Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T07:10:49.321Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

THE RADICAL SCHOOL AND THE ECONOMICS OF EDUCATION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 August 2016

Franck Bailly*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Law, Economics and Management, University of Rouen, France, [email protected].

Abstract

The economics of education gradually became institutionalized in the period following the Second World War. Human capital theory was the central pillar in this process. Nevertheless, it did not go unchallenged. The first challenges came from within the mainstream itself, but economists affiliated to other paradigms also called human capital theory into question. This applied in particular to the work of the radical economists. The aim of this article is to document this critical episode in the history of ideas in the economics of education. To that end, the nature of the radical economists’ critique is examined and it is shown how it connects to human capital theory.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The History of Economics Society 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Arestis, Philip, and Sawyer, Malcom. 2000. A Biographical Dictionary of Dissenting Economists. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.Google Scholar
Arrow, Kenneth. 1973. “Higher Education as a Filter.” Journal of Public Economics 2 (3): 193216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Backhouse, Roger. 1994. “The Fixation of Economics Beliefs.” Journal of Economic Methodology 1 (1): 3342.Google Scholar
Backhouse, Roger. 2000. “Progress in Heterodox Economics.” Journal of the History of Economic Thought 22 (2): 149155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baudelot, Christian, and Establet, Roger. 1971. L’école capitaliste en France. Paris: Maspero.Google Scholar
Becker, Gary. 1957. The Economics of Discrimination. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Becker, Gary. 1964. Human Capital. A Theoritical and Empirical Analysis, with Special Reference to Education. NBER. New York/London: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Blaug, Mark. 1972. An Introduction to the Economics of Education. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Blaug, Mark. 1976. “The Empirical Status of Human Capital Theory: A Slightly Jaundiced Survey.” Journal of Economic Literature 14 (3): 827855.Google Scholar
Blaug, Mark. 1983. “A Methodological Appraisal of Radical Economics.” In William Coats, Alfred, ed., Methodological Controversy in Economics: Historical Essays in Honor of T. W. Hutchison. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press Inc, pp. 211245.Google Scholar
Blaug, Mark. 1985. “Where Are We Now in the Economics of Education?” Economics of Education Review 4 (1): 1728.Google Scholar
Blaug, Mark. 1986. “Bowles.” In Blaug, Mark, Great Economists since Keynes: An Introduction to the Lives & Works of One Hundred Great Economists of the Past. New York: Harvester Press.Google Scholar
Bowles, Samuel. 1967. “The Efficient Allocation of Resources in Education.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 81 (2): 189219.Google Scholar
Bowles, Samuel. 1970. “Towards an Educational Production Function” In Hansen, Lee, ed., Education, Income, and Human Capital. Cambridge: NBER Studies in Economics and Wealth, no. 38, pp. 1170.Google Scholar
Bowles, Samuel. 1971. “Unequal Education and the Reproduction of the Social Division of Labor.” Review of Radical Political Economics 3 (1): 130.Google Scholar
Bowles, Samuel. 1972. “Schooling and Inequality from Generation to Generation.” Journal of Political Economy 83 (3): S219S251.Google Scholar
Bowles, Samuel. 1973. “Understanding Unequal Economic Opportunity.” American Economic Review 63 (2): 346358.Google Scholar
Bowles, Samuel. 1974. “The Integration of Higher Education into the Wage Labor System.” Review of Radical Political Economics 6 (1): 100133.Google Scholar
Bowles, Samuel. 1978. “Capitalist Development and Educational Structure.” World Development 6 (6): 783796.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowles, Samuel. 1985. “The Production Process in a Competitive Economy: Walrasian, Non-Hobbesian, and Marxian Models.” American Economic Review 75 (1):1636.Google Scholar
Bowles, Samuel, and Gintis, Herbert. 1975. “The Problem with Human Capital Theory: A Marxian Critique.” American Economic Review 65 (2): 7482.Google Scholar
