The evolution of economic ideas / Phyllis Deane.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Deane, Phyllis.

Series:

Modern Cambridge economics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Economics--History.

Economics.

History.

Physical Description:

xv, 236 pages ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1978.

Summary:

The failure of orthodox economic analysis to provide acceptable answers to the dominant contemporary policy problems has given rise to a widespread feeling of 'methodological crisis' in the discipline. Students find it increasingly hard to relate to a textbook-authenticated paradigm which seems to be in process of disintegration. The object of this book is to put some of the current theoretical controversies into long term perspective by tracing their historical antecedents. A connected object is to interpret some of the doctrinal divisions in the modern debate by showing that they spring from profound disagreements about what economics is and what questions the economist ought to be trying to answer. It examines the way leading theorists have adapted their theories and concepts to major changes in the problem-situation facing policy makers.

The book is in no sense exhaustive (either in the range of theories or in the selection of theorists discussed) but focuses particularly on changes in economists' views on the scope and methodology of economics and on the evolution of strategic ideas in the fields of value theory, monetary theory and growth theory. It raises questions of a socio-historical kind, such as: when did economics acquire a sufficiently coherent and well-attested paradigm to rank as a distinct discipline? What were the distinguishing characteristics of successive paradigms for economics? How revolutionary were the changes attributable to periods of significant theoretical change? How can we explain the success or failure of alternative paradigms in gaining a hold over the minds of a majority of professional economists? All economists will find valuable insights in this book. For undergraduate students it is a compact and readable introduction to the history of economic thought.

Contents:

1 Origins of modern economics 1

2 Adam Smith's theory of value 19

3 Origins of modern growth theory 29

4 Classical monetary theory 44

5 Ricardo on value, distribution and growth 60

6 Scope and methodology of classical political economy 71

7 The marginal revolution and the neo-classical triumph 93

8 The neo-classical theory of value 115

9 The Marxian alternative 125

10 Neo-classical orthodoxy in the inter-war period 143

11 Monetary theory in the neo-classical era 163

12 The Keynesian revolution 175

13 Twentieth-century growth theory 190

14 Methodological divisions in economics since Keynes 205.

Notes:

Includes bibliographies and indexes.

ISBN:

0521219280.

0521293154

OCLC:

3607532