Japan's emergence as a modern state in the middle of the nineteenth century was a unique socio-political event. The accompanying economic development - achieved without tariff autonomy and with practically no injection of foreign capital - was certainly no less remarkable. A major portion of this important volume discusses how this transformation was accomplished.This important book presents a unique insight into the institutional development of capitalism in Japan through a series of Shigeto Tsuru's papers, some of which are published here for the first time. The volume also includes a critical appraisal of Japan's economy during her invasion of China, discussion of general historical trends in capitalism and an assessment of the present, and future, economic problems of Japan. The Economic Development of Modern Japan will be welcomed by scholars and students with an interest in Japan's economic development and her present and future role in the world. Economic Theory and Capitalist Society, the first volume of Shigeto Tsuru's essays, is also available.

This collection of essays was commissioned for the fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of accountants in Scotland, the country in which accountants were first chartered. It attempts to trace the origin and growth of the profession relating to accounts, auditing, and bookkeeping. Topics include ancient systems of accounting; early Italian accountants; accounting in Scotland, England, Ireland, Europe, the British colonies, and the United States; and the future of the profession. Edited by Richard Brown, contributors include John S. Mackay, Edward Boyd, J. Row Fogo, Joseph Patrick, and Alexander Sloan.

A crisis is a period of uncertainty that may or may not lead to disaster, depending in part on the capacity of actors to make sense of what is happening and respond effectively. Disasters in different spheres occur and recur at different speeds and in idiosyncratic ways, but in essence they follow the same pattern. In the wake of the Global Financial Crisis and Eurozone upheavals this timely book argues that the disaster cycle - a framework normally used in the context of natural disasters - is equally applicable to the analysis of other types of catastrophe.Employing a modified version of the disaster cycle framework to compare and analyse a range of catastrophes in different spheres, the author draws on ideas from a variety of disciplines including economics and economic history, disaster studies, management, and political science. This unique comparative approach presents case studies of several important disasters: Hurricane Katrina, the First World War, the depression of the early 1930s, Welsh coal mining accidents, the deadly effects of smoking tobacco, and the Global Financial Crisis and Eurozone catastrophe of the early twenty first century. The author argues that economists and economic policy makers routinely misuse the term crisis to describe episodes that ought to be called disasters. This accessible and fascinating exploration will appeal to students and scholars in economic history, disaster studies, management, public policy, and related disciplines. The comparison of crisis and disaster management is also essential reading for policy makers.

Japan and South Korea are two of the most important success stories in recent economic history. Both countries have succeeded in achieving remarkably high growth rates to transform themselves from isolated agricultural societies to major industrial powers.In The Economics of Rapid Growth, Dirk Pilat uses catch-up theory to explain why countries with lower levels of income can use the technology of more advanced economies to foster growth and industrialization. His analysis emphasizes the importance of pre-existing education levels, financial and commercial institutions and infrastructure to explain the rapid economic growth of Japan and Korea. A growth accounting framework is used to show the contribution of capital, labour and land to the rapid economic growth from the early 1950s. This growth is put in an international perspective by detailed sectoral productivity comparisons which include discussion of some of the measurement problems implicit in international comparisons. The final parts of the book look at the links between productivity and competitiveness, as well as the role of trade policy and exports in productivity growth. This acclaimed book will be widely read by researchers, students and policymakers concerned with growth, development and the emergence of two of the most powerful economies in the modern world.

The rapid development of a series of technologically advanced, industrial economies in the post-war period has challenged conventional understandings of economic growth. The emergence of these economies has reinvigorated the long-standing debate about why some countries grow quickly, and reach high levels of productivity, while others fall behind. Until the emergence of the new growth theory, few neoclassical economists focused upon this important issue despite the existence of a rich tradition among economic historians and economists from more heterodox traditions. The Dynamics of Technology, Trade and Growth draws upon contributions of scholars from different theoretical backgrounds to discuss why economies succeed, or fail, in creating the infrastructure, finance and technology to develop rapidly and 'catch-up' with others. After an overview by the editors of theoretical and practical developments in the economics of convergence and divergence, the book features chapters which discuss the origins of the post-war catch-up and convergence boom, convergence in trade and sectoral growth, capital accumulation, investment and resource allocation, specialization, technological change, and the potential contribution of information and communication technologies. The distinguished contributors bring together in one volume a breadth of scholarship on economic growth, convergence and divergence, ensuring that this book will be widely read by economists interested in growth, technical change and economic development.

