History of Economic Thought as an Intellectual Discipline

D.P. O’Brien, Emeritus Professor of Economics, University of Durham, UK

这本书重申了o重要性f the study of the history of ideas, in the context of the writings of economists. After an initial statement, a case study involving five methodological detours is considered. This is followed by an analysis of a flawed attempt to remedy the manifest deficiencies of the static general equilibrium model. A general overview of classical economics is followed by an account of the world of Alfred Marshall who did so much to bridge the gap between classical and neo-classical economics. The work of two great historians of economics, Edwin Cannan and J.R. McCulloch, is discussed, as well as that of Paul Samuelson who while a leading theorist has defied the narrow essentialism now fashionable, and remained a scholar. There are also three chapters dealing with one of the most learned writers on economics, Friedrich Hayek.

‘O’Brien is an exemplary economist, being at the forefront of the senior generation of economists who have made seminal contributions to the history of thought as part of a broader career in economics, in his case with important papers on customs union theory and industrial economics.’
– Roger Middleton, Journal of the History of Economic Thought