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Front Page  Titles (by Subject) Economics and Values - Literature of Liberty, January/March 1978, vol. 1, No. 1
Economics and Values - Leonard P. Liggio, Literature of Liberty, January/March 1978, vol. 1, No. 1 [1978]Edition used:Literature of Liberty: A Review of Contemporary Liberal Thought was published first by the Cato Institute (1978-1979) and later by the Institute for Humane Studies (1980-1982) under the editorial direction of Leonard P. Liggio.
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- Associate Editors
- Editorial
- Bibliographic Essay: Forrest Mcdonald, a Founding Father's Library
- Bibliographic Essay: Murray N. Rothbard, Modern Historians Confront the American Revolution
- I: Paradigms of Freedom
- Conflicting Paradigms
- Paradigms As Procrustes' Bed
- Interest and Ambition
- Thesis and Antithesis
- Freedom and Authority
- Sin and Society
- Autonomy and Authority
- Virtue and Status
- Utility and Progress
- Diversity and Equality
- II: Nonspontaneous Order
- State Vs Society
- The Therapeutic State
- Order and Elites
- Order and Virtue
- Self-perfection
- Socialism and Freedom
- Market Socialism
- Centralism Vs Decentralism
- Voluntary Servitude
- Authority and Obedience
- Social Control
- Power and Ideology
- Hegemony
- III: Spontaneous Order
- Freedom and Knowledge
- The Case For Government
- The Case Against Government
- Community Vs. State
- State and Morality
- Freedom and Creativity
- Order Without State
- IV: Individual and Social Good
- The Right to Privacy
- Autonomy and Psychiatry
- Personal Choice
- Individuals, Groups, and States
- Social Dynamics
- Social Engineering
- Individuals and Groups
- Personal Vs. Social Goods
- Individual Rationality
- Self-interest and Social Good
- Self-interest Vs. Slavery
- Art and Autonomy
- Radical Individualism
- V: Ethics, Rights, and Freedom
- Objective Values
- Natural Law
- Preambles to Freedom
- Social Sciences and Values
- Reason and Change
- Reason and Choice
- Economics and Values
- Legal Naturalism
- Justice As Restitution
- Justice As Punishment
- Rights and Contract
- Virtue In the Market
- Justice Under Capitalism
- Profits and Choice
- Social Framework and Prosperity
- Ecology and Rights
- Business' Social Ethics
- VI: Equality
- Problems With Inequality
- Equality, Power, and Values
- Unequal Income
- Equal Opportunity
- Equal Liberty
- Equality of Condition
- The Egalitarian State
- Sexual Equality
- VII: Power
- Empire, Equality, and Envy
- Imperial Presidency
- Empire and Inflation
- Watergate As a Symptom of Empire
- The Pragmatic Presidency
- “absolute Power” and Corruption
- VIII: Planning Vs. Choice
- Origins of Planning
- Bureaucratic Growth
- Prediction and Control
- Government Planning
- Government Experts
- Useless Usury Laws
- Wartime Regulation
- Government Inflation
- Neomercantilism
- Compulsory Schooling
- Planning In Nonprofit Agencies
- Private Capital and Education
- Choice and Spontaneous Order
Economics and Values
Corry, Bernard A.
“Should Economists Abandon HOPE.” History of Political Economy (UK), 7 (1975): 252–260.
The economics profession particularly in Great Britain, in its preoccupation with econometrics and a narrow wertfrei conception of model testing and mathematical prediction, neglects the study and teaching of the history of political economy. This narrow scientistic view of economics impedes progress.
Greater knowledge of the history of political economy would make economists and students more aware of the reality of how ideas develop as an ongoing process rather than the naive positivists' account. Such history shows, for example, that scholars do not accept certain models, paradigms, or emphasized areas of interests as a result of careful scientific testing. Instead, complex interactions between personalities, ideologies, and the normal scientific researches lead to economic idea development. Thomas S. Kuhn has documented how little scientific research in general is affected by the history of science (“The History of Science” in International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 14:81).
Economists have neglected three key areas of legitimate concern: (1) methodological considerations, (2) political economy, and (3) alternative systems.
- (1) Apart from a few disjointed comments on methodology (mainly dealing with the wertfrei presuppositions of an econometric economics), most economic courses neglect key questions in method such as: Should economists maintain the distinction between positive and normative areas of study? Should economists confine their scholarship to positive, wertfrei discourse? Why do economists develop certain economic problems to the neglect of “real world” problems? Should economists confine their methodology to the quantitative-mathematical approach? How does economics relate to the private property market system? Should economics entertain the more general approach to social analysis?
- (2) Economic science was once called political economy. Should the economist not deal with this older, broader conception rather than compulsively confining himself to his role of wertfrei scientist? For example, how does competition and division of labor affect man's nature? Should not economics relate to vital political and moral issues?
- (3) Finally, the history of political economy could stimulate economists and students by acquainting them with alternative economic systems including Marxism or more consistent market models.
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