The Neoclassical Marshallians: A List

The British neoclassical tradition from the 1870s onwards was fundamentally influenced by the work of Alfred Marshall (26 July 1842–13 July 1924), and in some ways the Marshallian tradition was a rival to the Walrasian neoclassical school that was founded by Léon Walras (1834–1910).

The Marshallian tradition gave rise to Keynes, and in some ways it was less extreme, more realistic and more pragmatic than its the Walrasian cousin. For these reasons, the Marshallian tradition is worthy of serious study.

So who were the neoclassical economics working in the tradition of Alfred Marshall? This is a tentative list below with the major Marshallians in bold:

(1) Alfred Marshall (26 July 1842–13 July 1924)

(2) Arthur Cecil Pigou (1877–1959)

(3) Joseph Shield Nicholson (1850–1927)

(4) Alfred William Flux (1867–1942)

(5) Charles Percy Sanger (1871–1930)

(6) Sydney John Chapman (1871–1951)

(7) John Harold Clapham (1873–1946)

(8) David Hutchinson MacGregor (1877–1953)

(9) Frederick Lavington (1881–1927)

(10) Walter Layton (1884–1966)

(11) Charles Ryle Fay (1884–1961)

(12) Gerald Shove (1888–1947)

(13) Ralph George Hawtrey (1879–1975)

(14) Dennis Holme Robertson (1890–1963)

(15) John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946)

(16) early work of Joan Violet Robinson (1903–1983)

Of course, Keynes came to repudiate major aspects of even the Marshallian tradition when he published the General Theory, which is in many ways a rebellion against neoclassical Marshallian economics, and so too did Keynes’ followers like Joan Robinson.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Groenewegen, Peter. 2003. “English Marginalism: Jevons, Marshall, and Pigou,” in Warren J. Samuels, Jeff E. Biddle and John B. Davis (eds.), A Companion to the History of Economic Thought. Blackwell, Malden, MA.

Groenewegen, Peter. 2012. The Minor Marshallians and Alfred Marshall: An Evaluation. Routledge, New York.