A History Of American Economic Thought

This vital addition to the Routledge History of Economic Thought series surveys arguably the most important country in the development of economics as we know it today – the United States of America. A History of American Economic Thought is a comprehensive study of American economics as it has evolved over time, with several singularly unique features including: a thorough examination of the economics of American aboriginals prior to 1492; a detailed discussion of American economics as it has developed during the last fifty years; and a generous dose of non-mainstream American economics under the rubrics "Other Voices" and "Crosscurrents." It is far from being a native American community, and numerous social reformers and those with alternative points of view are given as much weight as the established figures who dominate the mainstream of the profession. Generous doses of American economic history are presented where appropriate to give context to the story of American economics as it proceeds through the ages, from seventeenth-century pre-independence into the twentieth-first century packed full of influential figures including John Bates Clark, Thorstein Veblen, Irving Fisher, Paul Samuelson, and John Kenneth Galbraith, to name but a few. This volume has something for everyone interested in the history of economic thought, the nexus of American economic thought and American economic history, the fusion of American economics and philosophy, and the history of science.

This is the first study of the development of economic thought in Latin America. It traces the development of economic ideas during five centuries and across the whole continent. It addresses a wide range of approaches to economic issues including:* the scholastic tradition in Latin American economies* the quantity theory of money* cameralism* huma

The history of Indian economic thought provides rich insights into both economic issues and the workings of the Indian mind. A History of Indian Economic Thought provides the first overview of economic thought in the sub-continent. Arguing that it would be inappropriate to rely on formal economic analyses it draws on a wide range of sources; epics, religious and moral texts for the early period and public speeches, addresses, and newspaper articles for controversies from the nineteenth century onwards. What emerges is a rich mosaic reflecting India's different cultures and civilizations. Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam all address economic issues and British colonial rule had a deep impact, both in propagating Western economic ideas and in provoking Indian theories of colonialism and underdevelopment. The author concludes with chapters on Ghandian economics and on Indian economic thought since Independence.

This volume demonstrates the variety and creativity of American economics and the links between American economic thought and its non- European context. It contains selected papers from the 1996 History of Economics Society Conference.

From the ancients to the moderns, questions of economic theory and policy have been an important part of intellectual and public debate, engaging the attention of some of history’s greatest minds. This book brings together readings from more than two thousand years of writings on economic subjects. Through these selections, the reader can see first-hand how the great minds of past grappled with some of the central social and economic issues of their times and, in the process, enhanced our understanding of how economic systems function. This collection of readings covers the major themes that have preoccupied economic thinkers throughout the ages, including price determination and the underpinnings of the market system, monetary theory and policy, international trade and finance, income distribution, and the appropriate role for government within the economic system. These ideas unfold, develop, and change course over time at the hands of scholars such as Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, François Quesnay, David Hume, Adam Smith, Thomas Robert Malthus, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, William Stanley Jevons, Alfred Marshall, Irving Fisher, Thorstein Veblen, John Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman, and Paul Samuelson. Each reading has been selected with a view to both enlightening the reader as to the major contributions of the author in question and to giving the reader a broad view of the development of economic thought and analysis over time. This book will be useful for students, scholars, and lay people with an interest in the history of economic thought and the history of ideas generally.

Following an introduction to the key ideas of Coats, this work focuses on two themes: the difference between British and American economics, both in content and in the practice of the profession; and the interrelationships between economic ideas, events (or conditions) and policy issues.

In A History of Canadian Economic Thought, Robin Neill relates the evolution of economic theory in Canada to the particular geographical and political features of the country. Whilst there were distinctively Canadian economic discourses in nineteenth-century Ontario and early twentieth-century Quebec, Neill argues that these have now been absorbed into the broader North American mainstream. He also examines the nature and importance of the staple theory controversy and its appositeness for the Canadian case. With full accounts of the work of major Canadian economists including John Rae, H.A. Innis and Harry Johnson, A History of Canadian Economic Thought is the first definitive treatment of the subject for 30 years.

This reader in the history of economic thought challenges the assumption that today’s prevailing economic theories are always the most appropriate ones. As Leland Yeager has pointed out, unlike the scientists of the natural sciences, economists provide their ideas largely to politicians and political appointees who have rather different incentives that might prevent them from choosing the best economic theory. In this book, the life and work of each of the founders of economics is examined by the best available expert on that founding figure. These contributors present rather novel and certainly not mainstream interpretations of the founders of modern economics. The primary theme concerns the development of economic thought as this emerged in the various continental traditions including the Islamic tradition. These continental traditions differed substantially, both substantively and methodologically, from the Anglo-Saxon orientation that has been dominant in the last century for example in the study of public finance or the very construct of the state itself. This books maps the various channels of continental economics, particularly from the late-18th through the early-20th centuries, explaining and demonstrating the underlying unity amid the surface diversity. In particular, the book emphasizes the writings of John Stuart Mill, his predecessor David Ricardo and his follower Jeremy Bentham; the theory of Marginalism by von Thünen, Cournot, and Gossen; the legacy of Karl Marx; the innovations in developmental economics by Friedrich List; the economic and monetary contributions and “struggle of escape” by John Maynard Keynes; the formidable theory in public finance and economics by Joseph Schumpeter; a reinterpretation of Alfred Marshall; Léon Walras, Heinrich von Stackelberg, Knut Wicksell, Werner Sombart, and Friedrich August von Hayek are each dealt with in their own right.