Retirement and Industry and Trade (1919): An Important Companion Volume to the Principles

This chapter reviews the final years of Marshall’s life from his retirement in 1908 as Cambridge Professor of Political Economy to the publication of Industry and Trade in 1919 as the first of an eventual two companion volumes to the Principles. The discussion of these eleven years is broken up as follows. The first section (Section 8.1) deals with Marshall’s retirement, a step he took to provide more time for the writing of the companion volumes whose publication had already been delayed for far too long. It also discusses the final lecture he gave just before he retired and the honours conferred on him by his university including that of the painting by William Rothenstein of his official portrait. Section 8.2 examines the battle for the succession between Foxwell and Pigou, and Marshall’s role in Pigou’s election to the Cambridge chair. The early years of Marshall’s voluntary retirement, that is, up to the beginning of First World War in 1914, are discussed in Section 8.3. Marshall’s work during the war is looked at in Section 8.4 under the heading of a ‘principled war effort’. Section 8.5 then reviews the circumstances surrounding the writing of Industry and Trade, followed by a discussion of its publication, its contents and its reception in Section 8.6. A concluding section closes the chapter.