Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak

Notes on a Crisis The Exzerpthefte and Marx’s Method of Research and Composition

This paper presents Notebook B113, one of Marx’s unpublished manuscripts, and suggests its importance for highlighting the monetary and financial issues which Marx was investigating after 1867. The contents of this notebook reveal a systematic effort to investigate new features of financial markets and institutions which were spreading throughout Europe during the 1860’s, and which were put in sharp evidence by the events that surrounded the Overend, Gurney crisis in England, in 1866. Besides offering valuable clues with respect to Marx’s method of investigation and composition, the relevance of the themes comprised in the notebook for the analysis developed in part five of Capital’s volume III suggests that these manuscript excerpts and notes were part of the preparatory material for a future revision of that book, which Marx was never able to carry through. JEL Classification: B14; B31

Dreams of Order and Freedom: Debating Trade Management in Early 17th Century England

The catharsis produced by the early 1620’s trade crisis had a significant impact on the way economic themes were regarded by public opinion in England. As a result, those who analyze the ideas put forward in the documents written during that period – be they printed pamphlets or official memoranda – are left with the impression that an adequate supply of money was the undisputed primary concern as regards economic administration. However, as already stressed by Barry Supple, monetary administration only occupied a prominent position in the political agenda of early 17th century England during times of crisis – that is, when the kingdom was faced with a perceived threat of demonetization. This paper tries to show that, during the first two decades of the 17th century, concern with an inflow of bullion and a positive balance of trade was only of secondary importance, being normally overshadowed by a more fundamental aim: promoting a well-ordered structure for the economic relations of the kingdom, according to specific views of what constituted proper trade management. This approach encompassed both foreign and domestic activities, and found its most evident manifestation in the debates about free trade and monopolies which permeated the whole of James I’s reign.

Merchants and councilors: intellectual divergences in early 17th century British economic thought

During the early 1620s, England went through a period of intense economic disorders which sparked the interest of many in economic reasoning. The decade witnessed the emergence of the most relevant pieces of economic literature of the early Stuart era, but the debate was not restricted to the abstract confrontation of economic writers. The fundamental issue at stake in the controversies between Malynes, Misselden, and Mun - the integration of money and international trade in a coherent explanation of economic phenomena - was also the subject of much care in the public sphere at large. The parliamentary session of 1621, in particular, put in evidence not only the fundamental relevance of the matter for understanding Englands economic maladies, but also the great difficulties involved in its investigation. By bringing all these elements together, this paper seeks to articulate a more dense and meaningful portrait of the prevailing state of economic ideas in early 17th century England.

Moeda, tesouro e riqueza: uma anatomia conceitual do mercantilismo britânico do início do século 17

When evaluating theoretical systems of the past, one is frequently misled by tacitly identifying yesterdays theoretical concepts with those currently prevailing, a problem made more serious when dealing with ideas which predate the full consolidation of a discipline. Studies of mercantilistic doctrine use to be tainted by such difficulties. In the present article, we offer a new perspective regarding the ideas of seventeenth-century British economic authors, evaluating them in light of their proper intellectual context. We argue that the period is characterized by an understanding of the economic realm in which money plays a central role. Authors such as Malynes, Misselden and Mun have believed that a proper money management could assure a well-functioning international trade and dynamize domestic economic activity, guaranteeing national prosperity. Comprehending this shared analytical base, we can grasp the origins of the intense divergences among those authors, which would determine the path of subsequent theoretical debate.

Economists, social scientists, and the reconstruction of the world order in interwar Britain

Abstract The early decades of the 20th century witnessed much discussion about the separation between positive and normative analysis, and the legitimacy of the prescriptive claims often advanced by social scientists. The paper investigates British debates about the reconstruction of the world order as a topic that brought together social analysts with very different backgrounds, and had the LSE as one of its focal points. The urgency of international politics at the time made it more difficult to sustain a clear distinction between positive analysis and policy prescription. To Lionel Robbins, the topic belonged to the applied domain of political economy.

