This innovative book offers retrospective assessments of historical ideas and probes controversial issues in economic methodology. The essays are presented under five broad headings. Part I, Economic Discourse and Method consists of three essays that address timely topics in the methodology of economics. Part II, Philosophical/Analytical Issues in Classical Economics, contains two studies of Adam Smith and one of Thomas Malthus. Part III, Money and Banking Issues in the Nineteenth Century contains two essays that evaluate monetary controversies occurring more or less simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic. Part IV, Equilibrium Models/Debates: Walras, Keynes, Pigou is loosely threaded around the theme of equilibrium models - their nature and significance in the works of Walras, Keynes and Pigou. Part V, the final section, The Discovery and Dissemination of Ideas, deals with the discovery and dissemination of ideas in economics.The volume presents some of the most important recent work in economic methodology and the history of economic thought and will be essential for both economists and libraries specializing in these areas.
