Edward J. Nell (born July 16, 1935) is an American economist and a former professor at the New School for Social Research. Nell was a member of the New School faculty from 1969 to 2014. He achieved the rank of Malcolm B. Smith Professor of Economics in 1990.
Nell's contributions are in the fields of macroeconomic theory, monetary analysis and finance, economic methodology and philosophy, and development.For an account of Nell's contributions to economics see G. Argyrous, M. Forstater and G. Mongiovi (eds.) (2004) Growth, Distribution, And Effective Demand: Essays in Honor of Edward J. Nell. New York: M.E. Sharpe. His articles on economic theory and methodology have appeared in leading journals like the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, the Journal of Economic Literature, Cambridge Journal of Economics, Eastern Economic Journal, Review of Political Economy, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Analysis, and Social Research.For a brief overview of Nell's work see The University of Missouri – Kansas City Center for Full Employment and Price Stability (www.cfeps.org/people/nellej/)
Nell is known for his critical view of the methodological and philosophical foundations of neoclassical economics, examined in his best known book Rational Economic Man (Cambridge University Press, 1975) and coauthored with English rationalist philosopher Martin Hollis.For a review essay of the book see DON C. LAVOIE (1977) From Hollis and Nell to Hollis and Misses. Review-essay of Martin Hollis and Edward J. Nell, Rational Economic Man: A Philosophical Critique of Neo-Classical Economics (London: Cambridge University Press).Journal of Libertarian Studies. Vol. 1. No. 4, pp. 325–336. Nell is also the originator of the General Theory of 'Transformational Growth'. The full development of the General Theory of Transformational Growth came in the 90s, and was published as The General Theory of Transformational Growth (Cambridge University Press, 1998).For a review essay of the book see S. Abu Turab Rizvi (1998) The General Theory of Transformational Growth, (London: Cambridge University Press, 1998, by Edward J. Nell). Journal of Economic Literature. Vol. 36, No. 4, Dec., 1998. For an account of the Theory of Transformational Growth see Ross Thomson (2004) Transformational Growth and the Universality of Technology. In Argyrous, G., Forstater, M and Mongiovi, G. (eds.) (2004) Growth, Distribution, And Effective Demand: Essays in Honor of Edward J. Nell. New York: M.E. Sharpe. The methodology/philosophy which underlies the Theory of Transformational Growth is a form of realism, based on filling in 'conceptual truths' by doing fieldwork and then building models of solidly based institutionally grounded relationships.For an account of the methodology/philosophy which underlies the Theory of Transformational Growth see Nell, E.J. (2004) Critical Realism and Transformational Growth. In Transforming Economics. Edited by P. Lewis. London: Routledge. 76–95.
Biography Nell was born in Riverside, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, on July 16, 1935, the only son of Marcella and Edward Nell. His father was a journalist and professor of journalism at Northwestern University; he ran the Quill and Scroll foundation for high school journalism. His mother was a public school administrator and then a professor of education at Roosevelt University.
Nell attended Princeton University (1954–1957) and received his B.A magna cum laude in 1957 (in the Woodrow Wilson School). His field of study at Princeton varied a good deal. He studied mathematics, physics and philosophy, before discovering a passion for economics and politics. He was awarded a Rhodes ScholarshipNell is a Rhodes Scholar. See the "Association of American Rhodes Scholars" .(http://www.americanrhodes.org/) in 1957 which took him to Oxford University. Though he had already completed a B.A from Princeton, Oxford enrolled him for another, as was the custom at the time. He obtained a First in PPE in 1959 at Magdalen College, studying with Frank Burchardt and David Worswick. Nell then stayed at Nuffield College (1959–1962), Oxford University, to do his advanced work on the foundations of economic analysis, complete his doctoral thesis and further develop his research.
He returned to the US to teach at Wesleyan University, but later went back to the UK to lecture at the University of East Anglia, also doing research at Cambridge University. On various leaves of absence from the New School for Social Research he taught at Bennington College, and at Bard College, at McGill University, the University of Siena in Italy, and the University of Bremen, and Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. He gave sets of lectures and seminars in Europe — in France, at the Universities of Paris, Orleans and Nice; in the U.K at the Universities of Oxford, and Cambridge, and at East Anglia, Warwick, Essex, and Sussex; in Italy at the Universities of Rome, Milano, Catania and Siena; in Austria at the Universities of Graz and Vienna; in Germany at the Universities of Bremen, Frankfurt, Kiel, Regensburg, and Hanover; in Canada, at Trent University, Waterloo, McGill and HEC-Montreal. And in New South Wales, Melbourne, Newcastle, Adelaide and Sydney in Australia. Many of these lectures were associated with research projects with colleagues in these universities.For an account of Nell's biography see Arestis, Ph. and Sawyer, M. (eds.) (2000) A Biographical Dictionary of Dissenting Economics. See pages 442–450.
