Denis Patrick O'Brien
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Denis Patrick O'Brien (b. 1939, Knebworth, Hertfordshire, England) is a prominent English economist, especially known for his contributions to industrial economics and the history of economic thought. He has held academic positions in Queen's University Belfast (1963-1972), and was appointed as Professor of Economics in Durham University in 1972.
After his studies in the University of London (BSc, 1960), D.P. O'Brien worked for a few years as a business economist in industry, which triggered his interest in industrial economics. His first publication was a piece in the Journal of Industrial Economics on patent protection in textiles. This was in 1964, shortly after he took a position as probationary lecturer at Queen's University Belfast. O'Brien shortly thereafter began his doctoral thesis on the work of J. R. McCulloch, under the direction of R. D. Collison Black. His book, J. R. McCulloch, A Study in Classical Economics, was published in 1970. One of the reviewers of this work wrote:
"This is the first full-length study of John Ramsay McCulloch's life and writings. Such is the thoroughness and finesse with which Dr. O'Brien has carried out his task that it can be said with some confidence that it will probably be the last. Some idea of the magnitude of the task can be gained from the fourteen pages needed to list McCulloch's writings."
While searching for materials on McCulloch, O'Brien discovered the papers of Lord Overstone, which at the time were assumed to be lost. He edited the Overstone papers, and published them in three volumes in 1971.
In his books and articles Denis O'Brien has covered the entire waterfront of classical economics, writing on the lives and ideas of figures such as Thomas Joplin, Sir James Steuart, Samuel Mountiford Longfield, Robert Torrens, Henry Thornton, Richard Cantillon, as well as Adam Smith and David Ricardo. Of his 1975 textbook, The Classical Economists(revised edition, The Classical Economists Revisited, 2004), Mark Blaug wrote:
"In short, from now on all histories of economic thought can start their story in 1870, because it is difficult to see how anyone can improve on Professor O'Brien's analysis of the century that preceded it."
O'Brien's attention has not been restricted to the classical period. He has also published a full-length biography on Lionel Robbins, and articles on Hayek, Marshall, Edwin Cannan, Francis Ysidro Edgeworth, Frank Knight, Harry Johnson, Ragnar Frisch, James Meade and a number of other economists. Nor has his work been restricted to individual economists. He edited an eight-volume History of Taxation and a three-volume set on The Foundations of Business Cycle Theory.
He has also written prolifically and provocatively on economic methodology, urging economists to take care with and to make use of facts. Decrying economists' tendency to "play with models," O'Brien has been an effective advocate for a methodological approach that he identifies as "essentially the 18th century Scottish method," but one that also draws heavily on Alfred Marshall. In his inaugural lecture at Durham University prof. O' Brien said:
"What has really happened is that we have taken the fairly good ground floor of economic theory and built upon it a house of cards, or rather Tower of Babel. The basic framework of the ground floor is good. But instead of trying to fill in the framework with bricks, mortar and concrete, we carry on erecting scaffolding above. ... The original Tower of Babel was, I understand, built to make its occupants self-sufficient, perhaps to guard them against a second Flood; and our Tower has been built to provide its occupants with protection against getting wet through contact with the world."
According to his citation as Distinguished Fellow of the History of Economics Society "Denis O'Brien's contributions to the history and methodology of economics are marked by his conviction that economics and its history are of practical importance; they are marked by his determination to find facts and use them; by his bountiful intellectual energy, broad and deep knowledge of contemporary economic theory; and by his wonderful wit, and clear and compelling writing style".
In 1998 professor O'Brien retired from his active duties and was appointed Emeritus Professor of Economics at Durham University, but this has had no noticeable negative influence on his activities as a publicist and editor.
[edit] Major publications
- Information Agreements, Competition and Efficiency (with D. Swann), 1969.
- J.R. McCulloch, A Study in Classical Economics, 1970.
- Competition in British Industry (with D. Swann, P. Maunder, W.S. Howe), 1974.
- The Classical Economists, 1975 (revised ed., 2004).
- Competition Policy, Profitability and Growth (with W.S. Howe, D.M. Wright, R.J. O'Brien), 1979.
- Authorship Puzzles in the History of Economics: A Statistical Approach (with A.C. Darnell), 1982.
- Lionel Robbins, 1988.
- Thomas Joplin and Classical Economics, 1993.
- The Development of Monetary Economics: A Modern Perspective on Monetary Controversies, 2007.
Edited volumes:
- The Correspondence of Lord Overstone (3 vols.), 1971.
- Pioneers of Modern Economics in Britain (ed. and contrib., with J. Presley), 1981.
- Economic Analysis in Historical Perspective (with J. Creedy), 1984.
- Foundations of Monetary Economics (6 vols.), 1994.
- Collected Works of J.R. McCulloch (8 vols.)
- The Foundations of Business Cycle Theory (3 vols.), 1997.
- A History of Taxation, (8 vols.), 1999.
[edit] Secondary sources
- Creedy, John (2001) - "D.P. O'Brien's contribution to the history of economic analysis", in Historians of Economics and Economic Thought. The Construction of Disciplinary Memory, ed. Steven G. Medema and Warren J. Samuels.
- M. Blaug (ed.) - Who's who in economics (3d edition), 1999.
