Adam Smith (1723-1790) is widely regarded as one of the great thinkers of the Enlightenment period. Best-known for his founding work of economics, The Wealth of Nations, Smith engaged equally with the nature of morality in his Theory of Moral Sentiments. He also gave lectures on literature and jurisprudence, and wrote papers on art and science. In this outstanding philosophical introduction Samuel Fleischacker argues that Smith is a superb example of the broadly curious thinkers who flourished in the Enlightenment-for whom morality, politics, law, and economics were just a few of the many fascinating subjects that could be illuminated by naturalistic modes of investigation. After a helpful overview of his life and work, Fleischacker examines the full range of Smith's thought, on such subjects as: epistemology, philosophy of science, and aesthetics the nature of sympathy moral approval and moral judgement virtue religion justice and jurisprudence governmental policy economic principles liberalism. Including chapter summaries, suggestions for further reading, and a glossary, Adam Smith is essential reading for those studying ethics, political philosophy, the history of philosophy, and the Enlightenment, as well as those reading Smith in related disciplines such as economics, law, and religion.

Originally published in 1967, this was the first book to discuss why agricultural supply became more ‘responsive’ and to provide broadly based evidence of the ways in which that ‘responsiveness’ may have influenced the growth of the economy. The editor chose 7 essays, reprinted in full, to illustrate altered perspectives of agricultural change. His substantial introduction places the beginnings of a significant rise in farm output as far back as the mid-seventeenth century and concludes that agriculture played a vital but complicated role in the economy of eighteenth-century England.

Wilhelm Abel's study of economic fluctuations over a period of seven hundred years has long been established as a core text in European agricultural history. Professor Abel was one of the first economic historians to make extensive use of statistical data, and his scholarship and approach have had a decisive effect on the orientation of economic and agricultural history.
Using data on population, wages and rents from England, France, Germany and the Low Countries, and, on occasion, from Italy, Scandinavia and Poland, here Professor Abel demonstrates the striking similarity in the overall economic development for all these areas. He also analyses, the short-term fluctuations that have affected agricultural development within this economic framework, and is able to show the broad significance of the shape of the late medieval depression, the scale of the desertions of villages that accompanies it, and the implications of the sixteenth century price revolution.
The book's importance lies in tracing the long-term trends that have characterized European economic development since the High Middle Ages, and as such it has made an invaluable contribution to all comparative analyses of different Western European countries since it was first published in 1980.

In 1929 two French historians, Lucien Febvre and Marc Bloch, founded "Annales, "a historical journal which rapidly became one of the most influential in the world. They believed that economic history, social history and the history of ideas were as important as political history, and that historians should not be narrow specialists but should learn from their colleagues in the social sciences.
Two of the most distinguished French members of the "Annales "school are represented in this volume - Fernand Braudel and Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie - the core of which is the debate on the Price Revolution of the sixteenth century dealt with by Cipolla, Chabert, Hoszowski and Verlinden.
Within the volume, all the contributions are oriented towards Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and all are concerned with long-term changes, and with the relation between economic growth and social change. It includes articles on the European movement of expansion discussed by Malowist and the activities of the Hungarian nobles as entrepreneurs discussed by Pach, and two articles on wider issues: Le Roy Ladurie on the history of climate, and Braudel, summing up the "Annales "programme, on the relation between history and the social sciences. This classic text was first published in 1972.

First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

First Published in 2005. A history of the English Corn Laws 1660-1846 is part of the studies in Economic and Social History series and looks at how the Corn Laws regulated the internal trade, exportation and importation and market development from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries.

First published in 1967, this superb collection of essays on trade in the Middle Ages has been a major contribution to modern medieval studies. Professor Carus-Wilson examines:

* fifteenth-century Bristol
* trade with Iceland
* the Merchant Adventurers of London
* the thirteenth-century cloth industry (with its highly developed capitalist system)
* the export of English woollen cloth
* the wine trade.

Each paper is firmly rooted in original research and contemporary sources such as customs returns and company minutes, and, in addition, her expose of the dubious accuracy of Aulnage accounts is widely recognised as a classic.

