The Cambridge School Wants to Undo the Marginal Revolution By Getting Rid of Human Action

The main aim of the present-day Cambridge School appears to be an attempt to undo the results of the marginal revolution and to bring about a Ricardian counter-revolution. For a hundred years economists have taken it for granted that what happens in a market economy ultimately depends on the subjective preferences and expectations of millions of individuals finding expression in the supply and demand for goods, services and financial assets. . . .

For them economic action always means the response of a 'typical agent' to a 'given' situation. Men act exclusively in their capacity as 'workers', 'capitalists', or 'landlords'. Spontaneous action does not exist. Men do not really act in the Ricardian world, they merely re-act to the circumstances in which they happen to find themselves.

--Ludwig M. Lachmann, Macro-economic Thinking and the Market Economy: An Essay on the Neglect of the Micro-Foundations and Its Consequences, Hobart Paper 56 (London: Institute of Economic Affairs, 1973), 18-19.