This stimulating and authoritative book features original essays from leading scholars in the discipline - each of whom addresses the question: how should economists do economics? What emerges is a diverse, constructive commentary on how economics is done and how it should be done.Leading thinkers from a wide variety of perspectives and fields address issues such as the scope of economics, the corpus of theory and its stature, the process of theory construction, the place of mathematical formalism, the role of quantitative analysis, the place of institutions in economic analysis, and, inter alia, technical methods of research. Foundations of Research in Economics: How do Economists do Economics? brings together some of the leading figures from many different schools of thought. This volume ranges across all aspects of professional discourse, ensuring that it will be widely read by economists active in many different areas of research while being of particular interest to economic theorists, methodologists and historians of economics.

Tiziano Raffaelli (Pisa 1950) was a widely esteemed scholar in the field of the history and methodology of economics, who died suddenly in January 2016 while still in the midst of working and of developing projects for new lines of research. He was a philosopher of science by formation and a historian of economic ideas by professional choice, with interests covering a vast area, ranging from the 18th to the 20th century and from Europe to the US. Where he left an indelible mark, however, was in his interpretation of Alfred Marshall's economic theory and its reverberations through Keynes on the one hand, and the Cambridge school of industrial economics on the other. Raffaelli's research in this field offered a completely new view of the core and meaning of Marshall's work and of its relevance for 21st century social scientists. In the process, it stimulated a new and fruitful research program in Marshallian economics. This volume consists of two parts. The first is devoted to illustrating the above-mentioned changes in the understanding of Marshallian economics and Raffaelli's role in bringing them about. The second part offers a collection of essays documenting some more recent developments in fields related to Marshall and his influence, including welfare economics and industrial organization, Marshall's legacy in Cambridge economics, the Chicago school, and beyond. The contributors to this volume range from leading senior scholars in the field to exceptional young scholars, and their contributions illustrates a myriad of ways in which the "new view" of Marshall inspired by Raffaelli's work influences our understanding of the history of economics from the late 19th century onward. This book will be of international interest to scholars working in the history of economic thought, and will also appeal to philosophers of science, methodologists, intellectual historians, and those who specialize in industrial organisation.

The Economy as Process of Valuation sheds new light on the potential benefits of concept and theory formation along dynamic and evolutionary lines for understanding economic processes. The emphasis is on aspects of the economy as a process of valuation rather than as a mechanistic result of transcendental forces yielding unique determinate results.The book begins by examining instrumentalism and the process of valuation, arguing that to choose involves the process of valuation. It then focuses on Coases's work on institutions and considers the implications for a variety of subjects including the theory of the firm and the theory and policy of externalities - all aspects of the economy as a process of valuation. This is followed by analyses of the concepts of coercion and cost in economics, with special reference to one agent's interest being another agent's cost. Each elicits key aspects of analysis, valuation and the complexities and conflictual nature of valuation processes and structures. Finally, Kenneth Boulding's work on 'The Image' is examined, arguing that definitions of reality and values derive, in part from language.

Upon hearing that Ronald Coase had been awarded the Nobel Prize, a fellow economist's first response was to ask with whom Coase had shared the Prize. Whether this response was idiosyncratic or not, I do not know; I expect not. Part of this type of reaction can no doubt be explained by the fact that Coase has often been characterized as an economist who wrote only two significant or influential papers: "The Nature of the Firm" (1937) and "The Problem of Social Cost" (1960). And by typical professional standards of "significant" and "influential" (i. e. , widely read and cited), this perception embodies a great deal of truth, even subsequent to Coase's receipt of the Prize. This is not to say that there have not been other important works - "The Marginal Cost Controversy" (1946) and "The Lighthouse in Economics" (1974) come immediately to mind here - only that in a random sample of, say, one hundred economists, one would likely find few who could list a Coase bibliography beyond the two classic pieces noted above, in spite of Coase's significant publication record. ' The purpose of this collection is to assess the development of, tensions within, and prospects for Coasean Economics - those aspects of economic analysis that have evolved out of Coase's path-breaking work. Two major strands of research can be identified here: law and economics and the New Institutional Economics.

