Economics as Literature A rich vein of economic writings which runs through the nineteenth century and beyond is now largely ignored because its authors were women or because they favoured literary over scientific forms. Economics as Literature re-examines some of the most interesting texts from within this tradition. The works considered include: • stories (by Maria Edgeworth and Harriet Martineau) • dialogues (by Jane Marcet and Thomas De Quincey) • ‘imaginative’ writing (from John Ruskin and Francis Edgeworth) • John Maynard Keynes’s General Theory, which is located within a nineteenth- century ‘tradition’ of uniting science and art Willie Henderson, using analyses based on rhetoric and literary form, demonstrates that these works have both analytical and literary merit, and challenges the accepted notion of a hierarchy of knowledge based on the superiority of science. Willie Henderson is Senior Lecturer at the School of Continuing Studies, University of Birmingham. He works on African studies, and on education and language in economics. His previous publications include Models and Economic Theory (1977, with I. Papps), The Language of Economics: The Analysis of Economics Discourse (1990, edited with Tony Dudley-Evans) and Economics and Language (1993, edited with Tony Dudley-Evans and Roger Backhouse). http://avaxhome.ws/blogs/ChrisRedfield Routledge Studies in the History of Economics 1 Economics as Literature Willie Henderson 2 Socialism and Marginalism in Economics Ian Steedman 3 Hayek’s Political Economy Steve Fleetwoo 4 On the Origins of Classical Economics Tony Aspromourgos 5 The Economics of Joan Robinson Maria Cristina Marcuzzo, Luigi Pasinetti and Alessandro Roncaglia Economics as Literature Willie Henderson London and New York First published 1995 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2001. © 1995 Willie Henderson All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book has been requested ISBN 0–415–12908–7 (Print Edition) ISBN 0-203-02545-8 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-16147-5 (Glassbook Format) To Annalisa Contents Acknowledgements ix 1 Economics as literature: an introduction to ‘literary economics’ 1 2 Child’s play: Maria Edgeworth and economics education 21 3 Jane Marcet’s Conversations on Political Economy: a new interpretation 43 4 Harriet Martineau or ‘when political economy was popular’ 63 5 Thomas de Quincey reads David Ricardo 91 6 John Ruskin or the political economy of ‘soul’ 112 7 The problem of Edgeworth’s style 131 8 Style, persuasion and The General Theory 154 Index 180 vii Acknowledgements Teaching economics to adults and to second language learners alerted me to the problem of language and economics. It was thanks to colleagues in the English for Overseas Student Unit, The University of Birmingham, that I started to appreciate that there were methods available to study language use within particular subjects. Tim Johns and Tony Dudley-Evans have provided me with support and encouragement over the years and I am grateful for this opportunity to thank them for the comments generously provided for this latest project. A debt of gratitude is also owed to Tony Davies, also of the English Department, who has commented most generously on each of the essays published here and in so doing has helped with the transition from a stress on language to a stress on literary appreciation. Similar thanks go to Valerie Sanders of the University of Buckingham for similar support. Roger Backhouse, Vivienne Brown, Peter Cain, Michael Goulder, Doreen Innes, Jo McDonagh, Greg Myers, D. P. O’Brien, Ron Speirs, Linda Thomas, David Whitehead, and D. N. Winch also provided useful comments on early drafts on one or more of the chapters. I am grateful to them all. Thanks also go to D.N. McCloskey who put ‘rhetoric’ on the economics agenda. I also express my appreciation to the anonymous commentator for comments made on Chapter 1. They were both generous and helpful. Errors and omissions remain my own responsibility. The staff of the Heslop Room, University of Birmingham Library, helped provide access to the collection of papers on Harriet Martineau and the British Library provided a microfilm version of Jane Marcet’s Conversations on Political Economy. Co-operation from both institutions made it so much easier to undertake the research. The School of Continuing Studies, The University of Birmingham, is thanked for providing me with some space, in each busy week, to undertake research. I appreciate, also, the work of Irene McKenzie, School of Continuing Studies, who helped with the word processing. Chapter 3 was published with the same title in History of Education, December 1994 and Chapter 4 was published in the same journal in December 1992. I thank the journal and its publishers, Taylor and Francis, for permission to republish. ix