Economics 320W

About the course.

This is the first half of a two-semester sequence in the history of economic thought. (The two halves may be taken independently.) It covers economic ideas from ancient times through the "marginalist revolution" of the late nineteenth century. The second course will begin again with the marginalist revolution - covering the topic in greater detail - and will proceed through present-day thought and methodology.

The course will attempt as much as possible to connect the history of economic thought with the broader history of ideas. Thus, it will not focus exclusively on (for example) the history of economic doctrines or of analytic techniques (although neither of these - particularly the latter - will be neglected).

Course requirements.

There will be a final exam and one long (20-30 pp.) research paper. The exam is intended to encourage breadth and synthesis; and the paper is intended to encourage depth in one area and to give you practice in professional scholarship.

I am asking that your paper be based largely on materials from the Goldsmith's-Kress microfilm collection in the library. The collection consists of writings by preclassical and early classical writers. Your paper might consist in an intellectual profile of one of the more obscure writers whom we skip over in class. Or, more interestingly, your paper might deal with an economic issue -- some aspect of trade or monetary policy, for instance -- as it is treated by a representative sample of writers during a particular period. The paper will be due on the last day of class, but I will expect you to have selected a topic in consultation with me fairly early in the term. I expect a written proposal of two pages plus references by February 18.

If you turn in a final draft by the end of the semester, you will receive a grade for the course immediately. If you do not, you will receive an incomplete. As department policy does not look kindly on incompletes, you should start thinking about the paper now, and plan your semester accordingly.

Since this is a "W" course, I intend to look at writing quality in commenting on the draft(s) - and in evaluating the final version - of the papers. (This will hold especially true for native speakers of English.)

Reading material.

The main required reading for the course will be from primary sources. I've asked the bookstore to order the following books.

• Mark Blaug, Economic Theory in Retrospect. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 4th edition, 1985. [Unfortunately, the bookstore tells me that this is out of stock pending the 5th edition, which will be out in the spring. So I have put the book on reserve. I also have a copy of the 3rd edition that I can lend out.]

• Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, ed., Campbell, Skinner, and Todd (Glasgow edition). Indianapolis: Liberty Classics, two volumes, paper. (Other editions acceptable.)

• David Ricardo, The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation. Philadephia: Porcupine Press.

• T. R. Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population (ed. Antony Flew). Penguin Books.

The best comprehensive works in the history of economic thought are probably Joseph Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis (Oxford, 1954), and Mark Blaug, Economic Theory in Retrospect (Cambridge, 4th edition, 1985). Schumpeter asserts that he's writing a book about the history of economic analysis - i.e., about the history of economic tools and techniques - but then proceeds to roam broadly and magisterially through the history of ideas. By contrast, Blaug delivers what Schumpeter promises. Blaug is the closest thing to a textbook we will have in this course. Karl Pribram's A History of Economic Reasoning (Johns Hopkins, 1983) is also excellent, though not as well known. I've also placed on reserve a copy of The Growth of Economic Thought by Henry William Spiegel (third edition, Duke University Press, 1991). This is an undergraduate text that reads a bit like an encyclopedia; you may find it a useful guide if you get lost in the thicket of names and dates.

1. Introduction. Themes for the course.

1.1 General themes.

• Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis, Oxford, 1954, Part I, Chs. 1-4. (On reserve.)
• Sir Karl Popper, Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge, New York: Harper, second edition, 1965, "Introduction: On the Sources of Knowledge and Ignorance."
• F. A. Hayek, "The Theory of Complex Phenomena" and "The Results of Human Action not of Human Design," in Studies in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, Chicago, 1967.

1.2 The philosophy of science and economic methodology.

1.2.1 The philosophy of science.

• Popper, op. cit., ch 1, "Science: Conjectures and Refutations."
• Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chicago, second edition, 1970.
• Imre Lakatos and Alan Musgrave, eds., Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge, Cambridge, 1970.

1.2.2 The methodology of economics.

• Bruce Caldwell, Beyond Positivism: Economic Methodology in the Twentieth Century, second edition. London: Routledge, 1993.
• F. A. Hayek, The Counter-Revolution of Science, Liberty Press, second edition, 1979. (On reserve.)
• Spiro T. Latsis, ed., Method and Appraisal in Economics, Cambridge, 1976.

