Neoclassical Theory in America: J. B. Clark and
Fisher, James Tobin, September 1985
"The intellectual breakthroughs that mark the neoclassical revolution in economic
analysis occurred in Europe around 1870. The next two decades witnessed lively debates in
which the new theory more or less absorbed or was absorbed in the classical tradition that
preceded and provoked it. In the 1890s, according to Joseph A. Schumpeter (1954, p. 754)
there emerged "a large expanse of common ground and ... a feeling of repose, both of
which created, in the superficial observer, an impression of finality -- the finality of a
Greek temple that spreads its perfect lines against a cloudless sky." Of course the
temple was by no means complete. Its building and decoration continue to this day, even
while its faithful throngs worship within. American economists were not present at the
creation. To a considerable extent they built their own edifice independently, designing
some new architecture in the process. They participated actively in the international
controversies and syntheses of the period 1870-1914. At least two Americans were prominent
builders of the "temple," John Bates Clark and Irving Fisher. They and others
brought neoclassical theory into American journals, classrooms, and textbooks, and its
analytical tools into the kits of researchers and practitioners. Eventually, for better or
worse, their paradigm would dominate economic science in this country. This paper
discusses their contribution..."
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Source: http://cowles.econ.yale.edu/P/ab/a07/a0776.htm
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