Search results for ""author steven g. medema""

Adam Smith turned economic theory on its head in 1776 when he declared that the pursuit of self-interest mediated by the market itself--not by government--led, via an invisible hand, to the greatest possible welfare for society as a whole. The Hesitant Hand examines how subsequent economic thinkers have challenged or reaffirmed Smith's doctrine, some contending that society needs government to intervene on its behalf when the marketplace falters, others arguing that government interference ultimately benefits neither the market nor society. Steven Medema explores what has been perhaps the central controversy in modern economics from Smith to today. He traces the theory of market failure from the 1840s through the 1950s and subsequent attacks on this view by the Chicago and Virginia schools. Medema follows the debate from John Stuart Mill through the Cambridge welfare tradition of Henry Sidgwick, Alfred Marshall, and A. C. Pigou, and looks at Ronald Coase's challenge to the Cambridge approach and the rise of critiques affirming Smith's doctrine anew. He shows how, following the marginal revolution, neoclassical economists, like the preclassical theorists before Smith, believed government can mitigate the adverse consequences of self-interested behavior, yet how the backlash against this view, led by the Chicago and Virginia schools, demonstrated that self-interest can also impact government, leaving society with a choice among imperfect alternatives. The Hesitant Hand demonstrates how government's economic role continues to be bound up in questions about the effects of self-interest on the greater good.

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Ronald Coase, the 1991 Nobel laureate in Economics, has had a profound impact on the way that economists and others view both the firm and the relationship between the legal and economic systems. This authoritative collection brings together the diverse body of literature that reflects Ronald Coase's influence on economic analysis from his early work on the theory of the firm and transaction costs to Coase's theorem and the development of the field of law and economics. The Legacy of Ronald Coase in Economic Analysis features the two seminal articles by Coase which have changed the way economists think about their subject -'The Nature of the Firm' and 'The Problem of Social Cost' - along with a group of the most important articles that have extended and built upon his work. These include contributions by James M. Buchanan, Benjamin Klein, Douglass C. North, Richard A. Posner and Oliver E. Williamson, as well as a specially-prepared, introduction to Coase's work and a comprehensive bibliography of Coase's writings.

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This beautiful, authoritative volume in the popular 'Sterling Milestones' series looks at the vital intersection among business, finance and money. From the philosophical dialogues of Ancient Greece and the moral contemplations of Medieval Europe to deregulation and cryptocurrency, 'The Economics Book' presents 250 milestones in the science of the production, sale and purchase of goods and services. These concise, engaging, informative essays examine the full gamut of subjects, revealing both the entertaining stories and the world-changing developments in the field. They shed thoughtful light on the field's significant subdisciplines, including: mercantilism, the Enlightenment, communism, econometrics, Keynesianism, macroeconomics, game theory, cliometrics, market design theory and the Keynesian Resurgence that emerged in the wake of the Great Recession. This vibrant, colourfully illustrated collection will captivate you with a bird's-eye view of the development of the world's markets, what has shaped and affected them and what drives them today.

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This volume explores the social, political, and intellectual contexts in which twentieth-century notions of market failure were developed. Markets can fail to perform in ways that best promote the larger interests of society: this idea is as old as economics itself and is one of the most crucial issues with which economic thinkers have had to grapple. However, while the history of the theory of market failure has received some critical examination, little attention has been paid to the larger contexts in which these theoretical analyses emerged. Contributors to this volume directly examine these contexts to gain a greater understanding of and appreciation for the influence of external ideas and events on the development of economic theories and to stimulate additional scholarship around this important facet of the history of economics. Contributors. Nahid Aslanbeigui, Roger E. Backhouse, Bradley W. Bateman, Sebastian Berger, David Colander, J. Daniel Hammond, Marianne Johnson, Thomas C. Leonard, Alain Marciano, Steven G. Medema, Guy Oakes, Malcolm Rutherford, John D. Singleton

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This stimulating and authoritative book features original essays from leading scholars in the discipline - each of whom addresses the question: how should economists do economics? What emerges is a diverse, constructive commentary on how economics is done and how it should be done.Leading thinkers from a wide variety of perspectives and fields address issues such as the scope of economics, the corpus of theory and its stature, the process of theory construction, the place of mathematical formalism, the role of quantitative analysis, the place of institutions in economic analysis, and, inter alia, technical methods of research. Foundations of Research in Economics: How do Economists do Economics? brings together some of the leading figures from many different schools of thought. This volume ranges across all aspects of professional discourse, ensuring that it will be widely read by economists active in many different areas of research while being of particular interest to economic theorists, methodologists and historians of economics.

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The 'Chicago Price Theory' approach to economics has been credited with shedding light on many fundamental questions relating to traditional economics and renowned scholars including Milton Friedman, Frank Knight, George Stigler, Jacob Viner and others have each played a key role in the development of investigative techniques and methodologies. This comprehensive three-volume collection brings together the most important papers from leading economists published in the past 120 years covering a wide range of topics and issues. Along with an original introduction by the editors, this authoritative set will be of immense value to students, researchers, scholars and practitioners interested in 'Chicago Price Theory'.

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Lionel Robbins's now famous lectures on the history of economic thought comprise one of the greatest accounts since World War II of the evolution of economic ideas. This volume represents the first time those lectures have been published. Lord Robbins (1898-1984) was a remarkably accomplished thinker, writer, and public figure. He made important contributions to economic theory, methodology, and policy analysis, directed the economic section of Winston Churchill's War Cabinet, and served as chairman of the Financial Times. As a historian of economic ideas, he ranks with Joseph Schumpeter and Jacob Viner as one of the foremost scholars of the century. These lectures, delivered at the London School of Economics between 1979 and 1981 and tape-recorded by Robbins's grandson, display his mastery of the intellectual history of economics, his infectious enthusiasm for the subject, and his eloquence and incisive wit. They cover a broad chronological range, beginning with Plato, Aristotle, and Aquinas, focusing extensively on Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus and the classicals, and finishing with a discussion of moderns and marginalists from Marx to Alfred Marshall. Robbins takes a varied and inclusive approach to intellectual history. As he says in his first lecture: "I shall go my own sweet way--sometimes talk about doctrine, sometimes talk about persons, sometimes talk about periods." The lectures are united by Robbins's conviction that it is impossible to understand adequately contemporary institutions and social sciences without understanding the ideas behind their development. Authoritative yet accessible, combining the immediacy of the spoken word with Robbins's exceptional talent for clear, well-organized exposition, this volume will be welcomed by anyone interested in the intellectual origins of the modern world.

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The Economy as Process of Valuation sheds new light on the potential benefits of concept and theory formation along dynamic and evolutionary lines for understanding economic processes. The emphasis is on aspects of the economy as a process of valuation rather than as a mechanistic result of transcendental forces yielding unique determinate results.The book begins by examining instrumentalism and the process of valuation, arguing that to choose involves the process of valuation. It then focuses on Coases's work on institutions and considers the implications for a variety of subjects including the theory of the firm and the theory and policy of externalities - all aspects of the economy as a process of valuation. This is followed by analyses of the concepts of coercion and cost in economics, with special reference to one agent's interest being another agent's cost. Each elicits key aspects of analysis, valuation and the complexities and conflictual nature of valuation processes and structures. Finally, Kenneth Boulding's work on 'The Image' is examined, arguing that definitions of reality and values derive, in part from language.

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