2. Early economic thought. Classical. Medieval. Renaissance.

2.1 Required reading.

• Plato, The Republic, Cornford edition, especially chapters VI-VII, X-XI, and XVIII-XXII. (On reserve.)
• Aristotle, selections from the Politics and the Ethics in A. E. Monroe, ed., Early Economic Thought. (On reserve.)
• St. Thomas Aquinas, selections from the Summa Theologica, in Monroe, op. cit. (On reserve.)

2.2 Recommended readings.

• Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis, Part II, Chs. 1-2.
• Sir Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies, vol. 1, generally but especially chapter 10. (On reserve.)
• Karl Polanyi, "Aristotle Discovers the Economy," in Dalton, ed., Primitive, Archaic, and Modern Economies: Essays of Karl Polanyi, pp. 78-115.
• S. Todd Lowry, The Archaeology of Economic Ideas: the Classical Greek Tradition. Durham: Duke University Press, 1987.

3. Mercantilism.

3.1 Required reading.

• Thomas Mun, England's Treasure by Forraign Trade, excerpted in A. E. Monroe, Early Economic Thought, pp. 171-197. (On reserve.)
• 3.2 Recommended reading.
• Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Book IV, Chapters i-vii.
• Eli Heckscher, Mercantilism, two volumes, London: Allen and Unwin, second edition, 1955. (On reserve for Econ 305.)
• Jacob Viner, Studies in the Theory of International Trade. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1937, chapters 1 and 2.
• John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory (various editions), chapter 23. (But Cf. Heckscher's response in the appendix to volume 2 above.)
• Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis, part II, chapters 3, 6, and 7.

4. Refined Mercantilism and Physiocracy.

4.1 Required reading.

• Sir William Petty, "A Treatise of Taxes and Contributions," excerpted in A. E. Monroe, ed., Early Economic Thought. (On reserve.)
• Richard Cantillon, "Essay on the Nature of Commerce in General," in Monroe, op. cit. (On reserve.)
• Francois Quesnay, "Tableau Economique," ibid. (On reserve.)
• A. R. J. Turgot, "Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth," ibid. (On reserve.)
• 4.2 Recommended reading.
• J. J. Spengler, "Richard Cantillon: First of the Moderns," in Spengler and Allen, eds., Essays in Economic Thought. (On reserve.)
• Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis, part II, chapters 4 and 6. (On reserve.)
• Ronald Meek, The Economics of Physiocracy, London: Allen and Unwin, 1962.
• Almarin Phillips, "The Tableau d'Economique as a Simple Leontief Model," Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1955.
• Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Book IV, chapter ix.

5. Early liberalism and the Scottish Enlightenment.

5.1 Required reading.

• David Hume, Political Discourses, in A. E. Monroe, ed., Early Economic Thought. (On reserve.)
• John Locke, Second Treatise of Government (various editions), esp. chapter V.
• 5.2 Recommended reading.
• John Gray, Liberalism, Minnesota, 1986. (On reserve.)
• Karen Vaughn, John Locke, Chicago, 1980. (On reserve.)
• E. Rotwein, "Introduction," to David Hume, Writings on Economics, Wisconsin, 1955.
• F. A. Hayek, Studies in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, Chicago, 1967, chapters 5, 6, and 7.
• Ronald Hamowy, The Scottish Enlightenment and the Theory of Spontaneous Order, Carbondale, 1987. (On reserve.)
• Jane Rendall, The Origin of the Scottish Enlightenment, 1707-1776, New York: St. Martin's Press.
• William Letwin, The Origins of Scientific Economics, London: Methuen, 1963, chapter 6.

6. Adam Smith.

6.1 Required reading.

• Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Book I (all, though you can skip the lengthy "digression on silver" +pp. 195-260 in the Glasgow edition]); Book II, especially chapters I, III, and V; and Book IV, especially chapters I, II, and IX.

