ALFRED S. EICHNER (1937-1988) AND THE BEGINNING OF INSTITUTIONALIST POST-KEYNESIANISM (IPK)

Theodoro Cesar de Oliveira Sposito

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Trabalho

Título do Trabalho

ALFRED S. EICHNER (1937-1988) AND THE BEGINNING OF INSTITUTIONALIST POST-KEYNESIANISM (IPK)

Autores

Theodoro Cesar de Oliveira Sposito

Modalidade

Resumo Expandido (associados AKB)

Área temática

Área 9. Economia Institucional

Data de Publicação

02/12/2024

País da Publicação

Brasil

Idioma da Publicação

Português

Página do Trabalho

https://www.even3.com.br/anais/akb2024/892785-alfred-s-eichner-(1937-1988)-and-the-beginning-of-institutionalist-post-keynesianism-(ipk)

ISBN

978-65-272-0872-3

Palavras-Chave

Post-Keynesian Economics; Institutional Economics; Megacorp; Pricing in Oligopoly.

Resumo

Charles Whalen characterizes post-Keynesian institutionalism (PKI) as a branch of the institutionalist tradition based on points shared by many institutionalists and post-Keynesians. This definition provides a clear direction of convergence from institutionalism to post-Keynesianism, on which the incipient historiography on the subject has focused. In this paper, however, we examine the same phenomenon in the opposite direction: from post-Keynesianism to institutionalism. Our aim is to show that there was also a branch of the post-Keynesian tradition that sought this convergence, which we call Institutional Post-Keynesianism (IPK). We trace the origins of IPK to the early theoretical writings of Alfred Eichner, particularly to the period between 1966 and 1976. Alfred S. Eichner (1937-1988) was a heterodox American historian and economist who, between the second half of the 1960s and the first half of the 1980s, wrote and published several academic works in various fields of economics, including methodology, macroeconomic theory, applied macroeconomics, and especially microeconomics. Described by former students as “a relentless battler against conservative, unscientific economic orthodoxy” (GROVES et al., 1989, p. 491), he was posthumously selected as one of the 100 most important dissident economists of the 20th century (ARESTIS and SAWYER, 2001). Using evidence from his archives and personal correspondence, we argue that Eichner, who is recognized for his post-Keynesian contribution, had an extensive training in the doctrine of Original Institutionalism. On this basis, we examine how he integrates elements of both approaches into two of his most important theories: (i) the theory of megacorporations and (ii) the theory of pricing in oligopoly. Specifically, this paper aims to show that the theoretical work of Alfred Eichner has always mixed post-Keynesian and institutionalist elements. This is in contradiction to the emerging historiography on the convergence between Original Institutionalism and Post-Keynesianism, which only suggests this combination at the end of the 1970s. Furthermore, the aim is to prove that the work was groundbreaking in this respect and thus established an institutionalist segment in the post-Keynesian tradition, the IPK. In addition to the introduction and concluding remarks, the study is divided into five sections. The first section uses archival material to show how his engagement with dissident economic perspectives, particularly original institutionalism in the early years of his education, together with his training in the empiricist tradition at Columbia University in the 1950s and later in the post-Keynesian tradition in the 1960s, shaped his career. The secund section provides an overview of how the emerging historiography of convergence between Original Institutionalism and Post-Keynesianism treated Eichner’s contributions. The third section examines how he combined elements of these two approaches in his studies of the firm. Finally, the fourth section continues this theoretical analysis and examines how post-Keynesianism and original institutionalism are combined in his pricing theory, more specifically in his theoretical model and empirical studies of price determination in oligopolistic industries. Finally, the article contains some brief comments on the continuity of the IPK tradition founded by Eichner. To this end, research was organized around four specific objectives: Trace the relationship of each of these individuals to institutional economics based on the following criteria: (i) training as an institutionalist; (ii) attendance at Association for Evolutionary Economics (AFEE) meetings or publication in the Journal of Economic Issues (JEI); (iii) recognition by key institutionalists as someone who contributed to original institutionalism; and (iv) combination of institutionalist and post-Keynesian elements in their theoretical contributions. Review the literature linking original institutionalism intellectually or organizationally to post-Keynesianism, with particular attention to the references to Alfred Eichner. Analyze Eichner’s works with the aim of identifying the type of institutionalism implicit in them. Gather historical evidence that the analysis that "appears to be implicitly institutionalist" is in fact institutionalist. Some results: It is well known that the first milestone in the formation of a post-Keynesian community in the United States was the meeting organized by Alfred Eichner and Joan Robinson in New Orleans in December 1971 (LEE, 2000). Participants included Alfred Eichner (State University of New York) and Joan Robinson (University of Cambridge), along with Howard Wachtel (American University), Janos Horvath (Columbia University), Tom Asimakopoulos (McGill University), H. P. Minsky (Washington University), M. Ghandou (Rutgers University), Donald Harris (University of Wisconsin), Paul Davidson (Rutgers University), John Gurley (Stanford University), Howard Sherman (University of California), Victoria Chick (University College), Jan A. Kregel ( University of Bristol), A. C. Samli (State University Blacksburg), Martin Pfaff (University