York Historical Society/Getty Images) John E. Murray’s analysis of workplace health plans shows how well workers took care of themselves and each other without involving the government.Getty Images
John E. Murray (1959-2018) was not famous like Ludwig von Mises, FA Hayek, Deirdre McCloskey, Elinor Ostrom, Walter Williams or some of the other economists I have featured here and elsewhere. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College, a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Cincinnati, and finally a doctorate in economics from Ohio State University under the supervision of the eminent economic historian Richard Steckel. He spent his academic career at the University of Toledo and then at my first postgraduate school employer, Rhodes College, where he was the first JR “Pitt” Hyde III Professor of Political Economy. He died in March 2018, not very long after I presented an article on the political economy of desegregating schools in Virginia and the role—actually the lack of a role—of 1986 Nobel Prize winner James M. Buchanan. Murray was a serious economic historian and a very kind, generous colleague. As some of his associates put it, he took both economics and history very seriously and worked hard to integrate the two.
My favorite piece of Murray’s fellowship is his underrated 2007 book Origins of American Health Insurance. It was particularly timely during the Obamacare debate and in light of narrower historical debates about risk management and the delivery of health care to those in need. In a paper that aligns well with David Beito’s 2000 From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State and Dora Costa’s 1910 study of health insurance in California, Murray argues that, contrary to what many progressives believe, the health insurance market is right worked well.
It is actually a mistake to say that “the market” works quite well because many insurance policies are handled by civil society institutions (e.g. churches), private associations such as the Odd Fellows and company health insurance companies. The history of health insurance, according to Murray, is not the history of exploitation but the history of reasonably well-functioning civil society institutions. “fairly good” is important: imperfections are easy to spot; However, identifying an imperfection is not the same as identifying something better.
He was a serious and dedicated scholar and teacher who, as others have pointed out, took economics and history equally seriously. He published regularly in the leading economic history journals and was editor of the book reviews of the Journal of Economic History for several years.
I was fortunate to have been John E. Murray’s colleague at Rhodes College for a year before transferring to Samford University to be closer to family. As his colleague, I was blessed to see him bring his passion for ideas to the classroom and to discuss his new ideas as he worked through them. I was also fortunate to work with Dr. Murray, who had spent his free time studying theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit while at the University of Toledo, to discuss matters of utmost importance.
John E. Murray was a model scholar and a good friend who will be greatly missed. It seems appropriate to pay tribute to him on his 64th birthday.
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I am an economics professor at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, a senior fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research, a research fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland, California, a senior fellow at the Beacon Center of Tennessee, and a senior research fellow at the Institute for Faith, Work, and Economics. I am also a member of the Board of Policy Advisors for the Heartland Institute and a member of the Board of Scholars for the Foundation for Economic Education. I’m on Twitter: @artcarden.
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