Handbook of the History of Economic Thought: Insights on the Founders of Modern Economics

725 Pages·2012·2.8 MB·English

The European Heritage in Economics and the Social Sciences
Series Editor:
Jürgen Georg Backhaus
Editor
Jürgen Georg Backhaus
Handbook of
the History of
Economic Thought
Insights on the Founders of Modern
Economics
The European Heritage in Economics
and the Social Sciences
Series Editor:
Jürgen Georg Backhaus
For further volumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/5902

Jürgen Georg Backhaus
Editor
Handbook of the History
of Economic Thought
Insights on the Founders
of Modern Economics
Editor
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Georg Backhaus
University of Erfurt
Krupp Chair in Public Finance and Fiscal Sociology
Nordhäuser Str. 63
99089 Erfurt Thüringen
Germany
[email protected]
ISBN 978-1-4419-8335-0 e-ISBN 978-1-4419-8336-7
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-8336-7
Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg London
Library of Congress Control Number: 2011934677
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Preface
Avant Propos
A further reason for studying the history of economic thought was provided by
Pareto in the lead article of the “Giornale di Economisti” of 1918 (Volume 28; pages
1–18) under the title “Experimental Economics”.1 In as much as economic theories
also have an extrinsic value, that is, they lead people to act as informed by the
t heory, such as in economic policy or public fi nance, the theory becomes a subject
for economic investigation itself. The distinction between the intrinsic aspect and
the extrinsic aspect of a theory is crucial for this argument. The intrinsic aspect of a
theory refers to its logical consistence and, as such, has no further repercussions. As
far as the intrinsic aspects are concerned, theoretical knowledge is actually cumula-
tive. On the other hand, the extrinsic aspect of an economic theory will become a
“derivation” (in Pareto’s terminology) in that it serves as the rationalization of
human activity. In Pareto’s sociology, human action is determined by residues,
innate traits that determine human behaviour, and derivations. Derivations are more
or less logical theories or world views that guide people’s behaviour. To the extent
that economic theory can also guide human behaviour, economic theory becomes a
social fact or construct that is itself subject to economic analysis. As we experiment
with different economic theories to guide economic policy in general and fi scal
policy in particular, the history of economic thought can actually be practised as
experimental economics in documenting the impact different economic theories
have on economic behaviour. Of course, this experimental kind of history of
e conomic thought becomes the more relevant the more similar the situations are in
which different economic theories are applied.
1 The following account is based on Michael McLure, The Paretian School and Italian Fiscal
Sociology. London, Palgrave 2007.
v

Contents
1 Introduction ............................................................................................ 1
Jürgen G. Backhaus
2 The Tradition of Economic Thought in the Mediterranean
World from the Ancient Classical Times Through the Hellenistic
Times Until the Byzantine Times and Arab-Islamic World ................ 7
Christos P. Baloglou
3 Mercantilism ........................................................................................... 93
Helge Peukert
4 The Cameralists: Fertile Sources for a New Science
of Public Finance .................................................................................... 123
Richard E. Wagner
5 The Physiocrats ...................................................................................... 137
Lluis Argemí d’Abadal
6 Adam Smith: Theory and Policy .......................................................... 161
Andrew S. Skinner
7 Life and Work of David Ricardo (1772–1823) ..................................... 173
Arnold Heertje
8 John Stuart Mill’s Road to Leviathan:
Early Life and Infl uences ...................................................................... 179
Michael R. Montgomery
9 John Stuart Mill’s Road to Leviathan II:
The Principles of Political Economy..................................................... 205
Michael R. Montgomery
10 Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) ............................................................... 279
Christos P. Baloglou
vii
viii Contents
11 Johann Heinrich von Thünen: A Founder
of Modern Economics ............................................................................ 299
Hans Frambach
12 The Legacy of Karl Marx ...................................................................... 323
Helge Peukert
13 Friedrich List’s Striving for Economic Integration
and Development .................................................................................... 351
Karl-Heinz Schmidt
14 The Entwickelung According to Gossen .............................................. 369
Jan van Daal
15 Gustav Schmoller as a Scientist of Political Economy ........................ 389
Reginald Hansen
16 The Empirical and Inductivist Economics
of Professor Menger ............................................................................... 415
Karl Milford
17 Antoine Augustin Cournot .................................................................... 437
Christos P. Baloglou
18 Léon Walras: What Cutes Know and What They
Should Know .......................................................................................... 465
J.A. Hans Maks and Jan van Daal
19 Alfred Marshall ...................................................................................... 495
Earl Beach
20 Knut Wicksell and Contemporary Political Economy ....................... 513
Richard E. Wagner
21 Werner Sombart ..................................................................................... 527
Helge Peukert
22 The Scientifi c Contributions of Heinrich von Stackelberg ................. 565
Peter R. Senn
23 Joseph Alois Schumpeter: The Economist of Rhetoric ...................... 581
Yuichi Shionoya
24 Against Rigid Rules – Keynes’s View on Monetary Policy
and Economic Theory ............................................................................ 605
Elke Muchlinski
25 Keynes’s “Long Struggle of Escape” .................................................... 625
Royall Brandis
Contents ix
26 John Maynard Keynes and the Theory
of the Monetary Economy ..................................................................... 641
Hans-Joachim Stadermann and Otto Steiger
27 James Steuart and the Theory of the Monetary Economy ................ 667
Hans-Joachim Stadermann and Otto Steiger
28 Friedrich August Hayek (1899–1992) ................................................... 689
Gerrit Meijer
Index ................................................................................................................ 713