Creating academic economics in Brazil: the Ford Foundation and the beginnings of ANPEC

The 1960s saw the beginning of an effort to improve professional standards in Brazilian academia through cooperation with a few North American institutions, in the context of an important and controversial set of agreements between the Brazilian Ministry of Education (MEC) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). In the case of economics, the Ford Foundation was especially relevant, providing substantial funding for the creation of the first graduate programs in the field in Brazil. An important moment in this process took place in 1973 with the creation of ANPEC, an association of graduate programs in economics whose purpose was to organize and stimulate institutional interaction among its members. ANPEC is still today the most important association for academic economics in Brazil, exercising leadership through both its annual meetings and a national unified exam for admission in graduate programs in the field. The paper explores archival material from the period 1964-74 held at the Ford Foundation, which illuminates both the interaction between representatives of the Foundation and of different Brazilian academic institutions, and the strategy pursued by the former in order to develop the economics profession in the country. We thus seek to contribute to a better understanding of the conflicting motivations that lay behind the creation of ANPEC, and of the effects that the association would have on the emerging graduate programs in Brazil.

Economists, social scientists, and the reconstruction of the world order in interwar britain

The early decades of the 20th century in Europe witnessed a wealth of discussion on the epistemology of the social sciences. Not only were the boundaries between different disciplinary fields being redrawn, but also the nature of scientific knowledge about human and social affairs came under careful scrutiny. One prominent issue in debate was the separation between positive and normative analysis, and the legitimacy of the prescriptive claims often advanced by social scientists. The paper attempts to investigate this process through the lenses of contemporary debates on international politics. During the interwar years, the reconstruction of the world order provided a topic over which social analysts of different backgrounds and persuasions could debate and interact, thus exploring the limits of the knowledge they produced. In England, authors as diverse as Bertrand Russell, Graham Wallas, Harold Laski, Karl Mannheim, John Hobson, and Lionel Robbins were all part of this conversation, which transgressed most disciplinary boundaries. As a pressing issue in the European agenda at the time, however, international politics also made it more difficult to sustain a clear distinction between positive analysis and policy prescription. In the works of Robbins, one can see the topic treated as part of the applied domain of political economy.

Funding Policy Research Under “Distasteful Regimes”: the Ford Foundation and the Social Sciences at the University of Brasília

The Ford Foundation’s initial effort to assist in the development of the social sciences in Brazil coincided with the early years of the military regime that ruled the country between 1964 and 1985. Given the Foundation’s expressed goal of fostering research that was of potential relevance for public policy, the Brazilian political context posed a difficult dilemma. The issue came to the forefront amid discussions over a proposal for the creation of a Master’s Program in Economics at the University of Brasilia (UnB). Although UnB’s modern institutional structure was ideally suited for the Foundation’s purposes, the university had been subject to repeated military interventions in late 1960’s. Moreover, its geographical closeness to the seat of Brazilian political power arose concerns that it could become an instrument in the hands of the military government. Using evidence from the Ford Foundation archives, the paper attempts to illuminate the institutional context surrounding the development of academic economics in Brazil in the late 1960s and early 1970s, in its relations to the deeper social and political currents in effect at the time.

Beyond Thomas Mun: The Economic Ideas of Edward Coke, Francis Bacon, and Lionel Cranfield

This paper proposes to approach the economic ideas which prevailed in England during the early 17th century by moving beyond the historical and analytical exegesis of the printed pamphlets of the time, and focusing instead on the intellectual perspectives brought to bear upon economic matters by three of the most prominent public figures of late Jacobean England: Lionel Cranfield, Francis Bacon, and Edward Coke. As civil servants, all three of them were directly involved in the formulation of public policies aimed at economic regulation. Bacon and Coke, however, approached this problem as part of a larger system of public policy whose purpose was to promote order and stability in the commonwealth at large. Cranfield, on the other hand, brought a mercantile perspective to bear on the matter, emphasizing the importance of a favorable balance of trade, and stressing the usefulness of quantitative data in the assessment of economic phenomena. It is concluded that while Tudor political and social philosophy still dominated the way in which the English crown dealt with problems of an economic nature, the new perspective introduced by Cranfield exerted a perceptible influence within official circles.

Torricelli, energia a vapor e o sentido tecnológico da Revolução Científica

Starting from Evangelista Torricellis pneumatic discoveries, we try to show that the crucial discoveries in pure science associated with the Scientific Revolution, although they may not have found immediate practical applications, have markedly impelled technological progress in the medium term - contrary to the diffused notion which states that the links between science and technology during the modern period have been tenuous, at best. Torricellis ideas have turned into one of the privileged research areas for then newborn experimental program, actively participating in a process of reformulation in scientific researchs epistemological base, which have culminated in steam power productive application.