Description
Book SynopsisIn the century after "Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations", the British economy was transformed. This title considers how grand ideas about the connections between individual liberty, free markets, and social and economic justice sometimes attributed to Smith are as much the product of gradual modifications and changes wrought by later writers.
Trade ReviewWinner of the 2011 David and Elaine Spitz Prize, International Conference for the Study of Political Thought "This is an important, sound analysis of the interrelation between political and economic theory in the century after Adam Smith... This book exemplifies the best contemporary work on the nexus of political and economic theory."--Choice "Milgate and Stimson produce a very careful and detailed analysis of early economists' ideas on issues shaping the modern concept of the political order, in the process displaying a rich array of competing ideas... [T]his book provides a striking perspective on classical political economy. The reader will benefit from some prior familiarity with Smith, Malthus, Ricardo and J. S. Mill, along with the Utilitarians."--Donald Frey, EH.net (Economic History Association) "In the last decade, scholars have moved away from the interpretation of Smith as a simple economic determinist who espoused lasissez-faire economics, and Milgate and Simpson have advanced their undertaking immensely with this book."--Donald Stabile, Australian Economic History Review "Milgate and Stimson have undertaken ... enormous scholarship in writing their book. Scholars and students of the history of economic ideas, as well as of the history of political economy and political thought in nineteenth-century Europe can benefit enormously from this book."--Farhad Rassekh, History of Economic Ideas
Table of ContentsPreface vii CHAPTER ONE: Introduction 1 CHAPTER TWO: Adam Smith's Political Odyssey 10 CHAPTER THREE: The Rise and Fall of Civil Society 33 CHAPTER FOUR: Economic Life and Political Life 60 CHAPTER FIVE: The Economic Machine and the Invisible Hand 77 CHAPTER SIX: The Figure of Smith 97 CHAPTER SEVEN: Population and Political Economy 121 CHAPTER EIGHT: Utility, Property, and Political Participation 139 CHAPTER NINE: Economic Opinion on Parliamentary Reform 160 CHAPTER TEN: Utopias and Stationary States 186 CHAPTER ELEVEN: Labour Defended 217 CHAPTER TWELVE: Individual Liberty and the Liberty of Trade 237 CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Two Critiques of Classical Political Economy 258 References 269 Index 299
