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'Big and timely ... Coggan's account of the rise of the world economy is accessible and mercifully free of jargon' Sunday Times More tracks the development of the world economy, starting with the first obsidian blades that made their way from what is now Turkey to the Iran-Iraq border 7000 years before Christ, and ending with the Sino-American trade war that we are in right now. Taking history in great strides, More illustrates broad changes by examining details from the design of the standard medieval cottage to the stranglehold that Paris's three belt-buckle-making guilds exercised over innovation in the field of holding up trousers. Along the way Coggan reveals that historical economies were far more sophisticated than we might imagine - tied together by webs of credit and financial instruments much like the modern economy. Coggan shows how, at every step of our long journey, it was connections between people - allowing more trade, more specialisation, more ideas and more freedom - that always created the conditions of prosperity.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• 1. The structure of ancient economy
• 2. The domestic economy
• 3. The community of households: informal
• 4. From households to palaces: leaders, chiefs, and their households
• 5. Financing formal institutions: systems of direct production
• 6. Taxation, rent, and patronage: mobilization of institutional resources
• 7. The role of merchants and trade in ancient society
• 8. The nature and origin of independent craft production
• 9. On markets and marketplaces
• 10. On first principles of the ancient economy: a concluding discussion.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

In this book, Kenneth Hirth provides a comparative view of the organization of ancient and premodern society and economy. Hirth establishes that humans adapted to their environments, not as individuals but in the social groups where they lived and worked out the details of their livelihoods. He explores the variation in economic organization used by simple and complex societies to procure, produce, and distribute resources required by both individual households and the social and political institutions that they supported. Drawing on a wealth of archaeological, historic, and ethnographic information, he develops and applies an analytical framework for studying ancient societies that range from the hunting and gathering groups of native North America, to the large state societies of both the New and Old Worlds. Hirth demonstrates that despite differences in transportation and communication technologies, the economic organization of ancient and modern societies are not as different as we sometimes think.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• 1. The structure of ancient economy
• 2. The domestic economy
• 3. The community of households: informal
• 4. From households to palaces: leaders, chiefs, and their households
• 5. Financing formal institutions: systems of direct production
• 6. Taxation, rent, and patronage: mobilization of institutional resources
• 7. The role of merchants and trade in ancient society
• 8. The nature and origin of independent craft production
• 9. On markets and marketplaces
• 10. On first principles of the ancient economy: a concluding discussion.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

In this book, Kenneth Hirth provides a comparative view of the organization of ancient and premodern society and economy. Hirth establishes that humans adapted to their environments, not as individuals but in the social groups where they lived and worked out the details of their livelihoods. He explores the variation in economic organization used by simple and complex societies to procure, produce, and distribute resources required by both individual households and the social and political institutions that they supported. Drawing on a wealth of archaeological, historic, and ethnographic information, he develops and applies an analytical framework for studying ancient societies that range from the hunting and gathering groups of native North America, to the large state societies of both the New and Old Worlds. Hirth demonstrates that despite differences in transportation and communication technologies, the economic organization of ancient and modern societies are not as different as we sometimes think.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Chapter 1. Specializations in Switzerland in the Nineteenth Century: Evolution of Trade Patterns and Growth Model
• Leo CharlesChapter 2. Trends and Institutional Sources of Financing Russia's Human Capital Formation (Late 19th - Early 21st centuries)
• Dmitry V. Didenko Chapter 3. The Past's Long Shadow: A Systematic Review and Network Analysis of Economic History
• Gregori Galofre-Vila Chapter 4. Improving Deflators for Estimating Canadian Economic Growth, 1870-1900
• Vincent Geloso and Michael Hinton Chapter 5. The Political Economy of State-Chartered Banks in Early 20th Century Texas
• Linda M. Hooks Chapter 6. The Antebellum Slave Trade: Numbers and Impact on the Balance of Payments
• Lawrence H. Officer and Samuel H. Williamson.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

In this 36th volume of Research in Economic History, editors Christopher Hanes and Susan Wolcott assemble a cohort of experts to present new historical data, analyses of historical questions, and an investigation of historians' networks. The volume covers a range of ideas, beginning with a look in to new data from the sources of Swiss comparative advantage in the time of the first globalization, and of funding for investments in Russian human capital from the late imperial period to the present. A third paper turns to a newly-created database of articles published in major economic history journals from 1980-2018, demonstrating the breadth of scholars' networks and the types of questions they asked. Then, the volume pivots to North American economic development. Looking at deflators when estimating Canadian economic growth between 1870-1900, a new, more complete price index for Canada is presented which should alter scholars' views on the contributions of the country to the North Atlantic economy. Another paper expands the literature on the unusual US system of state and local banks in the early 20th century. Finally, the volume presents new estimates on the number and value of slaves entering the US during the Antebellum period.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introduction: Globalization and Economic Change in History Giorgio Riello (University of Warwick, UK) and Tirthankar Roy (London School of Economics, UK) PART I: DIVERGENCE IN GLOBAL HISTORY
