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Forsaking Keynes

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The Gypsy Economist

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in the History of Economic Thought ((PHET))

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Abstract

This chapter looks over the first period of Colin Clark’s career in Australia. It was his mentor Hugh Dalton who played a key role in persuading Clark to work there. After a brief and controversial assignment in New Zealand studying her national income statistics, Clark agreed to take an executive position with the Queensland Government. It meant a breach with Keynes and Cambridge. Clark defended his decision, telling Keynes that it was an ideal opportunity to put economic science into action. What also turned his mind was Queensland’s rural and small enterprise economy, its egalitarian distribution of income, generous social services, compulsory trade unionism, absence of strikes and centralised wage fixation. Moreover, Queensland’s political leaders favoured decentralisation which resonated with Clark’s growing interest in Distributivism; a philosophy that advocated a fairer distribution of property, ruralism and rejection of ills of urban life. Clark’s public utterances and occasional disagreements with his fellow economists hinted at a future estrangement with them.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    H. Dalton travel diary, 21/1/1938, LSE.

  2. 2.

    Dalton travel diary 24/1/1938.

  3. 3.

    Dalton travel diary 30/1/1938.

  4. 4.

    Clark to B. Pimlott February 1981, Clark Papers, UQ.

  5. 5.

    Dalton to Clark 9/2/1938, Clark Papers, Brasenose.

  6. 6.

    Dalton travel diary, 7/2/1938, LSE.

  7. 7.

    Dalton to Clark 28/1/1938, Clark Papers, Brasenose. In contrast, Brian Reddaway whilst in Australia in 1938, received an unsolicited offer of a fellowship from Clare College (Reddaway 1995).

  8. 8.

    Ibid.

  9. 9.

    Dalton travel diary 17/2/1938, LSE.

  10. 10.

    Clark to M. Clark 19/2/1938, Clark Papers Brasenose.

  11. 11.

    Clark to M. Clark 19/2/1938, Clark family papers.

  12. 12.

    Tocker to Clark 19/2/1938, Clark Papers, UQ.

  13. 13.

    ‘The National Income: Mr Colin Clark Replies to Prof Tocker: Widespread Tax Evasion Alleged’, The Christchurch Press, 2/4/1938.

  14. 14.

    ‘Economist’s Views Questioned’, The Press (Christchurch), 19/2/1938.

  15. 15.

    ‘National Income Mr Clark’s Figures’, Evening Post (Wellington), 15/3/1938 and ‘Mr Colin Clark as Economist’, The Press (Christchurch), 14/3/1938.

  16. 16.

    ‘A Cambridge Economist and Our National Income’, Otago Daily Times (Dunedin), 5/3/1938.

  17. 17.

    ‘Utter Nonsense; Visitor’s Remarks on Spending Money on Public Works’, Evening Post (Wellington), 24/2/1938.

  18. 18.

    ‘Labour Policy: Mr Hamilton’s Analysis Reply to Economist’, Evening Post (Wellington), 2/4/1939.

  19. 19.

    ‘Farmers’ Share of Income. Economists Expects NZ to Surmount the Next Stump’, The Press (Christchurch), 17/2/1938.

  20. 20.

    W. Nash to Copland, 23/2/1938, Copland Papers, NLA.

  21. 21.

    ‘National Income; Mr Clark’s Figures’, Evening Post (Wellington), 1/3/1938.

  22. 22.

    ‘University Economics; Best Forgotten’, Evening Star (Wellington), 22/2/1938.

  23. 23.

    ‘The Country Would Be Better Off Without the Economics of the Universities and Their Products’, Tomorrow, Clark Papers, UQ.

  24. 24.

    ‘Mr Colin Clark on Taxation’, The Press (Christchurch), 26/3/1938.

  25. 25.

    Dalton to Clark 9/3/1938, Clark Papers, Brasenose.

  26. 26.

    Clark to B. Pimlott 1981, Clark Papers, UQ.

  27. 27.

    In 1939 Keynes requested the Faculty of Economics to propose that the General Board of the Faculties support the establishment of a Department of Applied Economics. Established after the war, the new department was headed by Richard Stone.

  28. 28.

    ‘State Basic Wage’, The West Australian (Perth), 30/4/1938.

  29. 29.

    ‘A Leading Economist’, Westralian Worker (Perth), 7/4/1939.

  30. 30.

    Clark interview with Barbara Blackman, 1986, NLA.

  31. 31.

    Clark to Whitfield 28/2/1938, Clark file, UWA.

  32. 32.

    Forgan Smith to Whitfield 1/3/1938, Clark file, UWA.

  33. 33.