Contributions to economics
Economics and philosophy Nell's best known research on economics and philosophy was a book published in 1975 by Cambridge University Press under the title Rational Economic Man (coauthored with philosopher Martin Hollis).Edward J. Nell, Brendan Hogan, and Karim Errouaki have organized in memory of Martin Hollis the Martin Hollis Memorial Conference on Rationality, Action, and Value and the Philosophy of Social Science. It was held at the Graduate Faculty, New School, New York, between 18 and 20 November 2004. Prominent economists and philosophers in the World from the New School (NY), Columbia University and Cambridge University and other universities participated to the conference. Lavoie, D. C. (1977, p. 325)For a Review-essay of Martin Hollis and Edward J. Nell, Rational Economic Man: A Philosophical Critique of Neo-Classical Economics (London: Cambridge University Press)see DON C. LAVOIE (1977) From Hollis and Nell to Hollis and Mises. Journal of Libertarian Studies. Vol. 1. No. 4, pp. 325–336. argued thatTo the devastating critiques of positivism by such philosophers as Brand Blanshard, W. V. Quine, S. Toulmin, A. R. Lousch and Karl Popper, can now be added that of Professors Hollis and Nell. The reason for the impotence modern economics, these authors show, lies in its method. The rejuvenation of economics necessitates developing a different methodology, one which pays attention to the aspects of social sciences which distinguish them from natural sciences. We need a method which recognizes that people are not atoms and that society is not a laboratory.
Since the early 1960s Nell had been critical of the neoclassical research program and had attempted to draw out the unstated assumptions of neoclassical economics and submit them to methodological scrutiny. His 1966 doctoral thesis was on 'Models of Behavior'. Hollis and Nell (1975) is an extension of that doctoral thesis. In Hollis and Nell (1975), they outline an alternative vision to neo-Classicism based on a rationalist theory of knowledge. They dissect the textbook combination of neo-Classicism and Positivism, so crucial to the defence of orthodox economics against now-familiar objections. Hollis and Nell's approach to methodology breaks with the traditional approach by focusing on the problems of the applicability of (the then) current neo-Classical theories. Coherent theories, describing the behaviour of 'assumed' – thus imaginary — rational agents, are developed. But what are the conditions for applying such theories to actual agents? The neo-Classical answer hinges on its view of rational individuals.Errouaki, K (2004) "Rereading Hollis and Nell (1975): Laying Down the Blueprints for Reconstructing Structural Econometrics". Paper presented at the Martin Hollis Memorial Conference, The New School, NY, November 18th, 2004. Forthcoming in Nell, E.J., B. Hogan, B. and Errouaki, K. (eds.) Rationality, Action and Value in the Philosophy of Social Science, Martin Hollis Memorial Conference.
Fiscal theory: Georgism Fiscally, Nell is a strong and active proponent of Georgist tax reform. Not only for its widely accepted benefits for economic efficiency, but because he believes that the land market contributes to inequality and financial instability. Nell is ex-vice-president and board member of the Henry George School of Social Science (New York).
Theory of money and finance His first papers, in the 1960s, laid the basis for his later work. Wicksell's Theory of Circulation, set out the problem of explaining how money circulates – that is, showing how a given sum of money 'monetizes' all the basic economic variables.Nell, E.J. (1967) Wicksell's Theory of Circulation. The Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 75, No. 4, Part I, August 1967. Indeed, Lavoie, Rodriguez and Seccareccia (2004, pp. 3–4)For an account see Lavoie, M., Rodriguez, G. and Seccareccia, M. (2004) Transformational Growth, Interest Rates, and the Golden Rule. In: Argyrous, G., Forstater, M and Mongiovi, G. (eds.) (2004) Growth, Distribution, And Effective Demand: Essays in Honor of Edward J. Nell. New York: M.E. Sharpe. pp. 3–4 argued that As early 1967, Nell had published a paper on Wicksell's monetary circuit in the Journal of Political Economy. There, he explored several of the questions that were to become the prime focus of the French circuit theories, and that were highlighted again, first in a little-known working paper (Nell, 1986), and then in the highly successful book that he edited with Ghislain Deleplaces in 1996, Money in motion....In his 1967 paper on monetary circulation within a Wickselian framework, Nell took into account the impact of interest payments on aggregate demand and on the closure of the monetary circuit. Even since 1967, we believe, Nell has been tantalized by the relationship between the real and the monetary aspects of the economy. In many ways Nell's approach goes back to Francois Quesnay; where money traced out the transactions between the different classes and sectors of society. Although Wassily Leontief was best known for his 'Input Output Mode', a major contribution to economic analysis could be found in his doctoral thesis, done in 1928 at the University of Berlin, on 'Economics as a Circulation' (in German "Wirtschaft als Kreislauf."), under the direction of L.Von Bortkiewicz and Werner Sombart. This work helped to influence Nell's vision of 'Monetary Circulation'. (Although they had met previously he came to know Leontief when he founded the Institute for Economic Analysis in N.Y; later he met and appreciated Faye Duchin and others there. He particularly appreciated their studies of wage-profit relations, and the work on input-output and the environment). John Hicks (1967) noted the difference between the 'transactions demand', which rested on structure and contracts, and the speculative demand which he described as a 'voluntary' matter, a proper subject for the theory of choice. James Tobin and Franco Modigliani both analyze the decision to hold money; Nell, following Wicksell and the early Quantity Theorists, is concerned with the pattern according to which it is spent, to determine how much money is required to ensure that all transactions are fully 'monetized'. These questions stem from Quesnay, via Leontief.