• 1. The Great Divergence Debate Prasannan Parthasarathi (Boston College, USA) and Kenneth Pomeranz (University of Chicago, USA)
• 2. Data and Dating the Great Divergence Jack A. Goldstone (George Mason University, USA)
• 3. Useful and Reliable Knowledge in Europe and China Patrick O'Brien (University of Oxford, UK)
• 4. Toolkits, Creativity and Divergences: Technology in Global History Karel Davids (VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands)
• 5. Families, Firms and Polities: Pre-modern Institution, Economic Growth and the Great Divergence Regina Grafe (European University Institute, Italy) and Maarten Prak (Utrecht University, the Netherlands)
• 6. Plantations and the Great Divergence Trevor Burnard (University of Melbourne, Australia)
• 7. Consumption and Global History in the Early Modern Period Maxine Berg (University of Warwick, UK) PART II: THE EMERGENCE OF A WORLD ECONOMY
• 8. Trade and the Emergence of the World Economy, 1500-2000 Giorgio Riello (University of Warwick, UK) and Tirthankar Roy (London School of Economics, UK)
• 9. The Environment and the World Economy since 1500 John McNeill (Georgetown University, USA)
• 10. Labour Regimes and Labour Mobility from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Century Alessandro Stanziani (University of Paris, France)
• 11. Varieties of Industrialization: An Asian Regional Perspective Kaoru Sugihara (Kyoto University, Japan)
• 12. Global Commodities and Commodity Chains Bernd-Stefan Grewe (Freiburg University, Germany)
• 13. The Rise of Global Finance, 1850-2000 Youssef Cassis (European University Institute, Italy) PART III: REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES TO GLOBAL ECONOMIC CHANGE
• 14. Africa: Economic Change South of the Sahara since c. 1500 Gareth Austin, The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland
• 15. The New World and the Global Silver Economy, 1500-1800 Alejandra Irigoin (London School of Economics, UK)
• 16. Economic Change in East Asia from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Century Debin Ma (London School of Economics, UK)
• 17. Europe and the World, 1500-2000 Peer Vries (University of Vienna, Austria)
• 18. South Asia in the World Economy Bishnupriya Gupta (University of Warwick, UK)
• 19. Changing Destinies in the Economy of Southeast Asia J. Thomas Lindblad (Leiden University, the Netherlands) Bibliography Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

What are the problems addressed by the growing field of global economic history? What debates and methodologies does it engage with? As Global Economic History shows, there are many answers to these questions. Riello and Roy, alongside 20 leading academics from the US, UK, Europe, Australia and Japan, explain why a global perspective matters to economic history. The impressive cast recruited by the editors brings together top scholars in their respective areas of expertise, including John McNeill, Patrick O'Brien, and Prasannan Parthasarathi. An ambitious scope of topics ranges from the `Great Divergence' to the rise of global finance, to the New World and the global silver economy. Chapters are organized both thematically (Divergence in Global History and Emergence of a World Economy), and geographically (Regional Perspectives on Global Economic Change), ensuring the global perspective required on these challenging courses today. The result is a textbook which provides students with a quick and confident grasp of the field and its essential issues.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Without economic history, economics runs the risk of being too abstract or parochial, of failing to notice precedents, trends and cycles, of overlooking the long-run and thus misunderstanding `how we got here'. Recent financial and economic crises illustrate spectacularly how the economics profession has not learnt from its past. This important and unique book addresses this problem by demonstrating the power of historical thinking in economic research. Concise chapters guide economics lecturers and their students through the field of economic history, demonstrating the use of historical thinking in economic research, and advising them on how they can actively engage with economic history in their teaching and learning. Blum and Colvin bring together important voices in the field to show readers how they can use their existing economics training to explore different facets of economic history. Each chapter introduces a question or topic, historical context or research method and explores how they can be used in economics scholarship and pedagogy. In a century characterised to date by economic uncertainty, bubbles and crashes, An Economist's Guide to Economic History is essential reading. For further information visit http://www.blumandcolvin.org.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Taking the Long View
• Chapter 3: Fortune 500 and Wall Street Leviathans
• Chapter 4: Corporate Hegemony and the Mutual Support Network
• Chapter 5: Contemporary Neoliberalism
• Chapter 6: Everyday Neoliberalism
• Chapter 7: The Crises of the Eighties and the Ascent of the Greenspan Era
• Chapter 8: The Washington Consensus and the Epic Crises of the Nineties
• Chapter 9: The 2008 Meltdown
• Chapter 10: Microfinance and Loan Sharking
• Chapter 11: Will Peer-to-Peer and Equity Crowdfunding Be Different?