First published in 2005. This original study the author writing in 1936 has tried to sketch the character and general movement of the economic and social evolution of Western Europe from the end of the Roman Empire to the middle of the fifteenth century.

First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The Worshipful Company of Weavers, the oldest of all the London Livery Companies, can trace its origins to a twelfth-century craft guild. Largely based upon original records never before studied in depth, this authorized history of the company covers the period from the end of the reign of Elizabeth I to modern times.
Alfred Plummer presents a portrait of the London Hand-loom weavers in their historical setting, living strenuous lives in an industry which was once essential but has now disappeared. He describes many fascinating aspects of the Company's 'eventful history', from the numbers of apprentices, to their parents and places of origin, the attitude towards the admission of women and the enlistment by the Weaver's Company of the powerful pen of Daniel Defoe. In addition, the work examines the impact of such catastrophes as the Great Plague and the Fire of London. The author deals with the dogged struggle for survival of the famous Spitalfields silk weavers, and explores the part played by the Weavers and their associated London Livery companies in the 'plantation of Ulster' under James I nearly four centuries ago.
This book was first published in 1972.

This independent and critical study in economic and social history is based on free access to the records of W.D. & H.O. Wills.

Dr Alford traces the history of the firm from its origin to its transformation into a constituent part of a larger company. Having played such a leading role in the development of the UK tobacco industry, Willis' book is more than the history of a single firm, it also provides an important study of a leading consumer goods industry. Drawing on aspects of economic theory, the author examines the firm's development in the light of general aspects of business history.

This major study was first published in 1973.

First published in 1976, this much acclaimed book looks at the story of how today's large corporations have superseded the small competing firms of the nineteenth century. The long-run analysis confirms that the crucial periods in the formulation of the modern corporate system were the 1920's and 1960's. The merger wave of these decades was associated with a desire to improve the efficiency of Britain's industrial organization, and the author shows that it was in a large measure responsible for the trend improvement (by historical if not international standards) in Britain's growth performance.

Students of business, economic history and industrial economics will all welcome the return to print of a notable contribution to the continuing debate on the evolution and control of the corporate manufacturing sector.

Although the Anti-Corn Law league played a most important part in the politics of the 1840's, there is no modern study of its activities and organization. Based on several years work on the original sources, as well as papers belonging to George Wilson, President of the League for most of its life, this book sheds light on the internal history and organization of the League.

Written from a political perspective, Dr McCord describes the origin, organization and activities of the League, together with its effect on the contemporary political scene, and as such, fills an important gap in our knowledge of the political history of early Victorian England. At the same time, the book provides an analysis of an unusually well-documented political pressure group, making it a most welcome addition to literature for historians and economic historians, as well as students of political science.

This book was first published in 1958.

Contents of this book are as follows: Introduction; Chapter 1 - The crisis of 1815; Chapter 2 - The crisis of 1825; Chapter 3 - The crisis of 1836-1839; Chapter 4 - The crisis of 1847; Chapter 5 - The crisis of 1857; Chapter 6 - The crisis of 1866; Chapter 7 - The crisis of 1873; Chapter 8 - The crisis of 1882; Chapter 9 - The crisis of 1890; and Chapter 10 - Remedies.

This fascinating collection presents industrialization as a total historical process involving the destruction of one world simultaneously with the creation of another. Divided into two sections, it deals with elements of life such as the organization of labour, the health of the nation, rural and industrial societies, and poverty. The first section (The Expanding Economy) outlines the process by which economic growth took place and the second (The Social Impact) shows the impact this growth had on the society which both promoted and resisted it.

