Social Control of Business

John Maurice Clark

University of Chicago Press, 1926

1926 University of Chicago printing. Bound in publisher's green cloth. Gilt lettering. Hardcover. Library stamps and markings.  Spine rubbed and partially discolored. Label on front board. Contemporary signature of A.M. Black on verso. xviii, 483 p., 21 cm. 

"John Maurice Clark was an American economist, the son of John Bates Clark. He was one of the most famous American economists of the first half of the twentieth century. After beginning his career as a follower of his father, co-authoring the revised version of The Control of Trusts, he later became associated with the Institutional school of economics. Clark developed several important economic concepts, including the 'acceleration principle' and the concept of 'workable competition,' based on his belief that perfect competition is unattainable. This formed the basis of antitrust laws, established to prevent monopolistic behavior, although they have been met with questionable success. Clark recognized that there were aspects of human nature that influenced how people make economic decisions, and such factors needed to be addressed by economists in developing useful theories. Ultimately, however, study of these factors by social scientists is only one step, for harmonious economic development, people need to add more to the economy than they seek to take from it. Clark's acceptance that perfect competition is unattainable reflected the time in which he lived."