Richard Kahn’s short-term economics and the beginnings of oligopoly theory: a contribution to the history of contemporary economic thought
Abstract
This article aims to contribute to the history of contemporaneous economic
thought. It deals with Richard Kahn’s fellowship dissertation, and its influence on the development
of the theory of imperfect competition and on the theory of oligopoly. It discusses
the author’s claim of being the first to create the “kinked demand curve” even before the
work of the Oxford Economic Research Group was initiated. It also argues that he developed
a way of measuring the “degree of monopoly” before Kalecki.
JEL Classification: B22; B21; B31.
Keywords: History of economic thought Richard Kahn imperfect competition oligopoly Keynesianism