Product Description
In 1980 the U.S. government began to systematically collect data on Hispanics. By 2005 the Latino population of the United States had become the nation's largest minority and is projected to comprise about one-third of the total U.S. population in 2050. Utilizing census data and other statistical source materials, this book examines the transformations in the demographic, social, and economic structures of Latino-Americans in the United States between 1980 and 2005. Unlike most other studies, this book presents data on transformations over time, rather than a static portrait of specific topics at particular moments. Latino-Americans are examined over this twenty-five year period in terms of their demographic structures, changing patterns of wealth and poverty, educational attainment, citizenship and voter participation, occupational structures, employment, and unemployment. The result is a detailed socioeconomic portrait by region and over time that indicates the basic patterns that have lead to the formation of a complex national minority group that has become central to U.S. society. ... Read more

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The Wealth of Ideas 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. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Sraffa worship: Turin is no Vienna

There are several problems w/ this book:

1. It is blatantly biased; Kool Aid for Sraffa worshippers.

2. This version of the history of economic ideas is incomplete in general and ignorant of the evolution of "value" theory in particular. Where are the Spanish Scholastics; Saravia de la Calle (1544), Diego de Covarrubias Y Leyva (1550), Martin Azpilcueta (1556) & Juan de Lugo (1643)? One can argue these thinkers were subjective value marginalists 230 to 150 yrs. before Adam Smith wrote about natural prices, market prices, and the cost of production in Wealth of Nations (1776). And, these Spanish Scholastics preceeded -- by about 300 yrs. -- what Roncaglia calls the "Marginalist Revolution" in the late 19th Century which, in fact, was NOT a sudden transformation of economic thinking. For example, where are the post Adam Smith, pre "Marginalist Revolution" German economists (Hufeland, Fulda, Schaffle, Thunen, Rau, Hermann, Mangoldt, Kudler, Roscher, Mischler, etc.)? These German thinkers are the primary origin of Menger's version of subjective value theory (the non-Benthamite version of marginalism that is impervious to Sraffa's criticism) and their work proves there was no revolution. Roncaglia appears to accept TH Huxley's 1868 idea that political economy is 'an intensely Anglican science' and that all other thinkers are simply 'humble disciples accepting gladly orthodox English teaching.' The Anglican notion that there was a "Marginalist Revolution" in the late 19th Century is rubbish and it's sad Roncaglia believes it.

3. Roncaglia's false claim that attacks by Kaldor in 1942 on Hayek's "Ricardo Effect" -- using a comparative static equilibrium methodology -- somehow refutes the dynamic path of intertemporal discoordination & adjustment caused by credit expansion BEFORE a final equilibrium is reached. Contrary to Kaldor, Moss & Vaughn (1986) point out, "The problem is not to learn about adjustments by comparing states of equilibrium but rather to ask if the conditions remaining at T1 make the transition to T2 at all possible. Kaldor's approach indeed assumed away the very problem that Hayek's theory was designed to analyze, the problem of the transition an economy undergoes in moving from one coordinated capital structure to another."

It's worth belaboring this point. As Steele (1992) explains, Hayek's earlier works (1929/1933 and 1931/1935) re: the impact upon investment incentives of a fall in the rate of interest (brought about by new money or new savings) ARE mutually compatible w/ Hayek's later two books (1939 and 1941) re: the impact upon investment incentives of changes in relative prices. Kaldor was wrong to represent the `interest rate effect' and the `relative prices effect' as inconsistent theoretical formulations. Steele further explains, "It is NOT the relative price rise of intermediate goods in the earlier stages of production which enhances their yields. Rather, the relative enhancement of their time-discounted yields (the result of new saving and the reduced rate of interest) attracts investment and causes their prices to rise. (This is the process which eventually restores equilibrium, but only in the absence of forced saving). It is hardly surprising that defenders of the Keynesian faith were able to play upon alleged contradictions between the 'two versions' of Hayek's theory."

4. Roncaglia's false claim that Sraffa's refutation of Bohm-Bawerk's "average period of production" -- a notion Menger himself described as 'one of the greatest errors ever committed' 80 years BEFORE publication of Sraffa's Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities in 1960 -- somehow overturns Menger's formulation of subjective value theory. On the one hand, to his credit, Roncaglia notes Menger's criticism of Bohm-Bawerk (in a footnote on Pg 312) but Roncaglia does not attempt to explain WHY. However, on the other hand, Roncaglia then contends (none the less) that Sraffa somehow refutes Menger using Bohm-Bawerk's average period of production w/o explaining HOW. Menger's theory is the foundation for Bohm-Bawerk's work on capital and interest and in no way does Bohm-Bawerk undermine this foundation. Consequently, Pg 458 of Roncaglia's book is simply absurd.

It is specifically because Bohm-Bawerk rejected the notion of an aggregate homogeneous physical capital stock that he constructed a theory that linked the amount of output obtainable from varying degrees of roundaboutness to the idea that production takes time. Neither of his explanatory errors (using an average period of production & a fixed subsistence fund) are characteristics of his theoretical approach. In fact, Bohm-Bawerk's approach clearly & correctly identifies the implications of profit maximization, factor prices, and the price of borrowed money on the use of capital goods in intertemporal production, w/in the context of an increasing division of labor that is accompanied by the accumulation of capital. And this is precisely WHY Bohm-Bawerk's work is an important building block in understanding the causal impact of monetary disequilibrium on relative prices in the intertemporal structure of production during a boom & bust cycle.