6.2 Recommended reading.

• Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Book III.
• Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Indianapolis: Liberty Classics, 1976, ad lib.
• Mark Blaug, Economic Theory in Retrospect, chapter 2.
• A. O. Hirschman, The Passions and the Interests, Princeton, 1977. (On reserve.)
• Thomas Sowell, Classical Economics Reconsidered, Princeton, 1974. (On reserve.)
• G. P. O'Driscoll, ed., Adam Smith and Modern Political Economy, Iowa State, 1979, esp. chapters 1 (Sowell), 2 (Rosenberg), and 8 (Buchanan). (On reserve.)
• Nathan Rosenberg, "Some Institutional Aspects of the Wealth of Nations," Journal of Political Economy, December 1960, pp 557-70, and "Adam Smith on the Division of Labour: Two Views or One?" Economica, vol. 32, May, 1965.
• Donald Winch, Adam Smith's Politics, Cambridge, 1978.
• Richard F. Teichgraeber, III, "Free Trade" and Moral Philosophy, Durham: Duke University Press, 1986.
• Hla Myint, "Adam Smith's Theory of International Trade in the Perspective of International Development," Economica, August 1977, pp. 231-48.
• P. J. McNulty, "A Note on the History of Perfect Competition," Journal of Political Economy, vol. 75, August 1967. See also McNulty, "Economic Theory and the Meaning of Competition," Quarterly Journal of Economics, volume 82, 1968.
• G. B. Richardson, "Adam Smith on Competition and Increasing Returns," in Andrew S. Skinner and Thomas Wilson, eds., Essays on Adam Smith. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975.

7. J.-B. Say and Classical monetary theory.

• Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis, pp. 615-625. (On reserve.)
• Sowell, Classical Economics Reconsidered, chapter II. (On reserve.)
• Blaug, Economic Theory in Retrospect, chapter 5.
• W. J. Baumol, "Say's (At Least) Eight Laws, Or What Say and James Mill May Really Have Meant," Economica, vol. 44, no. 174, May 1977, pp. 145-62.
• Axel Leijonhufvud and Robert Clower, "Say's Principle, What It Means and Doesn't Mean," in Leijonhufvud, Information and Coordination, Oxford, 1981, pp. 79-102 (On reserve.)

8. Thomas Malthus.

8.1 Required reading.

• Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population. (First Essay.)

8.2 Recommended reading.

• Malthus, A Summary View.
• Malthus, Principles of Political Economy (Variorum edition, ed. by John Pullen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989): Introduction; Book I, Chapter 1; Book II, chapter 1. (On reserve.)
• Antony Flew, Editor's Introduction to Pelican Edition of Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population.
• Donald Winch, Malthus. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987.
• Mark Blaug, Economic Theory in Retrospect, chapter 3.
• Thomas Sowell, Classical Economics Reconsidered, chapters II and III. (On reserve.)
• J. M. Keynes, "Robert Malthus: First of the Cambridge Economists," in Essays in Biography, New York: Norton, 1951.
• J. M. Keynes, The General Theory, Book I.

9. David Ricardo.

9.1 Required reading.

• David Ricardo, The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, esp. chapters 1-8, 19-21, 26, 30-31.

9.2 Recommended reading.

• Mark Blaug, Economic Theory in Retrospect, chapter 4.
• Robert Dorfman, "Thomas Robert Malthus and David Ricardo," Journal of Economic Perspectives 3(3): 153-164 (1989).
• Thomas Sowell, Classical Economics Reconsidered, chapter III. (On reserve.)
• George Stigler, "Ricardo and the 93% Labor Theory of Value," American Economic Review, 1958.
• W. J. Baumol, Economic Dynamics, 3rd ed., New York: Macmillan, 1970, Chapter 2.

10. The reaction to capitalism -- conservatives, utopians, socialists.

• John Stuart Mill, "Coleridge," in F. R. Leavis, ed., Mill on Bentham and Coleridge, Cambridge, 1980. (On reserve.)
• Robert Heilbroner, The Worldly Philosophers, Touchstone Books, 6th ed., 1986, chapter 5. (On reserve.)
• F. A. Hayek, The Counter-Revolution of Science, Chicago, 1952 (2nd ed., Liberty Press, 1979), parts II and III. (On reserve.)

