An Outline of the History of Economic Thought

This book provides a comprehensive and analytical overview of the development of economic theory from its beginnings, at the end of the Middle Ages, up to contemporary contributions. Traditional theories are presented as living matter, and modern theories are presented as part of a historical process and not as established truths. In this way, the book avoids the dangerous dichotomy between pure historians of thought who dedicate themselves exclusively to studying facts, and pure theorists who are interested in the evolution of the logical structure of theories. The second edition contains several changes and additions. The authors give due consideration to the "civil economy" perspective developed during Humanism and the Renaissance. The section on Adam Smith has been considerably extended and improved. The treatment of the post-keynesian approach has been separated from "new keynesian macroeconomics". Finally, a new chapter has been added to review the most recent developments in the economic discourse in the light of globalization and the new technological trajectory.FROM THE ORIGINS TO KEYNES; 1. The Birth of Political Economy; 2. The Laissez-Faire Revolution and Smithian Economics; 3. From Ricardo to Mill; 4. Socialist Economic Thought and Marx; 5. The Triumph of Utilitarianism and the Marginalist Revolution; 6. The Construction of Neoclassical Orthodoxy; 7. The Years of High Theory: I; 8. The Years of High Theory: II; CONTEMPORARY DEVELOPMENTS OF ECONOMIC THEORY; 9. Contemporary Macroeconomic Theory; 10. General Economic Equilibrium and Microeconomics; 11. At the Margins of Orthodoxy; 12. A Post-Smithian Revolution