Great Economic Thinkers From Antiquity To The Historical School

This book contains commentaries from the series "Klassiker der Nationalökonomie" (classics of economics), which have been translated into English for the first time. This selection focuses on neglected, but notable writers in a deserted sub-discipline, localising the beginning of economic science not with Adam Smith, but with the moral question of usury and the good life in Antiquity. Bertram Schefold’s choice of authors for the "Klassiker" series, which he has edited since 1991, and his comments on the various re-edited works are proof of his highly original and thought-provoking interpretation of the history of economic thought (HET). This volume is an important contribution to HET not only because it delivers original and fresh insights about such well-known figures as Aristotle, Jevons or Wicksell, but also because it deals with authors and ideas who have been forgotten or neglected in the previous literature. In this regard Schefold’s book could prove to be seminal for the field of the history of economic thought, for in the age of globalisation our usual restriction to the thinkers of Western Europe and the USA might eventually be overcome. This book will give the reader a far broader view of economics compared to that of the latest research. This volume is suitable for those who are interested in and study history of economic thought as well as economic theory and philosophy.

This is the opus magnum of one of the world’s most renowned experts on the history of economic thought, Bertram Schefold. It contains commentaries from the series Klassiker der Nationalökonomie (Classics of Economics), which have been translated into English for the first time. Schefold’s choices of authors for this series, which he has edited since 1991, and his comments on the various re-edited works, are proof of his highly original and thought-provoking interpretation of the history of economic thought. Together with a companion volume, Great Economic Thinkers from Antiquity to the Historical School: Translations from the series Klassiker der Nationalökonomie, this book is a collection of English translations with introductions by Bertram Schefold. The emphasis of this volume is on the theoretical debates, from the theory of value to imperfect completion; from money to the institutional framework of society; and from the history of economic thought to pioneering works in mathematical economics. This volume is an important contribution to the history of economic thought, not only because it delivers original and fresh insights about well-known figures, such as Marx, Stackelberg, Sraffa, Samuelson, Tooke, Hilferding, Schmoller and Chayanov, but also because it deals with ideas and authors who have been forgotten or neglected in previous literature. This volume is of great interest to those who study the history of economic thought, economic theory and philosophy, as well as those who enjoyed the author’s previous volume, Great Economic Thinkers from Antiquity to the Historical School.

This book contains commentaries from the series "Klassiker der Nationalökonomie" (classics of economics), which have been translated into English for the first time. This selection focuses on neglected, but notable writers in a deserted sub-discipline, localising the beginning of economic science not with Adam Smith, but with the moral question of usury and the good life in Antiquity. Bertram Schefold's choice of authors for the "Klassiker" series, which he has edited since 1991, and his comments on the various re-edited works are proof of his highly original and thought-provoking interpretation of the history of economic thought (HET). This volume is an important contribution to HET not only because it delivers original and fresh insights about such well-known figures as Aristotle, Jevons or Wicksell, but also because it deals with authors and ideas who have been forgotten or neglected in the previous literature. In this regard Schefold's book could prove to be seminal for the field of the history of economic thought, for in the age of globalisation our usual restriction to the thinkers of Western Europe and the USA might eventually be overcome. This book will give the reader a far broader view of economics compared to that of the latest research. This volume is suitable for those who are interested in and study history of economic thought as well as economic theory and philosophy.

This is the opus magnum of one of the world's most renowned experts on the history of economic thought, Bertram Schefold. It contains commentaries from the series Klassiker der Nationalökonomie (Classics of Economics), which have been translated into English for the first time. Schefold's choices of authors for this series, which he has edited since 1991, and his comments on the various re-edited works, are proof of his highly original and thought-provoking interpretation of the history of economic thought. Together with a companion volume, Great Economic Thinkers from Antiquity to the Historical School: Translations from the series Klassiker der Nationalökonomie, this book is a collection of English translations with introductions by Bertram Schefold. The emphasis of this volume is on the theoretical debates, from the theory of value to imperfect completion; from money to the institutional framework of society; and from the history of economic thought to pioneering works in mathematical economics. This volume is an important contribution to the history of economic thought, not only because it delivers original and fresh insights about well-known figures, such as Marx, Stackelberg, Sraffa, Samuelson, Tooke, Hilferding, Schmoller and Chayanov, but also because it deals with ideas and authors who have been forgotten or neglected in previous literature. This volume is of great interest to those who study the history of economic thought, economic theory and philosophy, as well as those who enjoyed the author's previous volume, Great Economic Thinkers from Antiquity to the Historical School.

A clear and concise history of economic thought, developed from the author's award-winning book, The Wealth of Ideas.

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.

The Wealth of Ideas, first published in 2005, traces the history of economic thought, from its prehistory (the Bible, Classical antiquity) to the present day. In this eloquently written, scientifically rigorous and well documented book, chapters on William Petty, Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Karl Marx, William Stanley Jevons, Carl Menger, Léon Walras, Alfred Marshall, John Maynard Keynes, Joseph Schumpeter and Piero Sraffa alternate with chapters on other important figures and on debates of the period. Economic thought is seen as developing between two opposite poles: a subjective one, based on the ideas of scarcity and utility, and an objective one based on the notions of physical costs and surplus. Professor Roncaglia focuses on the different views of the economy and society and on their evolution over time and critically evaluates the foundations of the scarcity-utility approach in comparison with the Classical/Keynesian approach.

This book contains commentaries from the series "Klassiker der Nationalökonomie" (classics of economics), which have been translated into English for the first time. This selection focuses on neglected, but notable writers in a deserted sub-discipline, localising the beginning of economic science not with Adam Smith, but with the moral question of usury and the good life in Antiquity. Bertram Schefold’s choice of authors for the "Klassiker" series, which he has edited since 1991, and his comments on the various re-edited works are proof of his highly original and thought-provoking interpretation of the history of economic thought (HET). This volume is an important contribution to HET not only because it delivers original and fresh insights about such well-known figures as Aristotle, Jevons or Wicksell, but also because it deals with authors and ideas who have been forgotten or neglected in the previous literature. In this regard Schefold’s book could prove to be seminal for the field of the history of economic thought, for in the age of globalisation our usual restriction to the thinkers of Western Europe and the USA might eventually be overcome. This book will give the reader a far broader view of economics compared to that of the latest research. This volume is suitable for those who are interested in and study history of economic thought as well as economic theory and philosophy.