ EH.NET BOOK REVIEW --------------
Published by EH.NET (September 2007)

Tiziano Raffaelli, Giacomo Becattini and Marco Dardi, editors, _The 
Elgar Companion to Alfred Marshall_. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 
2006. xxv + 727 pp. $300 (cloth), ISBN: 1-84376-072-X.

Reviewed for EH.NET by David Andrews, Department of Economics, State 
University of New York at Oswego.


There are few more important figures in the development of modern 
Anglophone economics than Alfred Marshall. Although his partial 
equilibrium supply and demand approach was largely abandoned by 
economists in favor of general equilibrium, it still dominates the 
introductory microeconomics course and thus popular notions of what 
economics is all about. Marshall's importance has been widely 
recognized for over one hundred years and there is a vast quantity of 
research and writing on his work. Tiziano Raffaelli, Giacomo 
Becattini, and Marco Dardi have made an impressive and useful 
contribution to that literature as the editors of _The Elgar 
Companion to Marshall_.

This reference book has ninety-nine short and self-standing entries 
(averaging about seven pages each) grouped into eight sections. With 
the exception of a previously published essay by Ronald Coase on 
"Marshall and Method," the entries appear to have been written 
specifically for this book. Many of the entries were written by 
well-known Marshall scholars and overall the quality of the entries 
is very high. The authors have interpreted the length constraint in 
various ways. Some entries try to summarize what is known or agreed 
on the topic as it relates to Marshall; other authors focus on 
guiding the reader through the secondary literature; still others 
make original arguments. Many involve some combination of these three.

This structure does not allow for a continuous argument, but two 
related themes tie the sections together. First, the Marshall we 
encounter in these pages is not a narrow economist, but a broad 
social thinker. We find here the Marshall of Keynes's famous 1924 
obituary. After his undergraduate training in mathematics was over, 
but before he began to work seriously on economics, Marshall 
experienced a mental crisis the result of which was that he abandoned 
his plan to study physics and instead devoted himself to a study of 
philosophy. He began with metaphysics, specifically "the 
philosophical foundation of knowledge, especially in relation to 
theology" (cited in Keynes, 1924). This study led Marshall to ethics, 
specifically a Sidgwickian utilitarianism, and ethics, in turn, led 
him to economics, because economics played an essential role in 
providing the preconditions for the improvement of the working class. 
Even as he turned to economics, his ethical views continued to be a 
dominant force in his thinking.

Corresponding to this broad social philosophy, Marshall had a 
comparably broad approach to social science in which economics plays 
an important but limited role. He recognized that in reality, 
economic life is tightly bound up with ethical, social and political 
currents, currents economists cannot ignore. The second distinctive 
feature of the portrayal of Marshall is the related and more original 
claim that the brilliance of Marshall's intuition that economics 
should be broad, interdisciplinary and inclusive is only now apparent 
because the analytical tools that were necessary to follow up the 
directions he wished to go were not yet available at the time that he 
wrote, but are available now.

The entries serve to illustrate the two major themes. The first 
section, Life and Work (thirteen entries) addresses a broad range of 
Marshall's concerns, including his role at the University of 
Cambridge and his major books, but the emphasis is on Marshall's 
early writings on philosophy, history and economics. It is here that 
the basic picture emerges of Marshall as being driven into economics 
by his underlying religious attitude. The second section, Background 
and Influences (seven entries) emphasizes the context of Marshall's 
early life. The piece by Christopher Stray on "The Young Marshall's 
University" is remarkable for the richness of the picture that it 
paints in a very small space. Unfortunately, Marshall's intellectual 
crisis and the influence on Marshall of the circle around Henry 
Sidgwick receive very little attention.

The third section, labeled somewhat obscurely, "Scope and Method," 
includes the essay by Coase but generally addresses Marshall's 
inclusive view of social science. Entries address Marshall's 
definition of economics and the relationship between economics and 
such fields as statistics, sociology, economic history, psychology 
and biology.

