Introduction to Notes from Warren J. Samuels's Course on the Economic Role of Government

Abstract

The two sets of notes, taken only three years apart are substantially similar in organization and content. We document differences identified in a line-by-line comparison in Table 1. Generally, the 1996 course notes reproduced here more prominently feature the work of legal scholars, from Oliver Wendell Holmes to St. George Tucker. Curiously, many of these references were removed from the later version, as well as nearly all discussion on legal precedent established by Supreme Court cases. The overall effect of these changes is a marked shift away from a critical legal studies approach to the economic role of government and toward a more focused neoclassical lens.

Citation

Johnson, M., Meder, M.E. and Schweikhardt, D. (2012), "Introduction to Notes from Warren J. Samuels's Course on the Economic Role of Government", Johnson, M. (Ed.) Documents on Government and the Economy (Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, Vol. 30 Part 2), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 139-149. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0743-4154(2012)000030B006