Abstract
Abstract:
This study discusses the content of the “Wisconsin Idea.” It attempts to examine John R. Commonsʼs view on this idea and his influence on several social reforms, and it tracks how an active role played by economists led to the application of this idea to the American social reforms.
Commons took part in the social gospel movement under the guidance of Richard T. Ely. As a member of this movement, Commons worked towards the achievement of social and political reforms rooted in Christianity and social sciences. According to Frederic C. Howe （1912）, in the 1910s, Wisconsin was regarded as an American state likely to accept German social reforms. During this Progressive Era, in Wisconsin, several social and political reforms were executed based on the “Wisconsin Idea,” which was named such by Charles McCarthy （1912）. The idea was developed by several brain trusts under the governor Robert M.La Follette. As a member of one of these brain trusts, Commons was also involved in sev-eral social reforms. Owing to his experience not only as a former social gospeler but also as a member of such a brain trust, Commons attempted to improve social welfare through the en-actment of legal rules based on cooperation between the state university and the state govern-ment. Without this cooperation, it would not have been possible to establish the comprehen-sive social legislation in Wisconsin.
Commonsʼs analysis reveals that, through the expansion of university extension pro-grams, it was possible to enhance the professional ethics of workers and improve the social welfare of their community, and that there was a need for the associated economists to recog-nize the permanent interests of the nation to adopt appropriate social reforms. Therefore, it would not be an exaggeration to state that Commons was the very embodiment of the “Wis-consin Idea.”
JEL classification numbers: B 15, I 38, N 93.
