The political economy of Sir Edwin Chadwick

Abstract

This dissertation investigates Edwin Chadwick's contribution to Political Economy. Although his reputation as a public servant and social reformer is well received in many disciplines, Chadwick has been relegated into relative obscurity by economists. Based upon the theoretical underpinnings of his analysis and the consistency of his methodology, it is shown that Chadwick's anonymity amongst economists is undeserved. In the fin al analysis, Chadwick is unique when contrasted with nineteenth century social philosophers. Edwin Chadwick participated in numerous public policy issues; factory legislation, Poor Law revision, crime prevention, sanitation, education and railroad reform are but a few of the many social issues in which he influenced or tried to influence the public decision-making process. Since Chadwick's main interests were policy oriented, the dissertation analyzes his economic thought as it relates to public policy. Chadwick's method of public policy analysis, his analysis of market failure, his proposals for railway reform and his labor market analyses constitute major divisions of the text. The dissertation commences with an inquiry into the philosophical foundations of Chadwick's rationale for market intervention. Three conceptual frameworks for describing the relationship between private and public interests are contrasted and it is shown that Chadwick subscribed to Jeremy Bentham's artificial identity of interests doctrine. This doctrine depicts competitive market failure as the result of a divergence of interests and invokes intervention to produce an artificial identity of interests. Chadwick combined this doctrine with a firm understanding of basic economic concepts and an ardent penchant for empirical verification to produce a unique method of public policy analysis and to anticipate many modern economic concepts. Chadwick developed a modern theory of crime, an economic rationale for patents and copyrights, the importance of time in economic analysis, the effect of liability assignment on economic behavior, an economic explanation for voter apathy and an analysis of public sector incentives. An appendix traces Chadwick's positions on several cornerstones of Classical economic analysis as a contrast to his modernistic developments...