Understanding Classical Economics

The essays in this collection argue that the 'classical' approach to economic problems holds the key to an explanation of important present day economic phenomena.

The 'classical' approach to economic problems, which can be traced back to Adam Smith and David Ricardo, has seen a remarkable revival in recent years. The essays in this collection argue that this approach holds the key to an explanation of important present day economic phenomena. Focusing on the analytical potentialities of classical economics, the contributors illustrate how an important element of understanding its approach consists of developing and using its explanatory power.

Economic theory reached its zenith of analytical power and depth of understanding in the middle of the nineteenth century among John Stuart Mill and his contemporaries. This book explains what took place in the ensuing Marginal Revolution and Keynesian Revolution that left economists less able to understand how economies operate. It explores the false mythology that has obscured the arguments of classical economists, providing a pathway into the theory they developed.

First Published in 2007. This book is the third volume of previously published essays from Heinz D. Kurz and Neri Salvadori, following Understanding Classical Economics (1998) and Classical Economics and Modern Theory (2003), both published by Routledge. This new collection can be read in isolation but perhaps more fruitfully in conjunction with the previous texts, providing modern interpretations of the classical economists and comparing their analyses with that of contemporary mainstream economics. The essays in the new volume are split between three parts, the first section dealing with classical economics and modern theory focusing specifically on the differences in the analytical structure and content of the theory of value and distribution of Ricardo, on the one hand, and Say and Walras, on the other. The second part is devoted to Piero Sraffa’s contribution, drawing from his hitherto unpublished papers. The final part assesses linear theory of production, concentrating on comparative studies of the contributions of von Neumann, Arrow-Debreu, Georgescu-Roegen and Sraffa. This new volume will be of interest to economic theorists and methodologists in Europe, Asia and America and particularly academics and researchers engaged with theories of production, value, distribution, economic growth and the history of economic thought.

A reexamination of classical economic theory and methods, by a senior economist of international stature Thomas Sowell's many writings on the history of economic thought have appeared in a number of scholarly journals and books, and these writings have been praised, reprinted, and translated in various countries around the world. The classical era in the history of economics is an important part of the history of ideas in general, and its implications reach beyond the bounds of the economics profession. On Classical Economics is a book from which students can learn both history and economics. It is not simply a Cook's tour of colorful personalities of the past but a study of how certain economic concepts and tools of analysis arose, and how their implications were revealed during the controversies that followed. In addition to a general understanding of classical macroeconomics and microeconomics, this book offers special insight into the neglected pioneering work of Sismondi--and why it was neglected--and a detailed look at John Stuart Mill's enigmatic role in the development of economics and the mysteries of Marxian economics. Clear, engaging, and very readable, without being either cute or condescending, On Classical Economics can enable a course on the history of economic thought to make a contribution to students' understanding of economics in general--whether in price theory, monetary theory, or international trade. In short, it is a book about analysis as well as history.

The financial crisis and the economic crisis that followed triggered a crisis in the subject of economics, as it is typically being taught today especially in macroeconomics and related fields. A renewed interest in earlier authors, especially the classical economists from Adam Smith to David Ricardo and John Maynard Keynes, developed. This book may also be seen as a response to this interest. What can we learn from the authors mentioned, what we could not learn from the mainstream? This volume contains a selection of essays which deepens and widens the understanding of the classical approach to important problems, such as value and distribution, growth and technical progress, and exhaustible natural resources. It is the fourth collection in a row and reflects an on-going discussion of the fecundity of the classical approach. A main topic of the essays is a comparison between the classical approaches with modern theory and thus an identification of what can be learned by elaborating on the ideas of Smith and Ricardo and Marx above and beyond and variously in contradiction to certain mainstream view. Since the work of Piero Sraffa spurred the revival of classical economic thought, his contributions are dealt with in some detail. The attention then focuses on economic growth and the treatment of exhaustible resources within a classical framework of the analysis.

This reconsideration of the macroeconomics, microeconomics, methodology, and social philosophy of the classical economists has been a small gem on the history of economic thought, written in a way accessible to students, while having much to teach scholars. The reissue of this book twenty years after its original publication is a tribute to the enduring relevance of the questions raised during the formative period of economics and to the skill with which the author analyzes them.

The well known economists Kurz and Salvadori cover original findings and new vistas on old problems including alternative interpretations of classical economics, new groth theory, Sraffian theory and Von Neumann and the treatment of capital.