ALFRED MARSHALL (1842-1924)

Throughout his adult life, Marshall occupied academic positions. Apart from four years as the Principal of the University College of Bristol and a brief period as a Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford (where he taught political economy to candidates for the Indian Civil Service), he was associated with the University of Cambridge.

The main corpus of Marshall's teaching was contained in one book - Principles of Economics. Published originally in 1890, this work went through eight editions during his lifetime. If not a prolific writer, he was an infinitely painstaking one. Marshall - to the considerable annoyance of his ablest pupil - was reluctant to commit his insights to print before they had been fully polished and before their relevance to practical problems had been established. On this trait of his master, John Maynard Keynes later commented:

Economists must leave to Adam Smith alone the glory of the Quarto, must pluck the day, fling pamphlets into the wind, write always sub specie temporis, and achieve immortality by accident, if at all.

Moreover, did not Marshall, by keeping his wisdom at home until he could produce it fully clothed, mistake, perhaps, the true nature of his own special gift? 'Economics,' he said... 'is not a body of concrete truth, but an engine for the discovery of concrete truth.' This

engine, as we employ it today, is largely Marshall's creation. He put it in the hands of his pupils long before he offered it to the world.... Yet he hankered greatly after the 'concrete' truth which he had disclaimed and for the discovery of which he was not specially qualified.2

Whatever the costs of delayed publication may have been, Marshall's interest in and affection for his students later paid handsome dividends. His influence extended well beyond his role in equipping them with professional skills. He urged them to be engaged with the world's problems and advised a wary attitude towards popular acclaim. 'Evil', he once wrote, 'is with [students of social science] when all men speak well of them.... It is almost impossible for a student to be a true patriot and to have the reputation of being one in his own time.'3

Though Marshall's place in history rests primarily on his contributions to economic theory, he insisted that the purpose of theoretical investigations was to illuminate practical problems. In his own career his social concerns found direct outlet in his participation (either as a member or as an expert witness) in the work of official commissions dealing with monetary questions, taxation, and the relief of the poor.

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