To be clear, the debates between Kaldor, Sraffa, Hayek, Knight & others during the interwar period were concerned w/ whether or not a general theory of the business cycle could explain & predict the economic phenomena experienced at that time. The interwar economic crisis provoked a crisis in economic thinking at that time, just as our current economic crisis calls into question the validity of economic thinking today (i.e., the effectiveness of Keynes inspired Govt borrowing to boost aggregate demand). And it is w/in this context that the participants argued over whether or not a PORTION of Bohm-Bawerk's theory was suitable for use in such a theory. Specifically, Hayek demonstrated in "Prices and Production" that Bohm-Bawerk's average period of production can only be used w/ modification (i.e., by focusing on a period of investment NOT production, etc.). Moverover, these debates highlighted how macroeconomic equilbrium theories are poorly suited to describing the real world change dynamics of relative price adjustment w/in monetary economies based on roundabout production; these equilbrium theories do not pay enough attention to entrepreneurial decision making on a microeconomic level and the process in which entrepreneurs, interacting w/ each other, change their production processes such that the macroeconomic result is a change from one technique to another. Again, Bohm-Bawerk's capital-intensive direction is correct but only w/ modification can some of his explanations be used to correctly inform business cycle theory.

The Sraffa Hayek debate is best known for its lack of clarity. As Knight said to Morgenstern: "I wish he [Hayek] would try to tell me in a plain grammatical sentence what the controversy between Sraffa and Hayek is about. I haven't been able to find anyone on this side who has the least idea." Sraffa and Hayek did not agree on how best to model a monetary economy and, unlike Kaldor, Sraffa had not read Hayek's "Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle" before Sraffa attacked Hayek's "Prices and Production." Clearly, Sraffa & Hayek defined equilibrium very differently w/ respect to natural interest rates. The fact that Keynes abandoned in his 1936 "General Theory" the use of the natural interest rate concept that Keynes used in his 1931 "Treatise on Money" -- based on Sraffa's criticism of Hayek -- did nothing to make Keynes's "General Theory" correct.

Several decades later, Hayek said "this capital-theory work shows more a barrier to how far we can get in efficient explanation than sets forth precise explanations. All these things I've stressed -- the complexity of the phenomena in general, the unknown character of the data, and so on -- really much more points out limits to our possible knowledge than our contributions that make specific predictions possible." For those interested in a contemporary exposition of what Hayek was attempting to say, I recommend Huerta de Soto's "Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles" (2nd English Ed 2009).

Bottomline: none of the participants of this debate, including Keynes & Sraffa, successfully developed such a theory.

5. Roncaglia's false claim that Sraffa's 'reswitching of techniques' undermines the foundation of Menger's theory of subjective value, Hayek's capital theory, and Austrian Business Cycle Theory. "From the point of view of an individual actor or entrepreneur, once the PROSPECTIVE decision has been made to lengthen production plans (due to a rise in saving), all initial factors (land, labor, and EXISTING CAPITAL GOODS) are subjectively deemed to be 'original means of production' which merely determine the starting point of the production process. It is therefore irrelevant whether or not the new investment process incorporates techniques which, considered individually, may have been profitable at higher rates of interest."

Moreover, as noted in #4 above, the heterogeneous & complementary nature of different capital goods is core to the Austrian conception of capital - unlike the marginalist theories of Gossen, Jevons & Walras. As the much maligned Bohm-Bawerk himself wrote (Pg 105, Vol III, 1921 posthumous edition): "A nation's capital is the sum of heterogeneous concrete capital goods. To aggregate them, one needs a common denominator. This common denominator cannot be found in the number of capital goods... nor their length or width of volume or weight or any other physical unit of measurement... The only measuring rod that does not lead to contradictions... is the value [of these capital goods]." And as Hennings says, "Bohm emphasized ...that capital goods are not completely specific; some at least can be used in different ways, and so facilitate the change from one technique of production to another. But they are specific enough to make any such change a costly and time-consuming process. In spite of this limited (technical) malleability of capital goods there will obviously exist at any moment in time a definite structure of capital goods; for only if the existing capital stock is so structured does capital fulfil its role of synchronizing the production process in the presence of division of labor." Consequently, Pg 459 of Roncaglia's book is as equally absurd as Pg 458 (at least Roncaglia is consistent).

Pgs 571-75 of Huerta de Soto's "Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles" specifically deals w/ this "reswitching controversy" while Pgs 265-508 of Huerta de Soto's book provides an exhaustive & incredibily detailed step-by-step explanation of the effects of credit expansion on the economic system, including a thorough examination of monetary disquilibrium effects on capital. To the extent Sraffa's attack on Hayek (Economic Journal, vol. 42 March 1932) was simple partisan retaliation for Hayek's complete destruction of Keynes's book "Theory of Money" (Economica vol 11 no 33 August 1931; again in November 1931; and yet again in vol 12 no 35 February 1932), nothing Huerta de Soto or anyone else can say would have convinced Sraffa. And this is the sad part about the interwar debate re: business cycle theory, as Robertson and other economists at the time pointed out.

6. The suggestion that Sraffian supply can somehow be reconciled with Keynesian demand - Wow! I believe Keynes's letter to Shaw sums up the stupidity of this notion nicely, indeed!

For all of these reasons, I cannot recommend this book for purchase to the lay reader interested in the evolution of economic ideas in general or the various notions of value in particular. Roncaglia's convoluted Sraffian definition of "value" on pg 16 is yet another reason why. Just as there is no room for individual members of society to influence the methods of production (surplus or not) according to Sraffa's systems operating at the optimum level of production in his book Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities; so too there are no individuals in Rocaglia's definition of "value." The metaphysical and epistemological fact is individual human beings are the ultimate cause and the ultimate end in the economic process NOT arbitrarily aggregated "social classes" and no amount of gibberish to the contrary by Marx, Sraffa (or Roncaglia) will make it so. Consequently, real world economic phenomena can best be explained as resulting from individual action and from the social interaction of individuals.

