Michael Allingham (economist)

Michael Allingham was educated at Lancing College and then at the University of Edinburgh, where he 'read natural philosophy and then political economy'.[1] From 1967 until 1977 he taught at various universities in the UK and the US; from 1977 to 1993 he held the Chair in Economic Theory at the University of Kent; and from 1993 to 2009 he was Frank Richardson Fellow at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he is now an Emeritus Fellow.

He has ridden under Jockey Club rules,[2] and was joint-owner of the winner of the 2002 Dewhurst Stakes, 'the single most significant two-year-old race in Europe'.[3] He has been a Local Steward, and Racecourse Chairman, with the Jockey Club.

Before moving to Oxford Allingham's main work was on general equilibrium theory; while he was teaching at Magdalen it was on rational choice theory; and subsequently it has been on distributive justice.

General equilibrium theory is widely accepted as 'the most prestigious economics of all'.[4] In substance, it concerns the workings of the entire economy; in style, it is axiomatic and rigorous. Léon Walras, the founder of general equilibrium theory, claimed in 1854 that 'pure economics is, in essence, the theory of the determination of prices under a hypothetical regime of perfectly free competition'.[5] Allingham's work is rooted in the Walrasian tradition: in his entry in Who's Who in Economics he refers to Walras's definition, and says that his own work may be seen as an extension of this.[6]

Rational choice theory transcends the boundaries of economics, and exemplifies Allingham's interests as being 'in the core theoretical problems which lie at the intersection of philosophy and economics'.[7] It explores what is meant by rationality, and how this may be characterized. His work in this area is also axiomatic: as a review in The Economic Journal of his book Rational Choice notes, 'its treatment is abstract and axiomatic … few concessions are being made to the uninitiated'.[8]

Distributive justice again transcends the boundaries of economics. It considers what is meant by a just distribution of goods among members of society. Allingham develops the view that all theories of justice, or at least all liberal theories, may be seen as expressions of laissez-faire with compensations for factors that they consider to be morally arbitrary. His latest book has been described by a reviewer as 'a probing analytical comparison, by an economic theorist, of the major accounts dominating that literature … meticulously isolating their respective strengths and weaknesses: a tour de force'.[9]

Allingham is also the author of the novel Trust, 'an entertainment in the sense used by Graham Greene: a story that shows a profound interest in the interplay of morality and abnormal behavior'.[10]

Academic books

• Distributive Justice, Routledge, 2014[11]
• Rational Choice Theory (editor, five volumes), Routledge, 2006[12]
• Choice Theory: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2002 (translated into Arabic, Chinese, Italian, Russian, and Spanish)[13]
• Rational Choice, Palgrave Macmillan, 1999[14]
• Arbitrage, Macmillan, 1991 (translated into Italian)[15]
• Theory of Markets, Macmillan, 1989[16]
• Unconscious Contracts, Routledge, 1987 (re-published in 2016 as Volume 1 in Routledge Library Editions: Psychoanalysis)[17]
• Value, Macmillan, 1983[18]
• General Equilibrium, Macmillan, 1975
• Equilibrium and Disequilibrium, Ballinger, 1973

Essential articles

• Existence theorems in the capital asset pricing model, Econometrica, 59
• Stability of monopoly, Econometrica, 44
• Equilibrium and stability, Econometrica, 42
• Tâtonnement stability, Econometrica, 40
• Second best and decentralization (with Archibald), Journal of Economic Theory, 10
• The measurement of inequality, Journal of Economic Theory, 5

• Academic webpage
• Choice Theory
• Distributive Justice
• Rational Choice
• Rational Choice Theory
• Trust