Economics as a Liberal Education

Beveridge, William

doi:10.2307/2548500

Cited by 10 publications

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“…After 11 years as a civil servant addressing the problems of labor, munitions, and food, in October 1919 at the request of Sidney and Beatrice Webb Beveridge took office as the Director of the LSE, which had been formally established in 1895. In October 1920 he laid out comprehensively three goals for an ideal economics (Beveridge, 1921), a stance that would not change for the rest of his life (Beveridge, 1937, 1955, pp. 247-254, 1960, pp.…”

Section: Economics As An Empirical Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Next, Beveridge “became one of Huxley’s devotees” (Beveridge, 1960, p. 93) and adopted Huxley’s necessary conditions for a field of inquiry to be considered a science: observation of facts (including experimentation); comparison and classification of the facts observed, leading by induction to general propositions; deductions to facts again; and verification by fresh observations (Beveridge, 1921, p. 4; Huxley, 1854/2001, p. 52). Like Huxley, Beveridge was more concerned with observations, induction, and complex properties of objects than with abstraction, deduction, and a very small number of simple (normally quantitative or numerical) properties of objects.…”

Section: Economics As An Empirical Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…For its inclusion of taxonomy, biology was Beveridge’s image of the perfect science, while he considered mathematics and philosophy too abstract (Beveridge, 1955, p. 247). He also claimed that the science of society should not only come close to biology but also ultimately go beyond it, for biology dealt only with living beings as isolated things, whereas the social sciences considered them as aggregates and required more complex deliberations (Beveridge, 1921, p. 5; Huxley, 1854/2001, p. 58). Inspired by Huxley’s initial proposal, Beveridge became engaged in building up economics education in an original manner that neither Huxley nor the Webbs had reached.…”

Section: Economics As An Empirical Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Beveridge and his pursuit of an ideal economics: why did he come to accept Keynes’s ideas?

Komine

2016

IJSE

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine two (accidental and inevitable) reasons why W.H. Beveridge, who in 1936/1937 had rejected all of the elements of Keynes’s General Theory, came to accept it enthusiastically in the 1940s. Design/methodology/approach The paper answers this question in three steps. First, it distinguishes apparently changeable factors in Beveridge’s views, from consistent ones. Second, it looks for factors of the latter type in his three goals for economics. Third, it compares his goals with those of Keynes. Findings Beveridge’s three goals overlapped with Keynes’s ideals for economics and economists, and this is not historically accidental: economics should be useful as a basis for verification by fresh observations (as an exact science); economic knowledge should be useful in business and policy-making processes (for new kinds of educated professions); and economic studies requires a wide range of related subjects (a liberal education). Research limitations/implications This paper attempts to clarify the cognitive assumptions of the two economists. This clarification can contribute to understanding the process and reasons behind Beveridge’s acceptance of Keynesian economic theory and policies on a theoretical level. Originality/value This paper examines previously ignored reasons for Beveridge’s acceptance of Keynesian economics. Moreover, it suggests certain pre-analytic assumptions concerning the co-existence of social insurance and full employment policies. This perspective will be useful for historians of economics and the welfare state.

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Section: Economics As An Empirical Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Economics As An Empirical Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Economics As An Empirical Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Beveridge and his pursuit of an ideal economics: why did he come to accept Keynes’s ideas?

Komine

2016

IJSE

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“…Now economists, if they are to get full recognition for their science, must treat it as a science based like others on observation of facts, never forgetting that their ultimate aim is the making of general propositions, not the collection of facts, but content if necessary to postpone for a while the attainment of that aim. (1921, 8)…”

Section: The Origins and Establishment Of “The Natural Bases Of Social Science”mentioning

confidence: 99%

Completing the Circle of the Social Sciences? William Beveridge and Social Biology at London School of Economics during the 1930s

Renwick

2013

Philosophy of the Social Sciences

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Much has been written about the relationship between biology and social science during the early twentieth century. However, discussion is often drawn toward a particular conception of eugenics, which tends to obscure our understanding of not only the wide range of intersections between biology and social science during the period but also their impact on subsequent developments. This paper draws attention to one of those intersections: the British economist and social reformer William Beveridge’s controversial efforts to establish a Department of Social Biology at London School of Economics during the 1920s and 1930s. Featuring a fully equipped laboratory headed by a leading geneticist, the Department of Social Biology was Beveridge’s attempt to “cross-fertilise” biology and social science and, in so doing, take the ideological heat out of social scientific, in particular economic, methods of investigation. Exploring why Beveridge’s project failed and throwing light on its long-term legacies, this paper considers what we can learn from the short-lived Department of Social Biology.

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“…It may appear trivial to recall the definition from the Rutledge Dictionary of Economics (Rutherford, 2002, p. 138), but this leaves no doubt: it is a science about meeting the needs of the society within the limited resources in the most optimal way. "Founding Fathers" stress its different aspects, 226 starting with Sir William Beveridge (1921), highlighting the cooperation to meet men's material needs, through Lord Lionel Robins, focusing on "a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses" (1932, p. 16) and Alfred Marshall pointing to the "ordinary business of life" (1920) perspective, concluding with Francis Ysidro Edgeworth (1881), turning the attention to agents' utility maximisation. All these approaches focus on the maximisation of social welfare within limited resources and do not mention any of the elements present in Wray's explanation of the crises.…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do We Eat Too Much? The Current Economic Crisis as a Result of Overconsumption

Jaworski

Weber

2011

Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics

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Over the past 15 years, a fairly synchronised and steady increase of the current account deficits of the US and the UK has been witnessed, while at the same time real house prices and real wages in these two economies increased sharply. We analyse the offspring of the economic crisis of 2008 within the framework of Minsky's theory of financial crisis, and identify the reasons behind this development as the global imbalances. Our empirical results show that overconsumption in the US and UK caused unsustainable growth, which manifested first in real wage inflation. Within this development, neither the financial sector nor failed regulation is to blame, as financial intermediaries merely fulfilled their requirements as the vehicle between borrowers and lenders. Instead, we argue, our 'need' for overconsumption is to blame, and policy makers are required to address this issue as soon as possible in order to avoid another, probably more severe crisis in the long-run.

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Economics as a Liberal Education

Cited by 10 publications

References 0 publications

Beveridge and his pursuit of an ideal economics: why did he come to accept Keynes’s ideas?

Beveridge and his pursuit of an ideal economics: why did he come to accept Keynes’s ideas?

Completing the Circle of the Social Sciences? William Beveridge and Social Biology at London School of Economics during the 1930s

Do We Eat Too Much? The Current Economic Crisis as a Result of Overconsumption

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