Literature of Political Economy: Collected Essays II

427 Pages·1997·2.249 MB·English

by  Hollander, Samuel

THE LITERATURE OF POLITICAL
ECONOMY
Samuel Hollander is widely recognized as one of the most important and
controversial historians of economic thought. This second volume collects
together essays extending beyond classical economics, the subject with which
he is most associated.
The collection includes:

• An autobiographical introduction
(cid:127) Studies in Scholastic, Smithian and Marshallian literature
(cid:127) Papers on the Corn-Law pamphlets of 1815, the post-Ricardian dissension,
and the ‘marginal revolution’
(cid:127) Essays on T.R.Malthus, including four bibliographical studies
(cid:127) Reviews of a broad range of important books published in the last thirty
years.

Samuel Hollander is University Professor of Economics at the University of
Toronto and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

THE LITERATURE OF
POLITICAL ECONOMY
Collected Essays II
Samuel Hollander
London and New York
First published 1995
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.

Second edition 1998
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

© 1998 Samuel Hollander
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
Hollander, Samuel.
The literature of political economy/Samuel Hollander.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Economics. 2. Economics—Bibliography. I. Title
HB71.H69 1997
97–11430
016.33–dc21
CIP

ISBN 0-203-42874-9 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-73698-2 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-11429-2 (Print Edition)
For Isaac, Ilana, Amber and Jasmine with my love
and in memory of two good friends,
Martin Bronfenbrenner and Giovanni Caravale

CONTENTS
Notes on Chapters x
Preface xiii
Acknowledgements xv
Part I. BIOGRAPHICAL PERSPECTIVES
1. ‘IT’S AN ILL WIND…’: A MEMOIR (1995) AND
ADDENDUM (1996) 3
2. ON THE TEACHING OF THE HISTORY OF ECONOMIC
THOUGHT: ATTACK THE BEST DEFENCE (1975) 28
3. IN MEMORIAM: WILLIAM JAFFÉ, 1898–1980 (1981) 35
Part II. THREE EARLY PAPERS
4. THE REPRESENTATIVE FIRM AND IMPERFECT
COMPETITION (1961) 41
5. ON THE INTERPRETATION OF THE JUST PRICE (1965) 49
6. THE ROLE OF THE STATE IN VOCATIONAL TRAINING:
THE CLASSICAL ECONOMISTS’ VIEW (1968) AND REPLY
TO E.G.WEST (1969) 65
Part III. ADAM SMITH
7. THE HISTORICAL DIMENSION OF THE WEALTH OF
NATIONS (1976) 87
8. ADAM SMITH AND THE SELF-INTEREST AXIOM (1977) 104
vii
CONTENTS
Part IV. NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE
9. THE POST-RICARDIAN DISSENSION: A CASE-STUDY IN
ECONOMICS AND IDEOLOGY (1980) 127
10. ON P.MIROWSKI’S ‘PHYSICS AND THE “MARGINALIST
REVOLUTION” ’ (1989) 170
11. ON A.ARNON’S THOMAS TOOKE: PIONEER OF MONETARY
THEORY (1995) 187
12. THE CORN-LAW PAMPHLET LITERATURE OF 1815:
MALTHUS, WEST, RICARDO AND TORRENS (1996) 193
Part V. MALTHUS
13. ON THE WORKS OF THOMAS ROBERT MALTHUS (1988) 247
14. NEW EDITIONS OF MALTHUS (1991) 250
15. ON MALTHUS’S PHYSIOCRATIC REFERENCES (1992) 258
16. MALTHUS’S ABANDONMENT OF AGRICULTURAL
PROTECTIONISM: A DISCOVERY IN THE HISTORY OF
ECONOMIC THOUGHT (1992) 269
17. MORE ON MALTHUS AND AGRICULTURAL
PROTECTION (1995) 283
18. MALTHUS AS PHYSIOCRAT: SURPLUS VERSUS SCARCITY
(1995) 289
19. INTRODUCTION TO FACSIMILE REPRINTS OF MALTHUS’S
ESSAY ON POPULATION (1996) 317
20. ON THE AUTHORSHIP OF ‘SPENCE ON COMMERCE’ IN
THE EDINBURGH REVIEW, JANUARY 1808 (1996) 349
Part VI. SHORT REVIEWS
21. SHORT REVIEWS 365
21.1 D.Winch, James Mill: Selected Economic Writings [1967] 365
21.2 G.L.S.Shackle, The Years of High Theory: Invention and
Tradition in Economic Thought [1968] 367
21.3 J.Gilchrist, The Church and Economic Activity in the Middle
Ages [1970] 370
21.4 P.Schwartz, The New Political Economy of J.S.Mill [1973] 372
21.5 R.V.Eagly, The Structure of Classical Economic Theory
[1975] 374
viii
CONTENTS
21.6 T.Sowell, Classical Economics Reconsidered [1976] 376
21.7 B.Gordon, Economic Analysis Before Adam Smith: Hesiod to
Lessius [1977] 380
21.8 L.S.Moss, Mountifort Longfield: Ireland’s First Professor of
Political Economy [1978] 383
21.9 D.Winch, Adam Smith’s Politics: An Essay in Historiographic Revision
[1979] 386
21.10 F.W.Fetter, The Economist in Parliament: 1780–1868 [1982] 389
21.11 W.Eltis, The Classical Theory of Economic Growth [1985] 391
21.12 D.C.Coleman, History and the Economic Past. An Account
of the Rise and Decline of Economic History in Britain [1989] 393
21.13 H.Boss, Theories of Surplus and Transfer [1990] 396
21.14 M.Milgate and S.C.Stimson, Ricardian Politics [1994] 398
21.15 J.Vint, Capital and Wages: A Lakatosian History of the
Wages Fund Doctrine [1995] 400
Index 403
ix