I applaud Roncaglia for clearly differentiating Menger from the other two marginalists, Jevons & Walras. Most American economists & writers inappropriately lump all three together & gloss over their very different methods & formulations of subjective value. However, I'm critical of Roncaglia because he then says Sraffa successfully refutes all three; Menger, Jevons & Walras which is simply not true. In other words, I'm critical of Roncaglia because he is wrong NOT because he's heterodox; my comments here are equally heterodox relative to contemporary American academic economics in the Paul Krugman / Brad DeLong sense of "mainstream" thinking.

As the old (sad but true) joke goes: "Where five economists are gathered together there will be six opinions, and two of them will be held by Keynes." I believe Roncaglia could have done a much better job to more accurately describe these different opinions. For a history of economic thought, choose Schumpeter's History of Economic Analysis (despite its warts & Roncaglia's 'misleading" & "largely useless" criticism of it on Pg ix) or even Robbins.

3.5 stars-Keynes,not Sraffa,is the economist to build on
The author essentially evaluates all of economic history by using Sraffa's Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities as the litmus test.The author certainly has a point . Sraffa's approach would be preferable to the present,mainstream,standard ,neoclassical model based on therational economic man of Benthamite Utilitarianism.This model is represented in the present day by Subjective Expected Utility( SEU )theory. SEU theory is a marriage of the Ramsey,De Finetti,and Savage subjectivist,Bayesian approach to probability ,that Keynes proved was a special case in his 1921 A Treatise on Probabiity,with the Morgenstern- von Neumann utility-game theory approach.

However,this is not the relevant choice.He completely overlooks Keynes's contribution in the General Theory.Instead ,he concentrates on the strange ,bizarre claim, made by a self admitted mathematical illiterate, Dennis Robertson ,about Chapter 3 of the GT being the core of Keynes's contribution.This myth was apparantly accepted by Richard Kahn,Austin Robinson,and Joan Robinson and passed down to a host of other economists like Sydney Weintraub,E Roy Weintraub,Paul Davidson ,Jan Kregel,G Harcourt,V Chick ,S Dow,A Leijonhufvud,Robert Clower,Robert Solow and a cast of supporting economists that stretches into the thousands.The author ,unfortunately,has absolutely no idea about what J M Keynes is doing in chapters 19,20,and 21 of the General Theory.This is most clearly brought out in the author's discussion of Keynes's theory of effective demand,which involves Keynes's aggregate supply curve and/or employment function.THe discussion of the aggregate supply function is an intellectual mess.

In his last chapter,the author appears to believe that the future of economic analysiswill eventually turn out to be some kind of Sraffa based theory.THe problem here is that it is not possible to integrate Sraffa and Keynes because Sraffa essentially rejects the foundation of Keynes's theoretical construct,liquidity preference,since it is based on uncertainty.Neither Sraffa nor the present author have any idea about the connections that exist between Keynes's analysis in chapter 21 and Section 4 of chapter 15 of the GT and the A Treatise on Probability.

Great book
Simply the better book in history of the economic thought. Advised to anyone it wants to know the evolution of the neoclassic thought and the sraffian critic. Warning: the approach is heterodox. ... Read more

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Study of the grand ideas in economics has a perpetual intellectual fascination in it's own right. It can also have practical relevance, as the global economic downturn that began in 2007 reminds us. For several decades, the economics establishment had been dismissive of Keynesianism, arguing that the world had moved beyond the "depression economics" with which it dealt. Keynesian economics, however, has now staged a comeback as governments attempt to formulate policy responses to the Great Recession of the first decade of the twenty-first century.

Many of the issues that faced economists in the past are still with us. The theories and methods of such men as Adam Smith, T. R. Malthus, David Ricardo, J.S. Mill, Karl Marx, Alfred Marshall, and J. M. Keynes are often relevant to us today--and we can always learn from their mistakes.

In his stimulating analysis Professor Barber assesses the thought of a number of important economists both in terms of the issues of their day and in relation to modern economic thought. By concentrating on the greatest exponents he highlights the central properties of the four main schools of economic thought - classical, Marxian, neo-classical, and Keynesian - and shows that although each of these traditions is rooted in a different stage of economic development, they can all provide insights into the recurring problems of modern economics. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A classic.

The book is a general introduction to economic thought since Adam Smith, and is extremely enlightening. For instance, I learnt that the American Economic Association, in its founding statutes in 1920 was opposed to laissez-faire economics and Adam smith was a professor of moral philosophy who was committed to the social good (NOT to individual selfishness).

The only problems I had with the book is that some vital information was not referenced to secondary sources - for example, Barber insisted that Smiths focus was on long term issues for the wealth of nations, and 2 hours of thumbing through the 2 volume 'wealth of nations' did not glean a hint of the text that was supposedly central to Smiths argument.

The treatment of some (possibly all) economists was necessarily light, as one would expect when trying to cover all this material in a 260 page book,in particular Marx and Keynes seemed to suffer from an inadequate exploration of their ideas. However, for a general introduction, this book was great.Its great strength is the amount of information and historical background it covers in the contents of a small book. I recommend it - great for broadening ones education and understanding of the world and how it became the way it is. ... Read more

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Excellent Evaluation of Free Trade and Protectionism
If you are interested finding good counter arguments to our omnipresent free trade movement salesmen, this might be the book for you.The book is very concise, less than 200 pages, but makes an excellent presentation of highly pertinent economic facts to counteract some of our most persistent economic myths.

The author makes the argument that free trade is not the universal solution for a lack of economic development.Effectively, the US was aprotectionist country from it's earliest founding until WWII.It was only after the war that we turned enthusiastically to free trade.As well we should have, considering that Western Europe's and Japan's industry lay in ruins.It made total sense and the US made the most of it.25 years later, though, the US slipped into a trade deficit with the rest of the world from which it has never emerged.

