OIKONOMOS: A Journal of Student Research in the History of Economic Thought

Book Review: The Great Persuasion by Angus Bergin

Ella Needler — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Book Review: National Economic Planning: What is Left? by Don Lavoie

David Waugh — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Why a Student Journal in the History of Economic Thought?

Aida Ramos — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The article introduces the inaugural issue of the journal, the journal's origins, and its purposes.

Keynes's Interpretation and Response to the Great Depression

Ella Needler — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This article uses broadcasts, lectures and newspaper pieces published by John Maynard Keynes from 1930 through 1934 to analyze how Keynes’s holistic perception of the Great Depression and proposed solution outlined an evolutionary way of approaching an economic crisis. I argue Keynes aided the progression of the economic system to solve the problems of Capitalism by appealing to the needs of businesses and workers. The research done for this paper was conducted at King’s College, Cambridge and so the majority of sources referenced throughout this paper are a part of the Keynes Papers found in the King’s College Archives. The discovery of such sources would not have been possible without the generosity of the Bemis and Eisner Summer Research Scholarship as well as the help from Professor Steven Fazzari and the King’s College archivists, Peter and Patricia.

Neoliberalism, Neoclassical Economics, and Foucault

Koen Smeets — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This paper examines the influence of American and German neo-liberalism on the dominant school of economics in their respective countries based on an extended version of Foucault’s The Birth of Biopolitics. The analyses of the American neoliberal economists, or anarcho-liberalists, legitimised the extension of the basic neoclassical model to non-economic, social phenomena and invalidated governmental intervention in both economic and social phenomena. In contrast, the assumption of the German neo-liberals, or Ordoliberals, of markets as artificial, imperfect constructs validated setting the right conditions for the market by the government. This analysis demonstrates and draws lessons from the historical conditions under which a school with divergent assumptions from perfect rationality and perfect competition became dominant in policymaking in a neo-liberal political-economic environment.

Moral Implications of Human Capital Theory in the History of Economic Thought

Bridget Macaulay — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Human capital theory states that investment in human capital, such as education or health care, creates returns like any other form of capital, such as increased productivity and maximization of wealth. The notion, however, has been consistently criticized by scholars as being inhumane; that putting people strictly in economic terms devalues the human and thus leads to immoral or harmful analysis and policy. An analysis of literature discussing the history of human capital theory allows for an understanding of how the theory has evolved in the history of economic thought since Adam Smith and his identification of people as the generators of wealth. Furthermore, the various objections that have been raised regarding the morality of the theory draw a contrast between Smith’s view of human capital and that of prominent contributors to economic thought during the twentieth century. Implications of human capital theory depend on one’s motive when using it, and improper applications of the theory result in immoral analysis of human beings. In this essay, I will compare Adam Smith’s valuation of human beings in Wealth of Nation with Gary Becker’s foundational work on the human capital theory published in the later twentieth century. Using Catholic Social Teaching as a basis for moral analysis, I will demonstrate the ways in which Becker’s utilization of human capital theory extend beyond its proper applications.