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UNDERSTANDING CLARENCE AYRES’S CRITICISM OF AN EMERGING MAINSTREAM AND BIRTHING INSTITUTIONALISM THROUGH THE 1930S AYRES-KNIGHT DEBATE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2020

Felipe Almeida  and
Marco Cavalieri
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Abstract

Clarence Ayres was a strong dissenting voice in US economics during the twentieth century. In the 1930s, a debate between Ayres and Frank Knight was published by the International Journal of Ethics. Although the debate focused on ethics, the evolution of economics was also discussed. This paper proposes an understanding of Ayres’s ideas based on the context in which he made them. This context is defined by the 1930s Ayres-Knight debate and the archival correspondence between Ayres and Knight during the 1930s.

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Articles
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Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 42 , Issue 3 , September 2020 , pp. 401 - 416
Copyright
© The History of Economics Society 2020

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Footnotes

Felipe Almeida and Marco Cavalieri are professors of economics at the Federal University of Paraná (Brazil). This paper was initially presented at the History of Economics Society Conference and the Brazilian National Conference of Economics in 2017. We want to thank the audiences at these meetings for their suggestions. Thanks as well to the JHET editors and to anonymous referees. This research has been supported by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) in Brazil.

References

REFERENCES

Clarence Ayres Papers, Briscoe Center of American History, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas.Google Scholar
Ayres’s Record of Work, The Graduate School, The University of Chicago Office of the Recorder Archives.Google Scholar
Asso, Pier Francesco, and Fiorito, Luca. 2008. “Was Frank Knight an Institutionalist?” Review of Political Economy 20 (1): 59–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayres, Clarence. 1918a. “The Epistemological Significance of Social Psychology.” The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods 15 (2): 35–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayres, Claren. 1918b. “The Function and Problems of Economic Theory.” Journal of Political Economy 26 (1): 69–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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Ayres, Clarence. 1918d. The Nature of the Relationship Between Ethics and Economics. Philosophic Studies No. 8. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Ayres, Clarence. 1921a. “Instinct and Capacity I: The Instinct of Belief-in-Instincts.” The Journal of Philosophy 18 (21): 561–565.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayres, Clarence. 1921b. “Instinct and Capacity II: Homo Domesticus.” The Journal of Philosophy 18 (22): 600–606.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayres, Clarence. [1927] 1973. Science: The False Messiah. New Jersey: Augustus M. Kelley Publishers.Google Scholar
Ayres, Clarence. [1929] 1973. Holier Than Thou: The Way of the Righteous. New Jersey: Augustus M. Kelley Publishers.Google Scholar
Ayres, Clarence. 1932. Huxley. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Ayres, Clarence. 1933. “The Basis of Economic Statesmanship.” The American Economic Review 23 (2): 200–216.Google Scholar
Ayres, Clarence. 1935a. “Moral Confusion in Economics.” International Journal of Ethics 45 (2): 170–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayres, Clarence. 1935b. “Confusion Thrice Confounded.” International Journal of Ethics 45 (3): 356–358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayres, Clarence. 1944. The Theory of Economic Progress. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Biddle, Jeff, Davis, John, and Medema, Steven, eds. 2001. Economics Broadly Considered: Essays in Honor of Warren J. Samuels. London and New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breit, William. 1973. “The Development of Clarence Ayres’s Theoretical Institutionalism.” Social Science Quarterly 54 (2): 244–257.Google Scholar
Breit, William, and Culbertson, William Patton Jr, eds. 1976. Science and Ceremony: The Institutional Economics of C. E. Ayres. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Brinkman, Richard. 1997. “Toward a Culture-Conception of Technology.” Journal of Economic Issues 31(4): 1027–1038.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buchanan, James. 1976. “Methods and Morals in Economics: The Ayres-Knight Discussion.” In Breit, William and Culbertson, William Patton Jr, eds., Science and Ceremony: The Institutional Economics of C. E. Ayres. Austin: University of Texas Press, pp. 163–174.Google Scholar
Cavalieri, Marco, and Almeida, Felipe. 2017. “A History of the Founding and the Early Years of AFEE: Pluralism and Eclecticism in Dissenting.” Journal of Economic Issues 51 (3): 613–634.Google Scholar
Coats, Alfred William (“Bob”). 1976. “Clarence Ayres’s Place in the History of American Economics: An Interim Assessment.” In Breit, William and Culbertson, William Patton Jr, eds., Science and Ceremony: The Institutional Economics of C. E. Ayres. Austin: University of Texas Press, pp. 23–48.Google Scholar
Cohen, Avi. 2014. “Veblen Contra Clark and Fisher: Veblen-Robinson-Harcourt Lineages in Capital Controversies and Beyond.” Cambridge Journal of Economics 38 (6): 1493–1515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeGregori, Thomas. 1977. “Ethics and Economic Inquiry: The Ayres-Knight Debate and the Problem of Economic Order.” The American Journal of Economics and Sociology 36 (1): 41–50.Google Scholar
