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History of Economic Analysis: With a New Introduction

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The legendary History of Economic Analysis is without a doubt one of the greatest books of economic history ever written, but one should examine what kind of reading they're looking for before he or she embarks on this thousand page text. Schumpeter's unfinished history is divided into sections by ideology and time-period which is particularly useful but once you penetrate the well-organized table of contents, the writing becomes arcane and complex.

For a reader well-grounded in economic theory and history, I am sure that this is a bible; but for a curious reader interested in the history of economics (in a more political as opposed to theoretical perspective) this book may not be right. Highly footnoted and not very smooth writing, as well as obscure references to economists and theories results in a history that is very demanding of the reader. If you are looking for an economic history text that reads like From Dawn to Decadence you may be seriously disappointed, as I had been, but if you are a serious student of economics and are willing to spend the time to deliberate over Schumpeter's words then History of Economic Analysis is right for you.

After the considerable success of his then only in germanpublished Little Sketch of Doctrines and Methods, and while he wasteaching at Harvard, Schumpeter started working on a book wich would cover the ground of Little Sketch an beyond. What began just as leisure would become THE masterpiece in History of Economic Thought. Schumpeter spent ten years in this colossal effort and unfortunately did not finish it before his death. Nevertheless, nowhere else you will find a book more powerful and more profound on this theme. By History of Economic Analysis Schumpeter means the history of efforts made in the pursuit of comprehending economic phenomena, from Antiquity to present; not a book on history of ideologies. Schumpeter places the authors in their times and contexts, and tries to understand how they proceeded in analysing economic reality. A must for anyone interested in economic theory, history and philosophy.

The objective of Schumpeter, one of the greatest economists of all times, is to portray in a very comprehensive detail, all the philosophical thinking that conduced to contemporary Economic Analisys, since the beginning of the ancient greek thought.

To me, that had a very great misconception about the works of Joseph Alois Schumpeter, this book was a revelation, be it for the immensity of his erudiction both as an historian, philosopher and economist, be it for the ingenuity in which he presents many new ideas and perspectives regarding economic analisys.

He is sometimes difficult to follow, not helped by the many and extensive footnotes he appends the book with, and by the many quotations he does in foreign languages, which he usually do not translate, be it in ancient Greek, Latin , French or German. Also , the book was unfinished in his lifetime and had to be edited by his wife, who was also deceased before the full completion of the giantic task. Even so, the book has some 1.300 pages and covers the full range of all the relevant economic thougth until the time of its publication.

A warning sign of caution must be addressed to the non-professional readers not not fully interested in the magnitude of such a scope, that is, of addressing the formative ideas of each and every important concept in economic analisys in a so complete way. This can be an overkill for you. But if you are interested in Medieval thought, the concepts exposed by , for instance, Saint Thomas and many others, this is a very good reading. Enjoy it

This book is one of the greats. Written by a master of economic theory, it reflects his learning and insight. But have no mistake, Schumpeter expects you to meet him half-way, so if you like to be spoon-fed and prefer pictures to words, this is not the book for you. The book needs to be read together with the original material: Schumpeter is not a substitute for, but a guide to the material he writes about. To criticise this book for not being light reading is simply to misunderstand this: to understand important thoughts requires some thinking and if you are not prepared to do the work, you shouldn't fool with this book. While Blaug's book is a decent solid survey, the only work which begins to rival Schumpeter's in erudition and incisiveness is Marx's Theories of Surplus-Value, which covers a narrower period. If you respect this book and *really* study it, the effort repays handsomely. Enjoy!

I was introduced to this author from the recommendations of Robert Helibroner's books and I am thankful for this books amazing depth. This book is not for faint at heart but if you are interested in economic analysis, you probably wouldn't be scared off by the magnitude of this masterpiece. The footnotes alone are worth the read. I think Schumpeter is amazing in his confidence, depth and skill in writing as if it was a one on one conversation. I was a bit surprised at some of his analysis of economic personalities but that is why this book is great. It's one man's opinion and that man knows his stuff. A must read for anyone REALLY interested in economics