Cambridge, That Was: The Crucible of Heterodox Economics

Cambridge was the crucible of heterodox economics, the habitat of several distinct lineages that took root and evolved there from the 1920s. This opening chapter sketches a frame for the overall narrative of the subsequent purge of these heterodox traditions from Cambridge economics. It offers a discursive review of the intellectual habitat, the waves of cohorts, and the emergence of divergent perspectives, leading up to drawing of new battle lines for the episodes of the elimination of heterodox traditions and lineages from the Faculty of Economics. The chapter critically assesses the notion of paradigm change, and against this backdrop goes on to provide a summary collation of an array of internal explanations of the purges, and then widens and complements these within-Cambridge interpretations with an insertion of the powerful influence and role of external forces emanating directly or indirectly and drawing their authority and power from the neoliberal worlds beyond Cambridge.