Bowles, Samuel, and Gintis, Herbert. 1986. Democracy and Capitalism: Property, Community, and the Contradictions of Modern Social Thought. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Bowles, Samuel, and Levin, Henry. 1968a. “The Determinants of Scholatic Achievement: An Appraisal of Some Recent Evidence.” Journal of Human Resources 3 (1): 324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowles, Samuel, and Levin, Henry. 1968b. “More on Multicollinearity and the Effectiveness of Schools.” Journal of Human Resources 3 (3): 393400.Google Scholar
Bowles, Samuel, and Nelson, Valerie. 1974. “The ‘Inheritance of IQ’ and the Intergenerational Reproduction of Economic Inequality.” Review of Economics and Statistics 56 (1): 3951.Google Scholar
Bowles, Samuel, Gintis, Herbert, and Meyer, Peter. 1975. “Education, IQ, and the Legitimation of the Social Division of Labor.” Berkeley Journal of Sociology 20: 233264.Google Scholar
Boyer, George, and Smith, Robert. 2001. “The Development of the Neoclassical Tradition in Labor Economics.” Industrial and Labor Relation Review 54 (2): 199223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre, and Passeron, Jean-Claude. 1970. La reproduction. Elements pour une théorie du système d’enseignement. Paris: Les éditions de Minuit.Google Scholar
Bramhall, David. 1975. “Toward a Theory Practice of Radical Classroom.” Review of Radical Political Economics 6 (4): 5565.Google Scholar
Brunetta, Renato. 1991. “Labour Economics: History and Theory.” Labour 5 (1): 75100.Google Scholar
Carnoy, Martin. 1971. “Class Analysis and Investment in Human Resources: A Dynamic Model.” Review of Radical Political Economics 3 (4): 5681.Google Scholar
Dearden, Lorraine, Machin, Stephen, and Vignoles, Anna. 2009. “Economics of Education Research: A Review and Future Prospects.” Oxford Review of Education 35 (5): 617632.Google Scholar
De Meulemeester, Jean-Luc. 2007. “L’économie de l’éducation fait-elle des progrès? Une perspective d’histoire de la pensée économique.” Brussels Economic Review 50 (1): 89111.Google Scholar
De Meulemeester, Jean-Luc, and Diebolt, Claude. 2004. “The Economics of Education: Unkept Promises?” Brussels Economic Review 47 (3/4): 303319.Google Scholar
Doeringer, Peter, and Piore, Michael. 1971. Internal Labor Markets and Manpower Adjustment. New York: D.C. Heath and Company.Google Scholar
Dow, Sheila. 2000. “Prospects for the Progress of Heterodox Economics.” Journal of the History of Economic Thought 22 (2): 157170.Google Scholar
Edwards, Richard. 1976. “Individual Traits and Organizational Incentives: What Makes a ‘Good’ Worker?” Journal of Human Resources 11 (1): 5168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, Richard. 1977. “Personal Traits and ‘Success’ in Schooling and Work.” Educational and Psychological Measurements 37 (1): 125138.Google Scholar
Edwards, Richard. 1978. “The Social Relations of Production at the Point of Production.” Insurgent Sociologist 8 (2–3): 109125.Google Scholar
Edwards, Richard, and MacEwan, Arthur. 1970. “A Radical Approach to Economics: Basis for a New Curriculum.” American Economic Review 60 (2): 352363.Google Scholar
Flaherty, Diane. 2008. “Radical Economics.” In Durlauf, Steven N. and Blume, Lawrence E., eds., The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Second Edition. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 835840.Google Scholar
Folbre, Nancy. 1980. “Patriachy in Colonial New England.” Review of Radical Political Economics 12 (2): 413.Google Scholar
Folbre, Nancy. 1984. “The Pauperization of Motherhood: Patriarchy and Public Policy in the United States.” Review of Radical Political Economics 16 (4): 7288.Google Scholar
Folbre, Nancy. 2012. “The Political Economy of Human Capital.” Review of Radical Political Economics 44 (3): 281292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallaway, Lowell, and Vedder, Richard. 2003. “Ideas versus Ideology: The Origins of Modern Labor Economics.” Journal of Labor Research 24 (4): 643668.Google Scholar
Gintis, Herbert. 1971. “Education, Technology, and the Characteristics of Worker Productivity.” American Economic Review 61 (2): 266279.Google Scholar
Gintis, Herbert. 1974. “Welfare Criteria with Endogenous Preferences: The Economics of Education.” International Economic Review 15 (2): 415430.Google Scholar
Gintis, Herbert. 1976. “The Nature of the Labor Exchange of the Theory of Capitalist Production.” Review of Radical Political Economics 8 (2): 3654.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glenn, Evelyn Nakano. 1985. “Racial Ethnic Women’s Labor: The Intersection of Race, Gender and Class Oppression.” Review of Radical Political Economics 17 (3): 86108.Google Scholar
Hartmann, Heidi, and Markusen, Ann. 1980. “Contemporary Marxist Theory and Practice: A Feminist Critique.” Review of Radical Political Economics 12 (2): 8794.Google Scholar
