SECTION A ECONOMIC THEORY 



(Hall 15, September 22, 10 a. TO.) 



SPEAKERS: PROFESSOR JOHN B. CLARK, Columbia University. 



PROFESSOR JACOB H. HOLLANDER, Johns Hopkins University. 

 SECRETARY: PROFESSOR JESSE E. POPE, University of Missouri. 



ECONOMIC THEORY IN A NEW CHARACTER AND 



RELATION 



BY JOHX BATES CLARK 



[John Bates Clark, Ph.D., LL.D., Professor of Political Economy, Columbia Uni- 

 versity, New York. b. Januarv 26, 1847, Providence, Rhode Island. A.B. 

 Amherst College, 1872; A.M. ibid. 1875; Ph.D. ibid. 1890; LL.D. Princeton 

 University, 1896; ibid. Amherst, 1897; Post-graduate of Universities, Zurich and 

 Heidelberg, 1873-75. Professor of Political Economy and History, Carle ton 

 College, Minnesota, 1877-81; Professor of History and Political Science, Smith 

 College, 1882-92; Professor of Political Economy, Amherst College, 1892-95. 

 President of American Economic Association. 1893-95. Author of The Phil- 

 osophy of Wealth; The Distribution of Wealth; The Control of Trusts; The Pro- 

 blem of Monopoly.] 



IT is the purpose of this paper briefly to indicate a certain enlarge- 

 ment which economic theory is undergoing and a certain new and 

 intimate relation to statistical knowledge which, in the newer 

 portion, it is assuming. It is obvious that general political economy 

 is becoming practical. It is emphasizing statistics and industrial 

 history, gathering from the field of business data which, in them- 

 selves, command a measure of respect on the part of employers of 

 labor, influential working-men, and even politicians. The conclu- 

 sions which may be based on such data constitute a new mass of 

 theoretical knowledge; and concerning this there is doubt as to 

 whether it is winning its full share of the respect which is felt for 

 tabulated statements of bald fact. While the work of the theoret- 

 ical economist has, at certain epochs, kept pace in recognition and 

 influence with that of the statistician and the historian, there has 

 arisen a suspicion that the recent gains in applied economics are made 

 at the cost of pure theory as such. They are supposed to represent 

 a reaction against its former spirit and method and in favor of a type 

 of research which calls men out of the study into the arena of active 

 business. 



It will hardly be admitted by those who rejoice in an intelligent 

 way over the reaction which has taken place that it implies such an 

 exaltation of bald facts as to carry with it a contempt for principles 



