First published in 1989, Alon Kadish’s study re-examines the standard view held by historians of economic thought whereby economic history emerged from the historicist criticism of neoclassical economic theory. He also demonstrates how the discipline evolved as an extension of the study of history. The study will appeal to students and scholars in historiography, the development of higher education and in the history if economic thought in general, as well as all those interested in the evolution of Oxford and Cambridge.

J. A. Hobson was one of the most influential social, economic and political theorists of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Britain. In this volume, first published in 1990, eight scholars reassess the importance and relevance of his work today and affirm him as a major British thinker. These original studies place Hobson in context by explaining his intellectual antecedents: Cobden, Ruskin, nineteenth-century social and psychological theories and economic thought. The book provides an overview of the novelty and incisiveness of Hobson's contribution to British liberal theory and radical practice. Historians, economists, social and political theorists and students of international affairs will find this an important book for a fuller understanding of early twentieth-century British progressive thought.

This book provides a study of the forces underlying the development of economic thought at Cambridge University during the late nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century. The primary lens it uses to do so is an examination of how Arthur Cecil Pigou’s thinking, heavily influenced by his predecessor, Alfred Marshall, evolved. Aspects of Pigou’s context, biography and philosophical grounding are reconstructed and then situated within the framework of Ludwik Fleck’s philosophy of scientific knowledge, most notably by drawing on the notions of ‘thought styles’ and ‘thought collectives’. In this way, Knight provides a novel contribution to the history of Pigou's economic thought.

First published in 1990, Alfred Marshall's Mission explains how this most moral of political economists sought to blend the downward sloping utility function of Jevons and Menger with the organic evolutionism of Darwin and Spencer.

One of the most significant movements in the world of learning in the twentieth century was the rise and development of the social sciences. However, few attempts have been made to see how far social scientists have travelled on the road to studying and understanding human society. First published in 1972, the lectures reprinted in this book aim to trace the development of the social sciences during the twentieth century and to show the role of the London School of Economics and Political Science in this development since it was founded in 1895. Each of the very distinguished lecturers was asked to take the larger view, to be critical where necessary, to treat his subject in the context of the world of learning. The result is a survey of exceptional interest in which the growth of the social sciences is analysed from a number of contrasting viewpoints, each of which ranges widely and often with provocative brilliance over themes that are of general concern. The introduction by Professor W.A. Robson, which was not part of the original lecture series, is in itself a critical assessment of the field that will be read with close attention.

First published in 1951, The People of Aristophanes provides a sociological account of Athens in the period of its greatest glory. Drawing upon Old Attic Comedy and the plays of Aristophanes, the author recreates, for the reader, the life of Athens at that time. He writes extensively about social structure, family, religion and political relationships within the state, and discusses the far-reaching changes which took place within Athenian society.

Since the days of Adam Smith, Mercantilism has been a hotly debated issue. Condemned at the end of the 18th century as a "false" system of economic thinking and political practice, it has returned paradoxically to the forefront in regard to issues such as the creation of economic growth in developing countries. This concept is often used in order to depict economic thinking and economic policy in early modern Europe; its meaning and content has been highly debated for over two hundred years. Following on from his 1994 volume Mercantilism – The Shaping of an Economic Language, this new book from Lars Magnusson presents a more synthetic interpretation of Mercantilism not only as a theoretical system, but also as a system of political economy. This book incorporates samples of material from the 1994 publication alongside new material, ordered in a new set of chapters and up-date discussions on mercantilism up to the present day. Tracing the development of a particular political economy of Mercantilism in a period of nascent state making in Western and Continental Europe from the 16th to the 18th century, the book describes how European rulers regarded foreign trade and industrialisation as a means to achieve power and influence amidst international competition over trades and markets. Returning to debates concerning whether Mercantilism was a system of power or of wealth, Magnusson argues that it is in fact was both, and that contemporaries almost without exception saw these goals as interconnected. He also emphasises that Mercantilism was an all-European issue in a time of trade wars and the struggle for international power and recognition. In examining these issues, this book offers an unrivalled modern synthesis of Mercantilist ideas and practices.

First published in 1990, this book presents an original and comprehensive overview of Australian economic thought. The authors stress, by way of introduction, the many important innovative contributions Australian economists have made to thought worldwide. As the argument develops, the work of major figures is discussed in detail in addition to the role of different journals and economic societies.