Edward Elgar Publishing THE EMERGENCE OF ECONOMIC IDEAS: Essays in the History of Economics (Economists of the Twentieth Century series)

The most persistent theme of Nathan Rosenberg's work is a concern with the emergence and diffusion of economic ideas. Bringing together Professor Rosenberg's many contributions to the history of economic thought, this volume offers a series of important insights on how economics itself emerged as a distinct discipline. The Emergence of Economic Ideas extends our understanding of the development of capitalist institutions and the manner in which these institutions have contributed to the unique technological dynamism of capitalist societies. The book also - and necessarily - focuses upon the emergence of ideas about capitalism. That is to say, the discipline of economics is itself a body of ideas, and analytical techniques, that have been developed over the past two centuries in order to explain how capitalist economies have developed and how they work. Professor Rosenberg examines the key contributions - from Mandeville, Adam Smith, Babbage, Marx, Schumpeter and Stigler - in the growth of this critical collection of ideas. Economists interested in the emergence of their discipline and historians of ideas will welcome this collection which will make Professor Rosenberg's many substantial contributions more widely accessible to teachers, students and researchers. Review 'These engaging essays are presented, as is normal in this series, in their original format, yielding the benefit of the original pagination and the aesthetic cost of a highly variable typeface.' -- Ian Steedman,The Manchester School About the Author The late Nathan Rosenberg, formerly Fairleigh S. Dickinson Jr., Professor of Public Policy, Department of Economics, Stanford University, US