Abstract
The central concern of Alan Peacock’s work was in public finance. He defended the traditions of classical liberal political economy against the claims of ‘The New Welfare Economics’ to represent the only theoretically rigorous approach to public policy. His contribution was not focused on either positive or normative economics, but on what John Neville Keynes (1891. The scope and method of political economy, 1st ed. London: Macmillan) called the ‘art of economics’ – the translation of normative principles into policy action given the constraints presented by practically feasible institutions governing both private and public choice. His policy interests were wide and ranged from the big questions of the size and scope of government to more specific issues such as the structure of the social security system, the finance of education, the public support of the arts generally and the finance of the BBC in particular.
This chapter was originally published in The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, Online edition, 2015. Edited by Palgrave Macmillan
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Ricketts, M. (2015). Peacock, Alan T. (1922–2014). In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_3005-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_3005-1
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