John L. Campbell and John A. Hall, What Capitalism Needs: Forgotten Lessons of Great Economists (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021), pp. 299, $28.95 (hardcover). ISBN: 9781108487825.

Abstract

Marshallianism. The othermain idea of the author is related to the consequences of themigration of the most important economists of the time fromEurope to the United States. That migration, which occurred in the 1930s, due to thewell-known political circumstances, had de facto determined a process of theoretical “colonialism,” which had a double effect: on one side, it unified the American economic thought, and, on the other side, it shaped the present mainstream economics. I guess that this process likely will be described in the following Volume III. The combination of these two ideas is a key point for the community of historians of economics. By following Marchionatti’s suggestion, we might consider whether the origin of the present mainstream economics is truly a process of deconstruction and rebuilding of Marshallianism under the American eyes, or whether it has a more complicated origin that cannot ignore the complexity of the economic theory that spread between the two sides of the pond up to 1945 and that should be described in a more sophisticated way. Furthermore, as historians of economic ideas, shall we subscribe to the author’s “Eurocentric” vision? Or shall we make some distinctions that include the peculiarity of American economic thought? These questions remain open, and Volume III will likely help readers to add further relevant elements in order to discuss them and maybe to find some plausible answers as well as to address new ones to the community of historians of economics. Hence, we praise Marchionatti’s efforts and insights and acknowledge him for giving us this opportunity for an open discussion on these fundamental aspects of the history of economics.