A Companion to the History of Economic Thought

Warren J. Samuels, Jeff E. Biddle, John B. Davis

Wiley, Aug 1, 2003 - Business & Economics - 712 pages

Assembling contributions from top thinkers in the field, this Companion offers a comprehensive and sophisticated exploration of the history of economic thought. The volume has a threefold focus: the history of economic thought, the history of economics as a discipline, and the historiography of economic thought. The essays in the first part focus on the history of economic ideas, with topics ranging from ancient, medieval, and Islamic thought, to Marxian, Utopian, and postwar thought. The second part explores important historiographical topics, including the sociology of economics, methodology, exegesis, and textuality.

Each essay serves as a complex introduction to the chosen topic, and gathered together they provide an extensive synthesis of the field as a whole. The volume is an essential resource for anyone researching or studying the history of economic thought, and will also serve as an excellent text for courses in this area.

About the author

Warren J. Samuels is Professor Emeritus, and former Director of Graduate Programs for the Economics Department at Michigan State University. He is former President of the History of Economics Society and former President of the Association for Social Economics. In 1997 he was made Distinguished Fellow, History of Economics Society. Professor Samuels was Editor of the Journal of Economic Issues and is presently Co-editor of the Journal of Income Distribution. He has been on the Editorial Boards of 16 journals, has written or edited over 40 books, and is widely published in top journals.

Jeff E. Biddle is Professor of Economics at Michigan State University. He is widely published in the field of history of economic thought in such journals as The History of Political Economy, Journal of Labor Economics, and American Economic Review.

John B. Davis is Professor of Economics at Marquette University, and is former President of the History of Economics Society. Professor Davis specializes in history of economic thought and is renowned for his work on John Maynard Keynes. Recently he was a visiting fellow at Clare Hall, Cambridge, UK where he conducted research on Keynes' unpublished manuscripts. Davis is Editor of the Review of Social Economy and his research has been published in The Economic Journal, Cambridge Journal of Economics, Journal of Post-Keynesian Economics, and The History of Political Economics.

Bibliographic information

• Title: A Companion to the History of Economic Thought; Blackwell Companions to Contemporary Economics
• Editors: Warren J. Samuels, Jeff E. Biddle, John B. Davis
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Wiley, 2003
• ISBN: 0631225730, 9780631225737
• Length: 712 pages
• Subjects: Business & Economics / Economic History; Business & Economics / Economics / General; Business & Economics / Economics / Theory; Business & Economics / General