ABSTRACT
In seeking to explain the intellectual influences which underpin the development of the Knight’s frame of thought we shall concentrate upon those authors who feature in Knight’s first and most famous work, namely Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit (1921a). Although the theoretical conclusions which are contained in Chapter Two are derived from the totality of Knight’s work, we will mainly limit our analysis of Knight’s intellectual influences to this initial, yet highly persuasive work. This limitation is based on an assumption of continuity in Knight’s work, which is consistent with the findings of Patinkin (1973a). Patinkin emphasises the strong continuity in Knight’s thought on matters of ethics, individual freedom and the nature of the market system (Patinkin 1973a, 787-807). Patinkin comments on this continuity, with reference to a more limited examination of Knight, namely his lecture programme. Like Patinkin, we find a strong degree of continuity in a much broader examination of Knight’s work.
… I remember characterising Knight’s lectures at the time as being like a general equilibrium system - which could not be solved until the student was familiar with the set of Knight’s articles that specified the relationships between the various parts of the lectures, and thus converted unknowns into knowns. And I still remember my feeling of satisfaction when I began to be able to see the system of equations as a whole - and things began to fall into place (Patinkin 1973a, 789).
