A History of Economic Doctrines From the Time of the Physiocrats to the Present Day (Classic Reprint) - Tapa blanda

Excerpt from A History of Economic Doctrines From the Time of the Physiocrats to the Present Day

Such prominence given to the history of theory must seem excessive, especially when it is remembered that in economic history, as distinct from the history of economics, there is not a single chair in the whole of France. Those who believe that the French people are somewhat prone to ideology will not fail to see in this fact a somewhat unfortunate manifestation of that tendency. Elsewhere the positions are reversed, the premier place being given to the study of facts rather than ideas. Extreme partisans of the historical method, especially the advocates of historical materialism, regard doctrines and systems as nothing better than a pale reflection of facts. It is a part of their belief that facts are the only things that matter, and that the history of the evolution of property or the rise Of the wage system may prove quite as instructive as the history of the controversies concerning the nature of the right of property or the wages-fund theory.

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This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from A History of Economic Doctrines From the Time of the Physiocrats to the Present Day

Gide's Principles of Political Economy, of which there are several translations, is probably better known to English students than any similar work of foreign origin on the subject, and many readers of that book will possibly welcome an opportunity of perusing the new volume which Professor Gide has produced in collaboration with Professor Rist.

The remarkable dearth of literature of this kind in English may be pleaded in further extenuation of the attempt to present the work in an English garb, and readers of the Preface will be able to contrast the position in this country with the very different condition of things prevailing across the Channel. The contrast might even be carried a stage farther, and were our energies at the moment not otherwise absorbed it would be interesting to speculate upon the historical causes which have made Germany supreme in economic history, which influenced France in her choice of the history of theory, and which decreed that England should on the whole remain faithful to the tradition of the "pure doctrine." Can it be that something like a "territorial division of labour" applies in matters intellectual as well as economic?

Be that as it may, we can hardly pretend to be satisfied with the position of our country in this matter of doctrinal history. Of the line names mentioned in the Preface, only two are English, namely, Ashley and Ingram; and it is no disparagement to Ashley's illuminating study of mediæval England to say that the main interest of his work is not doctrinal, and that Cunningham's name might with equal appropriateness have been included in the list.

Omitting both Ashley and Cunningham, whose labours have been largely confined to the realm of economic history, we are thus left with Ingram's short but learned work as the sole contribution of English scholarship to the history of economic thought.

English readers may possibly be puzzled by the omission of any references, except a stray quotation or two, to Cannan's History of the Theories of Production and Distribution.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.