The author points out that the surest way to prosperity is through industrialization.Exporting primary products (e.g., coffee, wheat, cotton, bananas, etc.) is not a bad economic policy and highly appropriate for given countries.But you cannot leave industrialization out of the equation for increasing national prosperity.De-industrialization, as he points out, is a sure road to economic ruin.He uses the example of Latin America in the 19th century as his case study--the book was published in the early '90's.If he were writing a new edition today, I believe he would probably use the U.S.'s de-industrialization in the late 20th and early 21rst centuries as a sure road to ruin case study.

However, he's not an ideologue on the subject.Sometimes free trade is the entirely appropriate policy of a nation.However, more often than not it appears that protectionism is entirely warranted.His statistics seem to support that latter view more strongly.

He also covers the argument that the Western world largely depended upon the colonial world for its development.The exploitation of the southern countries was necessary for the northern countries to arise.He points out that the US in particular, as well as western Europe, were almost entirely self-sufficient in raw materials and foodstuffs well into the middle of the 20th century, the exploitation argument is a bit hard to sustain.He also points out that Smoot-Hawley, contrary to popular business rhetoric, did not cause the US depression of the 30's, but was, instead, the result of it.He makes that case very strongly.

This is an excellent book.I would highly recommend that anyone interested in the free trade/protectionism debate read it.It will dispel many myths.Besides being concise, it is well-written and quite readable.You might find the statistics a bit slow going, but they are presented in a very understandable fashion.

Useful overview of economic history
Paul Bairoch's "Economics and World History" aims to dispel many common myths about, well, economics and history. Although he addresses a multitude of different specific subjects and examples (like sugar trade and coal vs. oil), he focuses mainly on a few important issues that he impresses on the reader:

- Free trade is historically the exception, not the norm;
- Free trade does not lead to more growth for most nations;
- The 19th century had a much slower growth rate than the 20th, overall;
- Agricultural production in the Third World is more costly than in the First; and
- European colonialism was largely not profitable.

Bairoch does not pay much attention to showing whether these things really are common myths or not, but even if they aren't, it is still useful to have an overview of historical evidence regarding these subjects, especially considering the political consequences of some. And this he does very well: though the discussion of some more controversial claims is really too short to be entirely convincing, he clearly has done a great amount of research on the economic history of mainly the 19th and 18th centuries, and his discussion of the literature is clear and concise.

Overall he seems to prove his case in most, if not all, cases and particularly case for protectionism in underdeveloped nations, which he clearly supports. A good addition to economic and historical bookshelves.

Crisp and Incisive
Bairoch's book is a classic and despite its fairly technical subject easy to read. ... Read more

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Growth of Economic Thought Textbook
Came exactly as promised.Light use, shipped on time.Would definitely buy again.A+ ... Read more

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Unlike most existing textbooks on the economic history of modern Europe, which offer a country-by-country approach, The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Europe rethinks Europe's economic history since 1700 as unified and pan-European, with the material organised by topic rather than by country. This second volume tracks Europe's economic history through three major phases since 1870. The first phase was an age of globalization and of European economic and political dominance that lasted until First World War. The second, from 1914 to 1945, was one of war, deglobalization, and depression and the third was one of growing integration not only within Europe but also between Europe and the global economy. Leading authors offer comprehensive and accessible introductions to these patterns of globalization and deglobalization as well as to key themes in modern economic history such as economic growth, business cycles, sectoral developments, and population and living standards. ... Read more

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This book covers the economic history of Latin America from independence in the 1820s to the present.It stresses the differences between Latin American countries while recognizing the similar external influences to which the region has been subject.Victor Bulmer-Thomas notes the failure of the region to close the gap in living standards between it and the United States and explores the reasons. He also examines the new paradigm taking shape in Latin America since the debt crisis of the 1980s and asks whether this new economic model will be able to bring the growth and equity that the region desperately needs.First Edition Hb (1995): 0-521-36329-2First Edition Pb (1995): 0-521-36872-3 ... Read more

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Too Dense
I'm an activist for social justice, and a fan of progressive whole cost economists like Herman Daly, David Ellerman, and Michel Aglietta.I found this work so dense and dry that it was extremely slow going and difficult to absorb.It is a macroeconomic work.
It lacks any highly detailed discussions to convey greater clarity and supply a fuller perspective, something I look for in history since I am trying to connect it to microeconomics and the larger sociopolitical context and ultimately environmental and justice issues.

Definitely 5 Stars
I confirm the five star reviews of this book.This is economic history at its best: lucid and highly informative with well constructed and convincing arguments. Bulmer-Thomas is able to cover two hundred years of the economic history of the entire region, which is no small task.This work cuts no corners; Bulmer-Thomas commands the subject.Any student of Latin America or economic history should read this book.

The Economic History of Latin America Since Independence
Not a single Latin American republic has achieved the status of developed nation after nearly two hundred years from colonial rule. The vast abundance of land, labor and natural resources has not delivered the long-awaited fruits of economic growth and economic development. Victor Bulmer-Thomas provides in this book an excepcionally detailled and balanced account of the factors that affect economic progress until the initial period of implementation of market-oriented reforms. It is in summary, an incomparable source of economic history information for those in love with the Latin American region. For a complete understanding of all the materials contained in the book, certain economic background is advisable. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (11)

Outstanding
This must be one of the most outstanding efforts at analysing the history of economics in empire building. Must be read hand in hand with The History of Money by Jack Wetherford. Riveting and compelling!

