In today's world, Edwin Cannan plays a fundamental role in society, whether as a point of reference in history, as the protagonist of a topic of general interest or as a relevant character today. Its influence extends to multiple aspects of daily life and its relevance cannot be ignored. In this article, we will deeply explore the importance of Edwin Cannan and its impact in various fields, from culture to politics, technology and economics. Through a comprehensive analysis, we will seek to discover the reasons behind its notable influence and the place it occupies in modern society.
Edwin Cannan was the younger son of David Alexander Cannan and artist Jane Dorothea Claude.
His mother died at the age of 38 of tuberculosis in Madeira, Portugal 18 days after her son Edwin was born. He studied at Balliol College, Oxford.
As a follower of William Stanley Jevons, Edwin Cannan is perhaps best known for his logical dissection and destruction of Classical theory in his famous 1894 tract A History of the Theories of Production and Distribution. Although Cannan had personal and professional difficulties with Alfred Marshall, he was still "Marshall's man" at the LSE from 1895 to 1926. During that time, particularly during his long stretch as chairman after 1907, Edwin Cannan shepherded the LSE away from its roots in Fabian socialism into tentative Marshallianism. This period was only to last, however, until his protégé, Lionel Robbins, took over with his more "Continental" ideas.
Though Cannan, in his early years as an economist, was a critic of classical economics and an ally of interventionists, he moved sharply to the side of classical liberalism in the early 20th century. He favoured simplicity, clarity, and common sense in the exposition of economics. Cannan emphasised the institutional foundation of economic systems.
Cannan, Edwin, ed. (1896). "Preface, Introduction". Lectures on Justice, Police, Revenue and Arms delivered in the University of Glasgow by Adam Smith and reported by a Student in 1763 (First ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. Retrieved 12 May 2018 – via Internet Archive.
^Tribe, Keith (2019). "Edwin Cannan (1861-1935)". In Cord, Robert A. (ed.). The Palgrave Companion to LSE Economics. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 199. doi:10.1057/978-1-137-58274-4. ISBN978-1-137-58273-7.
^Robbins, Lionel (June 1935). "A Student's Recollections of Edwin Cannan". The Economic Journal. 45 (178): 398. JSTOR2224669.
^Cannan, Edwin (September 1932). "An Essay on the Significance of Economic Science. By LIONEL ROBBINS. (Pp. xii + 141. Macmillan. 7s. 6d.)". The Economic Journal. 42 (167): 424–427. JSTOR2224025.
^Cannan, Edwin (1912). "The Practical Utility of Economic Science". The Economic Outlook. London; Leipsic: T. Fisher Unwin. pp. 172-194 – via Internet Archive.
^ See, for example, Hodgson, Geoffrey M. (2001). How Economics Forgot History. New York and London: Routledge. p. 205. Hodgson remarks that in Wealth (1914) Cannan stressed the family, private property and the state.
^Hayek, F.A. (November 1929). "Edwin Cannan: An Ecconomist's Protest. XX und 438 S. London: P.S. King & Son, Ltd. 1927". Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie / Journal of Economics. 1 (3): 467–470. JSTOR41792296.
Hayek, F.A. von (1935). "Edwin Cannan". Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie / Journal of Economics. 6 (2): 246–250. JSTOR41793021.
Hayek, F.A. (1995). "Edwin Cannan". In Caldwell, Bruce (ed.). The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek: Contra Keynes and Cambridge: Essays and Correspondence. Vol. IX. Translated by Heinz, Grete; Raico, Ralph. London: Routledge. pp. 64–73.