scholarly journals Journal of the History of Economic Thought Preprints - Beyond Say’s Law: The Significance of J.-B. Say’s Monetary Views

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guy Numa ◽  
Alain Béraud
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
Complete Picture ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Monetary Theory ◽  
Economic Crises ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Many ◽  
Proper Context

Say’s notion of débouchés has not been correctly understood, for lack of proper context within the framework of his broader political economy. We revisit Say’s writings on this topic, retrace the concept’s evolution, and lay out a framework that better illustrates the essence of Say’s thinking. We argue that Say’s theories on money and economic crises are much richer and more sophisticated than the traditional interpretation of Say’s law would suggest. Say himself acknowledged that his monetary theory contradicted his initial articulations of the law, a point often missed by contemporary observers. This essay paints a more complete picture of Say’s work, showing how monetary changes could, under his framework, affect real variables. In so doing, it cuts against the many simplistic interpretations that pervade the existing literature on the subject.

scholarly journals BEYOND SAY’S LAW: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF J.-B. SAY’S MONETARY VIEWS

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alain Béraud ◽  
Guy Numa
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Complete Picture ◽  
Monetary Theory ◽  
Economic Crises ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Many ◽  
Proper Context

Jean-Baptiste Say’s notion ofdébouchéshas not been correctly understood, due to the lack of proper context within the framework of his broader political economy. We revisit Say’s writings on this topic, retrace the concept’s evolution, and lay out a framework that better illustrates the essence of Say’s thinking. We argue that Say’s theories on money and economic crises are much richer and more sophisticated than the traditional interpretation of Say’s Law would suggest. Say himself acknowledged that his monetary theory contradicted his initial articulations of the law, a point often missed by contemporary observers. This essay paints a more complete picture of Say’s work, showing how monetary changes could, under his framework, affect real variables. In so doing, it cuts against the many simplistic interpretations that pervade the existing literature on the subject.

Essays of a “comparatively progressive” economist (On the 150th birth anniversary of Vladimir Geleznoff)

2019 ◽  
pp. 135-145
Author(s):  
Viktor A. Popov
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
The Political ◽  
Russian History ◽  
Working Ability ◽  
Intellectual Inquiry ◽  
History Of

Deep comprehension of the advanced economic theory, the talent of lecturer enforced by the outstanding working ability forwarded Vladimir Geleznoff scarcely at the end of his thirties to prepare the publication of “The essays of the political economy” (1898). The subsequent publishing success (8 editions in Russia, the 1918­-year edition in Germany) sufficiently demonstrates that Geleznoff well succeded in meeting the intellectual inquiry of the cross­road epoch of the Russian history and by that taking the worthful place in the history of economic thought in Russia. Being an acknowledged historian of science V. Geleznoff was the first and up to now one of the few to demonstrate the worldwide community of economists the theoretically saturated view of Russian economic thought in its most fruitful period (end of XIX — first quarter of XX century).

scholarly journals Is history of economic thought a "serious" subject?

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Cristina Marcuzzo
Keyword(s):  
Research Methods ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Contextual Analysis ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Textual Exegesis ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the nature of research methods in the history of economic thought. In reviewing the "techniques" which are involved in the discipline, four broader categories are identified: a) textual exegesis; b) "rational reconstructions"; c) "contextual analysis"; and d) "historical narrative". After examining these different styles of doing history of economic thought, the paper addresses the question of its appraisal, namely what is good history of economic thought. Moreover, it is argued that there is a distinction to be made between doing economics and doing history of economic thought. The latter requires the greatest possible respect for contexts and texts, both published and unpublished; the former entails constructing a theoretical framework that is in some respects freer, not bound by derivation, from the authors. Finally, the paper draws upon Econlit records to assess what has been done in the subject in the last two decades in order to frame some considerations on how the past may impinge on the future.

The Pragmatic Basis of Keynes's Political Economy

1946 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dudley Dillard
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Great Depression ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
John Maynard Keynes ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Widespread Adoption ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
Second World

Although we still live in the shadow of the years between the First and the Second World Wars, already it seems quite clear that future historians of economic thought will regard John Maynard Keynes as the outstanding economist of this turbulent period. As one writer has recently said, “The rapid and widespread adoption of the Keynesian theory by contemporary economists, particularly by those who at first were highly critical, will probably be recorded in the future history of economic thought as an extraordinary happening.” Book after book by leading economists acknowledges a heavy debt to the stimulating thought of Lord Keynes. The younger generation of economists, especially those whose thinking matured during the great depression of the thirties, have been particularly influenced by him.

scholarly journals Journal of the History of Economic Thought Preprints - A.J. Brown, 'Phillips’ Curve', and Economic Networks in the 1950s

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth John Button
Keyword(s):  
Phillips Curve ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Economic Networks ◽  
Wage Change ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Ordinal Interpretation

This paper is concerned with examining the role of the English economist Arthur (A.J.) Brown in the 1950s debate surrounding the wage-change unemployment relationship. While the publication of William (Bill) Phillips’ 1958 paper, and the subsequent moniker of the “Phillips Curve” attracted a wealth of attention, Brown’s book on the subject, The Great Inflation, and his later work on inflation, has received much less. Here the focus is on redressing somewhat this situation by looking at Brown’s work to see how much it predates Phillips’ paper, and what differences there are to it. We also considers this within the changing institutional structure of English economic networks in the 1950s that led to a relatively rapid acceptance of Phillips’ analysis, and in many cases, to a strong, ordinal interpretation of the Phillips Curve that overshadowed Brown’s work.

scholarly journals Journal of the History of Economic Thought Preprints - Monetary Theory and Cameralist Economic Management, c. 1500-1900 A.D.

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Rössner
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Monetary Theory ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Economic Management ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common

More than England and other states the German principalities were, in the preindustrial period, hampered by silver outflow and persistent pressures on the balance of payments which led to idiosyncratic models and strategies of economic development usually but not entirely helpfully called “Cameralism”. It is less well understood how Cameralism as a policy of order and development and monetary theory went together. The present paper will attempt a sketch of these working mechanisms as well as provide a few angles for new perspectives and future research. A first section after the brief introduction studies general issues of development in relation to balance of payment constraints (II), followed by the discourses on whether the domestic currency ought to remain stable in terms of intrinsic (silver) value (III), or whether it may be debased so as to raise domestic exports and competitiveness (IV). Both options were considered, at times and by varying actors, as valid strategies of promoting economic development, especially export-led growth, although most contemporaries viewed coin debasement as harmful to the economy. A fifth section discusses an alternative to the aforementioned strategies, by raising effective monetary mass through increasing velocity. Since the middle ages and into the nineteenth century the German economic tradition had a clear understanding of how velocity could be managed and the common weal stimulated by an increase in “vivacity” of circulation (V). Upon hindsight it appears that we find here a powerful programme towards promoting economic development and Europe’s rise towards capitalism. A conclusion will offer some thoughts for further research (VI).

How Should We Approach the History of Economic Thought, Fact, Fiction or Moral Tale?

1992 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger E. Backhouse
Keyword(s):  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Healthy State ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Traditional Approaches ◽  
The Way

This paper reviews the way in which constructivist or anti-representationalist arguments have been used as an argument in favor of changing the way we write the history of economic thought. It is argued that though such arguments provide some important new perspectives on the subject, their use as a comprehensive methodological critique of “traditional” approaches to the subject rests on the theses that a non-foundationalist methodology is impossible, and that we can assume that contemporary economics is in a healthy state. If these theses are not accepted, the case against “traditional” histories collapses.

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