The dissemination of national traditions overseas
English economics has had a profound influence on the development of all economics from the classicals through to the contemporary world. Initially, it was canonical figures that carried authority, but later — and here empire and its successor, the commonwealth, were important in the global reach — it was the English educational system that carried influence.
From the 1850s the University of London BA could be examined overseas; by the 1920s, the London external degrees in economics and commerce were based on the LSE syllabus; and from the late 1930s we can date the modern university-level economics textbook (Frederic Benham's Economics: a General Textbook for Students (1938) is usually taken as the first), though textbooks and political economy manuals have a long provenance stretching back to the eighteenth century (Tribe, 2012).From Smith through Keynes, and most recently Marshall (whose Principles (1890) became a disciplinary foundation globally (Raffaelli et al., 2010)), the reception and enduring influence of English economists abroad has been much studied. Indeed, for Keynes it has become something of an industry so far as policy influence is concerned. In terms of the broader influence of the English tradition of economics education one has only to look at the yearbook of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (established 1913) to see how many Asian, African and Australian economics academics were UK-educated until well into the post-Second World War era. Staff exchanges were also important, though latterly, and in line with internationalisation, the US has been more the attractant for Commonwealth and aspiring academics.
There is a long history of economists' direct involvement in advising overseas governments about economic development and, much more recently, market reform. However, before this modern era, at the height of Empire, say c.1870—1950, a ‘colonial economics' prevailed.
Less the laissez-faire liberalism of the classical era and more about colonial exploitation for the benefit of the metropolis, albeit moderated by variable concerns about ‘native welfare', English neoclassical economics was propagated through the colonial governing class. English imperialism was markedly economic in motive but also pragmatic, and thus when notions of development began to re-emerge in the 1940s, English economists were to be amongst the ‘pioneers in development' (Meier and Seers, 1984, ch. 1).As Empire turned to commonwealth, and development became the focus, English economists were then in the forefront of foreign aid, consultancy and international organisations (Coats, 1986). For many years Ian Little and James Mirrlees' Manual of Industrial Project Analysis in Developing Countries (1969) was the guide of choice for those in the field. More recently, as Collier's (2007) widely cited analysis of poverty amongst the global ‘bottom billion' attests, English economists remain important in the field of development, both theory and practice. British economists have also been significantly involved in advising the successor states of the former USSR on how best to secure the transition to a market economy (the LSE's Centre for Economic Performance is particularly involved in Russia). Whilst this needs to be seen in the broader context of the Washington Consensus, as a consequence — and, of course, part cause — of the Thatcher governments' privatisation programmes and other market liberalisation programmes British economists have a significant expertise to offer to the global market for economic knowledge.
Finally, in terms of global impact today, English economics gains significantly from the global reach and authority of Britain's quality media, be it the BBC television and world radio service or print media, and especially the weekly Economist magazine and daily Financial Times newspaper, all of which are thoroughly internationalised in outlook and audience. However, it is difficult to separate out the advantage that the medium of English, the first global lingua franca, offers to English economists and other scientists. Certainly, the ability of the English to speak and write a language which approximates to American English must be incalculable.