Victorian Britain offered to the globe an economic structure of unique complexity. The trading nation, at the heart of a great empire, developed the practices of advanced capitalism - currency, banking, investment, money markets, business practices and theory, intellectual property legislation - from which the financial systems of the contemporary world emerged. Cultural forms in Victorian Britain transacted with high capitalism in a variety of ways but literary critics interested in economics have traditionally been preoccupied either with writers' hostility to industrial capitalism in terms of its shaping of class, or with the development of consumerism. Victorian Literature and Finance is the first extended study to take seriously the relationships between literary forms and those more complex discourses of Victorian high finance. These essays move beyond the examination of literature that was merely impatient with the perceived consequences of capitalism to analyse creative relationships between culture and economic structures. Considering such topics as the nature of currency, women and the culture of investment, the profits of a modern media age, the dramatization of risk on the Victorian stage, the practice of realism in relation to business theory, the culture of speculation at the end of the century, and arguments about the uncomfortable relationship between literary and financial capital, Victorian Literature and Finance sets new terms for understanding and theorizing the relationship between high finance and literary writing in the nineteenth century.

This unique troika of Handbooks provide indispensable coverage of the history of economic analysis. Edited by two of the foremost academics in the field, they gather together insightful and original contributions from scholars across the world. The encyclopaedic breadth and scope of the original entries will make these Handbooks an invaluable source of knowledge for all serious students and scholars of the history of economic thought. Each Handbook can be read individually and acts as a self-contained volume in its own right. They can be purchased separately or as part of a three-volume set. Volume III contains entries on the development of major fields in economics from the inception of systematic analysis until modern times. The reader is provided with succinct summary accounts of the main problems, the methods used and the results obtained across time. The emphasis is on both the continuity and major changes that have occurred in the economic analysis of problematic issues such as economic growth, income distribution, employment, inflation, business cycles and financial instability. Contributors: M. Assous, A. Baccini, Jr., A. Baujard, E. Bertrand, M. Boumans, J.L. Cardoso, M. Dal Pont-Legrand, J. De Boyer Des Roches, M. De Vroey, S. Di Rizzello, S. Diatkine, K. Dopfer, A.K. Dutt, R. Ege, G. Erreygers, D. Foley, R. Gomez Betancourt, D. Haas, H. Hagemann, E. Hosoda, H. Igersheim, A. Kirman, J. Kleinert, H. Kliemt, H.D. Kurz, R. Leonard, P. Malgrange, A. Maneschi, P. Mehrling, S. Mohun, M. Mosca, S. Noto, A. Opocher, N. Palan, F. Petri, A. Rainer, S. Rizzello, J.B. Rosser, M. Salles, N. Salvadori, M. Schutz, R. Signorino, A. Spada, P. Steiner, A. Stirati, R. Strohmaier, R. Sturn, C. Sunna, J.-F. Thisse, P. Tubaro, K. Watarai

In this definitive study of the intra-Asian trade in Japanese copper trade by the Dutch East India Company, the author argues that the trade in this commodity reaped high profits. Despite the huge imports of British copper by the English East India Company during the eighteenth century, the Dutch Company successfully continued to sell Japanese copper in South Asia at higher prices. Compared to the capital-intensive development of British mines in the age of the Industrial Revolution, the copper production in Tokugawa Japan was characterized by a labour-intensive 'revolution' which also made a big impact on the local economy.

In The Political Economy and Feasibility of Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies Spencer J. Pack brings his authority as a scholar and advisor to this study of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies from the perspective of the history of economic thought. Major theorists analyzed in depth include Aristotle, Smith, Law, Marx, Keynes, Rothbard and Hayek, and the book draws extensively upon the ideas of Schumpeter, Galbraith and Sraffa. The book argues for reconceptualization of the basic microeconomic categories into rental, sale and financial asset prices along with a reconsideration of Keynes' general theory to his special theory and Rothbard's relationship to Rousseau. The author posits that intense theoretical and practical struggles will continue over who should control the quantity of money, the cause of the capitalist economy's instability, and who or what is more dangerous: concentrated centers of private wealth and private enterprises or the contemporary state. He concludes that in terms of the quality of money, the cryptocurrency community is probably correct, with new forms of money potentially being better than sovereign fiat currency. The book's relevance will appeal to members of the history of economic thought community, economic theorists, and political science and political theory scholars as well as to policy makers and members of the cryptocurrency community.