Ronald Coase, the 1991 Nobel laureate in Economics, has had a profound impact on the way that economists and others view both the firm and the relationship between the legal and economic systems. This authoritative collection brings together the diverse body of literature that reflects Ronald Coase's influence on economic analysis from his early work on the theory of the firm and transaction costs to Coase's theorem and the development of the field of law and economics. The Legacy of Ronald Coase in Economic Analysis features the two seminal articles by Coase which have changed the way economists think about their subject -'The Nature of the Firm' and 'The Problem of Social Cost' - along with a group of the most important articles that have extended and built upon his work. These include contributions by James M. Buchanan, Benjamin Klein, Douglass C. North, Richard A. Posner and Oliver E. Williamson, as well as a specially-prepared, introduction to Coase's work and a comprehensive bibliography of Coase's writings.

This beautiful, authoritative volume in the popular 'Sterling Milestones' series looks at the vital intersection among business, finance and money. From the philosophical dialogues of Ancient Greece and the moral contemplations of Medieval Europe to deregulation and cryptocurrency, 'The Economics Book' presents 250 milestones in the science of the production, sale and purchase of goods and services. These concise, engaging, informative essays examine the full gamut of subjects, revealing both the entertaining stories and the world-changing developments in the field. They shed thoughtful light on the field's significant subdisciplines, including: mercantilism, the Enlightenment, communism, econometrics, Keynesianism, macroeconomics, game theory, cliometrics, market design theory and the Keynesian Resurgence that emerged in the wake of the Great Recession. This vibrant, colourfully illustrated collection will captivate you with a bird's-eye view of the development of the world's markets, what has shaped and affected them and what drives them today.

Warren J. Samuels has been a prominent figure in the study of economics in the twentieth century. This book brings together essays by leading scholars in the areas of economics in which Samuels has made his most important contributions: the history of economic thought, economic methodology, and institutional and post-Keynesian economics. This work is designed to give the reader a sense of the breadth and possibilities of economics. The essays, all published here for the first time, investigate issues such as: The institutional structures that shape economic activity and performance. The variety of approaches to economic analysis. The importance of the history of the discipline both inherently and for the study of economics in the modern age. With essays from leading scholars, collected and introduced by some of the most eminent authorities in the field, the work is a formidable volume, and one fit to honor one of the most renowned economists of our age.

The history of economic thought has always attracted some of the brightest minds in the discipline. These chroniclers of development have helped form our current views, and it is no surprise that many among them have been at the forefront of new movements in the history of ideas. This notable collection summarizes the work of these key historians of economics and attempts to quantify their impact. Some of the writers covered, such as Friedrich Hayek and Joan Robinson, are already assured of their place among the greatest economists of the twentieth century, but the collection also stresses the influence of those still active in shaping our perceptions - including Mark Blaug, Samuel Hollander and Donald Winch. Written by an impressive roster of contributors, many of whom are themselves well-known in the history of economic thought, this key book features writings from John Creedy, Roger Blackhouse and Neil De Marchi, as well as the editors of the collection as a whole, Warren J. Samuels and Steven Medema.

The 'Chicago Price Theory' approach to economics has been credited with shedding light on many fundamental questions relating to traditional economics and renowned scholars including Milton Friedman, Frank Knight, George Stigler, Jacob Viner and others have each played a key role in the development of investigative techniques and methodologies. This comprehensive three-volume collection brings together the most important papers from leading economists published in the past 120 years covering a wide range of topics and issues. Along with an original introduction by the editors, this authoritative set will be of immense value to students, researchers, scholars and practitioners interested in 'Chicago Price Theory'.

