2025 Best Conference Paper by a Young Scholar

The article examines Van Buren Denslow, a largely neglected figure in the history of economic thought, whose contributions to the American Protectionist School have remained virtually forgotten despite his prominence in late 19th-century debates. It meticulously reconstructs his distinctive economic ideas from scattered primary sources, most notably his “migratory theory of profit”. This theory suggests that, unlike classical and Marxian economists, Denslow did not view the rate of profit as necessarily subject to a long-term decline; rather, he argued that falling profits in mature industries serve as signals prompting entrepreneurial discovery of new pursuits, thereby ensuring capitalism’s continual self-renewal. Although Denslow’s theory eventually fell into obscurity, it offered an original and theoretically sophisticated perspective on entrepreneurship and profit formation, anticipating key elements of twentieth-century theories developed by Schumpeter and Kirzner. By revisiting this neglected framework, the article successfully repositions Denslow within the historiography of the American Protectionist School, demonstrating that this tradition produced more than trade policy advocacy—it developed innovative theoretical frameworks deserving renewed attention. Through careful analysis of his writings, particularly the 1888 Principles of the Economic Philosophy of Society, Government, and Industry, the paper reveals alternative conceptions of capitalism in the nineteenth century, thereby enriching our understanding of its intellectual and structural diversity. The study is clearly organized and conceptually rigorous, making a valuable and original contribution to the reassessment of American economic thought in the nineteenth century that fills an important gap in the historiography and opens promising avenues for future research.