------------ EH.NET BOOK REVIEW --------------
Title: Laurence S. Moss (1944-2009): Academic Iconoclast, Economist and
Magician

Author: Ho, Widdy S.
Reviewer: Holt, Richard P.F.

Published by EH.NET (August 2010)

Widdy S. Ho, _Laurence S.
Moss (1944-2009): Academic Iconoclast, Economist and Magician_, 2010. Malden,
MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.  ix + 673 pp. $40 (hardcover), ISBN:
978-1-4443-3556-0.

Reviewed for EH.NET by Richard P.F. Holt,
Department of Economics, Southern Oregon University.

Widdy Ho’s thorough and thoughtful editorial volume, which covers many
interesting aspects of Larry Moss’s rich and intellectual life, _Laurence
S. Moss (1944-2009): Academic Iconoclast, Economist and Magician_, brought to
mind the obituary about George Bernard Shaw’s life published on November 2,
1950 in _The Times_.  It began by saying: “He addressed himself
habitually to the intellect ... yet he was a master of comedy, and however
... satirical or deliberately outrageous his opinions he was able to treat
the driest or most delicate subject with a gaiety that disarmed and with a
witty lucidity that entertained ... delightedly pulling important legs and
pricking portentous bubbles with, on the whole, such stimulating and
diverting effect ...” (Brunskill, p. 123).

Like Shaw, Larry
knew how to prick “portentous bubbles” and like Shaw he was also an
iconoclast. Larry was generally able to pull this off by not antagonizing his
foes but winning them over. His charm, humor and wit led one to appreciate
his intellectual depth and integrity. This is brought out very well in James
Ahiakpor’s introductory essay that gives us an excellent biographical
sketch of Larry’s life, and also in the first section of the book titled
“Remembrance and Appreciation Roundtable.” The first section has 13
essays by colleagues and friends. What stands out in these memories is first,
the personal and intellectual respect that so many of his colleagues had for
Larry and second, their appreciation and awe of his inquisitive nature. That
nature led him over a large and wide intellectual and cultural landscape,
into which he ventured with an honest and open spirit.  But as he looked
over this landscape he did not accept things simply as they appeared. He was
not afraid to point out logical or moral inconsistencies of what was seen but
not questioned. From Mark Tomass’ essay: “It may seem paradoxical that
while Larry practiced magic, he was outraged by deceit, whether in the form
of self-deception or deception of others. When Larry was around, you would
know that the emperor would not walk without clothes for long” (pp.
136-137).

Larry’s encouragement and search for views that were
different from his own is well known among many in the profession. But as
these essays show he did this with an intellectual twist that said a lot
about Larry. In his discussions with others he was not interested in winning
an argument, but in the quality of the arguments. Because of this commitment
(or what Larry called a “promise” to the truth) you would find him often
making the arguments of those that disagreed with him stronger than his own!
This approach is very different from someone who is a dyed-in-the-wool
ideologue. If Larry was a dyed-in-the-wool anything, it was trying to find
out what the truth is and what are the best arguments, though he was not shy
in letting you know his views. He insisted on speaking his mind without being
overly concerned with stepping on people’s toes, but he always did this
with an understanding that he could be wrong (and then apologize later with
his big grin for stepping on your toes). Dave Colander captures this well in
his essay when he says that Larry was one of the “good guys” that we
should admire. “Being a good guy involves more than being willing to attack
conventional wisdom. ... A good guy must also have the ability to treat
himself as a fire hydrant as well” (pp. 45-46). In this regard Larry truly
was a good guy.

An example of Larry’s way of arguing (or
discussing) scholarly differences with colleagues comes out in Warren Samuels
thoughtful and insightful essay, “Larry Moss: 1944-2009.”  It
consists primarily of correspondence between Samuels and Larry on a variety
of topics including the “meaning of coordination,” “The Henry George
Theorem,” and “The Legal-Economic Nexus.” Before Samuels shares the
correspondence between them, he provides an excellent section in his essay
“On Criticism and Its Structure and Flow” where he defines the role
criticism in intellectual history.  As Samuels points out Larry’s
approach to economic ideas is through the “domain of criticism” (p. 93).
The letters show this and how Larry worked as a scholar. Each of his letters
is thought provoking, showing a complete grasp of the literature and the
historical, philosophical and economic arguments surrounding the issues under
discussion, while at the same time not giving up in his criticism of each
idea and position taken.

The three papers in section two of the
book “Arguing Economics: In Memory of Laurence Moss” in many ways carry
out this method of critical intellectual inquiry that we find in Larry’s
work. Patrik Aspers, David Levy and Sandra Peart, and Yuichi Shionoya take on
topics that Larry was interested in and examine their topics with the candor
and scholarly respect of what I call the “Moss approach.”  By this,
I mean looking at any topic or subject through a wide and comprehensive
intellectual lens that includes the use of history, sociology and philosophy
along with economic analysis.

