Aficionados of Stephen Leacock’s work will be interested in the recent discovery and subsequent publication of his 1903 doctoral dissertation in economics. In addition to being a valuable piece of scholarship in its own right, “…scholars cannot truly understand Leacock the humorist without understanding the underpinnings of his social views,” writes Carl Spadoni, research collections librarian at McMaster University and editor of the book.

At the age of 29, tired of the grind of teaching languages to uninterested schoolboys and the meagre pay at Upper Canada College, Leacock resigned to undertake a doctorate in political economy at the University of Chicago. He still wanted to teach, but at the university level. Leacock chose Chicago since he was influenced by Veblen’s critique of the American plutocracy; the topic of laissez faire reflects the zeitgeist of the 1890s, as North Americans looked to the 20th century, and the shift from an agricultural-based economy to the new frontier of industry and growing financial institutions.

Leacock’s treatment of laissez faire is historical, and traces the evolution of opinion on the economic functions of government from the 18th century and Adam Smith, to Herbert Spencer, Thomas Carlyle, and John Stuart Mill, among others, as well as economic thought in Germany and the U.S.

Leacock struggled with the topic throughout his life. Although a conservative at heart, Leacock had empathy for the poor and the struggling and concludes his thesis as a believer in free enterprise: “no universal and absolute answer can be given…what government? When? Under what circumstances?”

This is an engaging piece of literary archeology, and one that will appeal primarily to an academic audience.