Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

Retrospectives: Captains of Industry

Contents:

Author Info

  • Robert Dixon

Abstract

This paper traces the origin and use of the term "captains of industry." Introduced by the Scottish historian and essayist Thomas Carlyle in the mid-nineteenth century, its meanings and associations were very different from today. For Carlyle, they were ferocious instruments of social control who would force the unemployed and idle to work and, if necessary, discipline them. The term, if not the meaning, rapidly entered the popular lexicon. It was brought into economics by Francis Walker, the first president of the AEA, who argued that the captain of industry was a fourth factor of production and the engine of industrial progress. While many other writers shared this view, Veblen did not.

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/0895330027193
Download Restriction: no

Bibliographic Info

Article provided by American Economic Association in its journal Journal of Economic Perspectives.

Volume (Year): 16 (2002)
Issue (Month): 2 (Spring)
Pages: 197-206

as in new window
Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:16:y:2002:i:2:p:197-206

Note: DOI: 10.1257/0895330027193
Contact details of provider:
Email:
Web page: http://www.aeaweb.org/jep/
More information through EDIRC

Order Information:
Web: http://www.aeaweb.org/subscribe.html

Related research

Keywords:

References

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
as in new window
  1. Edgeworth, Francis Ysidro, 1904. "The Theory of Distribution," History of Economic Thought Articles, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, February.
  2. Barber, William J, 1987. "Should the American Economic Association Have Toasted Simon Newcomb at Its 100th Birthday Party?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 179-83, Summer.
Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

Citations

Lists

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Statistics

Access and download statistics

Corrections

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:16:y:2002:i:2:p:197-206

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Jane Voros) or (Michael P. Albert).

If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.

If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.