The third section of the book is
titled “Laurence Moss: Magician, Lawyer, Professor.” Here we have three
short essays by David Allen, Richard McMahon and Barbara Wong that show
another part of Larry’s professional life -- his role as a lawyer and as a
magician. As you would expect the reason for his law degree (which he got by
taking night courses at Suffolk University while still teaching full time at
Babson College) was not to make a lot of money. Instead, Larry is known for
his volunteer work for the Massachusetts Pro Bono Legal Services and for his
commitment to social justice. All this is consistent with the passion for
individual rights, civil liberties and constitutional rights that we find in
his academic writings. Larry was not satisfied with just being an
“armchair” intellectual, he could get absolutely outraged when he saw
someone being treated unfairly. He would not hesitate to take up the
“red” flag in protest, or in Larry’s case the “libertarian” flag.
This is brought out in Karen Vaughn’s wonderful and well-written essay
“Moss as a Young Scholar,” in the first section of the
book.

The final and fourth section of the book
titled “Selected Works of Laurence Moss” consists of 16 academic papers
written between 1973 and 2005. Though the focus is on history of economic
thought and Austrian economics, it includes a wide variety of topics that
interested Larry over his career. Going from lesser-known economists such as
Isaac Butt and Mountifort Longfield to giants such as Ricardo and Hayek, his
scholarship always has the highest standard no matter who or what the topic
is being investigated. I also found his notes in all his articles to have
twists and turns of bits of information that provided insights and occasional
humor. They also showed his ability to synthesize a large range of knowledge
and disciplines that gave clarity and insights to the text of his article.
The amount that he read and researched for a particular article from the very
the beginning of his publishing career to the end humbles me.
Larry’s writings reflect his admirable desire to set the record straight,
giving credit and recognition where it is due but often overlooked by others.
This is well illustrated in his article, “Playing Fast and Loose with the
Facts about the Writings of Malthus and the Classical School.”

 From my conversations with Larry, it was never quite clear to me how much
he adhered to Austrian economics or whether he was in fact a neoclassical
economist who took what he wanted from the Austrian school to support his
arguments. He was very critical of the radical subjectivism and the
indifference that some Austrians showed to neoclassical equilibrium analysis
and mainstream formalization. But in many ways these essays answer the
question I posed above.  Larry Moss pitched his tent in the Austrian
camp, but being Larry, he pitched it with his own twist -- and independence.
He appreciated the rich intellectual history of the Austrians, their emphasis
on institutions, and their looking at economic analysis as a dynamic process
rather than a static interaction. Individuals, such as entrepreneurs, play a
critical role in an ever-changing environment with limited information. A
good example of this is the excellent article he wrote with Karen Vaughn,
“Hayek’s Ricardo Effect: A Second Look.” In it they use Hayek’s
version of the Ricardo effect theorem as a way of contrasting Hayek’s
process of adjustment from one coordinated state of equilibrium to another
with the mainstream version of adjustment.

One area where I think that
Larry’s work has been underestimated is with much of the cutting edge work
that is being done in economics today. A careful reading of his works shows
glimpses of anticipating the importance of evolutionary game theory, of how
institutions are integrated into economic analysis, of the role of
psychological economics in redefining rationality, and of the use of
complexity theory as a way of how to conceive general equilibrium
analysis.  I hope that future scholars will look more carefully at his
work on these topics. A good place to start is the thorough list of Larry’s
writings in Appendix I of this book. (There is also a copy of Larry’s
syllabus in Appendix II on “Scams and Frauds in Business” and Appendix
III “Typical Day Sheet for Each Class,” which provides an insight into
his teaching style and the rigor and seriousness he took to teaching his
classes.)

However, what really strikes me in Larry’s writings
is the influence of Ludwig von Mises -- not just in his philosophical and
economic views, but in the standard for being an intellectual.  Larry
was too independent to indulge in hero worship of anyone, but the wide
intellectual approach of Mises was the approach that Larry took also. This
meant using all the disciplines in the social sciences (plus philosophy,
linguistics, the natural sciences, etc.) when engaging in scholarly work.
Hayek said of Mises: “When in the realm of the social sciences I look for
similar figures in the history of thought, I do not find them among the
professors, not even in Adam Smith; instead, he must be compared to thinkers
like Voltaire or Montesquieu, Tocqueville and John Stuart Mill.” This in
many ways captures Larry’s academic goals and inspirations that started
when he was a young man living in New York City who was inspired to be a
honest scholar, which he achieved and carried for the rest of his life and
passed on to his students and many of his colleagues.

Reference:
I. Brunskill, editor (2005) _The Times Great Lives: A
Century in Obituaries_ (London, UK: Times Books).


Ric Holt is professor of economics at Southern Oregon University. He
has authored, co-authored or edited a number of books including A New Guide
to Post Keynesian Economics with Steven Pressman (Routledge, 2001) and the
prize-winning, The Changing Face of Economics (University of Michigan Press,
2004) with Dave Colander and Barkley Rosser, Jr. He has also published over
fifty articles and book reviews in a variety of academic journals. He is
presently working on an edited volume of selective letters by John K.
Galbraith.

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Geographic Area: North America
Subject: History of Economic Thought; Methodology
Time Period: 20th Century: WWII and post-WWII

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