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The definitive guide to the history of economic thought, fully
revised twenty years after first publication Roger Backhouse's
definitive guide takes the story of economic thinking from the
ancient world to the present day, with a brand-new chapter on the
twenty-first century and updates throughout to reflect the latest
scholarship. Covering topics including globalisation, inequality,
financial crises and the environment, Backhouse brings his breadth
of expertise and a contemporary lens to this original and
insightful exploration of economics, revealing how we got to where
we are today.
These volumes gather together a selection of autobiographical
essays written by significant economists whose work is generally
recognized to be at the forefront of the discipline as we enter the
twenty-first century. The essays are largely based on introductions
to volumes in the Edward Elgar series Economists of the Twentieth
Century (which collects together the key papers of these
economists). This volume focuses on leading economists who were
born, or have spent the greater part of their lives, in Europe,
Asia and Australasia. The main chapters are accompanied by an
introduction in which the editors place the autobiographical essays
in a wider context. Economists will be fascinated by: * the stories
that lie behind familiar names * why economists approach problems
the way they do * how careers develop * how economists view what
they are doing. These are all points that are invisible to those
who simply read the published output of economics, so readers will
gain personal insights into the development of the field. The books
will be a valuable resource for economists, particularly historians
of economic thought, as well as sociologists concerned with the
economics profession, and those interested in the creative process
and the social and scientific development of economics.
Truth and Progress in Economic Knowledge provides a new perspective
on economic methodology, specifically addressing progress in
economic knowledge. This important investigation argues that
economic methodology is developed through analysing economics, not
through imposing a framework developed in other sciences.Roger
Backhouse begins his discussion by defending economic methodology
both against economists who object to it on practical grounds and
post-modern critics who argue that the notion of methodology makes
no sense. He then explores the concept of progress, drawing on
ideas from Kuhn, the notion of pragmatism and the Popperian
tradition. The discussion develops to examine theoretical
economics, considering Lakatos's concept of informal mathematics,
analysing replication in economics and the use of econometrics and
informal empirical methods to test economic theories. The author
argues that replication is not simply an econometric problem, but a
problem for economics, as it involves both the nature of economic
theory and the way in which economists use economic results. This
new approach to economic methodology will be of special interest to
academics, philosophers with an interest in economics and social
sciences, and students of economic methodology.
Roger Backhouse is a key figure in the field of economic
methodology. Explorations in Economic Methodology both clarifies
and responds to the issues raised by the literature and argues that
methodology is an essential activity. Offering a constructive, but
critical, response to the recent literature, this collection
provides important new insights for students and researchers in
economic methodology and the philosophy of science.
Economics is an established academic discipline, yet its methods
and style of argumentation are far from being well understood. In
the mid-1990s attempts have been made to understand economics
through applying ideas from the philosophy of science, and
especially from the writings of Popper, Kuhn and Lakatos and
through economic rhetoric. The result has been controversial, with
one school arguing that methodology is a fruitless exercise. This
collection of essays seeks to both clarify and respond to the
issues raised by the mid-1990s' literature and argues that
methodology is an essential activity. The book begins with an
application of Lakatos' methodology of scientific research
programmes to contemporary macroeconomics and subsequent chapters
go on to discuss questions raised by this approach. These argue
that although the methodology has severe limitations, it
nevertheless provides a useful starting point. After discussing,
the approaches to methodology of some practising economists, the
final chapters consider the perspectives on economics that result
from pragmatism and empirical philosophy of science. This book
should be of use to researchers and students interested in economi
First published in 1993. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor and
Francis, an informa company.
This volume explores the different ways in which the history of
macroeconomic thought can be written. Three historiographical
chapters criticize both relativism and constructivism, arguing
instead for an eclectic, pluralistic approach. The remaining
chapters demonstrate the advantages of this, by adopting a range of
approaches to the history of macroecononmic thought. The ideas of
pre-Keynesian economists are analyzed from the perspective of
modern economic theory. The story of macroeconomics since Keynes is
told in three ways: a history without methodology, a methodological
appraisal of Keynesian economics, a Lakatosian rational
reconstruction in which monetarism and Keynesianism are viewed as
part of the same research programme. Rhetorical analysis is applied
to the work of Milton Friedman, John Muth, and Axel Leijonhufvud.
