Historical Analysis In Economics

Neo-classical economics is frequently criticised for paying inadequate attention to historical processes. However, it has proved easier to make broad claims that `history matters' than to theorise with any depth about the appropriate role for history in economic analysis. Historical Analysis in Economics considers what history can contribute to the science of economics: how would it matter if `history mattered?'

Economic Analysis in Historical Perspective offers a wide discussion on economics and its history. One of the book’s main principles is to place the several major areas of economic analysis in historical perspective. The book’s first topic is about monetary economics; it includes subtopics such as concepts of money, supply and demand of money, monetary control, and rate of interest. The next chapter highlights the economics of welfare, including its nature, modern issues, classical paradigm, and advancements. In Chapter 4, the main topics are public finance, taxes, and the government’s role in all of it. This chapter also elaborates on public expenditure, taxation, and income redistribution. In the last remaining chapters, the discussion circles around the topic’s relevant theories, metrics, and statistics. The text serves as a valuable reference to undergraduates or postgraduates of economics.

At the time of his death in 1950, Joseph Schumpeter was working on his monumental History of Economic Analysis. Unprecedented in scope, the book was to provide a complete history of economic theory from Ancient Greece to the end of the second world war. A major contribution to the history of ideas as well as to economics, History of Economic Analysis rapidly gained a reputation as a unique and classic work. As well being an economist, Schumpeter was a gifted mathematician, historian, philosopher and psychologist and this is reflected in the multi-disciplinary nature of his great endeavour. Topics addressed include the techniques of economic analysis, contemporaneous developments in other sciences and the sociology of economics. This inclusiveness extends to the periods and individuals who figure in the book. As well as dealing with all of the major economists from Adam Smith to Maynard Keynes, the book considers the economic writings of Plato and Aristotle, of the Medieval Scholastics and of the major European economists. Throughout, Schumpeter perceived economics as a human science and this is reflected in a volume which is lucid and insightful throughout.

"Developing a dialogue between historians and economists is a crucially important task if we are to improve our understanding of the past. Economists have the tools to be able to provide in-depth analysis, the historians have the meat and substance which is necessary, and a blending of the two is terribly important. Economics and the Historian is a valuable resource for this interchange."—Nobel Laureate Douglass C. North, author of Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance "This is a superlative collection of essays for historians who would like to learn about economic history but lack much formal training in mathematics and economic theory. The essays present fundamental concepts of economic analysis in a clear and concise manner, and they show how these concepts can be applied to a variety of historical problems."—Ted W. Margadant, author of Urban Rivalries in the French Revolution "This book is must reading for historians who want to know what there is in economics that might be useful for their fields."—Nobel Laureate Robert W. Fogel, author of Time on the Cross "Introduces historians and history students to the concepts, models, and logic of economic theory and shows how economic analysis can be applied to solving historical puzzles and problems. Each of the essays illuminates a different subfield of economics with numerous examples drawn from a quarter century of cliometrics. This book will make basic tools of economic historical analysis accessible and at times even entertaining to students (and colleagues) who have little or no background in economics. And it is guaranteed to enliven any course or seminar, as it did mine."—John H. Coatsworth, author of Central America and the United States

This unique troika of Handbooks provides indispensable coverage of the history of economic analysis. Edited by two of the foremost academics in the field, the volumes gather together insightful and original contributions from scholars across the world. The encyclopaedic breadth and scope of the original entries will make these Handbooks an invaluable source of knowledge for all serious students and scholars of the history of economic thought.

Without economic history, economics runs the risk of being too abstract or parochial, of failing to notice precedents, trends and cycles, of overlooking the long-run and thus misunderstanding ‘how we got here’. Recent financial and economic crises illustrate spectacularly how the economics profession has not learnt from its past. This important and unique book addresses this problem by demonstrating the power of historical thinking in economic research. Concise chapters guide economics lecturers and their students through the field of economic history, demonstrating the use of historical thinking in economic research, and advising them on how they can actively engage with economic history in their teaching and learning. Blum and Colvin bring together important voices in the field to show readers how they can use their existing economics training to explore different facets of economic history. Each chapter introduces a question or topic, historical context or research method and explores how they can be used in economics scholarship and pedagogy. In a century characterised to date by economic uncertainty, bubbles and crashes, An Economist’s Guide to Economic History is essential reading. For further information visit http://www.blumandcolvin.org

Volume I contains original biographical profiles of many of the most important and influential economists from the seventeenth century to the present day. These inform the reader about their lives, works and impact on the further development of the discipline. The emphasis is on their lasting contributions to our understanding of the complex system known as the economy. The entries also shed light on the means and ways in which the functioning of this system can be improved and its dysfunction reduced.

This unique troika of Handbooks provides indispensable coverage of the history of economic analysis. Edited by two of the foremost academics in the field, the volumes gather together insightful and original contributions from scholars across the world. The encyclopaedic breadth and scope of the original entries will make these Handbooks an invaluable source of knowledge for all serious students and scholars of the history of economic thought.