From Publishers Weekly
In his 27th book, Harvard economist Galbraith (The Affluent Society, The Anatomy of Power) chronicles the thought and literature of economics from Aristotle's interest-free lending ethic up to and beyond the 1936 deficit-financing manifesto of John Maynard Keynes. Galbraith compares the latter, in "revolutionary" importance to Karl Marx (Das Capital, 1867) and Adam Smith (The Wealth of Nations, 1776). In the author's "parade of personalities," some are seen as sonorous, others tragi-comic, as slavery and cottage industries recede before mercantile power in Venice and Amsterdam; colonization with its gold and silver to finance bigger European wars; and the still-baffling corporate and governmental complexities of the industrial revolution. No agreement on economic principles, if any, ever has existed, Galbraith shows, although "the great truisms of economics . . . . are evident for all to see."
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Another classic by Galbraith. In this volume he charts the evolution of economic ideas from Greek and Roman times, demonstrating the key interaction between the economic environment and economic ideas. Throughout, he concentrates on the major economic questions of what determines the selling price of a good or service and what is the proper distribution of income. Galbraith recounts this story wittily and well. Part biography, part history, part economic theory, this book belongs on the shelf with Robert L. Heilbroner's The Worldly Philosophers as an introduction to the history of economic thought. Most highly recommended. Richard C. Schiming, Mankato State Univ., Minn.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.