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Quarterly Journal of Economics Vol. 115 No. 1 2000

What Marshall Didn't Know: On the Twentieth Century's Contributions to Economics*

William J. Baumol

Abstract

Some of this century's many valuable contributions to economics, like macroeconomics, econometrics, and game theory, are widely recognized. However, arguably equally important is the enhanced role of empirical study permitted by more abundant data and improved methods. Also insufficiently recognized are the increased rigor and use of applied economics in public finance, regulation, corporation finance, etc., employing abstract theory and sophisticated data analysis. The striking contrast with earlier intuitively based applied economics and empirical study is illustrated. Comparison with Marshall's Principles also indicates that, except for macroeconomics, remarkably little space in today's texts deals with some ofthe rich contributions ofthis century.

DOI
10.1162/003355300554656
Volume
115
Issue
1
Pages
1-44
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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