The economic thought of an Austrian Marshallian George Barclay Richardson

Discusses the economic contributions of George Barclay Richardson. Detailing the Austrian and Marshallian aspects of his work, argues that all his contributions – on industrial organization, welfare economics, history of thought, etc. – are united in their concern with the co-ordination problem, that is, the problem of theoretically demonstrating how order may be achieved in decentralized market economies. Furthermore, argues that Richardson's work from 1953 to 1972 in the answers it gave to this problem anticipated a number of themes that have only recently acquired prominence in economic theory, specifically in neo-institutionalist thought. The pioneering originality of his work also partly accounts for the relative neglect with which it was originally received.