• Chapter 12: The Neoliberal Oxymoron of Green Capitalism
• Chapter 13: Conclusion.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

As we tour the 400 year history of capitalism through its various phases of development, financial system instability is always there lurking in the shadows. The historical record attests that the processes of aggregating capital for real investment are inescapably vulnerable to risk, manic speculation, unserviceable debt, and crises; and with each episode of instability, a trail of devastation follows. Economic historians such as Hyman Minsky, Charles Kindleberger and others have studied this history and have exposed certain boom-bust patterns that have a way of stubbornly repeating themselves. This book posits that the large-scale financial crises that the world has experienced over the last 30 years are more or less the latest segments in this narrative, but with some distinct characteristics. In the period spanning the stock market crash of 1987 to the banking crisis of 2008 and its aftermath - the Greenspan Era - there were key institutional and ideological developments rooted in contemporary neoliberalism that have reshaped the historic rise-and-fall patterns to become more severe and widespread. In this important volume, Magnuson suggests the next episode will be a massive financial cyclone that will send us all tumbling toward a perilous future.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• 1. Global economic history: Towards an interpretive turn Part I Anglo-American traditions
• 2. Economic history in Britain: The 'first industrial nation'
• 3. Beyond the old and the new: Economic history in the United States
• 4. Making a country (and an economy): Economic history in Canada
• 5. The rise and fall of Australian economic history Part II West European roots and responses
• 6. The legacy of German economic history: Archetypes and global diffusion
• 7. Economic history in France: A Sonderweg?
• 8. Icarus' flight: Economic history in the Italian mirror
• 9. Manufacturing the historic compromise: Swedish economic history and the triumph of the Swedish model
• 10. Spanish economic history: Lights and shadows in a process of convergence
• 11. The Low Countries, intellectual borderlands of economic history Part III Turning to the East
• 12. Economic history from the Russian Empire to the Russian Federation
• 13. A periphery at the centre of attention: Economic history in Poland
• 14. Continuity and discontinuity in the Czech and Slovak historiographies
• 15. Crossroads and Turns in Hungarian economic history Part IV The wider world
• 16. Economic history in Middle Eurasia: Beyond histories of stagnation and deficiencies
• 17. The history of Indian economic history
• 18. Economic history in China: Tradition, divergence and potential
• 19. Japanese economic history: Exploring diversity in development
• 20. Latin American economic history: Looking backwards for the future
• 21. Mexico's economic history: Much more than cliometrics and dependency theory
• 22. The formation of economic history in Brazil: From the South Atlantic to South America
• 23. Beyond a footnote: Indigenous scholars and the writing of West African economic history
• 24. Reflections on the economic history of South Africa
• 25. African encounters with global narratives Part V Challenges and ways ahead
• 26. Culture, power and contestation: Multiple roads from the past to the future.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

The Routledge Handbook of Global Economic History documents and interprets the development of economic history as a global discipline from the later nineteenth century to the present day. Exploring the normative and relativistic nature of different schools and traditions of thought, this handbook not only examines current paradigmatic western approaches, but also those conceived in less open societies and in varied economic, political and cultural contexts. In doing so, this book clears the way for greater critical understanding and a more genuinely global approach to economic history. This handbook brings together leading international contributors in order to systematically address cultural and intellectual traditions around the globe. Many of these are exposed for consideration for the first time in English. The chapters explore dominant ideas and historiographical trends, and open them up to critical transnational perspectives. This volume is essential reading for both academics and students in economic and social history. As this field of study is very much a bridge between the social sciences and humanities, the issues examined in the book will also have relevance for those seeking to understand the evolution of other academic disciplines under the pressures of varied economic, political and cultural circumstances, on both national and global scales.