The history of economic thought has always attracted some of the brightest minds within the discipline as a whole. These chroniclers of the discipline's development have helped form our view of it, and it is no surprise that many among them have been at the forefront of new movements in the history of ideas.
This collection summarizes the work of these key historians of economics and attempts to quantify their impact. The collection is authored by an impressive list of contributors, many of whom are themselves well-known in the history of economic thought.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203513533

Contents:
Part I Introduction Jeff Biddle, John B. Davis and Steven G. Medena
Part II The History of Economic Thought
1. The ignored history of the administrative tradition: the "mirror for princes" tradition S. Todd Lowry
2. A quintessential (ahistorical) tableau economique to sum up pre- and post-smith classical paradigms Paul Samuelson
3. Frank Knight as institutional economist Geoffrey Hodgson
4. From divergence to convergence: Irving Fisher and John R. Commons as champions of monetary reforms William J. Barber
5. Chamberlin and oligopoly A.W. Coats
6. The two phases of Kuznets' interest in Schumpeter Mark Perlman
7. The AEA and the radical challenge to American social science A.W. Coats
Part III Aspects of Economic Method
8. On the credentials of methodological pluralism Roger E. Backhouse
9. Some practical aspects of pluralism in economics Thomas Mayer
10. What econometrics can and cannot tell us about historical actors: brewing, betting and rationality in London, 1822-44 Philip Mirowski
Part IV The Legal-Economic Nexus
11. Putting the "political" back into political economy Peter Boettke
12. Output categories for a comparitive institutional economics Nicholas Mercuro
13. On the changing nature of the public utility concept: a study in the exercise of power and the search for reform Harry M. Trebing
Part V Aspects of Institutional and Post-Keynesian Economics
14. the institutional economics of Nobel prize winners A. Allan Schmid
15. The social value theory of J. Fagg Foster Marc R. Tool
16. Monetary policy in the 21st century in light of the debate between charalism and moetarism Paul Davidson
17. 1935 where we were - where we are 2000 Robert Solo

From the ancients to the moderns, questions of economic theory and policy have been an important part of intellectual and public debate, engaging the attention of some of history's greatest minds. This book brings together readings from more than two thousand years of writings on economic subjects. Through these selections, the reader can see first-hand how the great minds of past grappled with some of the central social and economic issues of their times and, in the process, enhanced our understanding of how economic systems function. This collection of readings covers the major themes that have preoccupied economic thinkers throughout the ages, including price determination and the underpinnings of the market system, monetary theory and policy, international trade and finance, income distribution, and the appropriate role for government within the economic system. These ideas unfold, develop, and change course over time at the hands of scholars such as Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, Francois Quesnay, David Hume, Adam Smith, Thomas Robert Malthus, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, William Stanley Jevons, Alfred Marshall, Irving Fisher, Thorstein Veblen, John Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman, and Paul Samuelson. Each reading has been selected with a view to both enlightening the reader as to the major contributions of the author in question and to giving the reader a broad view of the development of economic thought and analysis over time. This book will be useful for students, scholars, and lay people with an interest in the history of economic thought and the history of ideas generally.

Tiziano Raffaelli (Pisa 1950) was a widely esteemed scholar in the field of the history and methodology of economics, who died suddenly in January 2016 while still in the midst of working and of developing projects for new lines of research. He was a philosopher of science by formation and a historian of economic ideas by professional choice, with interests covering a vast area, ranging from the 18th to the 20th century and from Europe to the US. Where he left an indelible mark, however, was in his interpretation of Alfred Marshall's economic theory and its reverberations through Keynes on the one hand, and the Cambridge school of industrial economics on the other. Raffaelli's research in this field offered a completely new view of the core and meaning of Marshall's work and of its relevance for 21st century social scientists. In the process, it stimulated a new and fruitful research program in Marshallian economics. This volume consists of two parts. The first is devoted to illustrating the above-mentioned changes in the understanding of Marshallian economics and Raffaelli's role in bringing them about. The second part offers a collection of essays documenting some more recent developments in fields related to Marshall and his influence, including welfare economics and industrial organization, Marshall's legacy in Cambridge economics, the Chicago school, and beyond. The contributors to this volume range from leading senior scholars in the field to exceptional young scholars, and their contributions illustrates a myriad of ways in which the "new view" of Marshall inspired by Raffaelli's work influences our understanding of the history of economics from the late 19th century onward. This book will be of international interest to scholars working in the history of economic thought, and will also appeal to philosophers of science, methodologists, intellectual historians, and those who specialize in industrial organisation.

