Economic Theory in Retrospect by Mark Blaug

Here, it is important to emphasize that the mathematics employed in Mark’s book is not inserted as mere decoration but, rather, as an instrument to carry earlier ideas forward. In short, Mark helped to show us how we can build a richer body of economic analysis on the foundations of the work of our predecessors. His book is unique in that it seeks to determine where we go from here, using analytic tools more sophisticated than those available to the predecessors he examined. Rather, Mark’s book examines the past in order to determine what it implies for research in the future. I do not know the content of Mark’s courses on this subject, but I do know his great book, which offers much more than simply another explanation of what earlier thinkers in economics meant to say, how they have been misunderstood, and how forces, such as religion, have influenced the content of their work. Having taught the subject at Yale early in his career, he was denied tenure on the grounds that the subject area no longer merited the devotion of resources.

Footnote 2 Mark had the misfortune to be caught up in this transition. Yet in today’s journals, the topic is nearly forgotten, and few students seek out courses in the subject. During the time of Alfred Marshall, for instance, no scholar could be considered respectable without demonstrating a reasonable understanding of earlier writings.

It has attracted great scholars, including Schumpeter, Viner, and Robbins, among many others. But this in no way reduces the significance of their earlier work.Īs a field of study, the history of economic ideas occupies a curious position. Both shifted their interests over the years and subsequently made significant contributions in new arenas. Here I am driven to disagree with Mark, as I did with Hicks. Footnote 1 In later years, Mark came to regard this as one of his less significant contributions-much as Hicks eventually viewed his Value and Capital.

Ironically, as Mark himself recognized, perhaps his most remembered work is his Economic Theory in Retrospect ( 1962), a book translated into an impressive array of languages.

Economic Theory in Retrospect by Mark Blaug