The Value of Applied Economics

The Life and Work of Arthur (A.J.) Brown

Kenneth Button, University Professor, Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University, US

This biography of the applied English economist Arthur (A.J.) Brown, an English economist from the late 1930s to the 1980s, sets his work in the context of the Great Depression, the emergence of Oxford University as a centre of applied economic research, the contraction of British colonialism in Africa, the enlarging of the UK university system, the post –war arms race, the UK joining the Common Market, and significant changes in the industrial structure of Britain.

‘This book is a valuable study of an important applied economist who does not feature in conventional histories of economics.’
– Roger E. Backhouse, History of Economic Though & Policy

“亚瑟·布朗one of the finest applied economists of his generation. I benefitted from his wisdom both as a student and a colleague. His favourite aphorism that “the economy is made for man, not man for the economy” was his guiding principle. Ken Button has done a splendid job in highlighting the importance of applied economic research through the life and work of one of its foremost practitioners.’
– Tony Thirlwall, University of Kent, UK