The book for the beech!
Its Thailand. A thousand Brits, Aussi's, Germans, and Japanese are rotating themselves like piece of meat on a barbacu under the Thai sun, watching the golden youth through their dark glasses strut up and down the beech, and cauterizing the pain of being working stiffs with thrillers, romances, military fantsies and the like... and this was the only serious book being read. The Russian businessman and myself have a great time discussing it all as we sank cocktail after cocktail as the sun went down! Its a big picture book and absolutely right for the current moment as the world looses its compass.... but a bit rose tinted at the end...and might well be read in conjunction with Arendt's chapter on imperilism in her totalitarian book ... or Polyani "transformation's" book.

Brilliant study of our economic history
Ronald Findlay, a professor of economics at Columbia University and Kevin O'Rourke, a professor of economics at Trinity College, Dublin, have written a fine history of world trade since 1000. They pick out three events as world-historical - the Black Death, the opening of the New World, and the Industrial Revolution.

They describe Genghis Khan's unification of most of the Eurasian landmass. Plague then killed between 25 million and 80 million people in Europe in 1348-51. But the resulting labour shortage made wages rise between 1350 and 1500. By contrast, population growth, as in the 13th century, reduced wages.

The age of mercantilism, based on British industry, American agriculture and African slaves, lasted from 1650 to 1780. Empires struggled for control of the New World's resources, land and trade. The Americas provided elastic supplies of land; Africa provided elastic supplies of cheap labour. Britain, atypically, industrialised with free trade, but our industrialisation did not depend on the slave trade: in 1770, its profits were only 0.54% of Britain's national income.

The 1792-1815 wars ended mercantilism. The authors call 1780-1914 the great specialisation, when the West European empires deindustrialised India and China and forced them to supply cheap raw materials and labour. World War One ended the liberal economic order of the late 19th-century.

The authors call World War One `an exogenous shock to the international economic system' and the Great Depression `a second major shock'. But both resulted from capitalism. They call 1914-39 the era of deglobalisation and note, "tariffs were positively associated with growth across countries in the interwar period."

1939-2000 saw reglobalisation. The authors claim that the median developing country failed to grow between 1980 and 1999 `despite the trend toward greater openness' - but that is only if you wrongly assume that openness brings growth.

As they admit, "Simple monocausal relations between openness and growth are not supported by the data ... Growth depends on a wide range of variables other than exposure to trade". To grow, countries need to boost investment in equipment, R&D and education, and to employ a larger portion of the population in industry.

Intriguing survey of the history of tumultuous world trade
Thinking of globalization as a new phenomenon or an inevitable one is all too easy. As scholars Ronald Findlay and Kevin O'Rourke explain in this thorough examination, globalization is neither new nor predictable. In fact, international trade has been a reality for more than 1,000 years and the story of global commerce is one of constant change. For centuries, nations have jockeyed for position, imposed rules and killed each other's citizens in the name of trade. This enlightening work rewards the reader with a depth of understanding and context. However, it would benefit from a more conversational, less academic tone. getAbstract recommends it to readers who want to see world economic affairs in a broader context and perspective.

Keeping it short and sweet
This book is to be bought for the first 7 and a half chapters.It's a solid 4 star rating then.The topic is simply too broad for any single volume book to get 5 stars.In other words, this is a readable bibliography.It doesn't always handle the sources well, so truly, use it as a bibliography!

The reduction to three stars is entirely based on that the authors completely dropped the ball on colonialization.How it was formed, what role it played in the local economy, how force was used, and how it buttressed the world economy, these were all missing, or had one line apologetic acknowledgements.It led to charts that show how the Belgian Congo and French West Africa were some of the fastest expanding economies in the world, when most people reading this are going to be familiar with Joseph Conrad's opus.There were other highly autistic use of data when it refers to the colonial states.The relunctance to frankly deal with colonialism impacted the book from the latter half of the seventh chapter on.Lastly, perhaps related, or unrelated, some of the fairly critical events of the latter half of the 20th century but in the Third World, like the debt crisis of the 1970s, the iranian revolution and war with Iraq, the Mexican Peso Crisis, and the 1997 asian finacial crisis all apparently merited little or no mention.Anyone reading this book by itself is going to be somewhat misinformed without something on third world (and Marxist--it was pretty thin there as well) economic history.

It is a good book, just understand that the typical Western Triumphalist outlook starts peaking out towards the end. ... Read more

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This comprehensive and updated textbook on the economic history of colonial India presents a lucid account of the factors that shaped economic change in colonial India in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. ... Read more

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This volume contains the papers presented at the Third Quinquennial Conference on Ukrainian Economics, held at the Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University, in 1985. The first two conferences and their proceedings were devoted to the Ukraine's current economic conditions and to selected contributions of its scholars to economics. The present proceedings contain fourteen previously unpublished essays dealing with the one thousand years of Ukrainian economic history prior to the outbreak of the First World War.

The contributions are divided chronologically into three parts, covering the periods of Kievan Rus', the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the nineteenth century. They are not intended to give a comprehensive survey of Ukrainian economic history, but primarily to deal with important economic issues of particular periods. The problem of the orientation of the Kievan Principality with regard to the Nomadic East and the Byzantine South is discussed in the first part. The authors of the volume's second part analyze the economic ties of the Ukrainian economy during the rise and fall of Cossackdom and, subsequently, the Hetman State, with the West and Muscovy. The contributions in the third part deal with the important problems of economic development during the Ukraine's rebirth as a modern nation in the past century. Issues discussed include: population change, industrialization, relations with the Russian Empire's metropolis, urbanization, and the development of the southern and western (within the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy) regions. Finally, the introductory essay offers a proposal for a periodization scheme of Ukrainian economic history.