From the ancients to the moderns, questions of economic theory and policy have been an important part of intellectual and public debate, engaging the attention of some of history's greatest minds. This book brings together readings from more than two thousand years of writings on economic subjects. Through these selections, the reader can see first-hand how the great minds of past grappled with some of the central social and economic issues of their times and, in the process, enhanced our understanding of how economic systems function. This collection of readings covers the major themes that have preoccupied economic thinkers throughout the ages, including price determination and the underpinnings of the market system, monetary theory and policy, international trade and finance, income distribution, and the appropriate role for government within the economic system. These ideas unfold, develop, and change course over time at the hands of scholars such as Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, Francois Quesnay, David Hume, Adam Smith, Thomas Robert Malthus, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, William Stanley Jevons, Alfred Marshall, Irving Fisher, Thorstein Veblen, John Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman, and Paul Samuelson. Each reading has been selected with a view to both enlightening the reader as to the major contributions of the author in question and to giving the reader a broad view of the development of economic thought and analysis over time. This book will be useful for students, scholars, and lay people with an interest in the history of economic thought and the history of ideas generally.

As one of the most famous economists of the twentieth century, Paul Anthony Samuelson revolutionized many branches of economic theory. As a diligent student of his predecessors, he reconstructed their economic analyses in the mathematical idiom he pioneered. Out of Samuelson's more than eighty articles, essays, and memoirs, the editors of this collection have selected seventeen. Twelve are mathematical reconstructions of some of the most famous work in the history of economic thought - work by David Hume, Francois Quesnay, Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and others. One is a methodological essay defending the Whig history that he was sometimes accused of promulgating; two deal with the achievements of Joseph Schumpeter and Denis Robertson; and two review theoretical developments of his own time: Keynesian economics and monopolistic competition. The collection provides readers with a sense of the depth and breadth of Samuelson's contributions to the study of the history of economics.

Upon hearing that Ronald Coase had been awarded the Nobel Prize, a fellow economist's first response was to ask with whom Coase had shared the Prize. Whether this response was idiosyncratic or not, I do not know; I expect not. Part of this type of reaction can no doubt be explained by the fact that Coase has often been characterized as an economist who wrote only two significant or influential papers: "The Nature of the Firm" (1937) and "The Problem of Social Cost" (1960). And by typical professional standards of "significant" and "influential" (i. e. , widely read and cited), this perception embodies a great deal of truth, even subsequent to Coase's receipt of the Prize. This is not to say that there have not been other important works - "The Marginal Cost Controversy" (1946) and "The Lighthouse in Economics" (1974) come immediately to mind here - only that in a random sample of, say, one hundred economists, one would likely find few who could list a Coase bibliography beyond the two classic pieces noted above, in spite of Coase's significant publication record. ' The purpose of this collection is to assess the development of, tensions within, and prospects for Coasean Economics - those aspects of economic analysis that have evolved out of Coase's path-breaking work. Two major strands of research can be identified here: law and economics and the New Institutional Economics.

Lionel Robbins's now famous lectures on the history of economic thought comprise one of the greatest accounts since World War II of the evolution of economic ideas. This volume represents the first time those lectures have been published.

