The Altrurian Economics of William Dean Howells

James W. Park and Martha M. Park

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 1990, vol. 49, issue 3, 325-338

Abstract: Abstract. In two of his novels, A TRAVELER FROM ALTRURIA and THROUGH THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE, William Dean Howells describes the ideal commonwealth of Australia where the production and distribution of goods and services do not occur in self‐regulating markets such as those found in Western‐world economies. Thus, traditional economic theories are limited in analyses of the Australian economy, and critics are hampered in their efforts to understand Howelis'Utopia. This study synthesizes Howells'criticisms of the harshness of 19th‐century American capitalism as presented in the two novels and then analyzes the economic structure of Australia by using Karl Polanyi's framework for studying non‐market societies. This framework includes the concepts of reciprocity, redistribution, and administered trade.

Date: 1990
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