Tiziano Raffaelli

Whatever happened to Marshall's industrial economics?

Industry and Trade and the works on industrial economics by the Cambridge school – Chapman, Macgregor, Robertson, Lavington, A. Robinson and Florence – are usually neglected as if they were devoid of theoretical relevance. By contrast, the author argues that Marshalls evolutionary model, centred on the continuous interplay between innovation and standardization, inspired original research on localization, business size, coordination costs and industrial combinations. The paper also suggests that Marshallian ideas on the growth of firms and the structure of industrial organization are coming back in contemporary evolutionary theories of the firm.

Marshall on mind and society: neurophysiological models applied to industrial and business organization

The paper examines Marshalls views on industrial organization in the light of his early interest in mental philosophy: routines are necessary for the functioning not only of mind but also of society, though in both cases they enhance the dangers of excessive specialization and ‘overburdening’. Marshalls ideal mix, already clear in his early paper Ye Machine, was the subordination of a powerful and growing set of routines to human creativity and foresight. The ‘neurophysiological analogy’ helps to understand Marshalls opinions on division of labour, business concentration, industrial districts, ‘character’ and other general issues of social evolution.

Utilitarian Premises and the Evolutionary Framework of Marshall's Economics

Alfred Marshalls ethics, critically examined by Parsons in the 1930s and often the target of unfair remarks in the past, has become the object of more sympathetic and detailed studies in recent years. These studies have tried to redress the balance that had been upset by routine criticisms, and to prove that Marshalls interest in ethics was neither lip-service to conventional morality nor uncritical acceptance thereof. Moreover, they have vindicated Marshalls claim that his economics, though unconnected to any ethical philosophy, was still one of the moral sciences, inseparable from ethical considerations.

On Marshall's presumed idealism: A note on The Intellectual Foundations of Alfred Marshall's Economic Science. A Rounded Globe of Knowledge by Simon Cook

Abstract In his book, Cook maintains that throughout his life Marshall was a convinced idealist, under the early influence of Ferrier, later strengthened by his reading of Hegel. This article aims to show that Marshalls interest in Hegelian philosophy is associated owith his endorsement of Spencers evolutionism, rather than with Ferriers dualistic philosophy. This opinion stems from, and leads to, a completely different interpretation of Marshalls early philosophical papers and their impact on his economics and social thought.

Marshall's Metaphors on Method

This paper, in a roundabout way, deals with Alfred Marshalls views on method, examining the metaphors, similes, and analogies by which they were expressed; or, conversely, it investigates his use of metaphors as a means to convey methodological reflections. Marshalls biological analogy has aroused much controversy in the past; it is to be hoped that a more comprehensive investigation will allow us to place the metaphors/method relationship in a wider context.