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Arnold Plant (1898–1978)

  • Robert A. CordEmail author
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Abstract

Cord looks at the work of Arnold Plant. After an examination of Plant’s life and career, the focus is on the seminal contributions that he made in the 1930s to the economics of copyright on books and patents for inventions, and how his views on these issues reflected his wider dislike of monopoly. Cord then considers Plant’s work on Africa, in particular the South African economy, this interest resulting from the time he spent at Cape Town University in the 1920s. Following on from this, there is an examination of Plant’s deep involvement with the Department of Business Administration at LSE, before a concluding section highlights the significant influence he had on generations of students at the School, including Ronald Coase and Arthur Lewis.

Keywords

Arnold Plant Property rights Copyright Patents Monopoly South African economy Business administration Ronald Coase 
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References

Main Works by Arnold Plant

  1. Plant, A. (1923). ‘Unemployment’. The Times, 19 September: 6.Google Scholar
  2. Plant, A. (1925). ‘The Supply of Overseas Capital’. South African Journal of Industries and Labour Gazette, 8(12): 749–760.Google Scholar
  3. Plant, A. (1926). ‘The Reports of the South African Economic and Wage Commission (1925)’. Economic Journal, 36(144): 669–680.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. Plant, A. (1927). ‘The Economics of the Native Question’. Voorslag, 1(11): 21–38. Reprinted as Chapter 1 in A. Plant (1974) Selected Economic Essays and Addresses. London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul: 3–17.Google Scholar
  5. Plant, A. (1928). ‘The Future of Central Banking in South Africa’. The Banker, 5(26): 384–392.Google Scholar
  6. Plant, A. (1931). ‘The Anti-Dumping Regulations of the South African Tariff’. Economica, 31(February): 63–102.Google Scholar
  7. Plant, A. (1932a). ‘Trends in Business Administration’. Economica, 35(February): 45–62.Google Scholar
  8. Plant, A. (1932). ‘Competition and Co-ordination in Transport’. Journal of the Institute of Transport, 13(3): 127–135.Google Scholar
  9. Plant, A. (1934a). ‘The Economic Aspects of Copyright in Books’. Economica, New Series, 1(2): 167–195. Reprinted as Chapter 4 in A. Plant (1974) Selected Economic Essays and Addresses. London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul: 57–86.Google Scholar
  10. Plant, A. (1934b). ‘The Economic Theory Concerning Patents for Inventions’. Economica, New Series, 1(1): 30–51. Reprinted as Chapter 3 in A. Plant (1974) Selected Economic Essays and Addresses. London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul: 35–56.Google Scholar
  11. Plant, A. (1934). ‘La Réglementation des Transports’. Revue d’Économie Politique, 48(5): 1520–1536.Google Scholar
  12. Plant, A. (1935–1936). ‘The Academic Approach to Business Problems’. Journal of the Insurance Institute of London, 29(1): 35–52.Google Scholar
  13. Plant, A. (1937a). ‘Centralize or Decentralize?’. In A. Plant (ed.) Some Modern Business Problems. London: Longmans, Green and Co: 1–33. Reprinted as Chapter 9 in A. Plant (1974) Selected Economic Essays and Addresses. London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul: 174–198.Google Scholar
  14. Plant, A. (1937b). ‘The Distribution of Proprietary Articles’. In A. Plant (ed.) Some Modern Business Problems. London: Longmans, Green and Co: 301–336. Reprinted as Chapter 10 in A. Plant (1974) Selected Economic Essays and Addresses. London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul: 199–225.Google Scholar
  15. Plant, A. (1937). ‘A Staff College for Business?’. British Management Review, 2(4): 70–94.Google Scholar
  16. Plant, A. (1937). ‘The Value of Economic Training for Public Administration’. Public Administration, 15(3): 245–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. Plant, A. (1938). ‘Population Trends and International Migration’. Chapter 6 in T.H. Marshall et al. The Population Problem. London: George Allen & Unwin: 120–141.Google Scholar
