Business Life and Public Policy: Essays in Honour of D. C. Coleman

This collection of original essays is a tribute to Donald Coleman, Emeritus Professor of Economic History in the University of Cambridge, Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge, and formerly Professor of Economic History at the London School of Economics. The essays are contributed by friends, former students and colleagues to honour him in his retirement. They range, as does Donald Coleman's work itself, from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries, and reflect, in other ways, his special talents and interests. Two particular themes are reflected in the essays: the operations of businessmen and business values in history, and the factors that shaped and influenced government policies. Piscatorial politics in the early Parliaments of Elizabeth I / G.R. Elton Marriage as business / R.B. Outhwaite Age and accumulation in the London business community, 1665-1720 / Peter Earle The use and abuse of credit in eighteenth-century England / Julian Hoppit Convicts, commerce, and sovereignty / C.H. Wilson "Gentlemen and Players" revisited / Neil McKendrick The City, entrepreneurship, and insurance / Clive Trebilcock At the head of all the new professions / W.J. Reader Bernard Shaw, Bertold Brecht, and the businessman in literature / J.M. Winter Lost opportunities / B.W.E. Alford Ideology or pragmatism? The nationalization of coal, 1916-46 / Barry Supple. In our period State action in economic and social matters can be seen as having four main ends in view: the maintenance of social stability and order; the encouragement and regulation of the internal economy; the encouragement and regulation of overseas trade and shipping; and the raising of revenue. Donald Coleman is Emeritus Professor of Economic History at the University of Cambridge. Two themes are reflected in the essays: the operations of businessmen and business values in history and the factors that shaped and influenced government policies