Saturday, October 17, 2009

Heterodox Economics Movements I Don't Pay Much Attention To

As I understand it, each of the following had advocates around the globe in the first half of the twentieth century:
  • Georgism (I have read Progress & Poverty)
  • Silvio Gesell (Mentioned by Keynes in Chapter 23 of the General Theory)
  • Social credit (Keynes also mentions Major Douglas in Chapter 23 of the General Theory)
  • Technocracy
I gather remnants of their advocate organizations still exist. But I gather they have little representation among academic economists.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Social Credit party ruled the Canadian province of Alberta from the mid-1930s until 1971. It has been a fringe party since the (?) late 1970s. I believe that Alberta may be unique among Canadian provinces in that the party in power enjoys this status often for decades, often facing a weak opposition with few seats in the provincial legislature. The current Conservative government has been in power since 1971, often (re)elected with huge majorities. Here are some resources:

http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=106

http://www.abheritage.ca/abpolitics/events/party_social.html

http://mqup.mcgill.ca/book.php?bookid=1288

Chris

Robert Vienneau said...

Thanks for the comment. I have trouble following Canadian policies. Which parties exist seems to vary from province to province.

Bruce Wilder said...

I often complain that American neo-liberals want a government by "technocrats", minimizing or denying the conflict of interests, ideas and taste.

Your comment made me wonder if the fairly pervasive faith in small "t" technocracy among American economists has any roots in capital "T" Technocracy.