Edward Hastings Chamberlin

Born May 18, 1899, in La Conner, Wash.; died 1967. American economist.

Chamberlin received his higher education at the University of Iowa, the University of Michigan, and Harvard University. Over a period beginning in 1920 he occupied various teaching posts at Michigan and Harvard, as well as at the universities of Paris and Copenhagen. Awarded honorary doctorates by many universities, he was a member of the American Economic Association, of which he became vice-president in 1944; the Royal Economic Society; and the Catholic Economic Association, of which he became vice-president in 1943.

Chamberlin’s research was devoted to an analysis of the relations between monopoly and competition in the capitalist market. In the late 1920’s and early 1930’s he developed the main propositions of the theory of monopolistic competition; the theory was an undisguised apologia on behalf of monopolies, which he believed to be beneficial for capitalist society as a whole. He opposed state interference in the economy and defended “free competition.” Chamberlin made slanderous attacks on the trade union movement and the working class.