Assessments of A. C. Pigou’s Fellowship Theses

This study reports on the light that documents stored in the Archive Centre at King's College, Cambridge, shed on A. C. Pigou's fellowship theses. Particular consideration is given to Walter Alexander Raleigh's and Brooke Foss Westcott's assessments of Pigou's first, and unsuccessful, fellowship thesis titled ``Robert Browning as a Religious Teacher'' and to Alfred Marshall's and Herbert Foxwell's assessments of Pigou's second, and successful, fellowship thesis titled ``The Causes and Effects of Change in the Relative Values of Agricultural Produce in the United Kingdom during the Last Fifty Years.'' The principal findings of the study are as follows: Pigou's first thesis is more important to his subsequent and famous studies on wealth and welfare than is generally appreciated; and the assessors' diverse reactions to his second thesis largely reflect their different views on the scope for applying economic theory to reveal insights into concrete economic events that have taken place over time.