He had no advanced degrees in any field, but began was an expert in economic theory. He kept trying to expand the boundary of economics, writing a book on information [The Image], reconstructing economic theory in terms of balance sheets ....
As a quaker, he was a pacifist, but he was anti-marxist and I do not recall him ever saying anything radical.
Max Sawicky wrote:
> . . . It is hard to escape the impression that
> this is precisely why American intellectuals, particularly those who believe
> themselves to be the most wild-eyed radicals, willing to deconstruct almost
> any concept except greed or selfishness, simply don't know what to make of
> the Maussians - why, in fact, their work has been almost completely ignored.
> [David Graeber is a professor of anthropology at Yale University.]
>
> There is an American analogue to this school of thought --
> Kenneth Boulding, in books like The Economy of Love and
> Fear. He used to hang out w/Vickrey at AEA conferences.
> He looked like Timothy Leary, Vickrey of course looked
> like he used a rope for a belt. I regret passing up the
> chance to hang out with them. I never investigated
> Boulding; always meant to, just never got around to it.
>
> More recently, on a different tack above, the $20K idea
> surfaces in different form in The Stakeholder Society
> by Bruce Ackerman and Anne Alstott. Basically it
> contemplates aggressive redistribution through cash
> transfers, rather than the use of government services
> like job training, counselling, etc. Call it low-
> overhead liberalism.
>
> mbs
-- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu