Simon Nelson Patten, 1852-1922
Chicago-born Simon Nelson Patten studied at Northwestern before traveling to
Germany and getting his doctorate at the University of Halle. From 1885,
he held a chair at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. A
polemical economist and social philosopher, Patten was the closest to the Henry Carey tradition in advocating
protectionism (1890). His most
famous book (1896), Patten argued that economic structures were evolving from "pain
economies" to "pleasure economies" along lines similar, but
distinct, from
Spencer and Sumner.
Very influenced by the Progressive movement, his 1907 book called for the
introduction of an income tax in the United States. He was also a
stringent advocate of prohibition and flirted with eugenics.
Major Works of Simon Nelson Patten
- Das finanzwesen der staaten und städte der Nordamerikanischen Union,
1878
- Premises of Political Economy, being a re-examination of certain fundamental principles of
economic science, 1885.
- The Consumption of Wealth, 1889
- The Stability of Prices, 1889
- Principles of Rational Taxation, 1890
- The Economic Basis of Protection, 1890
- The Educational Value of Political Economy, 1890
- The Theory of Dynamic Economics, 1892
- The Theory of Social Forces, 1896.
- The
Development of English Thought: A Study in the economic interpretation
of history, 1899.
- The Theory of Prosperity, 1902.
- Heredity and Social Progress, 1903.
- New Basis of Civilization, 1907.
- "Theories of Progress",
1911, AER
- The Social Basis of Religion, 1911.
- Reconstruction of Economic Theory, 1912
- "Mandeville in the Twentieth Century",
1918, AER
- Essays in Economic Theory, 1824
Resources on Simon N. Patten