Social Economics: Retrospect and Prospect

436 Pages·1989·22.656 MB·English

by  Thomas O. Nitsch (auth.), Mark A. Lutz (eds.)

SOCIAL ECONOMICS:
RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT
Recent Economic Thought Series
Warren J. Samuels, Editor
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan, U.S.A.
Other titles in the series:
1. Feiwel, G., Samuelson and Neoclassical
Economics
2. Wade, L., Political Economy: Modern Views
3. Zimbalist, A, Comparative Economic Systems:
Recent Views
4. Darity, W., Labor Economics: Modern Views
5. Jarsulic, M., Money and Macro Policy
6. Samuelson, L., Microeconomic Theory
7. Bromley, D., Natural Resource Economics:
Policy Problems and Contemporary Analysis
8. Mirowski, P., The Reconstruction of Economic
Theory
9. Field, A, The Future of Economic History
10. Lowry, S., Pre-Classical Economic Thought
11. Officer, L., International Economies
12. Asimakopulos, A, Theories of Income
Distribution
13. Earl, P., Psychological Economics:
Development, Tensions, Prospects
14. Thweatt, W., Classical Political Economy
15. Peterson, W., Market Power and the Economy
16. DeGregori, T., Development Economics
17. Nowotny, K., Public Utility Regulation
18. Horowitz, I., Decision Theory
19. Mercuro, N., Law and Economics
20. Hennings, K. and Samuels, W., Neoclassical
Economic Theory, 1870 to 1930
21. Samuels, W., Economics as Discourse
This series is devoted to works that present divergent views on the
development, prospects, and tensions within some important research
areas of international economic thought. Among the fields covered are
macromonetary policy, public finance, labor and political economy. The
emphasis of the series is on providing a critical, constructive view of each
of these fields, as well as a forum through which leading scholars of
international reputation may voice their perspectives on important related
issues. Each volume in the series will be self-contained; together these
volumes will provide dramatic evidence of the variety of economic thought
within the scholarly community.
SOCIAL ECONOMICS:
RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT
edited by
Mark A. Lutz
University of Maine
"~.
Kluwer Academic Publishers
BostonlDordrechtlLondon
Distributors for North America:
Kluwer Academic Publishers
101 Philip Drive
Assinippi Park
Norwell, Massachusetts 02061 USA
Distributors for all other countries:
Kluwer Academic Publishers Group
Dislribution Centre
Post Office Box 322
3300 AH Dordrecht, THE NETHERLANDS
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lutz, Mark A.
Social economics: retrospect and prospect / Mark A. Lutz.
p. cm. - (Recent economic thought)
ISBN-13: 978-94-010-7627-2 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-009-2498-7
DOl: 10.1007/978-94-009-2498-7
1. Economics-Moral and ethical aspects. 2. Social values.
I. Title. II. Series.
HB72.L885 1989
30S.3-dc20 89-24461
CIP
Copyright © 1990 by Kluwer Academic Publishers
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1990
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the publisher, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 101
Philip Drive, Assinippi Park, Norwell, Massachusetts 02061.
CONTENTS
Preface ix
PART I: SOCIAL ECONOMICS IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
1. Thomas O. Nitsch - Social Economics: The First 200 Years 5
2. William R Waters - Evolution of Social Economics in America 91
PART II: THE FABRIC OF CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL ECONOMICS
A The Three Traditional Strands
3. Edward J. O'Boyle - Catholic Social Economics: A Response
to Certain Problems, Errors, and Abuses of the Modem Age 121
Comments
E. K. Hunt 145
Lewis E. Hill 149
4. Lewis E. Hill - The Institutionalist Approach to Social Economics 155
Comments
Edward J. O'Boyle 175
E. K. Hunt 181
5. E. K. Hunt - Social Economics: A Socialist Perspective 183
Comments
Edward J. O'Boyle 209
Lewis E. Hill 215
B. Recognizing Another Strand
6. Amitai Etzioni - Toward a Deontological Socioeconomics 221
7. Mark A Lutz - Social Economics in the Humanistic Tradition 235
C. A Comparative Evaluation
8. Warren J. Samuels - Four Strands of Social Economics: A Comparative
Interpretation 269
PART III: BASIC APPLICATIONS OF SOCIAL ECONOMICS
9. J. Ron Stanfield - Understanding the Welfare State:
The Significance of Social Economics 313
10. William M. Dugger - Problems of the Welfare State 335
11. David P. Ellerman - The Corporation as a Democratic Social Institution 365
PART IV: CONCLUSION: THE PROSPECT FOR SOCIAL ECONOMICS
12. Malcolm Rutherford - Science, Self-Correction and Values:
From Peirce to Institutionalism 391
13. Mark A Lutz - An Essay on the Nature and Significance .of
Social Economics 407
vi
LIST OF CONTRffiUTORS
William M. Dugger is Professor of Economics at DePaul
University, 25 East Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60604-2287.