    Dalton to Clark 19/3/1938, Clark Papers, Brasenose.

  34. 34.

    ‘Mr Colin Clark Resigns as Labour Candidate’, Norwich Mercury, 9/4/1938.

  35. 35.

    Robertson to Clark 26/6/1938, Clark Papers, UQ.

  36. 36.

    Clark to Copland 27/4/1938, Clark Papers, UQ.

  37. 37.

    ‘State Watched by the Rest of the World’, The Courier Mail (Brisbane), 6/5/1938.

  38. 38.

    ‘Depression Can Be Avoided’ Says Colin Clark, New Industry Bureau Chief’, The Telegraph (Brisbane), 6/5/1938.

  39. 39.

    ‘State Watched by the Rest of World’, The Courier Mail (Brisbane), 6/5/1938.

  40. 40.

    ‘Australia Limit, 25 m’, The Courier Mail (Brisbane), 29/11/1949.

  41. 41.

    Keynes to Clark 24/2/1940, Clark Papers, UQ.

  42. 42.

    Ibid.

  43. 43.

    Clark to Keynes 10/11/1941, Clark Papers, UQ.

  44. 44.

    Clark to Harrod 11/4/1947 RES, LSE.

  45. 45.

    Clark to Parker November 1945, Parker Papers, LSE.

  46. 46.

    Clark to M. Clark 22/7/1938, Clark family letters.

  47. 47.

    Nicholas would soon be joined by Christopher (1940), Antony (1941), Bernard (1942), Maurice (1944) and Oliver (1947). David, the youngest of the eight sons, was born in August 1951. Delightfully, the last of the brood was a girl, Cecily, born in England in 1953. On congratulating him on the birth of his third child, Christopher, Keynes wrote that he ‘would not complain if you depart from the law of averages still further’.

  48. 48.

    ‘Human Resources More Important Than Natural Resources’, The Telegraph (Brisbane), 30/5/1938.

  49. 49.

    J. K. Galbraith to Clark 16/1/1952, Clark Papers, UQ.

  50. 50.

    ‘Federal Treasurer Rebukes Mr Colin Clark’, The Telegraph (Brisbane), 16/11/1940.

  51. 51.

    ‘Figures Wizard Boon for State’, Sunday Mail (Brisbane), 3/2/1946.

  52. 52.

    ‘Mr Clark Tells Why State’s Living Standard Has Been Stationary’, The Telegraph (Brisbane), 4/5/1940.

  53. 53.

    Parker to Clark 28/12/1938, Clark Papers, UQ.

  54. 54.

    Benham to E. Cannan 21/1/1938, RSE, LSE.

  55. 55.

    Clark to Marjorie Clark nd, Clark family letters.

  56. 56.

    Clark to Marjorie Clark September 1937, Clark family letters.

  57. 57.

    ‘The Teaching of Economics’, Economic News 11(9).

  58. 58.

    ‘Mr Colin Clark Slates Aust Universities’, Queensland Times, 7/10/1948.

  59. 59.

    ‘Drunkenness and the Drink Trade’, Economic News, July 1942.

  60. 60.

    ‘Hotels Grind Out Brewery Profits Says Colin Clark’, Sunday Mail (Brisbane), 16/7/1944.

  61. 61.

    ‘Brewery Monopoly Under Fire by Colin Clark’, The Telegraph (Brisbane), 26/3/1952.

  62. 62.

    ‘Lecturer Gives Temperance League a Shock’, The Argus (Melbourne), 27/3/1952.

  63. 63.

    Information supplied by Bernard Clark.

  64. 64.

    A. G. B. Fisher to J. La Nauze 8/10/1938, La Nauze Papers, NLA.

  65. 65.

    ‘State Loan Expenditure Should Not Be Cut Down’, Worker, 19/4/1938.

  66. 66.

    Copland to Clark April 1938, Copland Papers, NLA.

  67. 67.

    Clark to Copland 27/4/1938, Copland Papers, NLA.

  68. 68.

    Barbara Blackman interview with Clark 1986, NLA.

  69. 69.

    Premier Cooper to Clark 28/5/1943, Clark Papers, UQ.

  70. 70.

    ‘Australia May Be on the Verge of Era of Marked Economic Expansion’, The Telegraph (Brisbane), 29/3/1939.

  71. 71.

    ‘Future Growth of Brisbane Is Undesirable’, The Telegraph (Brisbane), 14/11/1939.

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  1. Federation Business School, Federation University, Ballarat, VIC, Australia

    Alex Millmow

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Millmow, A. (2021). Forsaking Keynes. In: The Gypsy Economist. Palgrave Studies in the History of Economic Thought. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6946-7_6

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