Come back Marshall, all is forgiven? : Complexity, evolution, mathematics and Marshallian exceptionalism

Marshall was the great synthesiser of neoclassical economics. Yet with his qualified assumption of self-interest, his emphasis on variation in economic evolution and his cautious attitude to the use of mathematics, Marshall differs fundamentally from other leading neoclassical contemporaries. Metaphors inspire more specific analogies and ontological assumptions, and Marshall used the guiding metaphor of Spencerian evolution. But unfortunately, the further development of a Marshallian evolutionary approach was undermined in part by theoretical problems within Spencer's theory. Yet some things can be salvaged from the Marshallian evolutionary vision. They may even be placed in a more viable Darwinian framework.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Alfred Marshall and the Labour Commission

1992 is one of the centenary years of Alfred Marshall's work on the Royal Commission on Labour, which enquired into labour relations, combinations of employers and employees and conditions of labour. Although Marshall contributed substantially to its Final Report - according to Mary Paley "the parts dealing with Trade Unions, Minimum Wage, and irregularity of employment" - his extensive involvement to this mammoth inquiry (it produced 49 volumes) has been infrequently recognised. In his memoir, Keynes, mentioned it briefly as an "interruption" to Marshall's more academic writing. Petridis does not mention it in his classical discussion of Marshall on trade unions. To commemorate this Marshall Centenary (and the sesquicentenary of his birth) this paper fills this gap in the Marshall literature. After briefly examining background to the Commission, the paper investigates the salient features of Marshall's contributions to its work. These include an evaluation not only of his contributions to the Final Report, but of his performance as interrogator and more generally to assess the accuracy of his expost (1919) reflection that his "service on the Royal Commission on Labour" was the period when he received "the most valuable education" of his life "from working men and other witnesses, and from members of the Commis sion".