Routledge Studies in the History of Economics
About the Book Series
Economics continues to draw inspiration from the ideas of past economists. This series provides an arena for current debate in the study of the history of economics. Adhering to no single methodology, it includes volumes which explore the ideas of individual economists, major schools of thought, and the evolution of key ideas and theories within economic analysis.
Adam Smith on the Ancients and the Moderns
1st Edition
By Gloria Vivenza
September 29, 2025
The classics heavily influenced many aspects of European modern culture, yet it is not easy to trace their intellectual power on any author. In this volume, Gloria Vivenza takes on the impressive task of examining how philosophy, history, literature, politics, and ethics all played a part in ...
Arthur Spiethoff and the German Historical School of Economics: Continuities and Discontinuities
1st Edition
By Vitantonio Gioia
September 29, 2025
Arthur Spiethoff (1873–1957), an economist of the German Historical School of Economics, is best known for his theory of the business cycle. Despite Spiethoff calling for a unified reading of his work, his epistemological thinking has received less attention. This book addresses that gap by ...
The Entrepreneur in the History of Political Economy: The Hunting for Heffalumps in the Early Economic Analysis
1st Edition
By José M. Menudo
August 15, 2025
Modern economic theory has marginalised the figure of the entrepreneur, despite their significance in economic activity. Entrepreneurs rose in prominence as economic agents during the Enlightenment, but no consensus on this issue was formed in the period. This book addresses the role of the ...
James Mill, John Stuart Mill, and the History of Economic Thought
1st Edition
Edited
By Masatomi Fujimoto, John Vint, Taro Hisamatsu
June 27, 2025
Commemorating the 250th anniversary of James Mill’s birth and the 150th of John Stuart Mill’s death, this volume analyses the Mills’ discussions on topics such as environment, cultivation, education, utilitarianism, socialism, international relations, international trade, and living standard. John ...
Léon Walras’s Economic Thought: The General Equilibrium Theory in Historical Perspective
1st Edition
By Kayoko Misaki
June 27, 2025
This book sheds new light on the general equilibrium theory of Léon Walras (1834–1910) from a historical perspective. Walras's construction of general equilibrium theory marked the dawn of modern economics, and the theory was greatly developed in the 20th century. However, Walras's own intentions ...
Adam Smith’s Theory of Value and Distribution: Economics as a Moral Science Once Again
1st Edition
By Jeffrey T. Young
May 27, 2025
Ever since the time of his early interpreters, beginning with David Hume, Adam Smith’s theory of value has been the subject of confusion and misunderstanding—including a controversy which still rages over whether Smith held a labour theory of value, and, if so, whether he held to it throughout ...
Economic Policy and the History of Economic Thought
1st Edition
Edited
By Stavros Drakopoulos, Ioannis Katselidis
October 04, 2024
This book discusses key issues in economic policy in the context of the history of economic thought. Most of the current and past academic controversies in economics are, explicitly or implicitly, centred around the application and form of economic policy. This is particularly evident in the ...
An Economic Philosophy of Production, Work and Consumption: A Transhistorical Framework
1st Edition
By Rodney Edvinsson
July 29, 2024
An Economic Philosophy of Production, Work and Consumption presents a new transhistorical framework of defining production, work and consumption. It shows that they all share the common feature of intentional physical transformation of something external to the agent, at some point in time. The ...
Economic Methodology, History and Pluralism: Expanding Economic Thought to Meet Contemporary Challenges
1st Edition
Edited
By Ioana Negru, Penelope Hawkins
July 29, 2024
Economic Methodology, History and Pluralism: Expanding Economic Thought to Meet Contemporary Challenges pays tribute to Emeritus Professor Sheila Dow (University of Stirling, Scotland). This volume focusses on the contributions of Dow to economic methodology, pluralism and the history of economic ...
Global Commerce in the Age of Enlightenment: Theories, Practices, and Institutions in the Eighteenth Century
1st Edition
By J. Bohorquez
July 29, 2024
Combining contextual, institutional, and global perspectives, this book evaluates the impact of international trade on eighteenth-century economic thought. It meticulously delineates how economic ideas and institutions flowed between North and South Europe and across the Indian and Atlantic Oceans ...
Liberalism and the Philosophy of Economics
1st Edition
By Tsutomu Hashimoto
July 29, 2024
Drawing on recent work in the contemporary philosophy of economics, this book presents new ideas on liberalism, including the concept of ‘growth-oriented liberalism’. Since the end of the Cold War, questions and definitions of liberalism have moved from the sphere of political systems (the ...
Metaphors in the History of Economic Thought: Crises, Business Cycles and Equilibrium
1st Edition
Edited
By Roberto Baranzini, Daniele Besomi
July 29, 2024
Metaphors in the History of Economic Thought: Crises, Business Cycles and Equilibrium explores the evolution of economic theorizing through the lens of metaphors. The edited volume sheds light on metaphors which have been used by a range of key thinkers and schools of thought to describe economic ...