ABSTRACT OF PAPER
Title: The Survival of Classical Moral Concerns in Modern Economic Thought
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Authors: William Dixon and David Wilson An early tradition of political economy had an understanding of the self that encompassed moral and economic conduct. This understanding was lost during the development of economic thought, culminating in the orthodox amoral rational maximiser. Despite this we argue that the earlier concerns not only survived but also found unacknowledged expression in the development of modern theory and concepts. To explain this we will reprise an understanding of the self found in Adam Smith and Thomas Chalmers, then we will trace its surviving presence, found especially in the concept of character, through the works of Alfred Marshall, William Beveridge and John Maynard Keynes. The influence we look for in this study is not merely biographical but lies in the formation of economic theory and concepts out of concerns for moral conduct. We will suggest that this influence continues even into recent economic thought, although it is hampered by the legacy of an apparent freedom from the issue of moral conduct.
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