Interesting because I'm interested in that subject
How useful was it?
Pretty useful
Would you read it again?
Yes
Value for money
Good
Advantages:
In English, in paperback
Disadvantages:
You tell me
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Further to your comments a review update :
A History of Economics the past as the present by John Kenneth Galbraith who is Paul.M.Warburg Professor of Economics emeritus of Harvard University. He has published many books, this included.
MORE ABOUT GALBRAITH
Born in Ontario and a graduate of the University of California. He was Social Science Research Fellow at Cambridge University. During WW11 he was Director of the Office of Economic Security Policy in the Department of State. He received the Medal of Freedom. He has been closely identified with the Democratic Party (USA). He is an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College Cambridge. He is a member for literature of the American Academy and Institute. He delivered the Reith Lectures in 1966. He is married with 3 sons.
*** THE BOOK ***
The paper back version I bought is 324 pages long and includes a comprehensive index. Copyright 1987. The contents are built around economic concepts and development of theory through time. From pre Greek times through "The Classical Tradition". "The Personality of Money". " Trade and Trusts". "The Welfare State". And covers the great thinkers who brought them to our attention. Adam Smith, John Maynard Keynes amongst others.
IN MORE DETAIL
The ancient Greeks & Romans, the city-state as a market did not exist as consumer good economies, rather based on slave labour. The importance of rent for revenue and purchasing power. Also taxes. Most discussion of this era is to be found in the writings of Aristotle (384 - 322 BC). It is rather scarce and crowded out by discussion on ethics. Some work on money. Discussion on communism and motivation as formalised by Plato.
Christianity & the development of economic theory from the birth of Christ until now. Money lenders (the Fugers, Imhofs and Welsers). The growing importance of money (Oresme and coinage). The works of St Thomas Aquinas and a just price.
Mercantilism (middle of 15th century to the end of the 18th) - state control of the economy, banks were started in Italy then North Europe. The development of Merchant Towns, Venice, Amsterdam, London. Exploration of the new world. Gold. The pursuit of wealth became respectable.
1776 Adam Smith and his book The Wealth of Nations according to Galbraith brings to an end the era of Mercantilism. The French design concerned with the work of the physiocrats and Les Economistes and their influence on Adam Smith. The concept of natural law and laissez faire. The importance of agriculture in wealth creation. Taxation. The Industrial revolution, Adam Smith on the division of labour and specialisation. A move in status from the merchant (purchase and sales) to the industrialist (there production). All considered in the context of British cloth production, iron and steel. And capitalism.
The refinement and affirmation of the system described by Smith and considered by Jean Baptist Say, Thomas Malthus, David Ricardo. The development of the concept of the entrepreneur by the Frenchman Say. Galbraith details background biography of these men in enough detail to maintain interest but not swamp with detail or detract from the formulation of their economic theories. Still influential today. This takes us nicely to the beginning decades of the 20th century were Galbraith sees the essential of the classical system or the neo classical system of Alfred Marshall as in place. Galbraith considers its defence in the 19 century by writers such as John Stuart Mill (Utilitarianism) and his predecessor Jeremy Bentham (considered by Marshall "on the whole the most influential of the immediate successors of Adam Smith").
The late 19th century and 20th century consider critiques of the classical system propounded by Karl Marx and later Maynard Keynes (the development of macroeconomics) amongst others. Here as with the others Galbraith brings alive what many may call dry economic and political theory.
Money is considered in a succinct 1 chapter and almost amusingly so (Galbraith covers it more fully in his book Money - whence it came, where it went). Within a few pages we are discussing the USA. Further chapters deal with problems of the 20th century and the experience of the recently emerging US system. Discussion on trade and trust and American concerns, including some new and exciting names and theories. Thorsten Veblen for example. As we move forward in history problems and solutions become increasingly detailed. Galbraith still manages to enthral and entrance with considerable eloquence.
The great Depression, Keynes and the Welfare State and subsequent economics take up the later half of the book. Continual references to small incidents and his own experience creep in to entertain us with example. Further chapters deal with the importance of mathematical theory in economics, scientific certainty and precision. Econometrics for computer simulations and models (Jan Tinbergen the Dutch economist). Finally inflation, OPEC and the development of theory developed by the US economist Milton Friedman. Japanese capitalism and the problems of mature economies such as the UK.
To quote the Times educational Supplement..."Economics as practiced is obsessively concerned with the future. Yet economic ideas are very much a product of their time and place. If we are to understand modern economics, we can do so only through an understanding of it's past, including the powerful and vested interests that mould the theories to their financial advantage. This is the message of john Kenneth Galbraith's brilliant account of the history of economics."
*** MY OPINION ***
I bought and read the book in 1991 and enjoyed it immensely. As an economics graduate and educator I found it relatively understandable. I think you would need an understanding of economics at about A level to really grasp the fundamentals and enjoy the text (anybody with alternatives who can describe it the same way please get in contact). Galbraith really helps bring them alive. The theories of economists like Ricardo, Marx and Keynes are simplified and subsequent economic theory just so. This I think is his best text to date and probably subsequently. A new edition may well include more work on the rising European Union. Worth the time. The cover picture (see photo below - sorry for quality - update to follow) is The Money Lender and His Wife by Metsys in the Louvre.
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