History of economic thought

Introduction
• Textbook
Landreth and Colander, History of economic thought, pdf

• My webpage with the detailed program with references to the chapters of the
book that you have to study

• Website with a database of articles where you can study the origins and the paths
of an economic subject, you can use it as an introduction for your dissertation or
thesis
https://www.jstor.org/

• Another useful website: https://www.hetwebsite.net/het/home.htm

 Program (1)
• Ancient economic thought: until 1500, it includes Ancient Greek
thought and Medieval thought (Scholasticism)

• Mercantilism (from 1500 to 1750)

Until here: preclassical economic thought. Then:

• Physiocracy (1756, entries in Encyclopédie)

 Program (2)
Classical economic thought (1)
• Adam Smith (1723-1790)
• 1776 An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
• Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834)
• 1798 Essay on the Principle of Population
• Jean Baptiste Say (1767-1832)
• 1803 Traité d’économie politique
• David Ricardo (1772-1823)
• 1817 On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation
 Program (3)
Classical economic thought (2)

• John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

• 1848 Principles of Political Economy

• Karl Marx (1818-1883)

• 1848 Communist Manifesto
• 1867 Das Kapital

• We will study Mill after Marx for the affinity of the latter with Ricardo.
 Program (4)
Marginalism

• William Stanley Jevons (1835-1882)

• 1871 Theory of Political Economy
• Carl Menger (1840-1921)
• 1871 Grundsaetze der Volkswirthschaftslehre
• Léon Walras (1834-1910)
• 1874 Eléments d’économie politique pure
 Program (5)
Neoclassical economics (microeconomics)

• Alfred Marshall (1842-1924)

• 1890 Principles of economics

• Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923)

• 1897 Cours d’économie politique
• 1906 Manuale di economia politica

• Antonio de Viti de Marco

 Program (6)
Macroeconomics

• John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946)

• 1936 General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
 Program (7)
Other economists

• Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)

• Johann Heinrich von Thünen (1783-1850)
• Nassau Senior (1790-1864)
• Antoin Augustin Cournot (1801-1877)
• Jules Dupuit (1804-1866)
• Hermann Heinrich Gossen (1810-1858)
• Joseph Alois Schumpeter (1883-1950)
 Methodological introduction
• According to Schumpeter (1954) there are two approaches to this
discipline

• 1. History of economic analysis: only formal theory, separated from

the context. Absolutist approach, internal history, rational
reconstruction

• 2. History of economic thought: study of context (historical,

economic, political, biographical, cultural). Relativist approach,
external history, historical reconstruction
 Heterodox economists
• Marxists
• Neo Ricardians
• Neo Austrians
•…
The truth is in the past

• Keynes rediscovered Mercantilism and Malthus

• Walras rediscovered Cournot
 Mainstream economists
• There is progress in economic theory

• Past thought has contributed to modern economics

• All economic thought is a progression of ideas toward the truth of present

day thought
The truth is in the present

• «If I saw further than other men, it was because I stood on the shoulders of
giants» Newton
 Relativism
The truth is both in the present and in the past

• There is only changes in the questions (according to the context)

• The history of economic thought is made by a series of epochs

• Every theory is correct with respect to the epoch when it has been
elaborated

• There is no progress in economic theory

 Our textbook (P. 5)

• «In our view, neither the absolutist nor the relativist position is convincing in and of itself.

• A more fruitful approach is to view the history of economic thought as a dynamic process
of interaction between forces external and internal to the discipline that bring about new
theoretical developments.

• In a number of cases the mixture of forces bringing about new developments is so

complex that it is difficult to explain the emergence of theory satisfactorily by
emphasizing either absolutist or relativist causes».
 Questions chapter 1
• 3-4-6-10
• Discuss why the heterodox economists are interested in the history of
economic thought
• Discuss why the mainstream economists are interested in the history
of economic thought