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Economics Evolving: A History of Economic Thought Paperback – January 17, 2011
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The story of economics from Adam Smith to Paul Samuelson
In clear, nontechnical language, this introductory textbook describes the history of economic thought, focusing on the development of economic theory from Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations to the late twentieth century.
The text concentrates on the most important figures in the history of economics, from Smith, Thomas Robert Malthus, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, and Karl Marx in the classical period to John Maynard Keynes and the leading economists of the postwar era, such as John Hicks, Milton Friedman, and Paul Samuelson. It describes the development of theories concerning prices and markets, money and the price level, population and capital accumulation, and the choice between socialism and the market economy. The book examines how important economists have reflected on the sometimes conflicting goals of efficient resource use and socially acceptable income distribution. It also provides sketches of the lives and times of the major economists.
Economics Evolving repeatedly shows how apparently simple ideas that are now taken for granted were at one time at the cutting edge of economics research. For example, the demand curve that today's students probably get to know during their first economics lecture was originally drawn by one of the most innovative theorists in the history of the subject. The book demonstrates not only how the study of economics has progressed over the course of its history, but also that it is still a developing science.
- Print length504 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPrinceton University Press
- Publication dateJanuary 17, 2011
- Dimensions6.14 x 1.12 x 9.21 inches
- ISBN-100691148422
- ISBN-13978-0691148427
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"In non-technical language, he analyses how these great thinkers developed their theories, making for an essential guide to the great economic thinkers of the past 200-odd years." ― Economist
"Get a copy of Agnar Sandmo's book Economics Evolving."---Joseph E. Stiglitz @joestiglitz, Twitter
"Taken as whole, this is one of those relatively rare books on economics that is both readable and thoughtful. It also fills a gap in the literature between primers written for non-economists and detailed (and sometimes arduous) histories of economic thought or its various subfields."---Cameron Gordon, Economic Record
Review
"In this book, one of Europe's greatest contemporary economists writes about great figures in the history of economic thought. Agnar Sandmo's Economics Evolving convinces by its clarity, depth, and readability. Highly recommended for students, scholars, and the general public alike."―Hans-Werner Sinn, president of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research, Ludwig-Maximilian-University, Munich
"This book shows why the history of economics should be taken more seriously."―Geoffrey M. Hodgson, University of Hertfordshire
"Agnar Sandmo has written a lively, readable, and scholarly account of how the central core of economics has evolved from Adam Smith to the postwar era, and of how it continues to evolve. Students and instructors will find this volume both helpful and enjoyable."―Robert Dimand, Brock University
"This scholarly, authoritative, and lucid survey of the history of economic thought should be required reading for every student of economics, and can be read with profit and pleasure by professional economists and interested noneconomists alike. The book gives just the right amount of detail on the lives and contributions of the great economists, and its most striking achievement lies in its beautifully clear explanations of even the most complex ideas, without recourse to equations or jargon."―Ray Rees, University of Munich
From the Back Cover
"Economists have long known Agnar Sandmo as one of our clearest thinkers and most lucid expositors. He uses these skills brilliantly in this history of our discipline. He gives us simple, succinct, and thoughtful accounts of the ideas that have shaped the subject over the past three centuries. This book by itself constitutes a compelling argument for restoring the history of economic thought to the graduate curriculum."--Avinash Dixit, Princeton University
"In this book, one of Europe's greatest contemporary economists writes about great figures in the history of economic thought. Agnar Sandmo's Economics Evolving convinces by its clarity, depth, and readability. Highly recommended for students, scholars, and the general public alike."--Hans-Werner Sinn, president of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research, Ludwig-Maximilian-University, Munich
"This book shows why the history of economics should be taken more seriously."--Geoffrey M. Hodgson, University of Hertfordshire
"Agnar Sandmo has written a lively, readable, and scholarly account of how the central core of economics has evolved from Adam Smith to the postwar era, and of how it continues to evolve. Students and instructors will find this volume both helpful and enjoyable."--Robert Dimand, Brock University
"This scholarly, authoritative, and lucid survey of the history of economic thought should be required reading for every student of economics, and can be read with profit and pleasure by professional economists and interested noneconomists alike. The book gives just the right amount of detail on the lives and contributions of the great economists, and its most striking achievement lies in its beautifully clear explanations of even the most complex ideas, without recourse to equations or jargon."--Ray Rees, University of Munich
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Princeton University Press; 1st American edition (January 17, 2011)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 504 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0691148422
- ISBN-13 : 978-0691148427
- Item Weight : 1.5 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.14 x 1.12 x 9.21 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,234,138 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,212 in Theory of Economics
- #2,560 in Economic History (Books)
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Agnar Sandmo's excellent Economics Evolving: A History of Economic Thought (EE) will hopefully go some way towards remedying that. The book is a compelling history of economic thought, told through the lives and works of the key figures that have shaped the field. The text is lucid and jargon free, so that even complex ideas are conveyed with a clear simplicity. My impression is that any lay person with an interest in economics could pick up the book and gain a deep understanding of the subject. (I personally happened to read EE while doing my graduate studies in economics and it really helped to keep the overarching ideas clear in my head. This can be surprisingly difficult at times, when getting wrapped up in the mathematics or technical arguments of a particular theory might hinder you from seeing the wood for the trees. The concise description of various concepts - from Walrasian Equilibrium to growth theory - thus provided a welcome foil to the analytical rigour required by my core grad courses.)
