Victoria Chick (1936–2023), a Restless Challenger to Mainstream Economics: An Appreciation§

Abstract

Abstract In this article on Victoria (Vicky) Chick (1936–2023), we intend to cover the main research areas into which Chick devoted her life’s work. We categorise the contributions into three broad fields. First, her work on Keynes’s General Theory and the message that economists have taken from it since its publication. Chick wrote extensively on the many misinterpretations of the General Theory that have clouded its message. Instead, through her writings, she offered an alternative perspective and interpretative line that became central to the post-Keynesian school of thought. Second, her work on Keynes gave her the starting point for her novel understanding on the monetary nature of the economy and was the inspiration in the development of the banking stages of history approach that shows the evolutionary nature of banking theory and practice. Finally, the way in which The General Theory built its argument and the misinterpretation that many mainstream economists took from it led Chick to develop her methodological approach on open and closed systems of analysis and the importance of developing judgement as part of teaching in economics.