First published in 1966, this revealing study looks closely into the lives of the men, women and children working in mines, workshops, factories and farms during the industrial revolution. It investigates the inventors whose new machines made the industrial revolution possible, and reflects on the new type of employer whose enterprise and energy in linking machine and labour power formed a new society.
Where possible, contemporary accounts, letters, diaries and reports have been used so that the words of those living through this remarkable time can be heard - the words and thoughts of masters, workpeople, apprentice children, 'improving landlords' and farm labourers illuminate the prevailing attitudes of the period. An introductory chapter outlines previous methods of living and working and shows the first movements towards the industrial revolution.
Describing successes and failures, lives of impoverishment and hardship, fortunes made and, sometimes, lost, and the effects of the new society, this enlightening study investigates how early struggles to cope with almost overwhelming problems are now seen as the beginnings of the comparatively comfortable conditions we benefit from today.

T.S. Ashton has sought less to cover the field of economic history in detail than to offer a commentary, with a stress on trends of development rather than on forms of organization or economic legislation.

This book seeks to interpret the growth of population, agriculture, maufacture, trade and finance in eighteenth-century England. It throws light on economic fluctuations and on the changing conditions of the wage-earners. The approach is that of an economist and use is made of hitherto neglected statistics. But treatment and language are simple. The book is intended not only for the specialist but also for others who turn to the past for its own sake or for understanding the present.

This book was first published in 1955.

These six papers were originally delivered to a conference at Sheffield University in 1969 and represent an overview of a research project led by Professor Pollard, which aimed to construct a series of annual figures of capital formation for the Industrial Revolution in Britain - both in aggregate and broken down into main sectors. Each paper is accompanied by a summary of the discussion which followed.

The problems encountered in such an undertaking are examined, a major one being definition: what to include in the term 'capital', how to measure or isolate expenditure under that heading, and how to deal with changes which have made the definitions and practices of present-day national income estimates inapplicable to earlier centuries. Sources are also examined in depth as statistical information is not only uncertain and often unreliable, but of different value and completeness for different sectors of the economy.

This book was first published in 1971.

How has British industry financed itself in the past? With the current debate on industry's financial strategy, this study of the past sixty years is a particularly timely contribution to the discussions on the future financing of industry.
This book gives, for the inter-war years, a detailed examination of the main sources of funds, covering long-term and short-term funding. It also traces the transition in the new issue market and explores the course of firms' own internal funds, and ends his coverage of the pre-war years with a chapter on the Macmillan Gap.
Dr Thomas puts particular emphasis on the influence of government policy on the financing of industry in post-war Britain. He also explains the effects the new sources of finance have had on industry and the major public corporations. His last chapter surveys the later developments in the main sources and uses of funds and the factors responsible for them, and includes an illuminating comparison of financial practices in some of the major overseas industrial countries.
Dr. Thomas has written a clear and objective account describing the trends in finance since the First World War. His notably well-documented book is an essential reference work.

The studies assembled in this volume are dedicated to the memory of Albert Baldein, a professional numismatist whose chief interest lay in helping other numismatists, professionals, students and collectors alike, some of whom record their appreciations here. The contributions, though they are drawn from a wide variety of fields - Greek, Roman, Dark Age, Byzantine, English, Scottish, Irish and European medieval coins, and medals - are all concerned with one or more facets of the theme set out in the title. Within the general concept, the essays deal with a diversity of subjects:
* identification of mints
* attribution of coins to specific mints
* coinage current in particular periods
* composition of groups of coins in a given series
* establishment of the correct sequence of issues of such groups.
The essays also demonstrate the use of particular numismatic techniques such as die-linking, the analysis of hoards and their statistics, the minute observation of changes in titulature and inscriptions and comparison of portrait styles. There is much new, exciting and well-illustrated material for numismatists, and chapters such as those on Scottish mints and Hadrian's COS III coins will be of interest to historians.

The economic and social problems of modern Scotland are at the centre of current debate about regional economic growth, social improvement and environmental rehabilitation. In this book, as relevant today as when it was first published in 1975, Anthony Slaven argues that the extent and causes of these problems are frequently underestimated, thus making development policies less than fully effective.
The major economic and social weaknesses of the west of Scotland are shown to be rooted in the regions former strengths. The author demonstrates how, although the region and its people have resisted change, a thriving and self reliant nineteenth-century economy, based on local resources and manpower, has given way in the present century to vanishing skills and products, unemployment and social deprivation. Since 1945 economic and social planning has helped to improve the situation, although many difficulties remain.
Seen in the historical perspective provided by this revealing study, the present industrial problems of the west of Scotland, and their remedies, become clearer. Mr Slaven argues that the older industries deserve more help, for without this, he believes, the ineffectiveness of development policies is likely to be perpetuated.
This book was first published in 1975.