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introduction : The enlightened economist / Avner Greif, Lynne Kiesling, and John V.C. Nye ; Neither feast nor famine : England before the Industrial Revolution / Cormac Ó Gráda ; Progress, useful knowledge, and the origins of the Industrial Revolution / Joel Mokyr ; Coercion and exchange : how did markets evolve? / Avner Grief ; Meat consumption in nineteenth-century New York : Quantity, distribution, and quality, or notes on the "antebellum puzzle" / Gergely Baics ; Funding empire : Risk, diversification, and the underwriting of early modern sovereign loans / Mauricio Drelichman and Hans-Joachim Voth ; Establishing a new order : The growth of the state and the decline of witch trials in France / Noel D. Johnson, Mark Koyama, and John V.C. Nye -- II. Innovation. Increasing market concentration in British banking, 1885 to 1925 / Fabio Braggion, Narly R.D. Dwarkasing, and Lyndon Moore ; The catapult of riches : The airplane as a creative macroinvention / Peter B. Meyer ; England's eighteenth-century demand for high-quality workmanship : Evidence from apprenticeship, 1710-1770 / Karine van der Beek ; A growth agenda for economic history / Rick Szostak -- III. The Industrial Revolution. Amidst poverty and prejudice : Black and Irish Civil War veterans / Hoyt Bleakley, Louis Cain, and Joseph Ferrie ; How Britain lost its competitive edge : Competence in the Second Industrial Revolution / Ralf R. Meisenzahl ; Regulating child labor : The European experience / Carolyn Tuttle and Simone A. Wegge ; Decomposing the wage gap : Within- and between-occupation gender wage gaps at a nineteenth-century textile firm / Joyce Burnette ; The context of English industrialization / Eric Jones

This book brings together a group of leading economic historians to examine how institutions, innovation, and industrialization have determined the development of nations. Presented in honor of Joel Mokyr--arguably the preeminent economic historian of his generation--these wide-ranging essays address a host of core economic questions. What are the origins of markets? How do governments shape our economic fortunes? What role has entrepreneurship played in the rise and success of capitalism? Tackling these and other issues, the book looks at coercion and exchange in the markets of twelfth-century China, sovereign debt in the age of Philip II of Spain, the regulation of child labor in nineteenth-century Europe, meat provisioning in pre-Civil War New York, aircraft manufacturing before World War I, and more. The book also features an essay that surveys Mokyr's important contributions to the field of economic history, and an essay by Mokyr himself on the origins of the Industrial Revolution. In addition to the editors, the contributors are Gergely Baics, Hoyt Bleakley, Fabio Braggion, Joyce Burnette, Louis Cain, Mauricio Drelichman, Narly Dwarkasing, Joseph Ferrie, Noel Johnson, Eric Jones, Mark Koyama, Ralf Meisenzahl, Peter Meyer, Joel Mokyr, Lyndon Moore, Cormac O Grada, Rick Szostak, Carolyn Tuttle, Karine van der Beek, Hans-Joachim Voth, and Simone Wegge.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introduction 1 The Enlightened Economist Avner Greif, Lynne Kiesling, & John V. C. Nye (Editors) 1Neither Feast nor Famine 7 England before the Industrial Revolution Cormac O'Grada 2Progress, Useful Knowledge , and the Origins of the Industrial Revolution 33 Joel Mokyr I Institutions 3Coercion and Exchange 71 How Did Markets Evolve? Avner Greif 4Meat Consumption in Nineteenth-Century New York 97 Quantity, Distribution, and Quality, or Notes on the "Antebellum Puzzle" Gergely Baics 5Funding Empire 129 Risk, Diversification, and the Underwriting of Early Modern Sovereign Loans Mauricio Drelichman and Hans-Joachim Voth 6Establishing a New Order 149 The Growth of the State and the Decline of Witch Trials in France Noel D. Johnson, Mark Koyama, and John V. C. Nye II Innovation 7Increasing Market Concentration in British Banking, 1885 to 1925 179 Fabio Braggion, Narly R.D. Dwarkasing, and Lyndon Moore 8The Catapult of Riches 201 The Airplane as a Creative Macroinvention Peter B. Meyer 9England's Eighteenth-Century Demand for High-Quality Workmanship 225 Evidence from Apprenticeship, 1710-1770 Karine van der Beek 10A Growth Agenda for Economic History 245 Rick Szostak III The Industrial Revolution 11Amidst Poverty and Prejudice 277 Black and Irish Civil War Veterans Hoyt Bleakley, Louis Cain, and Joseph Ferrie 12How Britain Lost Its Competitive Edge 307 Competence in the Second Industrial Revolution Ralf R. Meisenzahl 13Regulating Child Labor 337 The European Experience Carolyn Tuttle and Simone A. Wegge 14Decomposing the Wage Gap 379 Within- and Between-Occupation Gender Wage Gaps at a Nineteenth-Century Textile Firm Joyce Burnette 15The Context of English Industrialization 397 Eric Jones Contributors 411 Index 417.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

