Richard Sturn – författare

Heinz Kurz is recognised internationally as a leading economic theorist and a foremost historian of economic thought. This book pays tribute to his outstanding contributions by bringing together a unique collection of new essays by distinguished economists from around the world.Classical Political Economy and Modern Theory comprises twenty essays, grouped thematically into five sections. Part I examines political economy and its critique, Part II looks at entrepreneurship, evolution and income distribution, Part III discusses Cambridge, Keynes and macroeconomics, Part IV explores crisis and cycles, whilst Part V is dedicated to personal reminiscences. The essays in this book will be an invaluable source of inspiration for economists interested in economic theory and in the evolution of economic thought. They will also be of interest to postgraduate and research students specialising in economic theory and in the history of economic thought.

Many important economic and political debates today refer to the nature and the role of the State: should governments intervene in the economy and interfere with the operation of markets? In which occasions, and how? In order to better understand these questions and the controversies they have raised, this book re-considers the debates crucial for the issues at stake, the most important schools of thought, and the central concepts in an historical perspective. After a tribute to Sir Alan Peacock and the first publication of two hitherto unpublished papers written in the 1950s, the chapters focus on important developments that occurred in Europe during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The final part includes contributions on public economics after World War II, focusing on concepts such as merit goods, externalities and the “Coase theorem”.This book was originally published as a special issue of The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought.

Many important economic and political debates today refer to the nature and the role of the State: should governments intervene in the economy and interfere with the operation of markets? In which occasions, and how? In order to better understand these questions and the controversies they have raised, this book re-considers the debates crucial for the issues at stake, the most important schools of thought, and the central concepts in an historical perspective. After a tribute to Sir Alan Peacock and the first publication of two hitherto unpublished papers written in the 1950s, the chapters focus on important developments that occurred in Europe during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The final part includes contributions on public economics after World War II, focusing on concepts such as merit goods, externalities and the “Coase theorem”.This book was originally published as a special issue of The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought.

Recent years have seen renewed interest in classical political economy. The essays in this collection, presented in honour of Christian Gehrke, explore the central tenets of classical political economy, its comeback in the aftermath of Sraffa’s works and the engagement of major economists.The chapters in the opening section present a gradual elaboration of what became known as the “classical” approach to political economy, with the theory of value and distribution as its core piece. It concerns what Sraffa called the “standpoint” of the classical economist, which revolves around the concept of “social surplus”, its distribution mainly as property incomes, and how “physical real costs” together with income distribution governs relative prices in conditions of free competition. The classical authors dealt with include François Quesnay, Richard Cantillon, David Hume, Adam Smith and especially David Ricardo. The second section explores the resurgence of classical political economy. Major elements of this comeback were, first, a new interpretation of the role of the labour theory of value which especially Ricardo had adopted as a makeshift solution in the absence of a coherent theory of value; and, secondly, the demonstration that relative competitive prices and the general rate of profits can be ascertained in terms of the givens in the classical approach to value and distribution. The implication of the findings within a classical framework of the analysis for marginalist theory are drawn. Finally, there are contributions dealing with the works of major economists, who at different times and in various contexts interacted with and intervened in the debates alluded to or tackled entirely novel problems. This applies especially to the problem of cyclical economic development or business cycles, which was particularly addressed by economists such as Otto Bauer, Friedrich August Hayek and Joseph A. Schumpeter.The book will be of great interest to readers in political economy, history of economic thought and economic theory.

Heinz Kurz is recognised internationally as a leading economic theorist and a foremost historian of economic thought. This book pays tribute to his outstanding contributions by bringing together a unique collection of new essays by distinguished economists from around the world.Classical Political Economy and Modern Theory comprises twenty essays, grouped thematically into five sections. Part I examines political economy and its critique, Part II looks at entrepreneurship, evolution and income distribution, Part III discusses Cambridge, Keynes and macroeconomics, Part IV explores crisis and cycles, whilst Part V is dedicated to personal reminiscences. The essays in this book will be an invaluable source of inspiration for economists interested in economic theory and in the evolution of economic thought. They will also be of interest to postgraduate and research students specialising in economic theory and in the history of economic thought.

This thought-provoking book discusses the concept of progress in economics and investigates whether any advance has been made in its different spheres of research. The authors look back at the history, successes and failures of their respective fields and thoroughly examine the notion of progress from an epistemological and methodological perspective. The idea of progress is particularly significant as the authors regard it as an essentially contested concept which can be defined in many ways - theoretically or empirically; locally or globally; or as encouraging or impeding the existence of other research traditions. The authors discuss the idea that for progress to make any sense there must be an accumulation of knowledge built up over time rather than the replacement of ideas by each successive generation. Accordingly, they are not concerned with estimating the price of progress, reminiscing in the past, or assessing what has been lost. Instead they apply the complex mechanisms and machinery of the discipline to sub-fields such as normative economics, monetary economics, trade and location theory, Austrian economics and classical economics to critically assess whether progress has been made in these areas of research.Bringing together authoritative and wide-ranging contributions by leading scholars, this book will challenge and engage those interested in philosophy, economic methodology and the history of economic thought. It will also appeal to economists in general who are interested in the advancement of their profession.