"Constituting Modernity" originated from a critique of a liberal understanding of property relation as one between a person and a 'thing'. States are perceived to be fundamental obstacles on the way to an individual's appropriation of the "thing." State intervention is often considered to be a reason for a presumed absence of private property in non-European contexts. The research presented here contests these assumptions from different perspectives, both in a European and non-European context. As multi-disciplinary as it is wide-ranging, the work ranges from the practices of the 19th century Ottoman administrative government in the constitution of private property rights to the practice of cadastral mapping in British India. These essays, carefully prepared in full collaboration as part of a unified research program, cover Ottoman and British land laws, property rights in the British colonies, and the notion of property as a contested domain and a site of power relations in 19th century China. No such interdisciplinary study of private property exists. "Constituting Modernity" will not only set the tone of much research to come, but reworks the fundamental theory behind the scholarship to date.

This engaging and intelligent book argues that the unbridled impact of deregulated market forces will lead to social polarization and ultimately to the destruction of capitalist society as we know it today. After providing a lucid and accessible overview of the development of capitalism, Professor Brenner explains how human greed was confined within legal boundaries and shows how ingenuity rather than brute force ultimately became the source of wealth. He explores the interaction between ideas, behaviour and economic change and points out comparisons between scientific ideas and the phases of economic development. He warns that, by an inner logic, deregulated capitalism must necessarily lead to increased inequality and to the waning of those elements in bourgeois culture which are necessary for the proper functioning of a technologically advanced industrial economy.Written in a lively and non-technical style, the book will appeal not only to economists but also to other social scientists and historians concerned with the history and development of modern capitalist society.

Most works on John Maynard Keynes deal with his General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money and his theory of unemployment. Much less well-known are his publications on money, finance, and international trade. This book fills that void by providing an analysis of Keynes' works from "Indian Currency and Finance" to "The Proposal for a Currency Union." It seeks to show that his concerns extended beyond his magnum opus to include the monetary and financial concerns of Great Britain and the world at large.

This book contains a systematic study of economic institutions during the Spanish Enlightenment in the areas of print culture (the press, merchants' handbooks, teaching materials), education (university chairs in political economy and commerce) and the organisation of financial matters at state level (economic societies, trade consulates and the official statistics agency). A Unifying Enlightenment is a fresh interpretation of political economy's contribution to the development of the European Enlightenment. Jesus Astigarraga shows that, far from being a straightforward intellectual phenomenon, this new science played a crucial role in both the circulating and institutionalisation of Enlightenment culture and the process of political unification and articulation undergone by the Spanish monarchy, which culminated in a constitutional culture.

Placing the controversial globalization process in historical context, DeWitt brings this increasingly important topic to life through the experiences of the two most populous states of the Western Hemisphere--Brazil and the United States. Comparing their development processes from the Colonial Era to 1900, he highlights the dramatically different consequences that are incorporated into the world economy for these two states. Sharing similar experiences during the Colonial Era, the countries' internal differences and differing relationships with Great Britain, the economic superpower of the 19th century, led to very different development paths. By 1900, the United States had become a member of the economic core, while Brazil remained mired in the semi-periphery.

Pointing out the similarities and differences in the economic development of the United States and Brazil, DeWitt emphasizes that the manner of incorporation into the world economy greatly affected one becoming a superpower and the other remaining a developing nation. This book offers unique insights into globalization, economic development, and the histories of the United States and Brazil.

In The Agency of Empire: Connections and Strategies in French Expansion (1686-1746) Elisabeth Heijmans places directors and their connections at the centre of the developments and operations of French overseas companies. The focus on directors' decisions and networks challenges the conception of French overseas companies as highly centralized and controlled by the state. Through the cases of companies operating in Pondicherry (Coromandel Coast) and Ouidah (Bight of Benin), Elisabeth Heijmans demonstrates the participation of actors not only in Paris but also in provinces, ports and trading posts in the French expansion. The analysis brings to the fore connections across imperial, cultural and religious boundaries in order to diverge from traditional national narratives of the French early modern empire.

This study tackles pertinent questions about daily life and socio-economic interactions in the late Ptolemaic town of Pathyris (186-88 BCE) through an empirically grounded network analysis of 428 Greek and Demotic documents associated with 21 archives from the site. The author moves beyond traditional boundaries of Egyptological and Papyrological research by means of an innovative and interdisciplinary methodology - zigzagging back and forth between archaeological field survey, close reading of ancient texts, formal methods of Social Network Analysis (SNA) and explanatory theories and concepts borrowed from economics and other social sciences. This is volume 2 of a two-volume set.

