A Brief History of Economic Genius

by Strathern, Paul

• ISBN13: 9781587991899
• ISBN10: 1587991896
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-06-09
• Publisher: Cengage Learning

Summary

Strathern brings the reader along in a lively, breezy and elegant manner, through Adam Smith and Hume; the French Optimists and British Pessimists: Saint-Simon and Owen; Marx and Hegel; Pareto; Veblen; Schumpeter, Keynes, John Nash and finally fullcircle back to von Neumann. Strathern uncovers the genuine progression of the development of mathematics and economic theory, from double-entry booking keeping to the discovery of standard deviation and the various applications of probability theory. These brilliant economists and mathematicians often were aware of each other, had met each other or read each other?s work thereby influencing and building upon one another?s conclusions. Strathern manages his broad swath of historical information and condenses it into a very usable, readable and informative format.

Author Biography

Paul Strathern lectures in Philosophy and Mathematics at Kingston University in London. He holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Mathematics from Trinity College, Dublin. Strathern is a winner of the Somerset Maugham Prize

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	ix
Prologue	xiii
Something Out of Nothing Comes	1	(30)
The Richest Man in the World	31	(26)
Before Adam	57	(20)
The Founding Father	77	(28)
French Optimists and British Pessimists	105	(28)
Brave New Worlds	133	(26)
The Pleasure Principle	159	(14)
Workers of the World Unite	173	(26)
Measure for Measure	199	(22)
Into the Modern Age	221	(28)
Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Man	249	(26)
The Game to End All Games	275	(16)
Epilogue: The Game Goes On	291	(20)
Sources	311	(6)
Index	317