Management science, planning, and demand management

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle Bruce
Keyword(s):  
Demand Management ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
Epistemic Community ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Scientific Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Archival Source ◽  
The Us ◽  
History Of ◽  
Science Planning

Purpose This paper explores the “proto-Keynesian” ideas of progressive members of the scientific management community with regard to micro- and macroeconomic planning/management. Design/methodology/approach Based on a systematic exegetical analysis of articles published in a largely unexplored primary/archival source, the Bulletin of the Taylor Society between 1915 and 1934. Findings This paper surfaces a latent “proto-Keynesian” bedrock among progressive segments of the US management community that provides a more cogent explanation for the wholehearted reception, as well as the decisive impact, of Keynes’ ideas on US macroeconomic policy than do extant explanations in the history of economic thought. Further, it reveals that most of these progressive managers with views as to both cause of and solution for the 1930’s Depression were members of the Taylor Society, an epistemic community devoted to the ideas of Frederick Winslow Taylor, the father of scientific management. Originality/value The paper adds to the small but growing corpus of revisionist management history that seeks to problematize the received wisdom about scientific management or Taylorism. Few, if any, management historians appreciate that F. W. Taylor provided the basic planning tools which if developed, could enhance humanity’s control over anarchic market forces and aid the construction of a society based on democratic and effective planning.

Antecedents to the crisis: Mandeville, Smith, and Keynes

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (8) ◽  
pp. 1018-1030
Author(s):  
Jonathan B. Wight
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
Invisible Hand ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Government Interventions ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present the methods of teaching about the global financial crisis (GFC) from a social economic perspective. Using primary texts from the history of economic thought, the moral underpinnings for collective social action are examined in times of economic depression. The deregulation of financial markets raises two questions: to what extent is deregulation the result of a misunderstanding about human nature and the behavioral lessons of social economics; and to what extend does deregulation ignore the moral lessons of Adam Smith’s invisible hand? Design/methodology/approach By reading sources including Mandeville, Smith, Keynes, Hayek and others, students form conclusions about the strengths and weaknesses of government interventions, both to fix, and to prevent, major recessions and depressions. Findings Two fallacies relating to financial market deregulation are that “greed is good” and that rational actors in the market will self-regulate leading to widespread prosperity. These moral beliefs supported financial liberalization, and ultimately contributed to financial institutions taking on enormous risks and losses that are ultimately socialized. Originality/value This paper innovatively uses readings from the history of economic thought to spark pedagogical discussions and debates about human nature and policymaking relevant to the GFC.

How Homo economicus lost her mind and how we can revive her

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter DeScioli
Keyword(s):  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Homo Economicus ◽  
Economic Theories ◽  
Target Article ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Mind ◽  
And Behavior

AbstractThe target article by Boyer & Petersen (B&P) contributes a vital message: that people have folk economic theories that shape their thoughts and behavior in the marketplace. This message is all the more important because, in the history of economic thought, Homo economicus was increasingly stripped of mental capacities. Intuitive theories can help restore the mind of Homo economicus.

Essays of a “comparatively progressive” economist (On the 150th birth anniversary of Vladimir Geleznoff)

2019 ◽  
pp. 135-145
Author(s):  
Viktor A. Popov
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
The Political ◽  
Russian History ◽  
Working Ability ◽  
Intellectual Inquiry ◽  
History Of

Deep comprehension of the advanced economic theory, the talent of lecturer enforced by the outstanding working ability forwarded Vladimir Geleznoff scarcely at the end of his thirties to prepare the publication of “The essays of the political economy” (1898). The subsequent publishing success (8 editions in Russia, the 1918­-year edition in Germany) sufficiently demonstrates that Geleznoff well succeded in meeting the intellectual inquiry of the cross­road epoch of the Russian history and by that taking the worthful place in the history of economic thought in Russia. Being an acknowledged historian of science V. Geleznoff was the first and up to now one of the few to demonstrate the worldwide community of economists the theoretically saturated view of Russian economic thought in its most fruitful period (end of XIX — first quarter of XX century).

Thorstein Veblen: A View from the 21st Century

2007 ◽  
pp. 73-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Nureev
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Institutional Economics ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Thorstein Veblen ◽  
History Of

The article provides a description of T. Veblen’s views, showing his place in the history of economic thought. The author analyzes the context of Veblen’s life and work and considers different aspects of his theoretical legacy. Special attention is paid to the discussion of Veblen’s role in the development of institutional economics. The author describes in detail the main trends in the development of institutionalism after Veblen.

Economic thought in the 17th and 18th centuries: a linguistic approach

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 260-270
Author(s):  
Iara Vigo de Lima
Keyword(s):  
Economic Thought ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Front Position ◽  
History Of ◽  
Epistemological Model ◽  
Theory Of Language ◽  
Theory Of Value ◽  
Linguistic Approach ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse Michel Foucault’s new epistemological model regarding an analogy between the theory of language and economic thought in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Design/methodology/approach – Through the scrutiny of language, Foucault intended to demonstrate that some analogies, among different branches of knowledge (interdiscursive practice), allow us to apprehend the underlying configuration of thought regarding ontological and epistemological conditions that have historically determined knowledge. He draws a parallel between four theoretical segments borrowed from general grammar (Attribution, Articulation, Designation and Derivation) and economic thought on wealth. Findings – One of the most remarkable propositions of this approach is that the theory of language and economic thought were epistemologically isomorphic in that context. What the theory of language stated in relation to “attribution” and “articulation” corresponded to the “theory of value” in economic thought. What grammar investigated regarding “designation” and “derivation” was analogous to the “theory of money and trade” in economic thought. The relationships that were – directly and diagonally – identified between and among them led to the conclusion that there was ‘a circular and surface causality’ in economic thought insofar as “circulation” preceded “production”. It was “superficial” because it could not find an explanation for the cause of “wealth”, which was only possible when “production” was placed in the front position of theories. Practical implications – Such an epistemological point of view can inspire other studies in the history of economic thought. Originality/value – This paper offers a perspective on how to think about the history of ontological and epistemological conditions of economic thought.

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