Degeneration in the Marshallian Research Programme

Robert Bigg

Chapter 12 in Cambridge and the Monetary Theory of Production, 1990, pp 161-184 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Since first examining the nature of the Marshallian research programme and suggesting some inherent factors which could ultimately lead to its collapse, in Chapter 5, subsequent chapters have followed the development of Cambridge macroeconomic analysis up until the late 1920s. What this development shows is an increasing, but implicit, rejection of the basis of the Marshallian microeconomic schema (the substantively rational part of the programme). As suggested in Chapter 5, it is to be expected that this should have exacerbated the problems of inconsistency within the overall Marshallian research programme. In reviewing Robertson’s Banking Policy and the Price Level (1926) it has just been shown that when Harrod suggested dropping the concept of justifiable fluctuations Tappan’s defence was to explicitly link this part of Robertson’s theory to the Marshallian marginal analysis. In this sense, as well as in retrospect, Banking took explicitly Marshallian macroeconomic analysis about as far as it could go. If the theory was to make further substantial steps forward, some elements of the Marshallian system had to be abandoned. Of course the Cambridge Tradition did not suddenly end with a blinding flash in the Keynesian revolution, nor was the period from the late 1920s solely concerned with the transition directly to the General Theory.

Keywords: Labour Market; Monetary Policy; Price Level; Banking System; Full Employment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1990
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-37121-7_12

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9780230371217

DOI: 10.1057/9780230371217_12

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().