Richard F. Kahn: Collected Economic Essays

278 Pages·2022·4.059 MB·English

by  Maria Cristina Marcuzzo, Paolo Paesani

PALGRAVE STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT
Richard F. Kahn
Collected Economic Essays
Richard F. Kahn
Edited by
Maria Cristina Marcuzzo · Paolo Paesani
Palgrave Studies in the History
of Economic Thought
Series Editors
Avi J. Cohen
Department of Economics
York University & University of Toronto
Toronto, ON, Canada
G. C. Harcourt
School of Economics
University of New South Wales
Sydney, NSW, Australia
Peter Kriesler
School of Economics
University of New South Wales
Sydney, NSW, Australia
Jan Toporowski
Economics Department
SOAS University of London
London, UK
Palgrave Studies in the History of Economic Thought publishes contribu-
tions by leading scholars, illuminating key events, theories and individuals
that have had a lasting impact on the development of modern-day eco-
nomics. The topics covered include the development of economies, insti-
tutions and theories.
The series aims to highlight the academic importance of the history of
economic thought, linking it with wider discussions within economics and
society more generally. It contains a broad range of titles that illustrate the
breath of discussions – from influential economists and schools of thought,
through to historical and modern social trends and challenges – within the
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sideration, please contact the Wyndham Hacket Pain (Economics Editor)
[email protected].
Editors
Maria Cristina Marcuzzo • Paolo Paesani
Richard F. Kahn
Collected Economic Essays
Editors
Maria Cristina Marcuzzo Paolo Paesani
Department of Statistical Sciences Department of Economics and Finance
Sapienza University of Rome University of Rome Tor Vergata
Rome, Italy Rome, Italy
We are grateful to Palgrave Macmillan, Wiley and The Royal Economic Society,
the American Economic Association, the Banca Commerciale Italiana, Europa
Publications for the Institute of Bankers, Allen and Unwin, Lloyds Bank Review,
and the Scottish Economic Society, for permission to republish these essays.
ISSN 2662-6578 ISSN 2662-6586 (electronic)
Palgrave Studies in the History of Economic Thought
ISBN 978-3-030-98587-5 ISBN 978-3-030-98588-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98588-2
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Praise for Richard F. Kahn
“Richard Kahn is of great interest to historians of economics because of his role at
the centre of two of the central developments in economics in the 20th century:
imperfect competition and the Keynesian revolution. This collection, including an
important, previously unpublished paper from 1933, and the very helpful editorial
introduction successfully illustrate the evolution of Kahn’s thinking from the
1930s to the 1970s.”
—Roger E. Backhouse, University of Birmingham
and Erasmus University Rotterdam
“A long-awaited second collection of Richard Kahn’s essays including his later
reflections on Keynes and analysis of the postwar international economy and prob-
lems of unemployment and inflation – accompanied by an excellent introduction
by the editors. An important contribution to the history of economics.”
—John B. Davis, University of Amsterdam and Marquette University
“This valuable and fascinating collection documents Richard Kahn’s central role in
the imperfect competition and Keynesian revolutions in economics, making con-
veniently accessible his articles on imperfect competition, on Keynes, and on infla-
tion and unemployment, including a pathbreaking 1933 paper on imperfect
competition previously published only in Italian translation. The helpful and infor-
mative editorial introduction provides a useful guide to the nature and importance
of Kahn’s contributions. Every economist interested in the imperfect competition
and Keynesian revolutions should have this book.”
—Robert W. Dimand, Brock University
C
ontents
1 Introduction 1
Part I Imperfect Competition 33
2 Imperfect Competition and the Marginal Principle 35
3 The Problem of Duopoly 51
4 Oxford Studies in the Price Mechanism 71
Part II Keynes 85
5 The Cambridge ‘Circus’ 87
6 Some Aspects of the Development of Keynes’s Thought 97
7 ‘The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money’ 119
vii
viii CONTENTS
Part III International Money and Trade 161
8 International Regulation of Trade and Exchanges 163
9 The International Monetary System 179
10 Historical Origins of the International Monetary Fund 191
Part IV Unemployment and Inflation 223
11 Unemployment as seen by the Keynesians 225
12 Thoughts on the Behaviour of Wages and Monetarism 241
13 Inflation—A Keynesian View 253
List of Richard F. Kahn’s Publications 261
Index 273
s
ourCes
1. (1933). Unpublished.
2. (1937). Economic Journal, 47(185), 1–20.
3. (1952). Economic Journal, 62(245), 119–130.
4. (1985). In G.  Harcourt (Ed.), Keynes and His Contemporaries
(pp. 42–51). London: Macmillan.
5. (1978). Journal of Economic Literature, 16(2), 544–559.
6. (1984). In R.  F. Kahn, The Making of Keynes’s General Theory
(pp. 119–168). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
7. (1952) In Banking and Foreign Trade (pp. 1–18), Lectures delivered
at the Fifth International Banking Summer School, Oxford, July.
London: Europa Publications for the Institute of Bankers.
8. (1973). American Economic Review, 63(2), 181–188.
9. (1976). In A.P. Thirlwall (Ed.), Keynes and International Monetary
Relations (pp. 3–35). London: Macmillan.
10. (1976) In G.D.N. Worswick (Ed.), The Concept and Measurement of
Involuntary Unemployment (pp. 19–33). London: Allen and Unwin.
11. (1976). Lloyds Bank Review, 119, 1–11.
12. (1976). Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 33(1), 11–16.
We thank Prof. D. Papineau, Richard Kahn’s nephew and literary executor,
for granting permission to publish the essay “Imperfect Competition and
the Marginal Principle”.
ix
x SOURCES
The essays of this collection have been reproduced without alteration from
the original text, except for few minor corrections of typos and oversights.
Spelling, quotation marks, italics, underlines, punctuation and biblio-
graphic reference system have been left as they were in the sources, even if
inconsistent among t hemselves. Only notes have been always reproduced
as consecutively numbered footnotes within each essay.