Dewey, John. 1910. How We Think. New York: DC Heath & Co Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dewey, John. 1921. Human Nature and Conduct: An Introduction to Social Psychology. New York: DC Heath & Co Publishers.Google Scholar
Emmett, Ross. 2009. Frank Knight and the Chicago School in American Economics. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fiorito, Luca. 2012. “American Institutionalism at Chicago: A Documentary Note.” European Journal of History of Economic Thought 19 (5): 829–836.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gruchy, Allan. 1972. Contemporary Economic Thought: The Contribution of Neo-Institutional Economics. Clinton: Augustus J. Kelley.Google Scholar
Knight, Frank. 1935. “Intellectual Confusion on Morals and Economics.” International Journal of Ethics 45 (2): 200–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawson, Clive. 2009. “Ayres, Technology and Technical Objects.” Journal of Economic Issues 43 (3): 641–660.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayhew, Anne. 2000. “Clarence Ayres, Technology, Pragmatism and Progress.” Cambridge Journal of Economics 34: 213–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCann, Charles, and Kapuria-Foreman, Vibha. 2016. “Robert Franklin Hoxie: The Contributions of a Neglected Chicago Economist.” Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology 34B: 219–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutherford, Malcolm. 1981. “Clarence Ayres and the Instrumental Theory of Value.” Journal of Economic Issues 15 (3): 657–673.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutherford, Malcolm. 1984. “Thorstein Veblen and the Processes of Institutional Change.” History of Political Economy 16 (3): 331–348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutherford, Malcolm. 2001. “Walton Hamilton, Amherst, and the Brookings Graduate School: Institutional Economics and Education.” Department Discussion Papers 0104, Department of Economics, University of Victoria.Google Scholar
Rutherford, Malcolm. 2011. The Institutionalist Movement in American Economics, 1918–1947: Science and Social Control. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutherford, Malcolm. 2015a. “American Institutionalism after 1945.” Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology 33: 95–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutherford, Malcolm. 2015b. “Chicago and Institutional Economics.” Available on the Becker Friedman Institute website: https://bfi.uchicago.edu/working-paper/chicago-and-institutional-economics/. Accessed July 21, 2020.Google Scholar
Samuels, Warren. 1977. “The Knight-Ayres Correspondence: The Grounds of Knowledge and Social Action.” Journal of Economic Issues 11 (3): 485–525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Veblen, Thorstein. [1898] 1998. “Why Is Economics Not an Evolutionary Science?” Cambridge Journal of Economics 22: 403–414. Originally published: The Quarterly Journal of Economics (July 1898): 373–397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Veblen, Thorstein. [1899] 2007. The Theory of the Leisure Class. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Veblen, Thorstein. 1900. “The Preconceptions of Economic Science III.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 14 (2): 240–269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Veblen, Thorstein. [1904] 2005. The Theory of Business Enterprise. New York: The New York American Library.Google Scholar
Veblen, Thorstein. 1906. “The Place of Science in Modern Civilization.” American Journal of Sociology 11 (5): 585–609.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Veblen, Thorstein. [1919] 2012. The Engineers and the Price System. Eastford: Martino Fine Books.Google Scholar
Clarence Ayres Papers, Briscoe Center of American History, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas.Google Scholar
Ayres’s Record of Work, The Graduate School, The University of Chicago Office of the Recorder Archives.Google Scholar
Asso, Pier Francesco, and Fiorito, Luca. 2008. “Was Frank Knight an Institutionalist?” Review of Political Economy 20 (1): 59–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayres, Clarence. 1918a. “The Epistemological Significance of Social Psychology.” The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods 15 (2): 35–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayres, Claren. 1918b. “The Function and Problems of Economic Theory.” Journal of Political Economy 26 (1): 69–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayres, Clarence. 1918c. “The New Era of Fruitfulness in Ethical Thinking.” International Journal of Ethics 28 (3): 373–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayres, Clarence. 1918d. The Nature of the Relationship Between Ethics and Economics. Philosophic Studies No. 8. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Ayres, Clarence. 1921a. “Instinct and Capacity I: The Instinct of Belief-in-Instincts.” The Journal of Philosophy 18 (21): 561–565.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayres, Clarence. 1921b. “Instinct and Capacity II: Homo Domesticus.” The Journal of Philosophy 18 (22): 600–606.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayres, Clarence. [1927] 1973. Science: The False Messiah. New Jersey: Augustus M. Kelley Publishers.Google Scholar
Ayres, Clarence. [1929] 1973. Holier Than Thou: The Way of the Righteous. New Jersey: Augustus M. Kelley Publishers.Google Scholar
Ayres, Clarence. 1932. Huxley. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Ayres, Clarence. 1933. “The Basis of Economic Statesmanship.” The American Economic Review 23 (2): 200–216.Google Scholar