  18. Plant, A. (1948a). ‘Monopolies and Restrictive Practices’. Lloyds Bank Review, New Series, 10(October): 1–21.Google Scholar
  19. Plant, A. (1948). ‘Land Planning and the Functions of Ownership’. Westminster Bank Review, May: 1–8.Google Scholar
  20. Plant, A. (1953). The New Commerce in Ideas and Intellectual Property. London: Athlone Press. Reprinted as Chapter 5 in A. Plant (1974) Selected Economic Essays and Addresses. London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul: 87–116.Google Scholar
  21. Plant, A. (1956a). ‘Pay As You View: The Case Stated’. The Times (Radio and Television Supplement), 22 August: xiii.Google Scholar
  22. Plant, A. (1956). The Substance and the Shadow—Reflections on Prosperity. Southampton: University of Southampton. Reprinted as Chapter 6 in A. Plant (1974) Selected Economic Essays and Addresses. London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul: 121–139.Google Scholar
  23. Plant, A. (1958a). ‘Pay As You View’. The Listener, 25 September: 462–464.Google Scholar
  24. Plant, A. (1958). ‘The Economic Approach to the Peaceful Use of Nuclear Power’. Paper read at a meeting of Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy (UNESCO, Paris), 15–19 September. Reprinted as Chapter 11 in A. Plant (1974) Selected Economic Essays and Addresses. London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul: 226–248.Google Scholar
  25. Plant, A. (1959). ‘Engineering in an Expanding Economy’. Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, New Series, 5: 363–373. Reprinted as Chapter 7 in A. Plant (1974) Selected Economic Essays and Addresses. London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul: 140–166.Google Scholar
  26. Plant, A. (1962). ‘Britain’s Bid for World Prosperity’. Optima, 12(1): 23–30.Google Scholar
  27. Plant, A. (1963). ‘Economic Development, 1795–1921’. Chapter 29 in E.A. Walker (ed.) The Cambridge History of the British Empire: Volume VIII. South Africa, Rhodesia and the High Commission Territories. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 788–836.Google Scholar
  28. Plant, A. (1965). ‘Review of The Economics of the Colour Bar, by W.H. Hutt’. Economic Journal, 75(300): 827–828.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  29. Plant, A. (1970a). ‘Introduction’. In Economic Issues in Immigration. Readings in Political Economy 5, Institute of Economic Affairs. Surrey: Gresham Press: xi–xviii. Reprinted as ‘Economic Issues in Immigration’, Chapter 2 in A. Plant (1974) Selected Economic Essays and Addresses. London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul: 18–27.Google Scholar
  30. Plant, A. (1970). ‘A Tribute to Hayek: The Rational Persuader’. Economic Age, 2(2): 4–8. Reprinted as ‘Homage to Hayek’, Chapter 8 in A. Plant (1974) Selected Economic Essays and Addresses. London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul: 167–173.Google Scholar
  31. Plant, A. and F.C. Benham (1931). ‘Tariff-Making in Practice’. Chapter 15 in Tariffs: The Case Examined, by a Committee of Economists under the Chairmanship of Sir William Beveridge. London: Longmans, Green and Co: 185–209.Google Scholar
  32. Plant, A. and R.F. Fowler (1939). ‘The Analysis of Costs of Retail Distribution: Illustrated from Data Relating to a Sample of Departmental Stores’. Economica, New Series, 6(22): 121–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Other Works Referred To

  1. Baxter, W.T. (1991). ‘Early Critics of Costing: LSE in the 1930s’. In O.F. Graves (ed.) The Costing Heritage: Studies in Honor of S. Paul Garner. Harrisonburg, VA: The Academy of Accounting Historians: 138–149.Google Scholar
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  18. Yamey, B. (1980). ‘Professor Sir Arnold Plant, 1898–1978’. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A, 143(1): 92.Google Scholar

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© The Author(s) 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Researcher in EconomicsLondonUnited Kingdom

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