Title: Back to the classics 2: re-reading the Emanuel Saxe protestant ethic and the social ethic in the USA for accounting

Authors: Tony Tinker; Aida Sy

Addresses: Department of Accountancy, Baruch College at the City University of New York, One Bernard Baruch Way, Box B12:225, New York, NY 10010, USA ' Department of Economics and Finance, Marist College, School of Management, Room LT101, 3399 North Road, Poughkeepsie, New York, 12601, USA

Abstract: Daniel Gross wrote in the New York Times International Edition, in July 2009, that the financial meltdown has sent scholars running to the classics to make sense of the slow-burning financial crisis. The antics of Ponzi artist Bernie Madoff have revived interest in The Great Gatsby (Scott Fitzgerald, 1950) and much more presciently the earlier character Augustus Melmott in Anthony Trollope's 19th Century villain in The Way We Live Now (republished in 1941 by Penguin Press). Now, hard-core free-marketeers like Posner (2009) have begun questioning the efficacy of capitalism. They are turning to the previously forbidden works of Karl Marx. Most of these classical critiques of capitalism still remain cited but rarely carefully read. This remains true of the writings of Emanuel Saxe and his protege Abraham Briloff, both who are now sadly departed. In this spirit, we are publishing the hitherto unpublished lectures of Emmanuel Saxe.

Keywords: Saxe lectures; Emanuel Saxe; Abraham Briloff; protestant ethic; USA; United States; social ethic; accounting.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEA.2014.067223

International Journal of Economics and Accounting, 2014 Vol.5 No.3, pp.243 - 252

Published online: 07 Feb 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article