The fourth section, on Economic Analysis (thirty-four entries), 
further subdivided into equilibrium and dynamics (six entries), the 
theory of value (six entries), the theory of distribution (seven 
entries), industrial analysis (seven entries) and money and commerce 
(eight entries), focuses on the "richness and versatility of 
Marshall's theoretical tools." This section contains a number of 
interesting entries, for example, one by Michael De Vroey defending 
Marshall's commitment to partial equilibrium over general equilibrium 
on the grounds that the inherently dynamical nature of economics made 
the former more practically useful. Ian Steedman's entry on the 
theory of capital and interest is perhaps the most critical in the 
volume. Nevertheless, this section does not directly develop the 
claims that dominate most of the rest of the book.

The fifth section, Social and Political Issues (fourteen entries), 
attempts to show that social and political problems are not "added 
superstructure" with respect to Marshall's economic analysis, but are 
integrally connected. Marshall envisioned dramatic social change 
involving the elimination of poverty and a sharp reduction of 
inequality. The purpose of economics was to improve material 
conditions, but such improvement would occur, Marshall believed, only 
in connection with social and political forces. The entries on 
liberalism, socialism, trade unions, women's education, poverty and 
progress reflect the influence of his early social philosophy to his 
later activities and writings.

The sixth section, Marshall and his Contemporaries (eleven entries), 
is concerned with Marshall's personal interactions with his 
contemporaries, including friends, philosophers, economists, 
colleagues and students, including Henry Sidgwick, W.K. Clifford, 
Benjamin Jowett, William Stanley Jevons, Francis Ysidro Edgworth, 
John Neville Keynes and John Maynard Keynes. Some of these entries 
are very good, notably the entry on Sidgwick by Bart Schultz.

The seventh section, Marshall's Legacy (four entries), considers 
debates that followed Marshall's death. This section, like the 
fourth, is focused on topics conventionally associated with Marshall 
and the Cambridge school, e.g., increasing returns, the theory of the 
firm, and welfare economics. The entries in this section are 
generally strong but are somewhat outside of the main current of the 
book.

The eighth section, Marshall and Present-Day Economics (seven 
entries), examines research areas that have experienced recent 
revivals of interest in Marshall's ideas. A number of entries 
throughout the book hint at the second major claim, that of the 
rediscovery of Marshall's insights in a world in which the tools are 
available to pursue them, but it is only in this final section that 
this insight moves to center stage. Entries explore Marshall's 
connections with recent developments in evolutionary, industrial, 
cognitive and institutional economics.

One might quibble about the coverage and arrangement, but overall the 
editors have done a good job in this respect. I have some 
reservations about the claims made in the section on Marshall and 
modern economics and it strikes me as unhelpful to associate him with 
ideas and approaches of which he was unaware and to which he has no 
opportunity to respond. The space constraints are inconvenient for 
some entries that attempt to cover broad topics the richness of which 
is difficult to convey without a large canvas. For example, I would 
put the entries on "The Victorian Cultural Context," "Early 
Influences," and several in the section on "Marshall's Legacy" in 
this category.

Generally the entries serve as good introductions to the subjects 
they address and will be particularly useful to students, researchers 
and non-specialists. While the volume makes no pretense of being 
comprehensive or encyclopedic, it surveys Marshall's thought broadly. 
It makes a definite contribution in highlighting the breadth and 
complexity of Marshall's thought without underplaying his 
contributions to economics. _The Elgar Companion to Alfred Marshall_ 
makes a fine addition to any economics reference collection.

Reference:
John Maynard Keynes, "Alfred Marshall, 1842-1924," _The Economic 
Journal_, Volume 34, Number 135, September, 1924


David Andrews (State University of New York at Oswego) is working on 
a book on Keynes and philosophy.

Copyright (c) 2007 by EH.Net. All rights reserved. This work may be 
copied for non-profit educational uses if proper credit is given to 
the author and the list. For other permission, please contact the 
EH.Net Administrator ([log in to unmask]; Telephone: 513-529-2229). 
Published by EH.Net (September 2007). All EH.Net reviews are archived 
at http://www.eh.net/BookReview.

-------------- FOOTER TO EH.NET BOOK REVIEW  --------------
EH.Net-Review mailing list
[log in to unmask]
http://eh.net/mailman/listinfo/eh.net-review