Editor is well known. She is presidnet of the History of Economics Society and has completed a 12 year term as editor of the Eastern Economics Journal Work is controversial - challenges the relevance of mathematics in economics
The Development of Economic Analysis traces the development of economic theory from Plato through to contemporary thought. All the major movements are covered and presented here in six chronological parts. The text includes a number of practical features: * a 'family tree' at the beginning of each section, illustrating how the key streams and people connect and develop, accompanied by a list of key publications for that period * integrated selections of readings from the major works enable reference to original sources * The subject matter is divided to allow individual users to follow their preferences. The text also includes guidelines for use on a one semester course. * Each part ends with a summary and questions to discuss, along with glossaries and suggestions for further reading The result is a valuable aid to the study of economic thought and encourages students to examine the relevance to contemporary theory.
This is the sixth edition of a textbook that has been instrumental in introducing a generation of students to the history of economic thought. It charts the development of economics from its establishment as an analytical discipline in the eighteenth century through to the late twentieth century. The book discusses the work of, amongst others: Ricardo, Malthus, Marx, Walras, Marshall and Keynes as well as the institutionalists, the Chicago School and the emergence of econometrics. This edition has been fully revised and updated and includes: chronologies of the key dates in the development of economics extracts from original texts an examination of how the study of the history of economic thought impinges upon modern thinking.
We live in a world where seemingly everything can be measured. We rely on indicators to translate social phenomena into simple, quantified terms, which in turn can be used to guide individuals, organizations, and governments in establishing policy. Yet counting things requires finding a way to make them comparable. And in the process of translating the confusion of social life into neat categories, we inevitably strip it of context and meaning—and risk hiding or distorting as much as we reveal. With The Seductions of Quantification, leading legal anthropologist Sally Engle Merry investigates the techniques by which information is gathered and analyzed in the production of global indicators on human rights, gender violence, and sex trafficking. Although such numbers convey an aura of objective truth and scientific validity, Merry argues persuasively that measurement systems constitute a form of power by incorporating theories about social change in their design but rarely explicitly acknowledging them. For instance, the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report, which ranks countries in terms of their compliance with antitrafficking activities, assumes that prosecuting traffickers as criminals is an effective corrective strategy—overlooking cultures where women and children are frequently sold by their own families. As Merry shows, indicators are indeed seductive in their promise of providing concrete knowledge about how the world works, but they are implemented most successfully when paired with context-rich qualitative accounts grounded in local knowledge.
Utility is a key concept in the economics of individual decision-making. However, utility is not measurable in a straightforward way. As a result, from the very beginning there has been debates about the meaning of utility as well as how to measure it. This book is an innovative investigation of how these arguments changed over time. Measuring Utility reconstructs economists' ideas and discussions about utility measurement from 1870 to 1985, as well as their attempts to measure utility empirically. The book brings into focus the interplay between the evolution of utility analysis, economists' ideas about utility measurement, and their conception of what measurement in general means. It also explores the relationships between the history of utility measurement in economics, the history of the measurement of sensations in psychology, and the history of measurement theory in general. Finally, the book discusses some methodological problems related to utility measurement, such as the epistemological status of the utility concept and its measures. The first part covers the period 1870-1910, and discusses the issue of utility measurement in the theories of Jevons, Menger, Walras and other early utility theorists. Part II deals with the emergence of the notions of ordinal and cardinal utility during the period 1900-1945, and discusses two early attempts to give an empirical content to the notion of utility. Part III focuses on the 1945-1955 debate on utility measurement that was originated by von Neumann and Morgenstern's expected utility theory (EUT). Part IV reconstructs the experimental attempts to measure the utility of money between 1950 and 1985 within the framework provided by EUT. This historical and epistemological overview provides keen insights into current debates about rational choice theory and behavioral economics in the theory of individual decision-making and the philosophy of economics.
Volume 35A of Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology features a symposium on historical epistemology. An internationally renowned cast of contributors offers a variety of perspectives on one of the major approaches in empirical philosophy of science and the historiography of economic thought.
Women are vital members of the economics profession, yet they have traditionally received scant recognition for their work. This volume provides information on 51 remarkable women in the profession. They come from all areas of economics-academia, the business world, public policy-and include those who are currently active as well as 19th-century pioneers in the field. Entries cover biographical information, as well as the subjects' work, providing a unique guide to the many and varied contributions these women have made to economics. Joan Robinson was one of the most significant economists of the 20th century. Juanita Morris Kreps was Secretary of Commerce under Jimmy Carter. And forecasting guru Abbey Joseph Cohen appears regularly on PBS, CNN, and CNBC. Women are vital members of the economics profession, yet they have traditionally received scant recognition for their work. This volume provides information on 51 remarkable women in the profession. They come from all areas of economics-academia, the business world, public policy-and include those who are currently active as well as 19th-century pioneers in the field. Entries cover biographical information, as well as the subjects' work, providing a unique guide to the many and varied contributions these women have made to economics. Seeking to provide balanced coverage, this book covers accomplished and emerging economists, living and deceased individuals, and women from all philosophical perspectives and economic areas. Some have worked in several areas. Kathleen Bell Cooper, for instance, was Chief Economist at Exxon Corporation and is now Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs, while Marina Whitman, now with the University of Michigan Business School, was a senior executive with General Motors and the first woman appointed to the President's Council of Economic Advisors. Others have spent their career in academia. All have been prolific writers, as their entries document, and all made their mark on economics. This book is a testament to their achievements.