"Interpreting Macroeconomics" explores a variety of different
approaches to macroeconomic thought. The book considers a number of
historiographical and methodological positions, as well as
analyzing various important episodes in the development of
macroeconomics, before during and after the Keynesian revolution.
Roger Backhouse shows that the full richness of these developments
can only by brought out by approaches which blend both relativism
and absolutism, and historical and rational reconstructions.
Examples discussed include Hobson, Keynes and Friedman. The author
has also published "New Directions in Economic Methodology" (June
1994).
In recent years there has been a flowering of work on economic methodology. However there is no longer any consensus about which direction this should take or, indeed, even what the role and content of economic methodology should be. This book reflects this diversity. Its contributors are responsible for the major developments in this field and together they give an account of all the major positions which currently prevail in economic methodology. These include attempts to rehabilitate the 'falsification' of Kuhn, Lakatos and Popper, sociology of knowledge approaches, different forms of realism, contributions from the 'rhetoric' projectj and other perspectives which also view the economy as a text.
Recent years have witnessed a dramatic growth in interest in
economic methodology. However this work has moved in a number of
significantly different directions, and it is not easy to see how
several of these might be reconciled. The virtual consensus on some
variant of the "falsificationism" associated with Kuhn, Lakatos and
Popper that had emerged by the late 1970s has gone, and has been
replaced by a range of more or less exclusive approaches. In "New
Directions in Economic Methodology", some of the figures most
closely associated with the most important of these new approaches
provide new and definitive statements of their positions. The
result reflects the diversity of work currently undertaken in
economic methodology. Much, but no means all, of this work reflects
a disatisfaction with the current practice of economics and in the
course of the book various attempts to reform or replace existing
practice are proposed. The book begins with chapters which examine
some of the big questions which underlie economics. What are - and
what should be - the aims of economics? How might these be pursued?
It proceeds with a section which considers what is left of
"falsificationism".
Twentieth-century philosophy has been dominated by issues concerned
with language. These have left few areas of academic enquiry
untouched; an awareness of language matters to a discipline because
claims to knowledge can be made only by using language. However,
economists have only come to recognize its importance relatively
recently. Moreover whilst there has been much written on the
subject of economics and language in the last decade, this has been
dominated by the use of techniques borrowed from literary
criticism. Whilst these have provided many valuable insights, they
have tended to conceal the features of economics writing which
distinguish it from writing in other disciplines. "Economics and
Language" takes a broader view. Its approach is interdisciplinary,
and it includes contributions from economists, linguists and
literary theorists. It moves from chapters on the wider
methodological implications of language issues within economics, to
an analysis of how economic texts work. This ensures that
methodological discussion is related directly to the practices of
economics.
Denis O'Brien has made an outstanding contribution to economics,
and the history of economic thought in particular. This selection
of original essays, by a distinguished group of contributors, pays
tribute to his work in the areas of the history of economic
analysis and methodology.The book opens with a preface by R.D.
Collison Black which is followed by a biographical introduction to
Denis O'Brien's career and his contributions to economics,
including a full list of his publications. The authors then explore
areas where Denis O'Brien has made an important mark: classical
economics, the history of monetary economics, Marshall and
microeconomics, and economic methodology. This book will be
welcomed by academics and students of economic history, the history
of economic thought and methodology.
From riddles to proverbs, from jingles to jokes, from mnemonics to
pig Latin to dueling with words, speech play is central to social
life in all of its forms. These essays describe a variety of speech
play genres, formulate the "rules" for play with language, and
discuss the relevance of speech play to current issues in
linguistic theory, cognitive development, and the ethnography of
speaking.
The Great Recession of 2008 restored John Maynard Keynes to
prominence. After decades when the Keynesian revolution seemed to
have been forgotten, the great British theorist was suddenly
everywhere. The New York Times asked, What would Keynes have done?
