 From Synthetic Marx to Synthetic Kafka: A Rejoinder to Magness and MakoviJoseph Francis Econ Journal Watch, 2025, vol. 22, issue 1, 91–107 Abstract: In 2023, Phillip W. Magness and Michael Makovi published their article “The Mainstreaming of Marx” in the Journal of Political Economy. I criticized that article in the previous issue of Econ Journal Watch, and Magness and Makovi replied, sticking to their guns. In both of Magness and Makovi’s pieces, the novel aspect of their argument is that Karl Marx was not well-known before the Russian Revolution. Nonetheless, as I reiterate in this rejoinder, their use of the synthetic control method (SCM) is inappropriate to this research question and, if anything, contradicts this claim. Furthermore, I present a simpler analysis of the Google Ngram Viewer data that is in line with Isaiah Berlin’s more conventional view of Marx already being well-known before 1917. I also show that Magness and Makovi have made basic errors when looking at the JSTOR data. My argument remains that non-quantitative methods are generally better suited to the study of intellectual history. Keywords: Karl Marx; Russian Revolution; synthetic control method; quantitative methods; intellectual history (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ejw:journl:v:22:y:2025:i:1:p:91-107 Access Statistics for this article Econ Journal Watch is currently edited by Daniel Klein More articles in Econ Journal Watch from Econ Journal Watch Contact information at EDIRC. |
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