The Wealth of Ideas : A History of Economic Thought

The Wealth of Ideas, first published in 2005, traces the history of economic thought, from its prehistory (the Bible, Classical antiquity) to the present day. In this eloquently written, scientifically rigorous and well documented book, chapters on William Petty, Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Karl Marx, William Stanley Jevons, Carl Menger, Leon Walras, Alfred Marshall, John Maynard Keynes, Joseph Schumpeter and Piero Sraffa alternate with chapters on other important figures and on debates of the period. Economic thought is seen as developing between two opposite poles: a subjective one, based on the ideas of scarcity and utility, and an objective one based on the notions of physical costs and surplus. Professor Roncaglia focuses on the different views of the economy and society and on their evolution over time and critically evaluates the foundations of the scarcity-utility approach in comparison with the Classical/Keynesian approach." Half-title......Page 3 Title......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Contents......Page 7 Preface......Page 11 1. Introduction......Page 17 2. The cumulative view......Page 18 3. The competitive view......Page 21 4. The stages of economic theorising: conceptualisation and model-building......Page 27 5. Political economy and the history of economic thought......Page 29 6. Which history of economic thought?......Page 30 1. Why we call it prehistory......Page 34 2. Classical antiquity......Page 39 3. Patristic thought......Page 44 4. The Scholastics......Page 47 5. Usury and just price......Page 50 6. Bullionists and mercantilists......Page 57 7. The birth of economic thought in Italy: Antonio Serra......Page 62 1. Life and writings......Page 69 2. Political arithmetic and the method of economic science......Page 71 3. National state and economic system......Page 74 4. Commodity and market......Page 79 5. Surplus, distribution, prices......Page 85 1. The debates of the time......Page 92 2. John Locke......Page 96 3. The motivations and consequences of human actions......Page 100 4. Bernard de Mandeville......Page 103 5. Richard Cantillon......Page 106 6. François Quesnay and the physiocrats......Page 112 7. The political economy of the Enlightenment: Turgot......Page 119 8. The Italian Enlightenment: the Abbé Galiani......Page 123 9. The Scottish Enlightenment: Francis Hutcheson and David Hume......Page 127 1. Life......Page 131 2. Method......Page 134 3. The moral principle of sympathy......Page 137 4. The wealth of nations......Page 142 5. Value and prices......Page 150 6. Natural prices and market prices......Page 155 7. The origin of the division of labour: Smith and Pownall......Page 161 8. Economic and political liberalism: Smith's fortune......Page 165 1. The perfectibility of human societies, between utopias and reforms......Page 171 2. Malthus and the population principle......Page 174 3. ’Say’s law’......Page 180 4. Under-consumption theories: Lauerdale, Malthus, Sismondi......Page 183 5. The debate on the poor laws......Page 185 6. The debate on the colonies......Page 188 7. Bentham's utilitarianism......Page 190 1. Life and works......Page 195 2. Ricardo's dynamic vision......Page 197 3. From the corn model to the labour theory of value......Page 202 4. Absolute value and exchangeable value: the invariable standard of value......Page 207 5. Money and taxation......Page 212 6. International trade and the theory of comparative costs......Page 217 7. On machinery: technological change and employment......Page 219 1. The forces in the field......Page 223 2. Robert Torrens......Page 225 3. Samuel Bailey......Page 231 4. Thomas De Quincey......Page 234 5. John Ramsey McCulloch......Page 235 6. The Ricardian socialists and cooperativism......Page 237 7. William Nassau Senior and the anti-Ricardian reaction......Page 242 8. Charles Babbage......Page 246 9. John Stuart Mill and philosophical radicalism......Page 249 10. Mill on political economy......Page 254 1. Introduction......Page 260 2. Life and writings......Page 261 3. The critique of the division of labour: alienation and commodity fetishism......Page 265 4. The critique of capitalism and exploitation......Page 267 5. Accumulation and expanded reproduction......Page 272 6. The laws of movement of capitalism......Page 277 7. The transformation of labour values into prices of production......Page 279 8. A critical assessment......Page 