Popularizing Classical Economics analyzes the theoretical contributions of two British Economists, Henry Brougham and William Ellis, and describes how they popularized economic ideas from the early 1800s through the 1860s. Efforts to spread economic ideas to the lay public have been little studied and few individuals have been recognized for their efforts. This book traces the efforts of Brougham and Ellis to spread classical economic ideas through education of both adults and children.
Jane Marcet is not writing for the working classes, but for women and men of the educated classes of the nineteenth century. She draws her principles and materials from the writings of the great masters who have written about political economy, particularly Adam Smith, Th omas Robert Malthus, Jean-Baptise Say, Jean Charles Luonard de Sismondi, and David Ricardo.Marcet consolidates the ideas of bankers as well as professional political economists. She makes their ideas accessible, not only to the young people she identifi es as her audience in the book's preface, but also to the middle classes--political actors and business people. She challenges the English classical school to take seriously the ideas of continental economists by inserting those ideas into a popular book.Marcet maintains distance from some of the central tenets of classical economics, but engages in conversation with its masters. Sometimes she accepts criticism of their ideas, but at other times she keeps her own counsel. The ideas of the masters will be immediately identifi able to those for whom political economy is not new, although a few of their more abstruse questions and controversies have been omitted. When the soundness of a doctrine appears well established, Marcet presents it conscientiously. Evelyn L. Forget's well written introduction describes the life and background of the author as well as the book's history, bringing this timeless classic into the twenty- first century.
Hollander investigates the relation of Malthusian economics to that of the other great classicists - particularly Smith, Ricardo, J.B. Say, and the French physiocrats. He redefines our common perception of Malthus's method and character.
In this discipline-defining volume, some of the leading international scholars in the history of economic thought re-examine the concepts of 'classical economics' and the 'canon', illuminating the roots and evolution of the contemporary discipline.
John Maynard Keynes is the great British economist of the twentieth century whose hugely influential work The General Theory of Employment, Interest and * is undoubtedly the century's most important book on economics--strongly influencing economic theory and practice, particularly with regard to the role of government in stimulating and regulating a nation's economic life. Keynes's work has undergone significant revaluation in recent years, and "Keynesian" views which have been widely defended for so long are now perceived as at odds with Keynes's own thinking. Recent scholarship and research has demonstrated considerable rivalry and controversy concerning the proper interpretation of Keynes's works, such that recourse to the original text is all the more important. Although considered by a few critics that the sentence structures of the book are quite incomprehensible and almost unbearable to read, the book is an essential reading for all those who desire a basic education in economics. The key to understanding Keynes is the notion that at particular times in the business cycle, an economy can become over-productive (or under-consumptive) and thus, a vicious spiral is begun that results in massive layoffs and cuts in production as businesses attempt to equilibrate aggregate supply and demand. Thus, full employment is only one of many or multiple macro equilibria. If an economy reaches an underemployment equilibrium, something is necessary to boost or stimulate demand to produce full employment. This something could be business investment but because of the logic and individualist nature of investment decisions, it is unlikely to rapidly restore full employment. Keynes logically seizes upon the public budget and government expenditures as the quickest way to restore full employment. Borrowing the * to finance the deficit from private households and businesses is a quick, direct way to restore full employment while at the same time, redirecting or siphoning
This book adds a crucial focus on morality to the growing literature on the history of capitalism by exploring social and cultural perspectives on the economic order that has dominated the modern world. Taking the study beyond narrow economic confines, it traces the entanglement between moral sentiments and capitalism, examining both moral critiques and moral justifications. Company bankruptcies, systems of taxation, wealth, and the running of stock exchanges were attacked on moral grounds, while ideas of economic justice and the humanization of capitalism loomed large over moral critiques. Many movements, from antislavery to labour campaigns, were inspired by aspirations to improve capitalism and halt the moral decay that was felt to have affected large sections of society. This book questions how moral sentiments are defined and have changed over time, and how these relate to both capitalism and anti-capitalism. Covering a range of different social movements and ethical issues, the 13 chapters present a moral history of capitalism, understood not simply as an economic system but as an order that encompasses all areas of modern life.
This book studies the relationship of popular culture to older formations of political economic thought, which have made their way into a range of fictions as a fabulous, though feasible, source of resistance to the hegemony of neoclassical economics.
How could Victorian capitalist values be harmonized with Christian beliefs and concepts of public morality and social duty? This book explores ideas about citizenship and public virtue and how public morality was reconciled with the market.