Hechman, James, and Kautz, Tim. 2012. “Hard Evidence on Soft Skills.” Labour Economics 19 (4): 451464.Google Scholar
Kaufman, Bruce. 2008. “Jacob Mincer’s Contribution to Modern Labor Economics: A Review Essay.” Working paper 2008-8-1. Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.Google Scholar
Klein, Philip. 1992. “Institutionalists, Radical Economists, and Class.” Journal of Economic Issues 26 (2): 535544.Google Scholar
Lee, Frederic S. 2004. “History and Identity: The Case of Radical Economics and Radical Economists, 1945–70.” Review of Radical Political Economics 36 (2): 177195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindbeck, Assar. 1972. “Symposium: Economics of The New Left, Rejoinder.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 86 (4): 665683.Google Scholar
Machin, Stephen. 2008. “The New Economics of Education: Methods, Evidence and Policy.” Journal of Population Economics 21 (1): 119.Google Scholar
Marglin, Stephen. 1974. “What Do Bosses Do? The Origins and Functions of Hierarchy in Capitalist Production.” Review of Radical Political Economics 6 (2): 60112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mata, Tiago. 2009. “Migrations and Boundary Work: Harvard, Radical Economists and the Committee on Political Discrimination.” Science in Context 22 (1): 115143.Google Scholar
Mata, Tiago. 2010. “The Enemy Within: Academic Freedom in 1960s and 1970s American Social Sciences.” Supplement, History of Political Economy 42 (1): 77104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCrate, Elaine. 1988. “Gender Difference: The Role of Endogenous Preferences and Collective Action.” American Economic Review 78 (2): 235239.Google Scholar
McCrate, Elaine. 1996. “Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis.” In Samuels, Warren J., ed., American Economists of the Late Twentieth Century. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 117.Google Scholar
McNulty, Paul. 1980. The Origins and Development of Labor Economics. A Chapter in the History of Social Thought. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Morgan, Mary, and Rutherford, Malcolm. 1998. “American Economics: The Character of the Transformation.” Supplement, History of Political Economy 30 (5): 126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quick, Paddy. 1977. “The Class Nature of Women’s Oppression.” Review of Radical Political Economics 9 (3): 4253.Google Scholar
Reich, Michael. 1993. “Radical Economics in Historical Perspective.” Review of Radical Political Economics 25 (3): 4350.Google Scholar
Reich, Michael, Gordon, David, and Edwards, Richard. 1973. “Dual Labor Market Segmentation.” American Economic Review 63 (2): 359365.Google Scholar
Rebitzer, James. 1993. “Radical Political Economy and the Economics of Labor Markets.” Journal of Economic Literature 31 (3): 13941434.Google Scholar
Rosen, Sherwin. 1977. “Human Capital: A Survey of Empirical Research.” In Ehrenberg, Ronald, ed., Research in Labor Economics. Volume 1. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, pp. 339.Google Scholar
Spence, Michael. 1973. “Job Market Signaling.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 87 (3): 355374.Google Scholar
Spencer, David. 2000. “The Demise of Radical Political Economics? An Essay on the Evolution of a Theory of Capitalist Production.” Cambridge Journal of Economics 24 (5): 543564.Google Scholar
Teixeira, Pedro Nuno. 2000. “A Portrait of the Economics of Education, 1960–1997.” History of Political Economy 32 (1): 257287.Google Scholar
Teixeira, Pedro Nuno. 2005. “The ‘Human Capital Revolution’ in Economics.” History of Economic Ideas 13 (2): 129148.Google Scholar
Teixeira, Pedro Nuno. 2007. Jacob Mincer. A Founding Father of Modern Labor Economics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Teixeira, Pedro Nuno. 2011. “A Reluctant Founding Father: Placing Jacob Mincer in the History of (Labor) Economics.” European Journal of History of Economic Thought 18 (5): 673695.Google Scholar
Tinel, Bruno. 2002. “Hiérarchie et pouvoir en microéconomie: histoire d’un dialogue houleux.” Economies et Sociétés, série OEconomia. “Histoire de la pensée économique,” PE, 36 (11–12): 17891821.Google Scholar
Tinel, Bruno. 2004. A quoi servent les patrons. Marglin et les radicaux américains. Lyon: ENS Editions.Google Scholar
Willis, Robert. 1986. “Wage Determinants: A Survey and Reinterpretation of Human Capital Earnings Functions.” In Ashenfelter, Orley C. and Layard, Richard, eds., Handbook of Labor Economics. Volume 1. Amsterdam, Oxford, and Tokyo: North-Holland, pp. 525602.Google Scholar
Wachtel, Howard. 1974. “Class Consciousness and Stratification in the Labor Process.” Review of Radical Political Economics 6 (1): 131.Google Scholar