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The late middle ages were without doubt the most interesting period in Suffolk's history. By the end of the eleventh century Suffolk was wealthy, densely populated, highly commercialised and urbanised; in the fourteenth century its people faced three of the most tumultuous events of the last millennium, the Great Famine (1315-22), the Black Death (1349) and the Peasants' Revolt (1381). Their response was flexible and innovative, because by 1500 Suffolk was one of the richest and most industrialised regions of England, with a strong economy based on cloth manufacture, fishing, dairying and tanning. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

An excellent synthesis
I strongly recommend this book if you are interested in the subject. I found it to be easy to read and an excellent synthesis of modern scholarship on Europe's post-WWII economic growth. The bibliography is also excellent. I used the book to review for my comprehensive exam in European Political Economy and found it immeasurably useful--in fact it was by far the best thing I read to prepare.

heavy read
The book is very well written, but was definitely a heavy read.I am not that well schooled on economic and political theory, so I really didn't enjoy it.I would recommend Global Capitalism by Frieden instead. ... Read more

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Heat engines & greed made theoretical
Superb history of the emergence of Industrial Revolution in Britain, seen now in the context of the (British) Enlightenment, in the period from the Glorious Revolution onward. The Industrial Revolution was a breakthrough in technology, but it was also a set of insights, and a hard-won understanding of 'economies' in the abstract.
It is arguable that the polish put on such histories can blind us to the crude explosion of a few gimmicks, between heat engines, and greed made theoretical, but the bright side of capitalist invention and the invention of capitalism is seen in the higher key of intellectual history, and the keynote of the Enlightenment itself. It is hard to come to an understanding of these events, in part because they show a macrohistorical dynamics that is elusive, and which suggests a kind of 'Axial Age' effect where a cornucopia of effects arrive in a strange temporal mystery. The Age of Adam Smith was one of the most packed eras in world history, packed with innovations not all of them economic. Therefore the full explanation is more than the sume of it parts, and points to the context of the modern transformation as a whole.
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Studying the interaction of political and economic institutions in Mexico during the period of 1870-1930, this book shows how institutional change can foment economic growth and how specific features of political institutions give rise to specific economic institutions which have both positive and negative effects on growth and distribution. ... Read more

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This collection of essays explores the questions of what counted as knowledge in Victorian Britain, who defined knowledge and the knowledgeable, by what means and by what criteria.
During the Victorian period, the structure of knowledge took on a new and recognizably modern form, and the disciplines that we now take for granted took shape. The ways in which knowledge was tested also took on a new form, with oral examinations and personal contacts giving way to formal written tests. New institutions of knowledge were created: museums were important at the start of the period (knowledge often meant classifying and collecting); by the end, universities had taken on a new promince. Knowledge expanded and Victorians needed to make sense of the sheer scale of information, to popularize it, and at the same time to exclude ignorance and error - a role carried out by encyclopedias and popular publications.
The concept of knowledge is complex and much debated, with a multiplicity of meanings and troubling relationships. By studying the Victorian organization of knowledge in its institutional settings, these essays contribute to our consideration of these wider issues. ... Read more

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The Worldly Philosophers is a bestselling classic that not only enables us to see more deeply into our history but helps us better understand our own times. In this seventh edition, Robert L. Heilbroner provides a new theme that connects thinkers as diverse as Adam Smith and Karl Marx. The theme is the common focus of their highly varied ideas -- namely, the search to understand how a capitalist society works. It is a focus never more needed than in this age of confusing economic headlines.

In a bold new concluding chapter entitled "The End of the Worldly Philosophy?" Heilbroner reminds us that the word "end" refers to both the purpose and limits of economics. This chapter conveys a concern that today's increasingly "scientific" economics may overlook fundamental social and political issues that are central to economics. Thus, unlike its predecessors, this new edition provides not just an indispensable illumination of our past but a call to action for our future. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (90)

Every voter's public affairs reading list should include this book.
I read an earlier edition in high school (circa 1961).However, still today it's standard reading for college students in the social sciences and humanities, and in fact, for all educated persons.It's a popular, nontechnical introduction to major economists and their ideas.Although biographically oriented, it tries to convey the essence of their thinking.I would compare it to Will Durant's _The Story of Philosophy_, a book every young intellectual should read.

Of particular interest is John Maynard Keynes whose ideas have renewed interest because of the current financial crisis.If you don't know who Keynes is, and perhaps have never even ever hear of him, then please put this book on your required reading list.

I strongly recommend _The Worldly Philosophers_ to every voter not already familiar with its contents, but especially to "tea party" voters.If you care about America and yet have never taken an academic course in economics, then please arm yourself with at least a little knowledge about 'political economy' before next entering the voting booth.

_The Worldly Philosophers_ will not likely leave you with all the answers (it doesn't attempt to do so), but it'll introduce you to many of the questions, questions & viewpoints which you may not have considered previously.

Anyway, such is my opinion.Grab hold a copy (every public library has one), skim through it, and judge for yourself whether it's worth more of your time.

A classic with a few missing parts
This is a combination of economic history, history of economic thought and biography.It's considered a classic, thus the 7th edition.

It is not an economic primer and if you are hoping to understand economic theory, you'll have to look elsewhere.Heilbroner places economics in its context and explains the importance of economic thought, but does not give a lot of detail on what that economic thought is.This is not necessarily a criticism and certainly makes the book much more readable for those without economic training.

Heilbroner is a liberal (at least for an economist) and that shows in his pick of economists, although that may also be a function of his cut-off point.No Friedman here and barely a mention of Hayek.The book was updated to the 1990s, but the economists were not.He gives a well-deserved defense of Keynes, who fell out of favor in the 1970s, but never really explains why Keynes fell out of favor.

The book is definitely worth reading, interesting and informative, but the reader might want to follow it up with something like by Yergin and Stanislaw which covers the post WWII era, in many ways picking up where this book leaves off.

