Charles Feinstein (1932–2005), and British historical national accounts

Offer, Avner (2008): Charles Feinstein (1932–2005), and British historical national accounts. Forthcoming in: Proceedings of the British Academy , Vol. 7, No. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows (2008)

Abstract

The Meade and Stone approach to national accounting (first published for the UK in 1941) eventually provided the template for the United System of National Accounts. Feinstein’s historical national accounts for the UK developed out of this project and built on its earlier contributions. He was the foremost constructor of historical accounts in the UK, and shared with other national accounting pioneers a pragmatic approach and a bias against neo-classical general equilibrium. He made important contributions to growth accounting and the measurement of standards of living, and also left his mark as a teacher and as an academic leader. His commitment to racial equality in South Africa preceded his academic career, and continued after his formal retirement.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Subjects: N - Economic History > N0 - General > N01 - Development of the Discipline: Historiographical; Sources and Methods; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E0 - General > E01 - Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth ; Environmental Accounts; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B3 - History of Economic Thought: Individuals > B32 - Obituaries

References

Note on Sources My own experience of Charles was as my senior colleague at York and then at Ox- ford, since 1978, with a gap between 1986 and 1991. The main sources for this mem- oir, in addition to this personal experience and to library research, are the obituary in The Times, 23 December 2004 (also written by me), Nicholas Dimsdale’s obituary in The Guardian (29 December 2004), Mark Thomas’s ‘Interview’ (see note 3); All Souls, ‘Memorial Meeting’ (see note 2) and the contributions therein by Bob Hepple, Paul David, myself, Tim Leunig and Anne Digby; a transcript of the funeral service kindly provided by Alan Stein (note 1); letters to Anne Feinstein from Ron Weir and John Hutton, and to myself from Ian St. John; conversations, comments, and commu- nications from Anne Feinstein, Leon Feinstein, Ruth Loshak, Robin Matthews, John Hutton, Peter Temin, and Mark Thomas. I have silently borrowed a few felicitous phrases, but longer citations are attributed. Other friends have kindly read the text and have helped to improve it. Charles’s own publications are listed as an appendix to this memoir. I have provided sources for direct quotations. To save on space, not all publications mentioned are fully referenced, but in there is sufficient information for tracing them using standard academic search methods.

PUBLICATIONS BY CHARLES FEINSTEIN Books: Domestic Capital Formation in the United Kingdom, Cambridge University Press, 1965. National Income, Expenditure and Output of the United Kingdom, 1855–1965, Cam- bridge University Press, 1972. British Economic Growth, 1856–1973 (with R. C. O. Matthews and J. C. Odling- Smee), Oxford University Press, 1982. Studies in Capital Formation in the United Kingdom, 1750–1920 (edited with S. Pollard), Oxford University Press, 1988; author of Part II, National Statistics, 1760–1920. The European Economy between the Wars (with P. Temin and G. Toniolo), Oxford University Press, 1997. Making History Count (with M. Thomas), Cambridge University Press, 2002. An economic history of South Africa: conquest, discrimination and development, Cambridge University Press, 2005. Forthcoming: Making, earning, and spending: the inter-relationship of industries, workers, and consumers in the United Kingdom economy in 1851 (with Mark Thomas). Books edited: Socialism, Capitalism and Economic Growth, Essays presented to Maurice Dobb, Cambridge University Press, 1967. The Relevance of Economic Theories (with J. Pajestka for the International Economic Association), Macmillan, 1980. York 1831–1981, Sessions of York, 1981. The Managed Economy, Essays in British Economic Policy and Performance since 1929, for the Economic History Society, Oxford University Press, 1983. New Directions in Economic and Social History, I (with A. Digby), Macmillan, 1989. New Directions in Economic and Social History, II (with A. Digby and D. T. Jen- kins), Macmillan, 1992. Banking, Currency and Finance in Europe between the Wars, Oxford University Press, 1995. Chinese Technology Transfer in the 1990s: Current Experience, Historical Problems and International Perspectives (with C. Howe), Edward Elgar, 1997 The Economic Development of Modern Europe since 1870: The Economic Development of the United Kingdom since 1870, 2 vols., Edward Elgar, 1997.