Professor Youngson's book is an ubiased review of Britain's past experience and present difficulties. Few sacred cows are spared. There is no pretence that fundamental problems were resolved at the time of its first publication in 1967.
Many econmic historians fail in their assessment of Britian's economic prospects as there is a tendency to look only at recent events to explain current problems. Youngson saw that this was short sighted. An economy, like an airliner, cannot suddenly change its course; it is subject to persistent forces and tendencies; it is powerfully affected by what has happened in the recent and sometimes in the not so recent past. Therefore to understand the problems of today we must know somthing of how persistent they are, and about what solutions have already been tried.
This book provides a thorough examination of Britain's economic growth from 1920-1966 and contextualises Britain's situation within its true historical perspective.
This book was first published in 1967.

This book is a sequal to "Britain's Economic Prospects, "the report issued in 1968 by the Brookings Institution and universally accepted as the most thorough and comprehensive study of the British Economy to have ever appeared.
Two years later, just after the British General election, six fo the American economists who prepared the Brookings Report met with a number of other leading economists from Britain and the United States, at a weekend conference at Ditchley Park, to review the findings of the report. Papers submitted to the conference by four of the British Economists (R.C.C. Matthews, G.D.N. Worswick, E.H. Phelps Brown and M.V. Posner) covered the same ground as the Brookings Report - the role of demand management, trade and balance-of-payments problems, labour policies, and industrial policies. The conference also had before it a fifth paper, on fiscal policy and stabilization, which took issue with some of the views expressed in the Brookings report.
These papers form the coreof this book, which also contains an account of the conference discussions and concluding reflections by its Chairman, Sir Alec Cairncross, formerly Chief Economic Adviser to H.M. Government.
"Britain's Economic Prospects Reconsidered "is neither a detailed critique of the Brookings Report nor a rejoinder to it, but rather an attempt to reassess British performance and policies in the light of experience since devaluation. Its central concern is the question of why economic growth in Britain since the war has been slower than in other countries.
This book was first published in 1971.

A history of the rise of industrialism in modern Europe, containing a description of the revolutionary changes which transformed industry, commerce and agriculture at the beginning of the last century, with an account of their reactions on the political and economic condition of the chief European nations.

The social problems created by this momentous revolution are discussed in detail, and a historical survey is given of the various attempts to correct the evils of industrialism, on the one hand through state intervention by means of poor laws, factory laws, schemes of social insurance, etc., and on the other through voluntary effort as manifested in movements like trade unionism, co-operation, profit sharing and co-partnership. Post-war developments such as the Russian Revolution and international labour legislation are also described in detail and depth. This book was first published in 1930.

Historians have long considered the ways in which the expansion of English trade beyond Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries contributed to the growth of English overseas trade as a whole, and to the coming of the Industrial Revolution. Their concentration on trade between England and her own colonies has led them, however, to neglect the importance of trade with the Spanish and Portuguese colonies in the Americas. Dr Fishers examination of Anglo-Portuguese trade between 1700 and 1770, and of the commercial links between the English North American colonies and Portugal, thus gives a wider perspective to our knowledge of the English Commercial Revolution.
This study, based on a wide range of primary sources in England and Portugal, analyses the impressive growth of English trade with Portugal to 1760 and its subsequent decline in the 1760s, particular attention being given to the role of the Brazilian market and Brazilian gold-mining in these movements. The business practice of the merchants engaged in the principal constituent branches of the tradetextiles, foodstuffs, wines, and goldis made clear and compared, while the characteristic instability of international commerce is borne out in the examination of the seasonal and yearly fluctuations which took place. On a more general level, the concluding chapter explores the relationship between the Portugal trade and the development of the English economy during this period. This book was first published in 1971.