Economics with(out) ethics? An interdisciplinary encounter between public economists and John Rawls in the 1970s

Figures & data

Table 1. Scholarly engagement of key public economists with John Rawls’s works (1970s).

Economist	Institutional Affiliation in the 1970s	Area of expertise	References (Letters and/or published works)
Sidney Alexander	MIT (1956-)	Mathematical economics Economic growth International trade	“Social Evaluation Through Notional Choice”, The Quarterly Journal of Economics (vol. 88, issue 4, 1974)
Kenneth Arrow	Harvard University (1968-79)	Social choice theory Mathematical economics Public economics	“A Utilitarian Approach to the Concept of Equality in Public Expenditures”, The Quarterly Journal of Economics (vol. 85, issue 3, 1971) Letter to Rawls (1972) “Rawls’s Principle of Just Saving”, The Swedish Journal of Economics (vol. 75, issue 4, 1973a) “Some Ordinalist-Utilitarian Notes on Rawls’s Theory of Justice”, The Journal of Philosophy (vol. 70, issue 9, 1973b)
Anthony Atkinson	University of Essex (1971-76) MIT (1973 Visiting) University College London (1976-79)	Social justice Public policy Political economy Public economics	“La “Maxi-Min” et l’imposition Optimale Des Revenus”, Cahiers Du Séminaire d’Économétrie, (vol. 16, 1975) The Design of Tax Structure: Direct versus Indirect Taxation’. Journal of Public Economics (with Joseph Stiglitz) (vol. 6, issues 1–2, 1976) Lectures on Public Economics (with Joseph Stiglitz) (1980)
Michael Boskin	Stanford University (1971-) NBER (1971-, Research Associate)	Economic growth Tax and budget theory and policy	“Estate Taxation and Charitable Bequests”. Journal of Public Economics (vol. 5, issues 1–2, 1976) “Some Lessons from the New Public Finance” (with Joseph Stiglitz), published in 1978 (NBER working paper) and at American Economic Review (vol. 67, issue 1, 1977) “Optimal Redistributive Taxation When Individual Welfare Depends upon Relative Income” (with Eytan Sheshinski), published in 1976 (NBER working paper) and at The Quarterly Journal of Economics (vol. 92, issue 4)
James Buchanan	Virginia Tech (1969-83)	Political economy Public choice Constitutional economics	Letter to Rawls (1972)
David Colander	Columbia University (1970-76)	Macroeconomics Economic methodology Economics education	Letter to Rawls (1974)
Partha Dasgupta	LSE (1971-75) University of Cambridge (Fellow, 1971-74)	Welfare and development economics Environmental economics Game theory	Letter to Rawls (1972)
Peter A. Diamond	MIT (1966-2011)	Social security Taxation Welfare economics	“Optimal Taxation and Public Production I: Production Efficiency”, The American Economic Review (vol. 61, issue 1, 1971) (with James A. Mirrlees) “Taxation and Public Production in a Growth Setting”. In: Models of Economic Growth, J. A. Mirrlees and N. H. Stern (eds.)
Martin Feldstein	Harvard University (1969-2019)	Macroeconomics Public finance Social insurance Public economics	“Incidence of a Capital Income Tax in a Growing Economy with Variable Savings Rates”, Review of Economic Studies (vol. 41, issue 4, 1974) “On the Theory of Tax Reform”, Journal of Public Economics (vol. 6, issues 1–2, 1976) “Tax Incentives and Charitable Contributions in the United States: A Microeconometric Analysis”, Journal of Public Economics (vol. 5, issues 1–2, 1976) (with Charles Clotfelter)
John Harsanyi	Uni. of California, Berkeley (1964-90)	Game theory Mathematical economics Welfare economics	A review of Rawls’s A Theory of Justice, published as: “Can the Maximin Principle Serve as a Basis for Morality? A Critique of John Rawls’s Theory”, The American Political Science Review (vol. 69, issue 2, 1975)
Richard A. Musgrave	Harvard University (1965-81 Emeritus)	Public finance Fiscal policy and taxation	“Maximin, uncertainty, and the leisure trade-off”, The Quarterly Journal of Economics (vol. 88, issue 4, 1974)
Edmund Phelps	Columbia University	Macroeconomics Economic growth Unemployment discrimination	Letter from Rawls (1972) Letter to Rawls (1973) “Taxation of Wage Income for Economic Justice”, The Quarterly Journal of Economics (vol. 87, issue 3, 1973) Letter to Rawls (1974) Letter from Rawls (1974) “Rawlsian Growth: Dynamic Programming of Capital and Wealth for Intergeneration ‘Maximin’ Justice”, The Review of Economic Studies, (vol. 45, issue 1, 1978) (with John G. Riley)
Robert Solow	MIT (1949-95 Emeritus)	Economic growth	“Intergenerational Equity and Exhaustible Resources”, The Review of Economic Studies (vol. 41, 1974) Letter to Rawls (1973) Letter from Rawls (1973)