Ayres, Clarence. 1935a. “Moral Confusion in Economics.” International Journal of Ethics 45 (2): 170–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayres, Clarence. 1935b. “Confusion Thrice Confounded.” International Journal of Ethics 45 (3): 356–358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayres, Clarence. 1944. The Theory of Economic Progress. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Biddle, Jeff, Davis, John, and Medema, Steven, eds. 2001. Economics Broadly Considered: Essays in Honor of Warren J. Samuels. London and New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breit, William. 1973. “The Development of Clarence Ayres’s Theoretical Institutionalism.” Social Science Quarterly 54 (2): 244–257.Google Scholar
Breit, William, and Culbertson, William Patton Jr, eds. 1976. Science and Ceremony: The Institutional Economics of C. E. Ayres. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Brinkman, Richard. 1997. “Toward a Culture-Conception of Technology.” Journal of Economic Issues 31(4): 1027–1038.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buchanan, James. 1976. “Methods and Morals in Economics: The Ayres-Knight Discussion.” In Breit, William and Culbertson, William Patton Jr, eds., Science and Ceremony: The Institutional Economics of C. E. Ayres. Austin: University of Texas Press, pp. 163–174.Google Scholar
Cavalieri, Marco, and Almeida, Felipe. 2017. “A History of the Founding and the Early Years of AFEE: Pluralism and Eclecticism in Dissenting.” Journal of Economic Issues 51 (3): 613–634.Google Scholar
Coats, Alfred William (“Bob”). 1976. “Clarence Ayres’s Place in the History of American Economics: An Interim Assessment.” In Breit, William and Culbertson, William Patton Jr, eds., Science and Ceremony: The Institutional Economics of C. E. Ayres. Austin: University of Texas Press, pp. 23–48.Google Scholar
Cohen, Avi. 2014. “Veblen Contra Clark and Fisher: Veblen-Robinson-Harcourt Lineages in Capital Controversies and Beyond.” Cambridge Journal of Economics 38 (6): 1493–1515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeGregori, Thomas. 1977. “Ethics and Economic Inquiry: The Ayres-Knight Debate and the Problem of Economic Order.” The American Journal of Economics and Sociology 36 (1): 41–50.Google Scholar
Dewey, John. 1910. How We Think. New York: DC Heath & Co Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dewey, John. 1921. Human Nature and Conduct: An Introduction to Social Psychology. New York: DC Heath & Co Publishers.Google Scholar
Emmett, Ross. 2009. Frank Knight and the Chicago School in American Economics. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fiorito, Luca. 2012. “American Institutionalism at Chicago: A Documentary Note.” European Journal of History of Economic Thought 19 (5): 829–836.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gruchy, Allan. 1972. Contemporary Economic Thought: The Contribution of Neo-Institutional Economics. Clinton: Augustus J. Kelley.Google Scholar
Knight, Frank. 1935. “Intellectual Confusion on Morals and Economics.” International Journal of Ethics 45 (2): 200–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawson, Clive. 2009. “Ayres, Technology and Technical Objects.” Journal of Economic Issues 43 (3): 641–660.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayhew, Anne. 2000. “Clarence Ayres, Technology, Pragmatism and Progress.” Cambridge Journal of Economics 34: 213–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCann, Charles, and Kapuria-Foreman, Vibha. 2016. “Robert Franklin Hoxie: The Contributions of a Neglected Chicago Economist.” Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology 34B: 219–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutherford, Malcolm. 1981. “Clarence Ayres and the Instrumental Theory of Value.” Journal of Economic Issues 15 (3): 657–673.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutherford, Malcolm. 1984. “Thorstein Veblen and the Processes of Institutional Change.” History of Political Economy 16 (3): 331–348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutherford, Malcolm. 2001. “Walton Hamilton, Amherst, and the Brookings Graduate School: Institutional Economics and Education.” Department Discussion Papers 0104, Department of Economics, University of Victoria.Google Scholar
Rutherford, Malcolm. 2011. The Institutionalist Movement in American Economics, 1918–1947: Science and Social Control. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutherford, Malcolm. 2015a. “American Institutionalism after 1945.” Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology 33: 95–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutherford, Malcolm. 2015b. “Chicago and Institutional Economics.” Available on the Becker Friedman Institute website: https://bfi.uchicago.edu/working-paper/chicago-and-institutional-economics/. Accessed July 21, 2020.Google Scholar
Samuels, Warren. 1977. “The Knight-Ayres Correspondence: The Grounds of Knowledge and Social Action.” Journal of Economic Issues 11 (3): 485–525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Veblen, Thorstein. [1898] 1998. “Why Is Economics Not an Evolutionary Science?” Cambridge Journal of Economics 22: 403–414. Originally published: The Quarterly Journal of Economics (July 1898): 373–397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Veblen, Thorstein. [1899] 2007. The Theory of the Leisure Class. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Veblen, Thorstein. 1900. “The Preconceptions of Economic Science III.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 14 (2): 240–269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Veblen, Thorstein. [1904] 2005. The Theory of Business Enterprise. New York: The New York American Library.Google Scholar
Veblen, Thorstein. 1906. “The Place of Science in Modern Civilization.” American Journal of Sociology 11 (5): 585–609.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Veblen, Thorstein. [1919] 2012. The Engineers and the Price System. Eastford: Martino Fine Books.Google Scholar