A History of Economic Thought

by Barber, William J.

• ISBN13: 9780819569387
• ISBN10: 0819569380
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-06-15
• Publisher: Wesleyan Univ Pr

Summary

Study of the grand ideas in economics has a perpetual intellectual fascination in it's own right. It can also have practical relevance, as the global economic downturn that began in 2007 reminds us. For several decades, the economics establishment had been dismissive of Keynesianism, arguing that the world had moved beyond the "depression economics" with which it dealt. Keynesian economics, however, has now staged a comeback as governments attempt to formulate policy responses to the Great Recession of the first decade of the twenty-first century. Many of the issues that faced economists in the past are still with us. The theories and methods of such men as Adam Smith, T. R. Malthus, David Ricardo, J.S. Mill, Karl Marx, Alfred Marshall, and J. M. Keynes are often relevant to us today--and we can always learn from their mistakes. In his stimulating analysis Professor Barber assesses the thought of a number of important economists both in terms of the issues of their day and in relation to modern economic thought. By concentrating on the greatest exponents he highlights the central properties of the four main schools of economic thought - classical, Marxian, neo-classical, and Keynesian - and shows that although each of these traditions is rooted in a different stage of economic development, they can all provide insights into the recurring problems of modern economics.

Author Biography

WILLIAM J. BARBER is Andrews Professor of Economics, Emeritus at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, where he taught from 1957 to 1993. He has served as the president of the History of Economics Society (1989-1990) and in 2002 was named a Distinguished Fellow of that society.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Prefatory Note

Prologue

Classical Economics

Introduction

Adam Smith and the Framework of Classical Analysis

Elaborations and Cleavages within the Classical System: Thomas Robert Malthus

David Ricardo and the Formalization of Classical Analysis

The Revisionism of John Stuart Mill

Postscript to Classical Economics

Marxian Economics

Introduction

Karl Marx and the Economics of Das Kapital

Postscript to Marxian Economics

Neo-Classical Economics

Introduction

Alfred Marshall and the Framework of Neo-Classical Economics

Pre-1914 Variations on Neo-Classical Themes

Postscript to Neo-Classical Economics

Keynesian Economics

Introduction

The Economics of Keynes's General Theory

Postscript to Keynesian Economics

Epilogue

Index of Proper Names

Index of Concepts and Terms

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.