Publication
Title
David Hawkins and the making of the Hawkins-Simon conditions
Author
Abstract
The Hawkins-Simon conditions, which are necessary and sufficient for the viability of input-output systems, are described in many encyclopedias, textbooks and papers, but always without historical details about the philosopher David Hawkins. The rich literature on the history of input-output economics has neglected Hawkins, probably because he spent only a few years among the economists. My paper fills this gap. By using the relevant archival material on Hawkins, Simon, and Leontief, I correct and expand some scarce remarks on Hawkins by Simon and Samuelson. I discuss Hawkins's three remarkable contributions to economics. First, Hawkins's dynamic input-output model inEconometricain 1948 scooped Leontief. Second, I show how the correspondence between Hawkins and Simon created their famous joint note inEconometricain 1949. Third, an overlooked chapter in Hawkins's 1964 bookThe Language of Naturediscussed the commodity values of commodities, generalizing Marx's labour values and the Technocrats's energy values.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Economic systems research. - Abingdon
Publication
Abingdon : 2021
ISSN
0953-5314
DOI
10.1080/09535314.2020.1794799
Volume/pages
33 :3 (2021) , p. 363-384
ISI
000552540500001
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 29.07.2020
Last edited 25.02.2025
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