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In a message dated 97-08-17 20:07:03 EDT, Pat writes:
<< Whatever we take "neoclassical economics" to be, don't you think that
the first step is to contrast it with "classical economics?" If this is
so, the value of the term lies with its rejection and/or improvement of,
"classical economics." In this respect it seems sensible to try to find
the features that are common to the work of Smith, Ricardo, Malthus, and
(perhaps) Mill. Having identified those features, we could proceed to
compare them with the features of later economics that are opposed to,
and/or and advancement of, them.
One essential difference, it seems to me, is the emergence of the
functional concept of the entrepreneur, which led at least some
distinguished economists (Menger, Davenport, Wicksteed, Knight?) to
abandon the traditional tripartite classification of the factors of
production. >>
The obvious problem here, it would seem, is that many (perhaps most)
'neoclassical' economists _didn't_ and _haven't_ abondon the traditional
tripartite classification of the factors of production. Furthermore, as
far as 'neoclassical' is distiguished in contemporary discussions from
'Austrian' or 'Marxist' or 'institutionalist' or 'post keynesian', the
abandonment of the traditional tripartitie classification of factors of
production might in fact be used to distinguish some 'Austrians' from
some 'neoclassicals', but the same wouldn't be true in the case of
distinguishing, for example, some 'Marxists' from some neoclassicals. And
many 'Austrians' share a tripartite division with many 'neoclassicals'.
In any case, the extent to which most economists have in fact abandoned
the traditional triparte classification of the factors of production is
itself controversial, e.g. there are many 'classical' elements remaining
in Knight, (as there were in Clark, Marshall, Walras, etc., etc.) which
seperate his work on capital theory from that of the most purely
marginalist' of all capital theorists, F. A. Hayek.
In part, the classification problem remains because the problems in theory
remain to be solved -- i.e. the reconciliation of the modern marginal
valuation principles with the problems of the valuation of factors of
production. A quick and dirty definintion of 'neoclassical' economics
which capture the current state of theory would then be: the incomplete
economics of those who have accepted marginal valuation principles, but
who have not yet been able to free them from incompatible elements from
the classical value tradition and the ancient tradition in epistemology.
I.e. an economics which accepts marginal valuation, but which hasn't come
up with either a satisfactory application of these principles to the
valuation of the factors of production -- or a satisfactory explanatory
strategy for their use in providing plausible causal explanations for
problem raising patterns in our experience. Pat may think that my answer
begs the question, but this again would only be an expression of my thesis
-- that the definition is not decided, because the theoretical and
explanatory issues remain essentially contested and unresolved, even if
many if not most in the so-called 'mainstream' have more pressing
'technical' worries to devote their time to.
Greg Ransom
Dept. of Philosophy
MiraCosta College
UC-Riverside
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http://members.aol.com/gregransom/hayekpage.
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