Kenneth Boulding

Kenneth Ewart Boulding (1910–1993) had a charismatic personality. He published hundreds of articles and dozens of books on topics including economics, religion, peace, ecology, evolution, grants, and ethics. He also published three volumes of poetry and was a gifted painter. He grew up an only child in a working-class family in Liverpool, England. His parents were loving and devout Methodists. Boulding committed himself early in life to Christianity. Growing up during World War I had a significant impact on his beliefs. He became a pacifist at an early age. In high school, he discovered the Society of Friends (Quakers) and joined while in his first year of college at Oxford University—which influenced him both personally and professionally for the rest of his life (Boulding, 1992b, p. 73). Boulding’s humble beginnings did not limit his intellectual capabilities. He did develop in early childhood a severe stutter that remained with him the rest of his life. Regardless, he received scholarships to the best schools in Liverpool, which led to his winning a scholarship to Oxford to study chemistry. During his first year at Oxford he switched to economics.

Kenneth Boulding’s Atlantic crossing on the SS Laconia en route to the University of Chicago had at least one unintended effect on his time in America. By happenstance, Professor Joseph A. Schumpeter from Harvard University was traveling on the same ship. Since the trip took nine days they became well acquainted. Boulding had a copy of his Oxford thesis, which Schumpeter took the time to read and they discussed at length. That thesis was lost at some point, which Boulding suggested was of no great loss to the profession. Schumpeter convinced Boulding to visit him at Harvard while he was in the United States. On his way to Chicago, Boulding traveled through New York and westward through Indiana. He was surprised by the forested landscape of America since his impression of the country came largely from cowboy movies.

Boulding found freedom in his new role as emeritus professor starting in the middle of 1980. The final 13 years of his life were productive and he felt at home in Colorado (more so than any other place he had lived in the United States). He believed the 1980s was perhaps the most productive decade of his life (Boulding, 1992b, p. ix). This decade, however, was about more than simply increased production of output. The quality and depth of his work during this time may have been some of his best. Part of this late creative fervor was likely the result of being 70 years old and free from the confines of both university life and professional obligations. Having already served as president of the American Economic Association and only lacking a Nobel Prize for accomplishments in economics, Boulding was freer than at any other time to let his thoughts flow. Arguably, this freedom had been building since his time at the University of Michigan when he became a rogue economist writing on topics and in a style that were too broad for the mainstream to accept (or much acknowledge). But the tone of his books and articles during his last years were more forward-thinking than his earlier work. Whereas his textbook Economic Analysis (1941a) and other books such as Ecodynamics (1978a) and Conflict and Defense (1962) were compilations of his articles and espoused theories and models about how the world functioned at those times, these later works were more about the future: issues of human betterment, power, and moderation.

Kenneth Boulding was a renaissance intellectual with varied interests, as presented in this book. Borrowing Robert Heilbroner’s phrase, Boulding was a worldly philosopher, but also a moral philosopher. Boulding did not work within one school of economic thought. He was always a disciple of Keynes, but he also branched out into institutional economics, behavioral economics, ecological economics, Post Keynesian economics, and others. Boulding was critical of neoclassical economics early in his career. For example, he admonished neoclassical economists for adopting a positivist approach to economic analysis and ignoring the normative elements of economic issues. Today, ethics in economics is a hotly debated issue, and there is still significant resistance to recognizing that economic inquiries are not value-free. As early as the 1930s, Boulding (1932; 1934) dismissed neoclassical economics’ theories of utility maximization, profit maximization, and marginal productivity. Boulding saw himself as a modern political philosopher who was primarily concerned with the well-being of people (humanomics). Boulding’s methods went against the grain of mainstream/neoclassical economics, and arguably still do today. In part, because of Boulding’s nonconformity and concern for social issues, much of his work had originality and emotion. But stepping back and looking at Boulding’s entire research output reveals two areas where he was especially prescient and original: First, his work on peace and conflict resolution; and second, his metaphorical Spaceship Earth as an argument for sustainability and controlling rampant consumption and economic growth.

When the global Great Recession began in 2008, there was outrage among people that economists had lost touch with reality and that the field of economics had failed. A dogmatic worshipping of free markets and minimal government intervention had blindsided much of the profession. Many people are now asking whether economics can shed its dogmatism and become useful again at explaining reality. Kenneth Boulding is proof that it can. His work stands in stark contrast to the mainstream neoclassical methodology adopted by most economists. For his efforts, Boulding was labeled a heretic and largely ostracized by the profession. Boulding was little bothered by these characterizations. Yet, this may be one reason why, until now, a complete biography of Boulding’s work has not been written. Boulding never reached the level of notoriety of Frederich von Hayek or Milton Friedman, not because his work lacked originality or insight, but rather because his sharp divergence from mainstream thinking left him on an island unto himself. And his breadth of thinking made many of his works too theoretical for empirical analysis, which is de rigueur for economics. Perhaps now this book can encourage more people to read Boulding’s writings and begin moving economics and society in a better, more sustainable, more ethical, and more peaceful direction.