Smith and Marx Walk into a Bar: A History of Economics Podcast

In this episode, our intrepid hosts interview Keith Tribe, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Tartu, about his work on a range of topics in economic history and the history of economic thought, including the subjects of his books Land, Labour, and Economic Discourse (1978), Strategies of Economic Order: German Economic Discourse, 1750-1950 (1995), and The Economy of the Word: Language, History, and Economics (2015).

Smith and Marx Walk into a Bar is supported by a grant from the History of Economics Society: http://historyofeconomics.org

Scott, Gerardo and Carlos review three recent additions to the literature in the history of economic thought and economic methodology: Gerardo discusses a paper on the role of the "economic priest" in the cooperative movement in Ireland in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries; Scott reviews a paper addressing two contrasting views of ecological rationality in the works of Vernon Smith and Gerd Gigerenzer; and Carlos discusses a paper about the evolving meaning of "consumption" as an economic concept and the role of intoxicants in crafting its early uses.

If you are interested in reading the papers discussed in this episode, here they are (unfortunately, some may be behind paywalls):

THE CLERGY, ECONOMIC DEMOCRACY, AND THE CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT IN IRELAND, 1880–1932 Patrick Doyle https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01916599.2020.1747226

TWO TYPES OF ECOLOGICAL RATIONALITY: OR HOW TO BEST COMBINE PSYCHOLOGY AND ECONOMICS Erwin Dekker and Blaž Remic https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1350178X.2018.1560486

INTOXICANTS AND THE INVENTION OF 'CONSUMPTION' Phil Withington https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ehr.12936

Smith and Marx Walk into a Bar is supported by a grant from the History of Economics Society: http://historyofeconomics.org

Carlos, Scott, and Gerardo are joined by Ivan Moscati, Professor of Economics at Insubria University in Italy, to discuss his book, Measuring Utility: From the Marginal Revolution to Behavioral Economics (2018, Oxford University Press).

Smith and Marx Walk into a Bar is supported by a grant from the History of Economics Society: http://historyofeconomics.org

In this episode, Gerardo, Carlos, and Scott interview Ivan Boldyrev, Assistant Professor of History and Philosophy of Economics at Radboud University. Topics include Ivan's work on economics and performativity, the history of economics in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia, and the significance of Hegelian philosophy and critical theory for economic thought.

Smith and Marx Walk into a Bar is supported by a grant from the History of Economics Society: http://historyofeconomics.org

This unique episode features Gary Mongiovi of St. John's University and David Levy of George Mason University discussing their particular perspectives on the work of James Buchanan, winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Economics, and father of public choice economics and constitutional political economy. The episode begins with an excerpt from Professor Mongiovi's presentation at the first Winter Institute for the History of Economic Thought, held at Arizona State University in January. Mongiovi interprets Buchanan as (what Marx called) a "vulgar economist," who offered disguised ideological arguments as scientific analyses. In a roundtable discussion conducted after Mongiovi's talk, Professor Levy, co-author with Sandra Peart of the forthcoming book about Buchanan and his Virginia School of Political Economy, Towards an Economics of Natural Equals: A Documentary History of the Early Virginia School, argues that understanding Buchanan's economics requires a more nuanced interpretation. A fruitful scholarly discussion between Mongiovi and Levy follows.

For the symposium on Nancy MacLean's Democracy in Chains referenced in Professor Mongiovi's lecture, see:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/doi/10.1108/S0743-4154201937B

For information on Levy and Peart's forthcoming book, see the book's page at Cambridge University Press:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/towards-an-economics-of-natural-equals/8BFAF197C4ACF4724B70AC398C18A5A0

Smith and Marx Walk into a Bar is supported by a grant from the History of Economics Society: http://historyofeconomics.org

Gerardo, Scott, and Carlos talk with philosopher of economics Catherine Herfeld, Assistant Professor of Social Theory and Philosophy of the Social Sciences at the University of Zurich. Topics include Herfeld's work on the various meanings and uses of the rationality principle in economics, the challenges of straddling the disciplines of economics and philosophy, and the pros and cons of different methods of research in the history of economics.

Smith and Marx Walk into a Bar is supported by a grant from the History of Economics Society: http://historyofeconomics.org

Co-hosts Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak, Gerardo Serra, and Scott Scheall discuss a few recent additions to the literature in the history of economic thought. Topics include the disagreement between Adam Smith and Edmund Burke over the East India Company, the evolving conceptualizations of "poverty" in African languages, and the role that policymakers' epistemic limitations may have played in the current "democratic crisis" in many Western democracies.

If you are inclined to read the papers discussed in this episode, here they are (unfortunately, some may be behind paywalls):

Gregory M. Collins: "THE LIMITS OF MERCANTILE ADMINISTRATION: ADAM SMITH AND EDMUND BURKE ON BRITAIN'S EAST INDIA COMPANY"

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-history-of-economic-thought/article/limits-of-mercantile-administration-adam-smith-and-edmund-burke-on-britains-east-india-company/4003B9E2C8C6175246EBCC68D96C4290

Rhiannon Stephens: "BEREFT, SELFISH, AND HUNGRY: GREATER LUHYIA CONCEPTS OF THE POOR IN PRECOLONIAL EAST AFRICA"

https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/123/3/789/5025220?redirectedFrom=fulltext

François Facchini and Mickael Melki: "THE DEMOCRATIC CRISIS AND THE KNOWLEDGE PROBLEM"

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/polp.12330

Here are links to Scott's work that he references in the episode:

"IGNORANCE AND THE INCENTIVE STRUCTURE CONFRONTING POLICYMAKERS"

https://cosmosandtaxis.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/scheall_ct_vol_7_iss_1_2.pdf

F. A. HAYEK AND THE EPISTEMOLOGY OF POLITICS: THE CURIOUS TASK OF ECONOMICS

https://www.routledge.com/F-A-Hayek-and-the-Epistemology-of-Politics-The-Curious-Task-of-Economics/Scheall/p/book/9781138289956

Smith and Marx Walk into a Bar is supported by a grant from the History of Economics Society: http://historyofeconomics.org

Carlos attends the 7th Latin American Conference of the History of Economic Thought in Curitiba, Brazil, and talks with Jimena Hurtado of Colombia's Universidad de los Andes, Jose Edwards of Chile's Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Felipe Almeida of Brazil's Federal University of Paraná, Rebeca Gomez Betancourt of the University of Lyon in France, and Alexandre Mendes Cunha of the Federal University of Minais Gerais about the past, present, and future of the Latin American Society for the History of Economics (ALAHPE).

In this episode, Scott Scheall sits down with Stefan Kolev, Professor of Economics at the University of Applied Sciences Zwickau, to discuss a range of topics, including the history and significance of the German Ordoliberal economists, the "Old" Chicago school of economics, the proper meaning of the term "neoliberalism," and Stefan's upbringing in post-communist Bulgaria.

Smith and Marx Walk into a Bar: A History of Economics Podcast is supported by the History of Economics Society: www.historyofeconomics.org

Gerardo, Scott, and Carlos talk with Robert Leonard, former President of the History of Economics Society and Professor of Economics at Université du Québec à Montréal. The discussion ranges from the history of game theory to the "Buddhist economics" of E. F. Schumacher, Professor Leonard's latest research subject, to his experiences studying under the late Craufurd Goodwin, a legendary figure in the field of history of economic thought.

Smith and Marx Walk into a Bar: A History of Economics Podcast is supported by the History of Economics Society: www.historyofeconomics.org