Volume VII illustrates the administrative aspects that are an on-going component of most economic theory. It demonstrates that before the birth of political economy as a formal discipline, public and private administrators were formulating theories about economic processes as guidelines for administrative decisions. The main theme of this volume revolves around the influence of administrative considerations on the development of economic theory.

This volume focuses on the theme of the dual aspects of method in the development of economic thought. It contains new papers that address methodological issues, and others that deal with the evolution of analytic techniques and the social or personal milieux in which ideas emerged and the extent to which they became part of the body of literature we call political economy.