The Financial Times wrote of the undeniable shift to Keynes. Le
Monde pronounced the economic collapse Keynes s revenge. Two years
later, following bank bailouts and Tea Party fundamentalism,
Keynesian principles once again seemed misguided or irrelevant to a
public focused on ballooning budget deficits. In this readable
account, Backhouse and Bateman elaborate the misinformation and
caricature that have led to Keynes s repeated resurrection and
interment since his death in 1946.
Keynes s engagement with social and moral philosophy and his
membership in the Bloomsbury Group of artists and writers helped to
shape his manner of theorizing. Though trained as a mathematician,
he designed models based on how specific kinds of people (such as
investors and consumers) actually behave an approach that runs
counter to the idealized agents favored by economists at the end of
the century.
Keynes wanted to create a revolution in the way the world
thought about economic problems, but he was more open-minded about
capitalism than is commonly believed. He saw capitalism as
essential to a society s well-being but also morally flawed, and he
sought a corrective for its main defect: the failure to stabilize
investment. Keynes s nuanced views, the authors suggest, offer an
alternative to the polarized rhetoric often evoked by the word
capitalism in today s political debates.
As a broad introduction to the history of economic thought - based
on courses the authors have taught for many years - this book
provides a magisterial overview for students and teachers who have
not had the opportunity to cover the development of the field of
economics in its historical context. The text is presented as a
series of twenty-four lectures, which can be used as the basis for
self-study or for the delivery of a course. Each lecture presents
an outline of aims, a select bibliography, a chronology, an
overview of between 3,000 and 4,000 words, and questions for
further study or reflection. Contemporary understanding of economic
principles sheds little light on the manner in which past thinkers
thought, so the reader is provided with the much-needed context
behind the development of ideas, as well as being guided through
the original writings of economists such as Smith, Jevons,
Marshall, Robbins, Keynes and others. The emphasis is on the broad
developing stream of economic argument from the seventeenth century
to the present, seeking to emphasize a diversity that is sometimes
suppressed in more conventional textbooks, which tend to organize
their histories into sequences of schools of thought. Backhouse and
Tribe bring their considerable insight and knowledge to bear on the
text, having honed their presentation to the needs of those with no
previous background in the subject, without sacrificing analysis or
rigour. The book will be warmly welcomed by students and teachers
alike.
"Roger Backhouse's new history of economics is just what is needed:
a short but still comprehensive history of economic thought which
can be read with profit not only by economists but also by a
variety of noneconomists, such as historians, philosophers,
sociologists, and so on. Complex ideas are summarized with
exemplary clarity, and the book practically reads itself. "The
Ordinary Business of Life" is a find."--Richard Swedberg, Stockholm
University, author of "Max Weber and the Idea of Economic
Sociology"
"In recent years many new sub-fields of economics have
undermined the grand 'neoclassical synthesis' of the mid-twentieth
century. Readers of this concise yet sweeping survey will see
clearly that today's major dissenting schools, like neoclassical
economics itself, have deep roots in the discipline's rich
classical heritage. Roger Backhouse has written an elegant and
thoroughly enjoyable book that will enable a broad audience to
appreciate both the continuities of economic thought and its
unavoidable inner tensions."--Timur Kuran, Professor of Economics
and Law and King Faisal Professor of Islamic Thought and Culture,
University of Southern California
"Roger Backhouse provides what is perhaps the most readable
history of the dismal science, describing the role of economic
ideas in shaping the way we live and think from the ancient world
to the present. Although it is obviously difficult to describe how
economic models and theories evolved over several millennia, Mr.
Backhouse has succeeded admirably. Few books can claim to provide
such an accessible and complete cataloging of the role that
economic ideas have played in the 'ordinary business of life.'
"--George Borjas, Harvard University, and author of "Heaven's Door:
Immigration Policy and the American Economy"
"Backhouse is perhaps the best person in the world to write this
historian's history of economic thought. His is the history of the
visions, not the technical tools, of the great economic traditions
and schools. His deep knowledge of economic theory shows on every
page."--Herbert Gintis, University of Massachusetts, author of
"Game Theory Evolving"
This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy
Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive
selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to
reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional
imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor
pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues
beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we
have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting,
preserving and promoting the world's literature.
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