11. John Stuart Mill and Classical Economics in perspective.

• John Stuart Mill, "Bentham," in Leavis, ed., op. cit. (On reserve.)
• John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy, esp. Book I, chapter 5; Book III, chapters 1-6, 15-16; and Book IV, chapters 1-4.
• John Stuart Mill, Essays on Some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy, essays II and V.
• Mark Blaug, Economic Theory in Retrospect, chapter 6.
• Pedro Schwartz, The New Political Economy of J. S. Mill, Duke University Press, 1972.
• Samuel Hollander, The Economics of John Stuart Mill, Toronto, 1985, two volumes.
• F. A. Hayek, John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor, London, 1951.

12. Karl Marx.

12.1 Primary sources.

• Jon Elster, ed., Karl Marx: A Reader. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986, ad. lib.
• 12.2 Recommended secondary sources.
• P. C. Roberts and Matthew Stephenson, Marx's Theory of Exchange, Alienation, and Crisis, Stanford: Hoover, 1973. (On reserve.)
• Joseph A. Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, New York: Harper, 1942 (1976), Part I: "The Marxian Doctrine." (On reserve.)
• Thomas Sowell, Marxism: Philosophy and Economics, New York: William Morrow, 1985.
• Jon Elster, Making Sense of Marx, Cambridge, 1984.
• Mark Blaug, Economic Theory in Retrospect, chapter 7.
• 12.3 Biographical and philosophical background.
• Edmund Wilson, To the Finland Station, Macmillan, 1972, part II.
• Robert Heilbroner, The Worldly Philosophers, Touchstone Books, 6th ed., 1986, chapter 6. (On reserve.)
• Jacques Barzun, Darwin, Marx, Wagner, Doubleday, 1958, part II.
• Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies, Volume 2: "The High Tide of Prophecy: Hegel, Marx, and the Aftermath." Princeton, 1966.
• Thorstein Veblen, "The Socialist Economics of Karl Marx," in The Place of Science in Modern Civilisation. New York: Russell and Russell, 1961, reprinted in Spiegel, The Development of Economic Thought. New York: Wiley, 1952.
• 12.4 The "transformation problem."
• R. L. Meek, "Some Notes on the 'Transformation Problem,'" Economic Journal, LXVI (March 1956), pp. 94-107, reprinted in Spengler and Allen, chapter 19. (On reserve.)
• William J. Baumol, "The Transformation of Values: What Marx 'Really' Meant (An Interpretation)," Journal of Economic Literature, March 1974, and references cited there.
• 12.5 Alienation.
• P. C. Roberts, Alienation and the Soviet Economy, Albuquerque: UNM Press, 1971. (On reserve.)
• Bertil Ollman, Alienation: Marx's Conception of Man in Capitalist Society, Cambridge, 1971.

13. The Marginalist Revolution.

13.1 Primary sources.

• W. S. Jevons, Theory of Political Economy. New York: Kelley and Millman, 1951 [1871]. (On reserve.)
• Carl Menger, Principles of Economics. New York: NYU Press, 1981 [1871]. (On reserve.)
• Léon Walras, Elements of Pure Economics, trans. William Jaffé, Homewood, Ill.: Richard D. Irwin, 1954 [1874]. (On reserve.)

13.2 Recommended secondary sources.

• Joseph A. Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis, part IV, chapters 5, 6, and 7.
• Mark Blaug, Economic Theory in Retrospect, chapter 8.
• R. D. C. Black, et al., eds., The Marginal Revolution in Economics. Durham: Duke University Press, 1973, reprint of Fall, 1972, issue of HOPE.
• William Jaffé, "Menger, Jevons, and Walras De-homogenized," Economic Inquiry, vol. 14, December 1976, p. 511.
• Phillip Mirowski, "Physics and the Marginalist Revolution," Cambridge Journal of Economics 8: 361-79 (1984).
• J. Huston McCulloch, "The Austrian Theory of the Marginal Use and of Ordinal Marginal Utility," Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie, vol. 37, no. 3-4, 1977, pp. 249-280.
• J. M. Keynes, "William Stanley Jevons," in idem., Essays in Biography. New York: W. W. Norton, 1951.