“An Essentially Different Scheme of Distribution from that Proposed by Clark.” A Note on Charles William Macfarlane’s Neglected Marginalism

Abstract

Charles William Macfarlane (1852-1931) represents an almost unique and completely forgotten economist during the Progressive Era: although he was outside Academis, he was able to take an active part in the theoretical debate of the time by proposing a peculiar version of marginalism far away from the Austrian school version and close the classical approach. This paper deals with Macfarlane’s theory of value and distribution, by discussing its influence in the discipline, and it presents an archival appendix which reproduces an unpublished response by Clark to Macfarlane which provides further evidence on the reception of Macfarlane’s work among his contemporaries.

Keywords

• Marginalism
• Classical school
• American economic thought
• Progressive Era