David P. Ellerman is Professor of Economics at Tufts
University, Medford, MA 02155, and one of the key staff members of
the Industrial Cooperative Association, Somerville, MA
Amitai Etzioni is Professor of Sociology at George Washington
University and Director of the Center for Policy Research, Washington,
DC 20052. He is currently Visiting Professor of Ethics at Harvard
Business School.
Lewis E. Hill is Professor of Economics at Texas Tech
University, Box 4470, Lubbock, TX 79409-4470.
E. K. Hunt is Professor of Economics at the University of Utah,
Salt Lake City, UT 84112.
Mark A. Lutz is Professor of Economics at the University of
Maine, Orono, ME 04469-0158.
Thomas o. Nitsch is Professor of Economics at Creighton
University, California at 24th Street, Omaha, NE 68178.
Edward J. O'Boyle is Professor of Economics at Louisiana Tech
University, P.O. Box 10318, T.S., Ruston, LA 71272-0046.
Malcolm Rutherford is Professor of Economics, University of
Victoria, P.O. Box 1700, Victoria, British Columbia V8W 2Y2.
Warren J. Samuels is Professor of Economics at Michigan State
University, East Lansing, MI 48825.
J. R. Stanfield is Professor of Economics and Colorado State
University, Fort Collins, CO 80523.
William R. Waters is Professor of Economics at DePaul
University, 25 East Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60604-2287.
PREFACE
At the very heart of the conception of the present volume lies
the conviction that social economics is a highly pluralistic discipline,
inspired and enriched by several often radically different world views,
Schumpeterian visions, and at times even quite antagonistic social
doctrines. Yet, in spite of all these differences, social economists can
nevertheless be seen and also approached as some kind of economic
brotherhood for various reasons dissatisfied with the austere "value-free"
diet offered by the pOSitivistic neoclassical paradigm. What all social
economists seem to have in common is a profound interest in values and
the process of valuation in order to more fully understand both economic
behavior and the possibilities of improving the economic system. Such a
distinguishing characteristic is also well articulated and enshrined in Article
I of the Constitution of the Association of Social Economics where we are
told that the aims and objectives of the Association shall be:
1. To foster research and publication centered on the
reciprocal relationship between economic science and
broader questions of human dignity, ethical values, and
social philosophy, [and to] encourage the efforts of all
scholars who are dedicated to exploring the ethical
presuppositions and implications of economic science.
2. To consider the personal and social dimensions of
economic problems and to assist in the formulation of
economic policies consistent with a concern for ethical
values and pluralistic community and the demands of
personal dignity.
It is also interesting to note that the pluralistic character of modem
American social economics is only two decades old and was not a
characteristic when the Association was created almost 50 years ago with
an explicit stress on Catholic social doctrine, Christian moral principles,
and Christian social philosophy.
One way to capture this new pluralist nature of social economics
is to recognize several major threads, strains, or "strands" that make up
the fabric of the contemporary school. In this vein, we can distinguish
three primary perspectives: a Catholic solidarist strand first articulated in
Heinrich Pesch's Lehrbuch, and the two secular strands representing
Marxist socialism and American institutionalism, particularly of the instru
mentalist variety developed by Clarence Ayres.
