The Development of Economic Doctrine: An Introductory Survey

NOTES FOR FURTHER READING

(THE purpose of these notes is not to provide anything with claims to be regarded as an adequate bibliography, but merely to furnish suggestions for further reading. The list is therefore restricted to books which are likely to be available, or at least to be obtainable.)

General.

The student will find two books especially serviceable as general histories: Haney, A History of Economic Thought (Macmillan), and Gide and Rist, A History of Economic Doctrines. The former is the nearest approach to an exhaustive history in English, even though it may have the defect of too conscientiously aiming at completeness; the latter is the standard French work, and from the Physiocrats onwards, it provides a valuable series of studies of successive phases of economic thought. An excellent translation is available (Harrap). The third of the standard works, Ingram, A History of Political Economy (Black), seems to me somewhat unequal, and tends, especially in the last chapter, to become a list of names. Price’s Short History of Political Economy in England (Methuen) is confined to the leading figures in English Political Economy, and combines criticism and biography. For the student who reads German, Oncken, Geschichte der Nationalökonomie (Hirschfeld) provides one of the best and most learned accounts of the pre-Smith period. It is largely devoted to the mediaeval period and the Physiocrats.

Of more recent books five may be mentioned. Quite recently (1930) Spann, Die Haupttheorien der Volks-wirthschaftslehre has been translated under the title Types of Economic Theory (Allen and Unwin). This book has its interesting aspects, but it suffers from being written by the head of the Neo-Romantic School, and it reveals a certain amount of bias, and indeed lack of comprehension, where the author’s sympathies are not engaged. The first two volumes of Gonnard, Histoire des Doctrines Economiques (Librairie Valois) are wholly admirable examples of the felicity and clarity of French exposition. Somehow the third volume seems less happy, at least to an English reader. Mombert, Geschichte der Nationalokonomie (Fischer, Jena), though somewhat ponderous, has two merits; it covers the ground very systematically, and it has very full bibliographies attached to each section. Surányi-Unger, Philosophie in der Volkswirt-schaftslehre (Fischer, Jena, two volumes), does not profess to be a history of Political Economy nor a history of philosophy, but in fact, in its comprehensiveness, it provides a very learned and exhaustive discussion of nearly all aspects of the history of economic doctrine. It is so extensive, however, that it should perhaps be commended only to the leisured or the specialist. Lastly, Schumpeter, Epochen der Dogmen- und Methodengeschichte, contributed to the first part of the Grundriss der Sozialökonomik (Mohr, Tübingen), is an admirable short summary, but one feels that it will yield its full value only to those who bring a considerable measure of knowledge to its perusal. These should be sufficient so far as concerns books of a general character, but the insatiable student will find an extensive bibliography of the older general books in Haney.

Monroe, Early Economic Thought (Harvard University Press), and Gemähling, Les Grands Economistes (Sirey), contain useful selections from leading economists, the former, however, being entirely pre-Smith. The various volumes in the Petite Bibliothèque Economique (published by Guillaumin) give, for each author included in the series, a general introduction, followed by selections which are usually made with discrimination. These are easily obtained second-hand.

Special.

Apart from the foregoing works which are general and comprehensive in their character, it may be convenient to add a few references relating to the separate chapters.

Chapter I. Laistner: Greek Economics.

Chapter II. O’Brien: An Essay on Mediaeval Economic Teaching; Tawney: Religion and the Rise of Capitalism; Ashley: An Introduction to English Economic History and Theory.

The German-reading student who shies at the totality of St. Thomas Aquinas will find all the economic and political sections brought together in Ausgewählte Schriften zur Staats- und Wirtschaftslehre des Thomas von Aquino, edited by Schreyvogl in the Herdflamme series (Fischer, Jena).

Chapter III. There is not so much specialist literature about mercantilist doctrine as might be expected. Mun has been twice reprinted in recent years (Macmillan and Economic History Society Reprints), and there are selections from Mun, Serra and Hornick in Monroe’s Early Economic Thought. Schmoller’s chapter on “The Mercantile System” is also included in Macmillan’s series of “Economic Classics.”

Chapter IV. Higgs: The Physiocrats. Quesnay’s complete works have been edited by Oncken.

Chapter V. For such a great man, Adam Smith has not been too well served in the matter of special studies, but there are biographies of a critical character by J. Rae, F. W. Hirst, R. B. Haldane and H. C. MacPherson. On this and the following chapter, for the more philosophic aspects, reference may be made to Halévy, The Growth of Philosophic Radicalism, and to Bonar, Philosophy and Political Economy in some of their Historical Relations.

Chapter VI. Malthus’s Essay and Ricardo’s Principles are available in Everyman’s Library. The more important essays of Ricardo have been edited by Gonner. The first edition of Malthus has been reissued by the Royal Economic Society. See also Bonar, Malthus and his Work.

Chapters VII, VIII, IX and X. Apart from the original authorities themselves, there is not much literature of a specialist nature available and suitable for the beginner on the subject of these chapters. Rae has been re-cast and re-published as The Sociological Theory of Capital. A study of Sismondi has recently appeared, Simonde de Sismondi as an Economist by Mao-Lan Tuan. Müller’s more important works have been reissued in the Herdflamme series, and the Isolierte Staat is in the Sammlung Sozialwissenschaftlicher Meister (both series with Fischer, Jena). List’s System of National Economy is available in a translation; see also Margaret Hirst, Life of Friedrich List. Bastiat is easily accessible, being the kind of person who still has controversial value. Carey, on the other hand, figures in second-hand catalogues with singular infrequency, all things considered.

Chapter XI. The literature relating to Marx is endless Apart from Capital itself, the following may open the door: Beer, The Life and Teaching of Karl Marx; Salter, Karl Marx and Modern Socialism; Nicholson, The Revival of Marxism; Loria, Karl Marx; Laski, Karl Marx; Lindsay, Karl Marx’s Capital; Böhm-Bawerk, Karl Marx and the Close of the System. For a biography, see the works of Mehring (the standard German work) and Rühle (English translation available). Of the innumerable books on Socialism which inevitably deal with Marxism, two may be mentioned: Skelton, An Analysis of Socialism, and Hearnshaw, A Survey of Socialism. The second of these would, however, have been a more effective criticism if it had maintained a greater semblance of impartiality.

Chapter XII. Two general introductions to the ideas of the Austrian school may be mentioned: Smart, An Introduction to the Theory of Value; Weinberger, Die Grenznützenschule. Of the original authorities, there are English versions of Wieser, Natural Value and Social Economics; and of Böhm-Bawerk, Capital and Interest, and The Positive Theory of Capital. There is no translation of Menger, who, according to Spann, lost faith in his doctrine, and would not allow a second edition to appear in his lifetime. Gossen has been reissued by Prager, Berlin.

Epilogue. Two writers have been courageous enough to endeavour to give (in German) an account of contemporary economic literature: Honegger, Volkswirthschaftliche Systeme der Gegenwart, and Suranyi-Unger, Die Entwicklung der Theoretischen Volkswirtschaftslehre im ersten Viertel des 20 Jahrhunderts. The latter is a too encyclopædic account of all books published anywhere. Homan’s Contemporary Economic Thought is confined to a study of J. B. Clark, Veblen, Marshall, Hobson and W. C. Mitchell. Mr. Keynes’s account of Marshall in the Memorials of Alfred Marshall is an admirable biographical miniature. The Trend of Economics, edited by Tugwell, represents the younger American point of view.