Lord Robbins (1898-1984) was a remarkably accomplished thinker, writer, and public figure. He made important contributions to economic theory, methodology, and policy analysis, directed the economic section of Winston Churchill's War Cabinet, and served as chairman of the "Financial Times." As a historian of economic ideas, he ranks with Joseph Schumpeter and Jacob Viner as one of the foremost scholars of the century. These lectures, delivered at the London School of Economics between 1979 and 1981 and tape-recorded by Robbins's grandson, display his mastery of the intellectual history of economics, his infectious enthusiasm for the subject, and his eloquence and incisive wit. They cover a broad chronological range, beginning with Plato, Aristotle, and Aquinas, focusing extensively on Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus and the classicals, and finishing with a discussion of moderns and marginalists from Marx to Alfred Marshall. Robbins takes a varied and inclusive approach to intellectual history. As he says in his first lecture: "I shall go my own sweet way--sometimes talk about doctrine, sometimes talk about persons, sometimes talk about periods." The lectures are united by Robbins's conviction that it is impossible to understand adequately contemporary institutions and social sciences without understanding the ideas behind their development.

Authoritative yet accessible, combining the immediacy of the spoken word with Robbins's exceptional talent for clear, well-organized exposition, this volume will be welcomed by anyone interested in the intellectual origins of the modern world.

This is an expanded second edition of Nicholas Mercuro and Steven Medema's influential book "Economics and the Law," whose publication in 1998 marked the most comprehensive overview of the various schools of thought in the burgeoning field of Law and Economics. Each of these competing yet complementary traditions has both redefined the study of law and exposed the key economic implications of the legal environment. The book remains true to the scope and aims of the first edition, but also takes account of the field's evolution.

At the book's core is an expanded discussion of the Chicago school, Public Choice Theory, Institutional Law and Economics, and New Institutional Economics. A new chapter explores the Law and Economics literature on social norms, today an integral part of each of the schools of thought. The chapter on the New Haven and Modern Civic Republican approaches has likewise been expanded. These chapters are complemented by a discussion of the Austrian school of Law and Economics. Each chapter now includes an "At Work" section presenting applications of that particular school of thought.

By providing readers with a concise, noncritical description of the broad contours of each school, this book illuminates the fundamental insights of a field with important implications not only for economics and the law, but also for political science, philosophy, public administration, and sociology.

Adam Smith turned economic theory on its head in 1776 when he declared that the pursuit of self-interest mediated by the market itself--not by government--led, via an invisible hand, to the greatest possible welfare for society as a whole. "The Hesitant Hand" examines how subsequent economic thinkers have challenged or reaffirmed Smith's doctrine, some contending that society needs government to intervene on its behalf when the marketplace falters, others arguing that government interference ultimately benefits neither the market nor society.

Steven Medema explores what has been perhaps the central controversy in modern economics from Smith to today. He traces the theory of market failure from the 1840s through the 1950s and subsequent attacks on this view by the Chicago and Virginia schools. Medema follows the debate from John Stuart Mill through the Cambridge welfare tradition of Henry Sidgwick, Alfred Marshall, and A. C. Pigou, and looks at Ronald Coase's challenge to the Cambridge approach and the rise of critiques affirming Smith's doctrine anew. He shows how, following the marginal revolution, neoclassical economists, like the preclassical theorists before Smith, believed government can mitigate the adverse consequences of self-interested behavior, yet how the backlash against this view, led by the Chicago and Virginia schools, demonstrated that self-interest can also impact government, leaving society with a choice among imperfect alternatives.

"The Hesitant Hand" demonstrates how government's economic role continues to be bound up in questions about the effects of self-interest on the greater good.

This volume explores the social, political, and intellectual contexts in which twentieth-century notions of market failure were developed. Markets can fail to perform in ways that best promote the larger interests of society: this idea is as old as economics itself and is one of the most crucial issues with which economic thinkers have had to grapple. However, while the history of the theory of market failure has received some critical examination, little attention has been paid to the larger contexts in which these theoretical analyses emerged. Contributors to this volume directly examine these contexts to gain a greater understanding of and appreciation for the influence of external ideas and events on the development of economic theories and to stimulate additional scholarship around this important facet of the history of economics. Contributors. Nahid Aslanbeigui, Roger E. Backhouse, Bradley W. Bateman, Sebastian Berger, David Colander, J. Daniel Hammond, Marianne Johnson, Thomas C. Leonard, Alain Marciano, Steven G. Medema, Guy Oakes, Malcolm Rutherford, John D. Singleton