284 9. Marxism after Marx......Page 288 1. The 'marginalist revolution': an overview......Page 294 2. The precursors: equilibrium between scarcity and demand......Page 297 3. William Stanley Jevons......Page 301 4. The Jevonian revolution......Page 304 5. Real cost and opportunity cost......Page 308 6. Philip Henry Wicksteed and Francis Ysidro Edgeworth......Page 310 1. Carl Menger......Page 313 2. The 'Methodenstreit'......Page 319 3. Max Weber......Page 322 4. Eugen von Bohm-Bawerk......Page 324 5. Knut Wicksell and the Swedish school......Page 328 6. Friedrich von Hayek......Page 331 1. The invisible hand of the market......Page 338 2. Lèon Walras......Page 342 3. Vilfredo Pareto and the Lausanne school......Page 352 4. Irving Fisher......Page 356 5. The debate on existence, uniqueness and stability of equilibrium......Page 358 6. The search for an axiomatic economics......Page 361 1. Life and writings......Page 366 2. The background......Page 369 3. The Principles......Page 373 4. Economics becomes a profession......Page 382 5. Monetary theory: from the old to the new Cambridge school......Page 384 6. Maffeo Pantaleoni......Page 386 7. Marshallism in the United States: from John Bates Clark to Jacob Viner......Page 388 8. Thornstein Veblen and institutionalism......Page 390 9. Welfare economics: Arthur Cecil Pigou......Page 392 10. Imperfect competition......Page 395 11. Marshall's heritage in contemporary economic thought......Page 398 1. Life and writings......Page 400 2. Probability and uncertainty......Page 404 3. The Treatise on money......Page 407 4. From the Treatise to the General theory......Page 411 5. The General theory......Page 414 6. Defence and development......Page 423 7. The asymmetries of economic policy in an open economy and international institutions......Page 425 8. Michal Kalecki......Page 427 9. The new Cambridge school......Page 429 1. Life......Page 432 2. Method......Page 436 3. From statics to dynamics; the cycle......Page 438 4. The breakdown of capitalism......Page 444 5. The path of economic science......Page 447 1. First writings: money and banking......Page 451 2. Friendship with Gramsci......Page 454 3. Criticism of Marshallian theory......Page 456 4. Imperfect competition and the critique of the representative firm......Page 459 5. Cambridge: Wittgenstein and Keynes......Page 461 6. The critical edition of Ricardo's writings......Page 466 7. Production of commodities by means of commodities......Page 468 8. Critique of the marginalist approach......Page 473 9. The Sraffian schools......Page 476 (a) Pasinetti's ’Ricardian’ reconstruction......Page 477 (b) Garegnani’s 'Marxian’ reconstruction......Page 479 (c) Sylos Labini’s 'Smithian’ reconstruction......Page 481 1. Introduction......Page 484 2. The microeconomics of general economic equilibrium......Page 487 3. The new theories of the firm......Page 490 4. Institutions and economic theory......Page 495 5. Macroeconomic theory after Keynes......Page 496 (a) The neoclassical synthesis......Page 497 (b) Monetarists and rational expectations theoreticians......Page 500 (c) The post-Keynesians......Page 503 6. The theory of growth......Page 504 7. Quantitative research: the development of econometrics......Page 507 8. New analytical techniques: theory of repeated games, theory of stochastic processes, chaos theory......Page 512 9. Interdisciplinary problems and the foundations of economic science: new theories of rationality, ethics and new utilitarianism, growth and sustainable development, economic.........Page 516 1. How many paths has economic thought followed?......Page 521 2. The division of labour among economists: can we forge ahead along different paths?......Page 524 3. Which of the various paths should we be betting on?......Page 527 References......Page 531 Index of names......Page 580 Subject index......Page 591 Half-title 3 Title 5 Copyright 6 Contents 7 Preface 11 1 The history of economic thought and its role 17 1. Introduction 17 2. The cumulative view 18 3. The competitive view 21 4. The stages of economic theorising: conceptualisation and model-building 27 5. Political economy and the history of economic thought 29 6. Which history of economic thought? 