This book brings together a group of leading economic historians to examine how institutions, innovation, and industrialization have determined the development of nations. Presented in honor of Joel Mokyr--arguably the preeminent economic historian of his generation--these wide-ranging essays address a host of core economic questions. What are the origins of markets? How do governments shape our economic fortunes? What role has entrepreneurship played in the rise and success of capitalism? Tackling these and other issues, the book looks at coercion and exchange in the markets of twelfth-century China, sovereign debt in the age of Philip II of Spain, the regulation of child labor in nineteenth-century Europe, meat provisioning in pre-Civil War New York, aircraft manufacturing before World War I, and more. The book also features an essay that surveys Mokyr's important contributions to the field of economic history, and an essay by Mokyr himself on the origins of the Industrial Revolution. In addition to the editors, the contributors are Gergely Baics, Hoyt Bleakley, Fabio Braggion, Joyce Burnette, Louis Cain, Mauricio Drelichman, Narly Dwarkasing, Joseph Ferrie, Noel Johnson, Eric Jones, Mark Koyama, Ralf Meisenzahl, Peter Meyer, Joel Mokyr, Lyndon Moore, Cormac O Grada, Rick Szostak, Carolyn Tuttle, Karine van der Beek, Hans-Joachim Voth, and Simone Wegge.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introduction 1 The Enlightened Economist Avner Greif, Lynne Kiesling, & John V. C. Nye (Editors) 1Neither Feast nor Famine 7 England before the Industrial Revolution Cormac O'Grada 2Progress, Useful Knowledge , and the Origins of the Industrial Revolution 33 Joel Mokyr I Institutions 3Coercion and Exchange 71 How Did Markets Evolve? Avner Greif 4Meat Consumption in Nineteenth-Century New York 97 Quantity, Distribution, and Quality, or Notes on the "Antebellum Puzzle" Gergely Baics 5Funding Empire 129 Risk, Diversification, and the Underwriting of Early Modern Sovereign Loans Mauricio Drelichman and Hans-Joachim Voth 6Establishing a New Order 149 The Growth of the State and the Decline of Witch Trials in France Noel D. Johnson, Mark Koyama, and John V. C. Nye II Innovation 7Increasing Market Concentration in British Banking, 1885 to 1925 179 Fabio Braggion, Narly R.D. Dwarkasing, and Lyndon Moore 8The Catapult of Riches 201 The Airplane as a Creative Macroinvention Peter B. Meyer 9England's Eighteenth-Century Demand for High-Quality Workmanship 225 Evidence from Apprenticeship, 1710-1770 Karine van der Beek 10A Growth Agenda for Economic History 245 Rick Szostak III The Industrial Revolution 11Amidst Poverty and Prejudice 277 Black and Irish Civil War Veterans Hoyt Bleakley, Louis Cain, and Joseph Ferrie 12How Britain Lost Its Competitive Edge 307 Competence in the Second Industrial Revolution Ralf R. Meisenzahl 13Regulating Child Labor 337 The European Experience Carolyn Tuttle and Simone A. Wegge 14Decomposing the Wage Gap 379 Within- and Between-Occupation Gender Wage Gaps at a Nineteenth-Century Textile Firm Joyce Burnette 15The Context of English Industrialization 397 Eric Jones Contributors 411 Index 417.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

