| Alfred Marshall is an eminent economist in the history of economic thought,who is often regarded as a typical representative of neoclassicism.His static paradigm of partial equilibrium is greatly respected by modern mainstream economics.However,there are a lot of evolutionary thoughts and dynamic contents in Marshall's works,which have not been rendered by mainstream economics.Although these contents are neglected by the modern mainstream economics,they contain plenty of insights,and more importantly,they are ways to understand a real and complex Marshall.From the perspective of modern evolutionary economics,Marshall is regarded by some evolutionary economists as the originator of evolutionary economics by virtue of his famous saying that "The Mecca of the economist lies in economic biology rather than in economic dynamics",and the biological metaphor contained in Principles of Economics.However,most of their comments only stop at the admiration for the integration of biology and economics.When it comes to specific theoretical content,his thoughts are often related to the static and equilibrium of neoclassical theory.For Marshall's thoughts of economic evolution itself,neglecting of mainstream economics or one-sided interpretation of the new branch of economics is inevitably a kind of backward view or evaluation from the existing framework or theory.These assessments may have guiding significance,but according to the existing theoretical framework,the "unimportant" or "incorrect" content may be the key part of understanding the real Marshall.Only based on his era and background,and knowing his problem consciousness and ideological development,can we truly understand his economic system and theoretical construction,which is particularly important for researchers in the history of economic thoughts.Therefore,instead of reconstructing his economic evolution ideology from the perspective of modern mainstream economics and modern evolutionary economics,the author reviews the ideological source of Marshall's cognitive evolution from the perspective of Marshall's era and social background,and discusses one of the most important issues in the evolution of his economic ideology,as well as his research on several aspects surrounding this issue.In addition to Principles of Economics(1890),the research objects of this paper include Economics of Industry(1879),which was co-authored by Marshall and his wife in the early period,and Industry and Trade(1919),which is the main work in the later period.In addition,this paper also focuses on Marshall's articles,speeches and correspondence in different stages.The articles or speeches in different periods mainly include: Ye Machine(1868),The Future of Working Classes(1873),Distribution and Exchange(1898),The Social Possibilities of Economic Chivalry(1907),the lecture at Cambridge University on features of American industry after returning from the United States in 1875,Marshall's speech on "Some Characteristics of American Industry" at Cambridge,and his inaugural speech "On the Present Situation of Economics" as a professor of political economy at Cambridge University in 1885,etc.Firstly,this paper investigates the ideological source of Marshall's thoughts of economic evolution from four aspects: classical tradition and Cambridge academic atmosphere,biological theory,historical economics and humanitarianism.Like Adam Smith,Marshal was concerned about economic growth and development,and like John Mill,he was full of sympathy for the misery of the working class at that time.In the strong academic atmosphere of moral philosophy in Cambridge University,he was full of interest in the issue of "the possibility of human self-development".However,due to the strong desire to improve the living conditions of the working class,he gradually gave up the study of spiritual science and devoted himself to studying political economy instead.The development of biological evolution theory and organism theory in the 19 th century further deepened Marshall's understanding of evolution.He used the concept of evolution to explain the variability of human beings,which focuses not on the evolution of human species,but on the relationship between human beings and their environment.Historical economics further deepened his understanding of the continuity and dynamics of economic process.Marshall came to realize that the economic life of certain era in which human beings live was only the product of historical development to a specific moment.His broad definition of the economic research objects,his emphasis on the "relativity" of economic theory,his partial acceptance of holism,and his accepted viewpoint on the evolution of human nature all come from the careful analysis of the historical school to some extent.Marshall was a humanist.His childhood and the learning experience,the reality of the working class he saw,and the fierce social contradictions he faced,together with the above-mentioned ideas from classicism,moral philosophy,evolutionism and historical economics,together formed the problem that runs through his academic career——is poverty inevitable? It was the poverty in reality that made Marshall obsessive about the possibility of long-term economic development.He was eager to abandon the pessimistic conclusion of classical economics about the possibility of the future of the working class.He replaced the pessimistic theory of social stillness with the idea of gradual evolution.Then,this paper attempts to show Marshall's thought of economic evolution from the following three aspects:The first is to investigate the human nature foundation of Marshall's economic evolution thought,that is,his explanation of the evolvability of human beings.Marshall devoted himself to breaking the fixed and exogenous human nature model(or presupposition)in traditional economics,and establishing an endogenous and evolvable human mental model(or human nature model),which is the basis and key of Marshall's economic evolution thought.Poverty was an issue that ran through Marshall's career,and he believed that the root cause of poverty was poverty itself,not any so-called fixed elements in human nature.He was always concerned with the development of "human faculties",which had been elaborated in detail in his early psychological articles.In his early psychological article "Ye Machine"(1868),he constructed a human mental model of co-evolution with the environment,explored the process of interaction and evolution between the external environment and machine interior,and explored the possibility of expanding