At the same time, and more controversially, we identified a fourth
strand that, for the sake of Simplicity, we chose to label "humanistic," since
it centers around a "human standard" using personality and moral develop
ment as a yardstick in assessing economic institutions. As its key
representative we singled out the eminent British social economist John
Hobson, while recognizing that the concept of personality can perhaps be
even better understood in philosophical terms, particularly the moral
philosophy and "deontological" type ethics of Immanuel Kant. The
motives for including such a fourth strand are twofold: first, it merely
recognizes what has been a primary force for almost 200 years in the
history of social economics, and second, it allows us to affirm the simple
truth that there is a place for a social economist outside the solidarist,
Marxist, or instrumentalist frames of reference.
It should be explicitly mentioned, however, that any categorization
or typology, such as the 'strands' or 'veins' one chooses for this book, is
by its very nature bound to be highly limited and in many ways even coun
terproductive. For example, it tends to be exclusionary giving short rift to
scholarship that defies being categorized in any of the four boxes. Among
others, there are neo-institutionalists (such as Malcolm Rutherford) who
appear uneasy about the type of instrumentalist ethics outlined by
Clarence Ayres and his follower Lewis Hill. In a similar position, lacking
identification with any group, are some of my best friends, such as Jon
Wisman and Jim Wible. There are a significant number of social
economists who have been working within a research program grounded
in the work of Karl Polanyi (such as Ronald Stanfield and his former
student Bruce McDaniel) or of Aristotelian ethics (such as Lon Smith).
Moreover, there are many prominent contemporary Catholic social
economists (e.g., Steve Worland) who would not want to be identified with
solidarism, as well as many more neoclassical economists (e.g., Kenneth
Boulding) who take values, valuation, and ethics seriously without
identifying with any of the four strands. Finally, it is not well suited to
accommodate the work of eminent social economists such as Nicholas
Georgescu-Roegen and Herman Daly who have been giving primary focus
to resource use and entropy. To the extent that the work and stature of
all these outstanding social economists ended up being underemphasized
or omitted will reflect poorly on this book.
Nevertheless, a beginning had to be made by concentrating on
some manageable number of the major currents in the field. The treat
ment here, although far from comprehensive, can be seen to capture an
essential ingredient, perhaps even the very backbone of modern American
social economics. To the extent that this project succeeds in working
towards a greater mutual understanding among practitioners of four of its
x
'cardinal strands', the stage is also set for a potential movement toward
greater integration, unity, and strength.
The book has been structured to allow for maximum balance
among the different viewpoints. The section on the history of the
discipline has been left to the Catholic socialist Tom Nitsch and one of
the key architects of the nnewn pluralist social economics, the former editor
of the Review, solidarist William Waters. The discussion of the contem
porary strands presented by representatives of the instrumentalist, Marxist,
solidarist, and Kantian-humanistic camps has been entrusted to (prag
matist) Warren Samuels who graciously agreed to undertake this difficult
and challenging task. The policy applications have been left in the hands
of the two instrumentalists, Bill Dugger and Ron Stanfield (the latter with
strong Marxist sympathies), and also David Ellerman, a neo-Kantian
economic philosopher. Finally, the section speculating about the prospects
of social economics has been filled with contributions from Malcolm
Rutherford, an institutionalist, and myself, an active advocate of a
humanistic approach in social economics.
For whatever imbalance and bias that is still manifest, I, the
editor, will have to take the blame. Nevertheless, I trust that this book,
with all its imperfections, by being the result of ninter-strand· intellectual
cooperation, will be able to serve as a significant stepping stone toward
greater mutual awareness and respect, and with it, greater unity of purpose
in the ongoing construction of a viable social economics. Time will tell.
Meanwhile, I'd like to express my deepest heartfelt gratitude to all the
participants for the time and energy spent on a project that, initially at
least, was bound to look somewhat risky and certainly overly ambitious.
More generally, I want to thank Zachary Rolnick of Kluwer
Academic Publishers for agreeing to publish the book, and especially Gail
Fernald for her patience and care in enabling it to materialize.
Mark A Lutz, Editor
xi