Evolution of Economics
This books is OK... The author did a good job of making the different philosophers he studied human. They all have characteristics we can appreciate and characteristics that make us happy we'll never meet them... However, it seems as if the author gets bored with his subjects a little more than 1/2 way through and starts rambling more about personal lifestyle choices than their actual theories. By the end we're back on track.

Fantastic
I'm no economist, but this seems like a must-read for those who aren't, but want to know more about the great thinkers in economics. Also a nice starting point for anyone wanting to get into that field. Each chapter is readable without being too basic. And each chapter covers a major figure in the field of economics, starting with - if I remember correctly - Adam Smith, going through to Ricardo, Mill, Marx, Schumpeter, and Keynes (lots of others in there too). Each chapter is part bio, part explanation of the person's major theories. What's clear is that all these people were incredibly smart, hard working, offered important theories to the field of economics, and were wrong about some important things. The only weaknesses include the title (though economics has its share of philosophers, the title is too general, which the author admits and - again if I remember correctly - wanted a different title.) Also would have been nice to have a chapter on Milton Friedman. But I think the author wrote this when Friedman was still producing major stuff, and Heilbroner wanted to focus on past economists. Fair enough.

Gem of storytelling
Written with a prose that reminds me of Thomas Bullfinch, Will Durant and Joseph Campbell, The Worldly Philosophers will transport you to a bygone time and place where the ideas of the great economists will spring to life and effortlessly make sense. But you will not be left hanging in the 19th or 20th century either - Heilbroner also discusses each economist's legacy updating their ideas to our own century.

First published in 1953 and now in its seventh edition this book is the canon of introductory texts on history of economic thinking. Millions of Economics 101 students could not be wrong - or could them?

Here is a list of main ideas included in the book::

1 - Economics as a field of study could not have risen before markets have establish themselves around the 18th century;

2 - Scores of greedy individuals looking after their own interests and being rewarded for their efficiency make for a better society for everybody - enters the invisible hand;

3 - When everybody seemed optimistic about the future, a young reverend wrote an essay stating that the world food production could never keep up with population growth - enters the dismal science;

4 - David Ricardo, the unsung hero of globalization, remains unsung for his amazing theory of competitive advantages, based on which a nation that is superior in producing everything will still be better off by trading with a less efficient nation, is not explained in the book. This is a major fault.

5 - The transition from feudalism to the industrial age resulted, at least initially, in appalling conditions for the working class. A movement called the Utopian Socialists that sadly bundled together the great John Stuart Mill with the airhead Charles Fourier tried to propose solutions;

6 - Marx (Karl, not Groucho) once said he was not a Marxist. Is it fair to say that I am a Marxist because I am not a Marxist? Enters the Dialectical Materialism;

7 - Despite Mill's and Marx's preaching, what really lifted the European proletariat out of abject poverty was the emergence of the proletariat's proletariat in the way of the millions of souls captured during the 19th and early 20th century European imperialist expansion into Africa and Asia - homo homini lupus;

8 - Thorstein Veblen gave, with The Theory of the Leisure Class, a new explanation for the stability of capitalistic society. The proletariat would not overthrow the leisure class for the simple reason that deep inside the proletariat wished to partake in the same leisurely lifestyle. That almost seemed possible with the great bull market of the 1920s until...

9 - The 1929 market crash came along and in its wake the great depression. A new theory for anti-cyclical monetary measures was needed and that came in Keynes' The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money;

10 - Throughout the first half of the 20th century Joseph Schumpeter revisited Karl Marx's theories and gave a new explanation for the existence of profits in the capitalistic system, the entrepreneur;

11 - In a sad final chapter Heilbroner declares the age of Worldly Philosophers ended with the passing of Joseph Schumpeter. Great names such as John Kenneth Galbraith and Milton Friedman are not equated by Heilbroner to the above mentioned airheads such as Charles Fourier. But it his book and not mine, and a great book by the way, far better than I could ever dream about writing...


As a companion book to The Worldly Philosophers I also recommend Niall Ferguson's The Ascent of Money.

Leonardo Alves - Brazil 2010
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A Life Among Strangers: A 10,000 Year Experiement in Trust
The progress of humans over the past ten thousand years and, in particular, over the past two hundred years has been both remarkable and entirely unforeseen.How significant is the unplanned coordination and trust embedded in modern society for explaining these changes? How did a shy murderous ape adapted to a tribalistic hunter-gatherer existence learn to trust complete strangers?What does this bode for the future?

In "The Company of Strangers," Paul Seabright has assumed the difficult challenge of answering these questions. Using economics, anthropology and history, Seabright provides his insights on this (never-ending) debate. The end result is a book that is extremely well written, thought provoking and full of quotable passages. This is definitely one of my favorite books of 2010 and I am disappointed that I did not discover it earlier.

As to the first question, Seabright begins with a simple, but profound example of the unplanned cooperation and trust underlying modern society. Roughly twenty million people globally will purchase a shirt today without having told anyone in advance of this decision. Yet, when these people visit their local store, they will be met with a variety of shirts suited to their tastes and budgets. This results from a complex process of large scale international cooperation. The cotton in the shirt was grown in India using seeds developed in the U.S. Artificial fiber used in the threads originates in Portugal and the dye material comes from at least six other countries. The collar linings come from Brazil, the machinery for the weaving, cutting and sewing originated in Germany and the shirt itself was manufactured in Malaysia. For all of this to be possible, a shy murderous ape (that's us) needed to learn to trust those outside of his immediate tribe. This series of market exchanges results in a process that is economically efficient in the sense that all parties in the exchanges benefit without having harmed non-participating parties. By cooperating with strangers, humans are able to leverage the benefits of specialization and trade, the accumulation of knowledge and risk sharing to reach a standard of living never dreamed possible in hunter-gatherer societies.