of Augsburg), Robert Lekachman (State University of New York), and Kenneth Boulding (University of Colorado). In addition, Stephen A. Marglin (Harvard University) had planned to participate but was prevented from doing so by inadequate communication (Alfred Eichner papers). These individuals formed the so-called ‘Keynesian group’ that participated in the production of teaching materials and heated academic debates in the 1970s, always advocating and promoting Keynesian thought. Considering specific objective 1, Alfred Eichner has positively fulfilled both criteria. Considering specific objective 2, it was noted that despite the recognition of his ideas as institutionalist or strongly inspired by institutionalism by influential institutionalists (DUGGER, 1983; STREET, 1983; GRUNCHY, 1984) and by his post-Keynesian colleagues (KREGEL, 1990; ARESTIS, 1996), his role in this context has been overlooked by much of the literature (CYPHER, 1980; BRAZELTON, 1981). In addition, Eichner has been recognized in the literature, especially in the context of the post-Keynesian and institutionalist essays from 1985 (EICHNER, 1985). In this study, we trace these connections back to a much earlier phase of his work. In particular, in the construction of his approach to price formation in oligopolies (EICHNER, 1973) and in his theory of the mega-firm (EICHNER, 1975 and 1976). Considering specific objective 4, we use Eichner's personal archives and correspondence to examine his relationship to the original institutionalism. At this stage it has been established that Alfred S. Eichner entered Columbia University in 1954 after receiving a four-year national scholarship from Columbia College. He was mentored by Eli Ginzberg (1911-2002), who became his mentor. Ginzberg had been a diligent student of Wesley C. Mitchell (1854-1948) and John Maurice Clark (1884-1963), both influential institutionalists. Theus, Eichner was familiar with dissident ideas at an early stage of his academic training. When he was about to obtain his degree, Charles Wright Mills (1916-1962), one of his professors, advised him to write his final work on the Administrated Price Hearings, which had begun in July 1957 under the direction of Estes Kefauve as part of the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust and Consumer Rights. During his doctoral studies, also at Columbia, Eichner attended Joseph Dorfman's courses on the history of institutionalism and deepened his studies in Veblenian and Ayresian theory (Alfred Eichner papers). In this paper, it was evidenced that his experience at Columbia University between the mid-1950s and mid-1960s was of fundamental importance for his formation and identification as a heterodox economist. In this context, we showed that his critical perspective on the functioning of markets under oligopoly conditions was formed very early, before Eichner completed his undergraduate studies, when he delved into the Administered Price Hearings in 1957. With respect to the axes of synthesis, the article highlighted that Eichner’s understanding of firm behavior had many similarities with previous heterodox perspectives, with the perspective of the megacorporation as an institutional innovation being his great contribution. According to this, large companies established themselves and acquired their price arbitrage power because they managed, throughout history, to break old habits and influence the institutions on which they depend. Secondly, the article explored his contributions to price theory. We saw that it refers to the Cost-Plus doctrine and establishes that changes in the profit margin are responses to the demand for additional investment funds, rather than changes in the level of profits. In this way, we highlighted that this model provided the institutionalist micro foundation of the Keynesian model of Cambridge UK. Principais referências: Alfred Eichner papers – Frederic S. Lee Archives. ARESTIS, Philip; SAWYER, Malcolm C. (Ed.). A biographical dictionary of dissenting economists. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2001. EICHNER, Alfred S. The Megacorp and Oligopoly: Micro Foundtions of Macro Dynamics. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1976. EICHNER, Alfred S. The Megacorp as a Social Innovation and Business History. Business and Economic History, v. 4, p. 46-66, 1975. EICHNER, A. S. Towards a new economics: essays in post-Keynesian and institutionalist theory. Londres: Macmillan, 1985. GROVES, Miles; LEE, Frederic; MILBERG, William. The Power of Ideas and the Impact of One Man Alfred Eichner 1937–1988. Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, v. 11, n. 3, p. 491-496, 1989. LEE, Frederic S. The organizational history of Post Keynesian economics in America, 1971-1995. Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, v. 23, n. 1, p. 141-162, 2000. RUTHERFORD, Malcolm; DESROCHES, C. Tyler. The institutionalist reaction to Keynesian economics. Journal of the History of Economic Thought, v. 30, n. 1, p. 29-48, 2008. WHALEN, Charles J. Post-Keynesian institutionalism: past, present, and future. Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, v. 17, n. 1, p. 71-92, 2020. WILBER, Charles K.; JAMESON, Kenneth P. An Inquiry into the Poverty of Economics. Notre Dame; London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1983.

Título do Evento: XVII Encontro da Associação Keynesiana Brasileira
Cidade do Evento: Maceió
Título dos Anais do Evento: Anais do XVII Encontro da Associação Keynesiana Brasileira
Nome da Editora: Even3
Meio de Divulgação: Meio Digital

Como citar

SPOSITO, Theodoro Cesar de Oliveira. ALFRED S. EICHNER (1937-1988) AND THE BEGINNING OF INSTITUTIONALIST POST-KEYNESIANISM (IPK).. In: Anais do XVII Encontro da Associação Keynesiana Brasileira. Anais...Maceió(AL) FEAC-UFAL, 2024. Disponível em: https//www.even3.com.br/anais/akb2024/892785-ALFRED-S-EICHNER-(1937-1988)-AND-THE-BEGINNING-OF-INSTITUTIONALIST-POST-KEYNESIANISM-(IPK). Acesso em: 03/08/2025