30 2 The prehistory of political economy 34 1. Why we call it prehistory 34 2. Classical antiquity 39 3. Patristic thought 44 4. The Scholastics 47 5. Usury and just price 50 6. Bullionists and mercantilists 57 7. The birth of economic thought in Italy: Antonio Serra 62 3 William Petty and the origins of political economy 69 1. Life and writings 69 2. Political arithmetic and the method of economic science 71 3. National state and economic system 74 4. Commodity and market 79 5. Surplus, distribution, prices 85 4 From body politic to economic tables 92 1. The debates of the time 92 2. John Locke 96 3. The motivations and consequences of human actions 100 4. Bernard de Mandeville 103 5. Richard Cantillon 106 6. François Quesnay and the physiocrats 112 7. The political economy of the Enlightenment: Turgot 119 8. The Italian Enlightenment: the Abbé Galiani 123 9. The Scottish Enlightenment: Francis Hutcheson and David Hume 127 5 Adam Smith 131 1. Life 131 2. Method 134 3. The moral principle of sympathy 137 4. The wealth of nations 142 5. Value and prices 150 6. Natural prices and market prices 155 7. The origin of the division of labour: Smith and Pownall 161 8. Economic and political liberalism: Smith's fortune 165 6 Economic science at the time of the French Revolution 171 1. The perfectibility of human societies, between utopias and reforms 171 2. Malthus and the population principle 174 3. ’Say’s law’ 180 4. Under-consumption theories: Lauerdale, Malthus, Sismondi 183 5. The debate on the poor laws 185 6. The debate on the colonies 188 7. Bentham's utilitarianism 190 7 David Ricardo 195 1. Life and works 195 2. Ricardo's dynamic vision 197 3. From the corn model to the labour theory of value 202 4. Absolute value and exchangeable value: the invariable standard of value 207 5. Money and taxation 212 6. International trade and the theory of comparative costs 217 7. On machinery: technological change and employment 219 8 The ’Ricardians’ and the decline of Ricardianism 223 1. The forces in the field 223 2. Robert Torrens 225 3. Samuel Bailey 231 4. Thomas De Quincey 234 5. John Ramsey McCulloch 235 6. The Ricardian socialists and cooperativism 237 7. William Nassau Senior and the anti-Ricardian reaction 242 8. Charles Babbage 246 9. John Stuart Mill and philosophical radicalism 249 10. Mill on political economy 254 9 Karl Marx 260 1. Introduction 260 2. Life and writings 261 3. The critique of the division of labour: alienation and commodity fetishism 265 4. The critique of capitalism and exploitation 267 5. Accumulation and expanded reproduction 272 6. The laws of movement of capitalism 277 7. The transformation of labour values into prices of production 279 8. A critical assessment 284 9. Marxism after Marx 288 10 The marginalist revolution: the subjective theory of value 294 1. The 'marginalist revolution': an overview 294 2. The precursors: equilibrium between scarcity and demand 297 3. William Stanley Jevons 301 4. The Jevonian revolution 304 5. Real cost and opportunity cost 308 6. Philip Henry Wicksteed and Francis Ysidro Edgeworth 310 11 The Austrian school and its neighbourhood 313 1. Carl Menger 313 2. The 'Methodenstreit' 319 3. Max Weber 322 4. Eugen von Bohm-Bawerk 324 5. Knut Wicksell and the Swedish school 328 6. Friedrich von Hayek 331 12 General economic equilibrium 338 1. The invisible hand of the market 338 2. Lèon Walras 342 3. Vilfredo Pareto and the Lausanne school 352 4. Irving Fisher 356 5. The debate on existence, uniqueness and stability of equilibrium 358 6. The search for an axiomatic economics 361 13 Alfred Marshall 366 1. Life and writings 366 2. The background 369 3. The Principles 373 4. Economics becomes a profession 382 5. Monetary theory: from the old to the new Cambridge school 384 6. Maffeo Pantaleoni 386 7. Marshallism in the United States: from John Bates Clark to Jacob Viner 388 8. Thornstein Veblen and institutionalism 390 9. Welfare economics: Arthur Cecil Pigou 392 10. Imperfect competition 395 11. Marshall's heritage in contemporary economic thought 398 14 John Maynard Keynes 400 1. Life and writings 400 2. Probability and uncertainty 404 3. The Treatise on money 407 4. From the Treatise to the General theory 411 5. The General theory 414 6. Defence and development 423 7. The asymmetries of economic policy in an open economy and international institutions 425 8. Michal Kalecki 427 9. The new Cambridge school 429 15 Joseph Schumpeter 432 1. Life 432 2. Method 436 3. From statics to dynamics; the cycle 438 4. The breakdown of capitalism 444 5. The path of economic science 447 16 Piero Sraffa 451 1. First writings: money and banking 451 2. Friendship with Gramsci 454 3. Criticism of Marshallian theory 456 