Hobson Case Study

An Introduction to J. A. Hobson with a Description of his Policies
Born in 1858, Oxford educated John Atkinson Hobson was a “system builder” widely considered as one of the most respected economists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Despite gaining recognition mostly by the acknowledgement in Keynes’ General Theory, Hobson was an excellent and broadly relevant political economist. A self described economic heretic, Hobson was not unwilling to oppose conventional wisdom in the interests of a greater understanding of economic behaviour. His main emphasis was on the role of ideas in human action with a particular emphasis on the role of underconsumption in economic crises.

Hobson had very strong beliefs regarding the intrinsic motivations of humanity. As a humanist and organicist, Hobson felt strongly that there was a link between the psychological and physiological aspects of human behaviour, and hence that the environment a person existed in was fundamental to their actions and behaviours. Because of this, Hobson was intrinsically opposed to any policy which did not improve the wellbeing of the individual and the society, such as unemployment and increasing inequality. Hobson firmly believed in the fundamental ideal of intrinsic altruism, that people

Whilst Hobson was cautious about investment, he was also aware that hoarding could occur in a strict crisis, which could prevent equilibrium levels of supply and demand from being reached. By investing into infrastructure during the crisis itself, as well as infrastructure, education, health and energy, the American government would have created jobs, or at the least minimised job losses, which Hobson would likely have viewed as absolutely crucial as it would have prevented unavoidable