machine power through free education and moral education.Then,from the evolution of human nature in early psychology,he turned to thinking about human nature in economics.He used the concept of "normal" to construct the model of human nature in economics.The "normal" motivation of people is related to the specific situation(time,place and subject)and changes with the specific environment,and the "normal" result also changes with the situation.Man is endogenous in the process of economic change and the premise of man's evolution and development is that he cannot be the so-called "economic man" or a "rational man",but a man of flesh and blood.Secondly,Marshall was obsessed with increasing returns in the process of economic evolution,and believed that the evolution of people and organizations was the source of increasing returns.He regarded human beings as the most important factor of production to resist diminishing returns in nature.Hope,freedom and change can bring "vitality" to people."Law of Use and Disuse" means that talents could be increased by use,while human beings could develop their talents because they love developing talents,which urged Marshall to firmly believe that human development was the source of economic progress.Marshall's description of labor force implied the difference between human beings and natural creatures,that is,human beings can pursue "higher ability" and expand new vitality for their own excellence,thus developing a series of good living habits(including a better concept of fertility)and excellent qualities.The differentiation and integration of organizations is the concentrated expression of the influence of organism theory on Marshall.In the process of organizational evolution,knowledge is created and organized,and constantly flows inside and outside individual enterprises,becoming the basis of new knowledge,which is Marshall's basic viewpoint on the accumulation of innovation.More importantly,Marshall also emphasized that the new responsibility and role of human being in organizational evolution,which means the development of new capabilities and the emergence of new activities.This ability includes not only the new roles given to human beings by the division of labor in organization,but also includes the creative activities of entrepreneurs,whose creation,Marshall believes,can always exert incalculable value for generations.He also emphasized the economic chivalry,including the chivalry of entrepreneurs,which reflected Marshall's pursuit of human nature and moral development in the process of economic evolution.Thirdly,based on Marshall's ideal goal of economic evolution,and the harm that the evolution process of natural freedom may bring,he believed that state action or government action was necessary.His discussion of social order and political action is more like a pragmatist than a theorist who constructs a political theory.Marshall pointed out that exaggerated liberalism theory had brought a popular consciousness of blindly emphasizing cruel competition,and fait accompli poverty has created an automatic vicious circle.The third kind of material needs(fresh air,sunshine and natural scenery)needed to maintain efficiency are difficult to be realized by individuals.Therefore,in the process of economic evolution,state behavior is necessary.Especially in improving social life,government actions are more effective than individual efforts.He advocated aiming at three different groups of people(residuum,skilled workers,upper middle class),and constantly improving their ability and sense of responsibility,so as to realize the leap of class.Marshall built a higher social order on the development of humanity and morality,and his emphasis on economic chivalry came from the development of morality and responsibility.He pointed out that the social system should adapt to human nature,and sometimes it can slightly exceed some human nature to stimulate people's higher development,but this kind of exceeding should not be too much,otherwise it will lead to social overturning.In short,he agreed with Mill's point of view in the incomplete articles on socialism,that is,all the schemes put forward by social reformers should not be treated differently by name,and they should be examined with frankness,and should not be considered absurd in advance.Finally,based on the above discussion,the author explains the dynamic and evolutionary paradigm in Marshall's thought from the perspective of methodology,which originates from Marshall's understanding of history and time in economics.There is a great deal of historical analysis in Marshall's text,and he never excluded historical methods from the framework of economic research.On the contrary,he believed that there is no universal economic theory that has nothing to do with historical situations.Economics that revolves around the real world should welcome any constructive research tools.Marshall's identification with the historical method is essentially the embodiment of his evolutionary principles.Marshall's thinking on evolution inevitably involves long-term problems,and he realized very early that the time factor in economic research is a big problem.He emphasized that in specific economic problems,the "operation"(social)time of economic power should be used to define the boundary of research,and at the same time,the relationship between time,economic subject and place should also be considered.Time is irreversible and continuous,so is the economic process.Although the static method can be refined and concise,its limitation is fatal,and it will make economics lose its explanatory power gradually.It is only the primary stage of economic research,is the auxiliary tool for a more advanced,dynamic,evolutionary stage of research.In the explanatory dilemma faced by the increasingly formalized modern economic theory,these thoughts still have practical significance.Through the above research: investigating the ideological source of Marshall's economic evolution,his research in three aspects around the process of economic evolution,as well as some methodological problems,the author tries to show Marshall's ideological picture which is very different from the image of "neo-classical representative figure".This thinking on the process of economic evolution and the future is closely related to his thinking on the evolution and development of human beings.Although these contents are not presented by mainstream economics,they are the key to a comprehensive understanding of Marshall's thought. |
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