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Great economic thinkers : an introduction from Adam Smith to Amartya Sen
The book presents the life and works of 13 economists, outstanding for both theoretical contributions and enduring public influence. They are: Adam Smith, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, Alfred Marshall, Joseph Alois Schumpeter, John Maynard Keynes, Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, John Forbes Nash Jr., Daniel Kahneman, Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz. Each chapter, written by a different author, features, in about 20 pages, a short biography, a critical illustration of the economist’s main theories, and an appraisal of his legacy. Notes and essential references for further reading can be found at the end of the volume. An introduction by D’Maris Coffman includes a short account of pre-Smithian economic thought, an outline of the chapters’ content, and a statement of the book’s ambitions.
The book aims to illustrate, first, how the greatest economists answered to tremendous challenges, such as inequality, deprivation and global recession; often, they directly influenced economic policy making. Second, the reader is invited to consider whether the goal of “making capitalism fit for human life” (p. 19) was feasible through the tools of the mainstream. Most of those economists did employ them, in fact, though often with a critical turn. Finally, the book aspires to integrate the history of economic thought – the study of “the relationship between economic thinking and its historical context and the relationship between economic ideas and the intellectual influences acting on them” – with the history of economic analysis, namely “the internal history of the discipline, the axiomatic structure of theory and the evolution and development of specific theoretical formulations” (p. 8). It is questionable whether this latter, and most challenging goal can be fully accomplished by a book of this kind, characterised by a lean biographical format and destined to a wider audience. As a matter of fact, each author has stricken a different balance between history of thought and history of analysis. However, it is the way in which the biographical and contextual elements have been related to the theoretical elaboration that has mattered most in determining a more or less convincing outcome.
Thus, in Jonathan Conlin’s chapter on Smith the moral philosopher stands out. The spotlight is on the biographical, historical, and intellectual context and its impact on the economist’s theories. Helen Paul’s chapter on Ricardo, on the contrary, unpersuasively overemphasises the connections between his personal and familiar experiences and his economic theorising. Joseph Persky, in describing Mill’s elaboration of a “political economy of progress,” successfully rescues him from the cumbersome shadows of Ricardo and Bentham, and points to the originality and radicality of his programme for the future of industrial societies. Paul Prew supplies a concise but effective account of Marx’s life and works, as well as of his still powerful legacy, including the application of his theory of exploitation in environmental economics. Mário Graça Moura, who limits all biographical details to a short section, stresses both the originality of Schumpeter’s analysis and his prowess as historian of economics. Graça Moura ascribes the relative neglect of his ideas to the dominance of a formalised and abstract economics. Katia Caldari’s Marshall is nicely set in the context of the economic, intellectual, and social preoccupations of Victorian England. Victoria Bateman has wisely chosen to focus on a thorough but straightforward illustration of J.M. Keynes’s theories, with reference to both analysis and policy-making, rather than on well-trodden biographical details. Bateman is also the author of the chapter on Friedman, depicted as a radical heterodox, fighting against the Keynesian supremacy by strenuously affirming the sacredness of the market and the value-free nature of economics. Scott Scheall ably traces the phases of Hayek’s intellectual journey through the extraordinary times and places in which he lived: Vienna at the beginning of the twentieth century, the LSE in the 1930s and 1940s, and the University of Chicago in the 1950s. Scheall evidences how, after his initial devotion to pure economic theory, Hayek seemingly left it behind, turning to other disciplines and integrating them in his work in economics to achieve a remarkably original and comprehensive vision of social phenomena.
The most recent economic thinking is here represented by the portraits of four other Nobel Prize winners. Two of them, namely Nash and Kahnemann, were not economists, but their impact on the discipline could hardly have been greater. The heart of Michelle Baddeley’s chapter on Kahnemann is biographical. Kahnemann’s interest in the psychological determinants of human choices is ascribed to his juvenile experiences as a Jew in Nazi-occupied France first, and as a psychologist in the Israeli Army later. Karen Horn focuses on Nash’s contributions to game theory – which Nash considered trivial in comparison to his work in pure mathematics – and comments, rather critically, on their impact on economics. These two chapter also feature touching accounts of Nash’s struggle with mental illness and of Kahnemann’s friendship and fecund collaboration with Amos Tversky. The essay on Sen, again by Conlin, is noteworthy not only for a balanced combination of theory and context, but also because it is the only chapter tackling welfare definitions and measurement. Finally, Emmanuelle Bénincourt looks on Stiglitz as the modern version of the politically engaged economist, and points to the apparent contrast between his strong activism against the inequalities of capitalist globalisation and the character of his scientific contributions, which fully belong to pure neoclassical theory.
As acknowledged in the book’s introduction, all biographical anthologies are vulnerable to criticism for their exclusions, and this book is no exception. Just to mention a few, the absences of Malthus, only indirectly referred to in the chapter on Ricardo, and of the early marginalists, stand out. One wonders whether Stiglitz deserves to be included, considering that more influential authors, such as Samuelson, Becker, and Buchanan, have been left out. Moreover, though Harriet Taylor and Mary Paley are duly mentioned with reference to Mill and Marshall respectively, all economists appearing here are men. Especially because economics is, and has always been, particularly male-dominated, a specimen of great feminine economic thinking would have been appropriate.
This said, the thirteen economists represent what is essential knowing in economics by all cognisant readers, who are stimulated to reflect on what makes for “great economic thinking”. It is evident that, for all their diversities, the authors here celebrated showed a strong tendency to defy disciplinary boundaries – albeit without the imperialistic intent of today’s economics – in observance of the Keynesian rule that a good economist is never only an economist. Most of them did not refrain from engaging with the normative aspects of the discipline, or from tackling controversial ethical issues, but were also aware that economics could not by itself provide salvific solutions to societies’ problems. In short, these giants of economic thought have much to teach the modern economist in many respects.
Readers of different kinds will profit from this book and enjoy it. Though it eschews the technicalities of the specialist literature and is a pleasant read, the stories told are never oversimplified, even when complex theoretical constructs are tackled. The publisher, Reaktion Books, is a recently founded, independent company, which initially specialised in art, an origin revealed by the elegant design of the volume. It is to be hoped that this book will be only the first of a series of equally good-quality, approachable texts, capable of winning over a larger audience to the history of economics.
Ketersediaan
| Call Number | Location | Available |
|---|---|---|
| 330. 092 2 GRE | PSB lt.1 - B. Penunjang | 1 |
| Penerbit | London Reaktion Books., 2018 |
|---|---|
| Edisi | - |
| Subjek | Economic Thinkers Great Economic Thinkers : An Introduction From Ada |
| ISBN/ISSN | 9781789140057 |
| Klasifikasi | NONE |
| Deskripsi Fisik | 311 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. |
| Info Detail Spesifik | - |
| Other Version/Related | Tidak tersedia versi lain |
| Lampiran Berkas | Tidak Ada Data |