ABSTRACT
The dissent from orthodox thinking in economics after 1890 and into the twentieth century is essentially a critique of the written and oral tradition of neoclassicism that Alfred Marshall originated at Cambridge University. The dissent from this tradition was the product of multiple forces, the most obvious of which was the transformation of the capitalistic system itself. The system’s institution of private property, under which market forces direct production, exchange, and distribution, held firm, as did the right of inheritance and enforceability of contracts to use property to earn profit. But important changes were under way. Specifically, both England and America experienced a decline in the number of small business enterprises. Capitalist owners participated less actively as business became institutionalized under the aegis of large corporations owned by stockholders and run by a professional managerial class.