Seabright's explanation for what makes these market exchanges possible are social institutions that harness the strong human propensity toward reciprocity (i.e. the willingness to repay kindness with kindness and betrayal with revenge). Laws, courts, the rule of law, social norms, education and, in particular, property rights assist in ensuring that people can trust others that do not look alike, speak the same language or reside in the same geographic region.

However, Seabright remains somewhat ambivalent towards the future. The same processes and institutions that have improved the lot of the average human can also be used to wage war and generate market externalities (pollution, economic inequality, a loss of trust, etc.). The recent financial crisis of 2008 provides a good example of what can happen when trust between strangers erodes. Unfortunately, based on our nature, we humans are just as prone to evil as to good.

The debate about human development and the implications for the future is ongoing and may never be resolved. Seabright's book is a must read if these issues are of interest to you.

Interesting
Interesting book which is similar to Matt Ridley's the rational optimist. The underlying theme is great for non economist, how do we prosper through cooperation.

Cooperation with no one in charge
A fascinating look at "the grand experiment"; why is it that human beings are the only species where genetically dissimilar individuals rely upon each other for task sharing and task completion?The author begins by quickly examining the production of a shirt.The cotton may be grown in India, from seeds from the U.S., and fibers spun in Portugal, put together with a collar from Brazil, and then distributed worldwide where a whole different set of instruments and people are involved.The author explains the concept of tunnel vision among humans that explains part of this process.Our individual actions play a part in a complex task whose outcome we may not experience or even care about.The cotton grower in India, or the seed distributor in the U.S. does not know of, or even care about my preference of cotton shirts.
In order to make his investigation complete, Paul Seabright examines not only the individual factors in humans making the `grand experiment' possible, but also examines the societal structures that are necessary and the processes that build them.We learn of the risks of nature and the natural benefits of both risk sharing and the opposing feature of specialization.I offer as an analogy that a town wouldn't want all of its eggs in one basket, and at the same time it wouldn't want all its baskets to have only eggs.
By continuing his study to include "The Flair of Great Cities", "A Price for Everything [the monetary system]", "Families and Firms" and other topics, the author attempts to examine the totality of the system that allows the "grand experiment" to succeed.
The same systems and natural laws that have allowed humans to cooperate and achieve tremendous accomplishment through cooperation have also allowed humans to cooperate and achieve tremendous destruction.As observed by the author, no species is as efficient as we when it comes to violence and mass murder, i.e. war.Most likely the author has shown that there shall always be a regression to the mean, with alternating periods of expansion and growth coupled with murder and destruction among humans.

Great subject, decent book
This book addresses the question how trust between strangers is possible to the extent that we have build a whole social and economic system on it. It reflects the renewed interest in social sciences for an evolutionary perspective, and shows how fruitful and overdue the combination of the two is.

Seabright goes back to our history as hunter-gatherers and shows how it equipped us with both reciprocal and selfish tendencies. He then discusses institutions that govern the major areas of our social and economic lives; markets, politics, cities, firms, money etc. and the way these institutions exploit and channel our calculating and reciprocal inclinations.

As is clear from the examples, the book ranges wide. This makes it both interesting and confusing. It is fascinating to see familiar topics be evaluated from a different perspective. But the fact that the institutions under discussion are so different, each with their own economic and social peculiarities that make them work the way they do, means that it is not always easy to follow the main thread of the story. The connections and bridges between the chapters are sometimes contrived. Also, since each chapter would warrant a book in itself, inevitably one now and then gets a bit restless because of the questions skimmed over, and claims made too fast.

But with a subject matter like this one cannot write a non-interesting book, and Seabright has not. All in all he has written an accessible and well-written introduction to an exciting new field in social science.

Political Biases?
"The Company of Strangers" is heavily dependent upon author Seabright's interpretation of human evolutionary history and sociology and hence the material is sensitive to his world-view.Thus his universal use of"she" and "her" instead of the conventional "he" and "his" for anonymous third persons alerted me to the likelihood that his version of political correctness played a role in his views.Then his comments early in the book on WWII, "... that many individual soldiers even on the Allied side were involved in ... atrocities ..." set me to questioning all of his judgments.He goes on (in the interests of colorful writing?) to describe "A mother (who) sees her son return at the end of a war ... (but) what can she say to another mother ... whose daughter's corpse lies in an unmarked grave ... after rape and torture by a platoon of advancing soldiers drunk with lust and fear?"
It seems that Seabright has no personal experience of war.I did serve for many mean-lives (I was very lucky, for a while) in an infantry rifle platoon in WWII and after my luck ran out, I spent a year in an army hospital with other wounded soldiers where we talked candidly of our war, and I can say that criminal behavior among the men in service who fought in that war was, if anything, less common that among civilians.Moreover, I am sure that the British and French soldiers -- and (excepting some SS units) the German soldiers I fought -- were equally well behaved.
Thus I found the book interesting and erudite but laced with Seabright's politics and therefore to be taken with reserve.
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Unlike existing textbooks on the economic history of modern Europe, which offer a country-by-country approach, The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Europe rethinks Europe's economic history since 1700 as unified and pan-European, with material organised by topic rather than by country. The first volume is centred on the transition to modern economic growth, which first occurred in Britain before spreading to other parts of western Europe by 1870, whilst the second tracks Europe's economic history through three major phases since 1870. Each chapter is written by an international team of authors who cover the three major regions of northern Europe, southern Europe, and central and eastern Europe. The two volumes together provide a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the key themes in modern economic history from trade, urbanisation, economic growth and business cycles to sectoral developments, and population and living standards. ... Read more