The Gypsy Economist: The Life and Times of Colin Clark

Intro -- Praise for The Gypsy Economist -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- 1 Introduction -- The Need for a Biography -- References -- Part I 1905-1937 The Makings of an Applied Economist -- 2 Brilliant Beginnings -- Family Background -- Scholarship Boy -- Oxford, Chemistry and Embracing Economics -- A Socialist Apprenticeship -- An Introduction to Increasing Returns -- An Early Chance at British Politics -- The Economic Advisory Council -- References -- 3 Cambridge and Fabianism -- Clark's Views on Economics -- Clark as Teacher -- Mixing with the Fabians -- Marriage and a Last Chance at Politics -- References -- 4 Becoming the World's Economic Statistician -- How Did This Aspect of Clark's Research First Begin? -- National Income and Outlay (1937) -- Clark's Working Habits -- Contesting Malthus -- Leaving Cambridge -- References -- Part II 1937-1952 Australian Idyll -- 5 Great Southern Land -- References -- 6 Forsaking Keynes -- The Role of Dalton -- New Zealand Interlude -- Telling Keynes Bad News -- The Attraction of Queensland -- Distributivism -- The Bureau of Industry -- Paying Tribute to Australian Economists -- References -- 7 Three Classic Contributions -- A Critique of Russian Statistics (1939) -- The Conditions of Economic Progress (1940) -- The First Edition -- Subsequent Editions -- The Economics of 1960 (1942) -- References -- 8 Spiritual Awakening -- On the Front Line -- Metamorphosis -- Turning to Rome -- A New and Important Friendship -- A New Vision -- Property and Economic Progress (1945) -- References -- 9 Two Revelations -- The Optimal Size of Cities -- The Natural Limits of Taxation -- American Reactions -- Australian Reactions -- Channelling the True Keynes -- References -- 10 Macroeconomics and the Pursuit of Ruralism -- The Post-war Australian Economy -- Creating a Rural Nirvana -- Exposing Leviathan.

This book offers the first intellectual biography of the Anglo Australian economist, Colin Clark. Despite taking the economics world by storm with a mercurial ability for statistical analysis, Clark's work has been largely overlooked in the 30 years since his death. His career was punctuated by a number of firsts. He was the first economist to derive the concept of GNP, the first to broach development economics and to foresee the re-emergence of India and China within the global economy. In 1945, he predicted the rise and persistence of inflation when taxation levels exceeded 25 per cent of GNP. And he was also the first economist to debunk post-war predictions of mass hunger by arguing that rapid population growth engendered economic development. Clark wandered through the fields of applied economics in much the same way as he rambled through the English countryside and the Australian bush. His imaginative wanderings qualify him as the eminent gypsy economist for the 20th century.