1st Edition

Gardiner C.Mean's Institutional and Post-Keynesian Economics An Interpretation and Assessment

By Warren J. Samuels, Steven G. Medema Copyright 1991

    Gardiner Means has a secure place in the history of 20th century economic thought, as the co-author with A.A.Berle of "The Modern Corporation and Private Property". But according to Samuels and Medema, Means should be remembered for major contributions in both micro- and macroeconomics. The authors discuss Means's ideas of administered pricing and profit maximization within the giant corporation, the possible links between industrial structure and macroeconomic performance, a theory of the firm as it relates to the market, and the micro foundations of macroeconomics. Central to Means's macroeconomics is his theory that administered pricing generates inflation and stagflation. Means, in the authors' view, was a seminal thinker and a post-Keynesian economist, as well as an institutionalist. This book also gives an precis of Means's unusual career in government and the academy.

    Preface, 1. Introduction, 1. Introduction and Objectives, 2. The Problem of Interpretation, 3. A Precis of Means's Career, 4. Means's General Perspective, 2. The Modern Corporation: Property and Power, 1. Introduction, 2. The Corporation, 3. Concentration and Size, 4. Dispersion of Stock Ownership, 5. Separation of Ownership and Control, a. The Meaning of Control, b. Profit Maximization, c. The Separation of Ownership and Control, 6. The Corporate System: The Economy as a System of Power, 7. The Changing Meaning of Private Property: Collectivized, 8. The Economy as a System of Power, 9. The Corporation as Private Government, 3. A New Microeconomics, 1. Administered Prices, 2. The Price Adjusnnent Process, 3. The Theory of the Firm in Relation to the Market, 4. The Macroeconomic Consequences of Administered Prices, 1. Introduction, 2. Administered Pricing and Inflation 3. Means in Relation to Keynes 4. Accounting for the Cost of Idle or Excess Capacity, 5. The Reception of Means's Work and the Relation of His Work to That of Others, 1. Introduction, 2. Means's Dissertation, 3. Facts, Paradigms, Ideology, and Discourse, 4. Already and Newly Established Fields, 5. Aspects of Filtration, 6. "A Man of One Idea", 7. Recollections of Early Perceptions, 8. The Status of Means's Work, a. A General Mosaic, b. Random Smveys of Several Fields within Economics, i. Keynes and Keynesian Economics, ii. Intermediate Microeconomics, iii. Intermediate Macroeconomics, iv. The Corporation and Corporate Power, 9. The Sociology of Academic Opportunity, 10. Means as an Outsider, 6. Gardiner C. Means in the History of Economic Thought: A Preliminary Assessment, Notes, References, Index, About the Authors

    Biography

    WARREN J. SAMUELS is currently professor of economics at Michigan State University. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Wisconsin., Professor Samue1s has written extensively on the history of economic thought, Post Keynesian economics, and institutional economics., STEVEN G. MEDEMA is assistant professor at the University of Colorado at Denver. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Michigan State University.