ABSTRACT
In 1950 Kenneth Parsons saw John R'.s last book through to publication. He called it The Economics of Collective Action, and he wrote that it should be "the first book" for anyone interested "in understanding Commons' thought". Nelson Lichtenstein has argued that the Taft-Hartley Act was the main factor in the decline of union membership since 1950 and that economists at the time did not understand how it effectively denied freedom of assembly. The bipartisan support for the Taft-Hartley Act reflected the political climate of the years surrounding the publication of John R'.s final book. With Wilbur Cohen in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW), and with Heller and Lampman in the Council of Economic Advisors the tradition of John R. Commons returned to Washington, DC. Since the Commons tradition stressed teamwork and avoidance of taking credit, it is difficult to isolate a specific Wisconsin influence in the mass of legislation produced in the 1960s.
