Description
Book SynopsisIn this enlightening book, John Berdell addresses the widely-held belief that classical economics distanced itself from policy issues and public debates regarding the effects of international trade on economic growth in advanced economies. He argues, through a detailed consideration of the evolution and structure of Hume's, Smith's, Ricardo's and Malthus' analyses, that it is not only contemporary international economic theory which takes account of these issues.
Berdell uses a series of non-linear dynamic models to illustrate and analyse important aspects of each author's discussion of the interactions between trade and growth. The findings are then extended to create a comparison of the classical models with recent empirical research in this area. Berdell suggests that John Stuart Mill's plan to synthesise and extend Hume's, Smith's and Ricardo's analysis of commercial society was rendered intractable by the limitations of Hume's associationalist psychology.
This work will be of great interest to both historians of economic ideas and economists concerned with modelling the interactions between growth and international trade.
Trade Review'. . . this is a highly original, stimulating contribution to the study of classical economics. . . The book will be of interest to historians of economics for its path-breaking attempt to follow Waterman's suggestions for writing good history, and it will be of interest to contemporary practitioners for its rational reconstructions.'Table of ContentsContents: Preface 1. Historical Dynamics: Cosmopolitan and International Part I: From Cosmopolitan to International: Four Classical Visions of Commercial Openness 2. Trading in Innovation: Hume and the Case for Freer Trade 3. Trading Animosity: Adam Smith and the Ambiguity of Nations 4. Stability and Openness: the Malthus–Ricardo Debate Part II: Some Classical Dynamics of Open Economy Growth 5. The Present Relevance of Hume’s Open Economy Monetary Dynamics 6. A Dynamic Model of the Division of Labor and the Extent of the Market 7. Effective Demand and Technical Change in the Ricardo–Malthus Debate Concluding Thoughts 8. Classical Political Economy: Back to Their Future? Bibliography Index
