Explorations in Economic Liberalism: The Wincott Lectures (review)

Economists have always considered their discipline a policy science but perhaps have not done as much as they could have in the modern era to present their ideas in ways that are accessible to the educated layman. The friends of the late financial journalist Harold Wincott endowed a foundation in his name, which set out to offer annual lectures that bridge this gap and, at the same time, champion the virtues of the economic liberalism to which Wincott held dear.

The present volume, Explorations in Economic Liberalism, gathers together ten of these lectures, delivered between 1970 and 1994. It would be difficult to quibble with the selection offered: Milton Friedman on monetarism (1970), James Meade on inflation and unemployment (1971), F. A. Hayek on representative government (1973), Lord Robbins on postwar economic policy (1974), Alan Peacock on the assault against liberal political economy (1976), Alan Walters on the influence of economic theory on British economic policy (1977), George Stigler on the regulatory process (1982), Deepak Lal on international economic cooperation (1989), Anna Schwartz on currency boards (1992), and Jagdish Bhagwati on issues facing the World Trade Organization (1994).

One of the more interesting aspects of this collection is the picture it gives of the evolution of the focus of economic policy analysis over the past three decades. The early Wincott lectures were delivered against the backdrop of the macroeconomic instability of the 1960s and 1970s. Friedman, Meade, Robbins, and Walters provide interesting (and by no means homogeneous) perspectives on the problems, the potential solutions, and the state of economic theory vis-à-vis these events. More recent lectures by Lal, Schwartz, and Bhagwati, in contrast, are reflective of the increasing world economic integration and the resultant “externalities” and coordination problems posed by this new order. On the microeconomic side, the lectures of Hayek, Peacock, and Stigler bring out very effectively certain of the cracks that have emerged in the Pigovian edifice during this same period.

This volume is also nicely reflective of the heterogeneity of classical liberalism and the dangers associated with painting (or tarring!) these scholars with a broad brush. For example, both Meade and Robbins recommend a limited incomes policy for dealing with Britain’s economic problems in the 1970s, a proposal that would certainly be viewed as heretical by some of their companions in this volume. There are also rather contrasting perceptions of the efficacy of markets; while all of the authors are market-affirming, there is both varying recognition of market failure and alternative ideas as to how best to deal with it.

The themes of the collected lectures will certainly be familiar to those acquainted with the work of these scholars. At the same time, the lectures provide an interesting collective look at the ideas that have helped to drive the resurgence in classical liberalism over the past three decades. As such, this book will be of interest to historians of modern economics and to those interested in the ideas and ideals of classical liberalism.