The Anglo-American Marginalists

("Jevonians")

By "Anglo-American marginalists" we are referring to early English and American writers between the 1870s and the 1930s who strayed from the Marshallian and Institutionalist schools which were then dominant in the UK and the US respectively.  Many of those on this list could thus be deemed "followers" of W.S. Jevons in that they adopted the "mathematical" method of reasoning and/or the radical "subjectivism" inherent in Jevons's revolutionary marginalism - thus bringing them closer to the "Continental" traditions of the Lausanne and Austrian schools than any of their homegrown varieties. See also the British Anti-Classicals for a review of some English proto-marginalists and our discussion of the 1930s  L.S.E., the Paretians and the early Chicago School for the continuation of this line in Britain and America.

Anglo-American Proto-Marginalists

• Rev. Dionysus Lardner, 1793-1859.
  • The Steam Engine Familiarly Explained and Illustrated, 1836
  • Popular Lectures on Science and Art, Vol. 1, Vol. 2, 1845
  • Railway Economy; a treatise on the new art of transport, its management, prospects and relations, 1850
  • Hand-books of Natural philosophy and Astronomy: Vol. 1: A Hand-book of Mechanics, 1851?
  • Dublin-born British engineer and later professor at University College London.  His 1850 text was highly influential on Jevons. 

• Charles Ellet, Jr., 1810-1862. - (1), (2), (3), (4), (5) 
  • An Essay on the Laws of Trade: in reference to the works of internal improvement in the United States, 1839
  • "A Popular Exposition of the Incorrectness of the Tariffs of Tolls in Use on the Public Improvements of the United States", 1840, J of Franklin Institute
  • "The Laws of Trade Applied to the Determination of the Most Advantageous Fare for Passengers on Railroads", 1840, J of Franklin Institute
  • "Cost of Transportation on Railroads", Parts I - IV (1842), Parts V-VI (1843), Parts VII-VIII (1844), J of Franklin Institute
  • Prominent American civil engineer.  Of modest Pennsylvania background, the largely self-educated Ellet attended the ENPC in Paris during 1830-2, where he was trained in the French engineering tradition. His 1839 work 
  • His most famous building structures are the suspension bridges in Philadelphia over the Schuylkill River and in Wheeling over the the Ohio River. He died from wounds received at the naval battle of Memphis (commanding ramming ships of his design) during the American Civil War.

The Radical English Marginalists ("Jevonians") 

• William Stanley Jevons, 1835-1882.

• Philip H. Wicksteed, 1844-1927.

• Francis Ysidro Edgeworth, 1845-1926.

• William T. Smart, 1853-1915.
  • An Introduction to the Theory of Value, 1891. - review
  • Studies in Economics, 1895.
  • The Distribution of Income, 1899.
  • Taxation of Land Values and the Single Tax, 1900
  • The Return to Protection, 1904.
  • Economic Annals of the Nineteenth Century, 1910. - review
  • Second Thoughts of an Economist, 1916 - review
  • Businessman and professor at Univ. of Glasgow, Smart was a close follower of Wicksteed and an enthusiast of the Austrian School on the continent.  He contributed greatly to the spread of Continental ideas on economics in English-speaking countries by translating many of the works of Austrian economists.

• William Ernest Johnson, 1859-1931.
  • "On Certain Questions Concerned with Demand" with C.P. Sanger, 1894 Cambridge Econ Club
  • "The Pure Theory of Utility Curves", 1913, EJ
  • Logic, 1921-4.
  • Oft-neglected Cambridge logician who independently derived demand functions from indifference curves (and placed them in the form we use today). Showed "paradox" that convex indifference curves could yield upward-sloping demand. Defined substitutes and complements in terms of rates of change of marginal rates of substitution. Also quite presciently described a non-tatonnement "Edgeworth process".

• Alfred W. Flux, 1867-1942.
  • "Review of P.H. Wicksteed's Essay", 1894, EJ
  • "Review of K. Wicksell's Uber Wert, Kapitale und Rente", 1894, EJ
  • Economic Principles, 1904.
  • Swedish Banking Systems, 1910.
  • Foreign Exchanges, 1924.
  • First to identify Wicksteed's 1894 theory of distribution as being captured by Euler's Theorem on homogeneous functions. After that early supernova performance, Flux withdrew from academia into government. He was the director of the British production censuses and published largely on applied and policy matters.

• Lionel C. Robbins, Arthur L. Bowley and the London School of Economics 

The "Homegrown" American Marginalists

• Simon Newcomb, 1835-1909.

• Francis Amasa Walker, 1840-1897.

• John Bates Clark, 1847-1938.

• Stuart Wood, 1853-1914.
  • "A View on the Theory of Wages", 1888, QJE
  • "The Theory of Wages", 1889, Publications of AEA
  • "A Critique of Wages Theories", 1890, AAPSS
  • First American to receive a Ph.D. in economics. Often credited for independently discovering the theory of marginal productivity and marginal rates of substitution between factors in his two famous 1888 and 1889 essays.

The "American Walrasians"

• Irving Fisher, 1867-1947.

• Henry Ludwell Moore, 1869-1958.

• Fred M. Taylor, 1855-1932.
  • Some Chapters on Money, 1906.
  • Principles of Economics, 1911.
  • "The Guidance of Production in a Socialist State", 1929, AER.
  • Early proponent of marginalist theory, Taylor was also involved in the Socialist Calculation debate, holding a position that would be later taken up by Oskar Lange and Abba Lerner.

• Harold Hotelling, 1895-1973.

• Charles F. Roos, 1901-1958.

• Harvard and the Paretians

The American Psychological School  ("American Austrians")

• Herbert J. Davenport, 1861-1931.

• Frank A. Fetter, 1863-1949.

• Alvin S. Johnson, 1874-1971

• Frank H. Knight,1885-1972.

The Early Chicago School

• Frank H. Knight,1885-1972.

• Jacob Viner, 1892-1970.

• Henry Schultz, 1893-1938.

• Oskar Lange, 1904-1965.

Resources on Anglo-American Marginalism

• HET Pages: Marginalist Revolution, Neoclassical Theory of Distribution, the Opportunity Cost Doctrine, Edgeworthian Exchange,
• "The Meaning and Causes of Value", by Albert S. Bolles, 1873, North American Review
• "A New Standard of Value", by Walter Bagehot, 1875, The Economist
• "The New Political Economy", 1886, The Century 
• "The Political Economy of Seventy-Three Million Dollars", by Henry D. Lloyd, 1883, Atlantic Monthly 
• "The Price Concept in Relation to Value", 1912 AER Discussion
• "Theories of Distribution", 1913, AER Discussion
• "The Psychological Basis for the Economic Interpretation of History" by William F. Ogburn, 1919, AER
• "The Psychological Basis for the Economic Interpretation of History: Comment" by Frank A. Fetter, 1919, AER
• "Price Economics Versus Welfare Economics", by Frank A. Fetter,1920, AER
• "Price Economics Versus Welfare Economics: Contemporary Opinion", by Frank A. Fetter, 1920, AER
• "The Marginalists" by Duncan Foley at the New School
• "Néoclassiques" by Professeur Friboulet at Genève
• "Generalized Increasing Returns, Euler's Theorem, and Competitive Equilibrium"  by James M. Buchanan and Yong J. Yoon (1999), HOPE