It was only in the sixteenth century that texts began to refer to the significance of "economic activity"--of sustaining life. This was not because the ordinary business of life was thought unimportant, but because the principles governing economic conduct were thought to be obvious or uncontroversial. The subsequent development of economic writing thus parallels the development of capitalism in Western Europe. From the seventeenth to the twenty-first century there has been a constant shift in content, audience, and form of argument as the literature of economic argument developed. This book proposes that to understand the various forms that economic literature has taken, we need to adopt a more literary approach in economics specifically, to adopt the instruments and techniques of philology. This way we can conceive the history of economic thought to be an on-going work in progress, rather than the story of the emergence of modern economic thinking. This approach demands that we pay attention to the construction of particular texts, showing the work of economic argument in different contexts. In sum, we need to pay attention to the economy of the word. l The Economy of the Word is divided into three parts. The first explains what the term economy has meant from Antiquity to Modernity, coupling this conceptual history with an examination of how the idea of national income was turned into a number during the first half of the twentieth century. The second part is devoted to Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, considering first the manner in which Smith deals with international trade, and then the way in which the book was read in the course of the nineteenth century. Part III examines the sources used by Karl Marx and Leon Walras in developing their economic analysis, drawing attention to their shared intellectual context in French political economy.

In War, Entrepreneurs, and the State, Jeff Fynn-Paul (Leiden) assembles an internationally acclaimed selection of authors to push forward the debate on the role of entrepreneurs in making war and building states in Europe and the Ottoman Empire. Topics covered include logistics, supply, recruitment, and the finance of war. Chapters have been carefully commissioned with an eye towards complementarity. In an introduction co-written with Marjolein 't Hart and Griet Vermeesch, Fynn-Paul challenges existing discourses of military entrepreneurialism. A new benchmark is proposed: did states choose to work with entrepreneurs, or to restrict their activities and subvert the market? From the introduction and the individual chapters, a new more expansive vision of the military entrepreneur emerges. Contributors are: Carlos Alvarez-Nogal, Pepijn Brandon, William Caferro, Stephen Conway, Thomas Goossens, Aaron Graham, Rhoads Murphey, David Parrott, Helen Paul, Guy Rowlands, Kahraman Sakul, Marjolein 't Hart, Andrea Thiele, and Rafael Torres Sanchez.

Reading Medieval Sources is an exciting new series which leads scholars and students into some of the most challenging and rewarding sources from the European Middle Ages, and introduces the most important approaches to understanding them. Written by an international team of twelve leading scholars, this volume Money and Coinage in the Middle Ages presents a set of fresh and insightful perspectives that demonstrate the rich potential of this source material to all scholars of medieval history and culture. It includes coverage of major developments in monetary history, set into their economic and political context, as well as innovative and interdisciplinary perspectives that address money and coinage in relation to archaeology, anthropology and medieval literature. Contributors are Nanouschka Myrberg Burstroem, Elizabeth Edwards, Gaspar Feliu, Anna Gannon, Richard Kelleher, Bill Maurer, Nick Mayhew, Rory Naismith, Philipp Robinson Roessner, Alessia Rovelli, Lucia Travaini, and Andrew Woods.

This unique troika of Handbooks provide exhaustive and indispensable coverage of the history of economic analysis. Edited by two of the foremost academics in the field, they gather together insightful and original contributions from scholars across the world. The encyclopaedic breadth and scope of the original entries will make these Handbooks an invaluable source of knowledge for all serious students and scholars of the history of economic thought. Each Handbook can be read individually and acts as a self-contained volume in its own right. They can be purchased separately or as part of a three-volume set. Volume II contains entries on the major schools of economic thought and analysis. These schools differ with regard to their 'vision' of the working of the economic system, the major forces and interactions that shape its path, and the policy recommendations proposed. At any moment of time, several such schools typically compete with one another, striving for dominance within the economic and political discourse. Contributors include: F. Allisson, R. Baranzini, M. Bellet, A.A. Belykh, C. Benassi, A. Beraud, C.B. Blankart, A. Brewer, G. Chaloupek, I. Chaplygina, S. Cook, J. Creedy, J. de Boyer des Roches, T. Demals, R.B. Emmett, G. Faccarello, C. Gehrke, G.C. Harcourt, J.E. King, H.D. Kurz, A. Lapidus, M. Lavoie, M.C. Marcuzzo, A. Molavi Vassei, P.L. Porta, A. Rosselli, M. Rutherford, N. Salvadori, B. Schefold, N.T. Skaggs, R. Solis Rosales, H.-P. Spahn, N. Thompson, H.-M. Trautwein, K. Tribe