This book brings together a group of leading economic historians to examine how institutions, innovation, and industrialization have determined the development of nations. Presented in honor of Joel Mokyr--arguably the preeminent economic historian of his generation--these wide-ranging essays address a host of core economic questions. What are the origins of markets? How do governments shape our economic fortunes? What role has entrepreneurship played in the rise and success of capitalism? Tackling these and other issues, the book looks at coercion and exchange in the markets of twelfth-century China, sovereign debt in the age of Philip II of Spain, the regulation of child labor in nineteenth-century Europe, meat provisioning in pre-Civil War New York, aircraft manufacturing before World War I, and more. The book also features an essay that surveys Mokyr's important contributions to the field of economic history, and an essay by Mokyr himself on the origins of the Industrial Revolution. In addition to the editors, the contributors are Gergely Baics, Hoyt Bleakley, Fabio Braggion, Joyce Burnette, Louis Cain, Mauricio Drelichman, Narly Dwarkasing, Joseph Ferrie, Noel Johnson, Eric Jones, Mark Koyama, Ralf Meisenzahl, Peter Meyer, Joel Mokyr, Lyndon Moore, Cormac O Grada, Rick Szostak, Carolyn Tuttle, Karine van der Beek, Hans-Joachim Voth, and Simone Wegge.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• 1. Introduction Larry Neal
• 2. Babylonia in the first millennium BCE - economic growth in times of empire Michael Jursa
• 3. Capitalism and the ancient Greek economy Alain Bresson
• 4. Re-constructing the Roman economy Willem M. Jongman
• 5. Trans-Asian trade, or the Silk Road deconstructed (antiquity, middle ages) Etienne de la Vaissiere
• 6. China before capitalism R. B. Wong
• 7. Capitalism in India in the very long run Tirthankar Roy
• 8. Institutional change and economic development in the Middle East, 700-1800 Sevket Pamuk
• 9. Markets and coercion in medieval Europe Karl Gunnar Persson
• 10. The via italiana to capitalism Luciano Pezzolo
• 11. The Low Countries Oscar Gelderblom and Joost Jonker
• 12. The formation of states and transitions to modern economies: England, Europe, and Asia compared Patrick Karl O'Brien
• 13. Capitalism and dependency in Latin America Richard Salvucci
• 14. The emergence of African capitalism Morten Jerven
• 15. Native Americans and exchange: strategies and interactions before 1800 Ann M. Carlos and Frank D. Lewis
• 16. British and European industrialization C. Knick Harley
• 17. America: capitalism's promised land Jeremy Atack
• 18. The political economy of rising capitalism Jose Luis Cardoso
• Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

The first volume of The Cambridge History of Capitalism provides a comprehensive account of the evolution of capitalism from its earliest beginnings. Starting with its distant origins in ancient Babylon, successive chapters trace progression up to the 'Promised Land' of capitalism in America. Adopting a wide geographical coverage and comparative perspective, the international team of authors discuss the contributions of Greek, Roman and Asian civilizations to the development of capitalism, as well as the Chinese, Indian and Arab empires. They determine what features of modern capitalism were present at each time and place, and why the various precursors of capitalism did not survive. Looking at the eventual success of medieval Europe and the examples of city-states in northern Italy and the Low Countries, the authors address how British mercantilism led to European imitations and American successes, and ultimately, how capitalism became global.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Nine narrative chapters and a conclusion provide an accessible history of key premises and assumptions in the mental models proposed by several major economists since the 1776 publication of Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations and show how-and why-those models and their underlying assumptions have changed over time. The book addresses the legacies of major economists, describes their historical and analytical influence, documents the interaction among various schools of thought as well as how they differ, and the implications that this history has for economics and the policy sciences in the decades ahead. The author focuses on the mental maps economists have created in an attempt to understand the forces that destroyed "order, " explaining how these maps incorporate a non-mathematical presentation of evolving dictionaries, novel analytical perspectives, new evidence, and a reliance on value assumptions. He traces the underlying assumptions, continuities, and differences among major economists including Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, David Ricardo, Alfred Marshall, John Maynard Keynes, Karl Marx, Thorstein Veblen, and Joseph Schumpeter. Readers will grasp how the classic theories still influence economists' mental models today and come away with a basic economic literacy that puts this important social science in historical context. This is essential reading for all the social and policy sciences.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)