4. Imperfect competition and the critique of the representative firm 459 5. Cambridge: Wittgenstein and Keynes 461 6. The critical edition of Ricardo's writings 466 7. Production of commodities by means of commodities 468 8. Critique of the marginalist approach 473 9. The Sraffian schools 476 (a) Pasinetti's ’Ricardian’ reconstruction 477 (b) Garegnani’s 'Marxian’ reconstruction 479 (c) Sylos Labini’s 'Smithian’ reconstruction 481 17 The age of fragmentation 484 1. Introduction 484 2. The microeconomics of general economic equilibrium 487 3. The new theories of the firm 490 4. Institutions and economic theory 495 5. Macroeconomic theory after Keynes 496 (a) The neoclassical synthesis 497 (b) Monetarists and rational expectations theoreticians 500 (c) The post-Keynesians 503 6. The theory of growth 504 7. Quantitative research: the development of econometrics 507 8. New analytical techniques: theory of repeated games, theory of stochastic processes, chaos theory 512 9. Interdisciplinary problems and the foundations of economic science: new theories of rationality, ethics and new utilitarianism, growth and sustainable development, economic... 516 18 Where are we going? Some (very tentative) considerations 521 1. How many paths has economic thought followed? 521 2. The division of labour among economists: can we forge ahead along different paths? 524 3. Which of the various paths should we be betting on? 527 References 531 Index of names 580 Subject index 591 The Wealth Of Ideas Traces The History Of Economic Thought, From Its Prehistory (the Bible, Classical Antiquity) To The Present Day. In This Scientifically Rigorous And Well Documented Book, Chapters On William Petty, Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Karl Marx, William Stanley Jevons, Carl Menger, Leon Walras, Alfred Marshall, John Maynard Keynes, Joseph Schumpeter And Piero Sraffa Alternate With Chapters On Other Important Figures And On Debates Of The Period. Economic Thought Is Seen As Developing Between Two Opposite Poles: A Subjective One, Based On The Ideas Of Scarcity And Utility, And An Objective One Based On The Notions Of Physical Costs And Surplus. Professor Roncaglia Focuses On The Different Views Of The Economy And Society And On Their Evolution Over Time And Critically Evaluates The Foundations Of The Scarcity-utility Approach In Comparison With The Classical/keynesian Approach.--jacket. The History Of Economic Thought And Its Role -- The Prehistory Of Political Economy -- William Petty And The Origins Of Political Economy -- From Body Politic To Economic Tables -- Adam Smith -- Economic Science At The Time Of The French Revolution -- David Ricardo -- The 'ricardians' And The Decline Of Ricardianism -- Karl Marx -- The Marginalist Revolution: The Subjective Theory Of Value -- The Austrian Schools And Its Neighbourhood -- General Economic Equilibrium -- Alfred Marshall -- John Maynard Keynes -- Joseph Schumpeter -- Piero Sraffa -- The Age Of Disgregation -- Where Are We Going? Alessandro Roncaglia. Originally Published In Italian As La Ricchezza Delle Idee By Laterza, 2001. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. The Wealth of Ideas, first published in 2005, traces the history of economic thought, from its prehistory (the Bible, Classical antiquity) to the present day. In this eloquently written, scientifically rigorous and well documented book, chapters on William Petty, Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Karl Marx, William Stanley Jevons, Carl Menger, Léon Walras, Alfred Marshall, John Maynard Keynes, Joseph Schumpeter and Piero Sraffa alternate with chapters on other important figures and on debates of the period. Economic thought is seen as developing between two opposite poles: a subjective one, based on the ideas of scarcity and utility, and an objective one based on the notions of physical costs and surplus. Professor Roncaglia focuses on the different views of the economy and society and on their evolution over time and critically evaluates the foundations of the scarcity-utility approach in comparison with the Classical/Keynesian approach. Illustrates the history of economic thought from antiquity to the present day. Eloquently written and scientifically rigorous, this well documented book focuses on the different views of the economy and society and on their evolution over time. Critically evaluates the scarcity-utility approach in comparison with the Classical/Keynesian approach