Each chapter or subsection opens with an brief biography of the featured economist(s). These provide valuable context to the overall discussion and are typically interspersed with interesting vignettes and anecdotes. One of my favourites occurs on p. 90, where Sandmo reproduces a letter from John Stuart Mill to the philosopher Jeremy Bentham. The former is enquiring after the 3rd and 4th volumes of Hooke's Roman History, having "recapitulated" the 1st and 2nd volumes. Sandmo points out that this seemingly unremarkable correspondence between two leading intellectuals of the time was actually written when Mill had only just turned six! Mill's almost impossible precocity serves as the ideal backdrop for describing his many later contributions - in both economics and philosophy - during the pages that follow.
Sandmo, an eminent economist in his own right, is never less than evenhanded in his discussion of the key figures and thinkers that have shaped the development of economics. His writing is admirably free of ideological bias and I appreciated not being able to necessarily tell which side the author would personally lean to on different economic questions. That is not to say that he is never critical, however, as EE succinctly highlights the faults in many arguments and theories. (E.g. In an interesting chapter on the economic theories of Karl Marx, we are told how a falling rate of profit is a supposedly inevitable feature of capital accumulation, and how this in turn would eventually lead to the entire system collapsing. Sandmo counters (p. 133): "Each element in his chain of reasoning may be criticized", and convincingly proceeds to do exactly that.)
Of course, not everyone's favourite economist can feature prominently (or even at all) in a book that is designed above all to be concise and readable. However, I think it is fair to say that the major players are all covered in admirable depth, as well as numerous others. I particularly enjoyed the sections on the classicists (Malthus, Say, Ricardo, and Mill) and the forerunners to the "Marginal Revolution" (Gossen, Dupuit, Cournot, and Thünen). These are the kinds of tremendously important figures that are normally relegated to the footnotes in most modern economic curricula, and it was refreshing to get a full sense of their contributions and beliefs. I found it intriguing, for instance, to see how well they had often anticipated later developments in the science and continued to have relevant insights for our own economic circumstances of the present day. (It was equally interesting to get a sense of how their views have either been distorted or successfully reproduced by later thinkers.)
In summary, this book is a wonderful companion to any student of economics, and many others besides. I can easily recommend it.
Top reviews from other countries
Agnar Sandmo hat mich überzeugt: Es gibt zumindest einen inneren roten Faden, eine innere Logik der Entwicklung. Es ist nicht rein willkürlich. Daraus folgt m.E. nicht, dass es sich um kumulierendes Wissen handelt. Agnar Sandmo ist es gelungen die Ökonomie Geschichte "sine studio et ira" zu schreiben. Das ist in einer zutiefst ideologisch geprägten Disziplin eine bemerkenswerte Leistung. Er tut sein Bestes den verschiedenen Denkern gerecht zu werden. Zu was die Markt-Gleichgewichts-Modelle in Gefolge von Walras gut sein sollen, habe ich aber auch nach dieser Lektüre nicht begriffen. Walras selbst ist mathematisch sehr dürftig und auch die modernen Ansätze mit dem Nash-Equilibrium taugen im Grunde nichts. Das Wesen des Kapitalismus ist Schöpferische Zerstörung (Schumpeter). Ein derartiges System kann nicht in einem starren Zustand wie dem Nash-Equilibrium sein. Es ändern sich ständig die Regeln und die Auszahlungen des Spieles. Davon abgesehen ist nicht geklärt, wie man in das Equilibrium kommt, es gibt in der Regel unendlich viele Equilibria, man kann für reale Situationen das Equilibrium nicht berechnen. Man schafft gerade noch vereinfachte Repräsentationen von 2-Personen Poker.
Aber immerhin hat dadurch ein Mathematiker einen Nobelpreis bekommen. Nash selbst hat von dieser Arbeit nicht viel gehalten. Sie ist aus Mathematischer Sicht eine relative triviale Anwendung des Brouwerschen Fixpunktsatzes. Aber das ist eine andere Geschichte.
Nachdem ich meinem Freund vom Buch vorgeschwärmt habe und für Chrillys Goldpreisreport eine kurze Geschichte von Smith bis Marx geschrieben habe, wollte er das Buch selbst lesen. Es war mit Anmerkungen voll geschmiert. Ich habe mich offensichtlich sehr intensiv mit dem Buch beschäftigt. Ich habe ihm eine jungfräuliche Ausgabe gekauft und damit das Buch so zurück gegeben, wie ich es erhalten habe. Wer an diesem Thema interessiert sollte sich das Buch kaufen.
Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on April 3, 2022
It charts the chronology of the major contributions, and contributors, to the development of economic thought from Aristotle's minor observations on economic life to the pioneers of Econometrics in the late twentieth century.
This is a 'page-turner' and the outstanding feature of the text is the accessibility and readability of the material - full credit to the author.
In summary, he is the 'Simon Schama' or 'Brian Cox' of his academic discipline and this will make a perfect Christmas gift in 7 months time.
Highly recommended.










