Teachings from the Worldly Philosophy

Rating:
Summary: The perfect companion to The Worldly Philosophers
Review:

Robert Heilbroner has managed to expand upon his seemingly perfect masterpiece, The Worldly Philosophers. This volume highlights some of the texts written by the great ones, as well as providing some insight into the mind of one of our modern day greats. This instructive text is a must for anyone wishing to expand his knowledge of the great economists

Rating:
Summary: A Great Tour of the History of Economic Thought
Review: Heilbroner takes us through the entire world of economics from beginning to end, and he acts as our procter. He allows us to read the original words of the economists, along with his own helpful commentaries, and this leads to a clear understanding of the entire history of economics.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent overview of the top 20 economic minds in the past.
Review: Some people may have met Robert Heilbroner through his first (1953) book, an introduction to economic thought, The Worldly Philosophers, still used in many economics courses. He has returned after more than twenty other books and over forty years of active participation in the public debate to the task of rekindling "...a new interest in political economy...a mode of economic inquiry whose analytical conclusions started from an effort to take full cognizance of the sociopolitical realities of our time, whatever the difficulties they may pose for the construction of elegant models."(p.336)His approach in Teachings is a combination of excellent "reviews" and "annotations" with long excerpts from the political economists of the past who he feels have contributed the most to our understanding of society. With little apology he has included only Thorstein Veblen, John Maynard Keynes and Joseph Schumpeter from the twentieth century. This "deficiency" is more than made up by his critical appraisal (with William Milberg) of the economics profession since the early 1960s in his recent book, The Crisis of Vision in Modern Economic Thought (Cambridge University Press, 1995, 128 pages) Robert Heilbroner states one of his objectives as "presenting an overview... a book that could actually be read, and not one destined for more or less permanent shelving". He has certainly accomplished this by first picking the "pivotal figures" that set the "historic trajectory" of what today we call economics. By placing each of the twenty in context with cogent comments he then uses their own words to highlight their contributions. (This book will do a lot for the reading and re-reading of the original classics as well.) Of equal interest is the unfolding of the evolution of political economy, concerned about the fate of the sociopolitical strata in the eighteenth century (landowners, labourers, and employers) to the science-like discipline of economics, focused on faceless individual behavior and sterile firms in the nineteenth century. Only with the Great Depression did we see with Keynes a return to the pressing social concerns of the day. Who should read this book? €Anyone thinking about becoming an economist. If you find this book interesting and challenging, join up since we need more like you. €Students and teachers of economics. This book will help broaden your vision, as well as providing many topics for discussion. €Harried bureaucrats. Here is a book that recognizes the value of government, with each of the greats holding forth on the key roles of government, lest we forget. €Citizens and voters. Don't believe that nothing can be done and that policy makers are impotent, in spite of their claims. When you review the challenges of the past and the manner in which we moved forward in economic policy then you will demand better policy now. Teachings from the Worldly Philosophy is divided into seven parts, with the Bible, Aristotle, and St.Thomas Aquinas covered in the short first part, Earliest Economic Thought. The second part, The Commercial Revolution, examines the contributions of Mandeville, Mun, Cantillon, Quesnay, and Turgot during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Classical Economists-- Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, David Ricardo, and John Stuart Mill -- constitute the lengthy third part. Heilbroner delights in introducing the "real" Adam Smith, not the one so revered by the right-wing demagogues today. Karl Marx has a section of his own, appropriately without a label. Heilbroner holds him high among the worldly philosophers and comments on the recent apparent demise of socialism with this thought; " If socialism failed, it was for political, more than economic reasons; and if capitalism is to succeed it will be because it finds the political will and means to tame its economic forces."(p.195) The fifth part, The Marginalists, focuses on the nineteenth century economists Jeremy Bentham, William Stanley Jevons, Léon Walras, and Alfred Marshall. All turn away from the broad social issues to the specifics of price determination or microeconomics. In the sixth part Thorstein Veblen, John Maynard Keynes, and Joseph Schumpeter "speak" for the twentieth century: Veblen with some derision of the foibles of economics, Schumpeter with his insights on the processes of innovation, and Keynes with his new vision of income determination, the role of saving and investment, and the potential for government action to restore full employment. The final part develops Heilbroner's concern that today's economics is not up to the challenge of dealing with the emerging pressures from technology, international financial markets, ecological threats, and political instability. He calls for a re-invigoration of economics by adopting a vision that recognizes the full social and political realities of our time. The Teachings helps by showing what political economy has been in the past, while The Crisis... explains more specifically what needs to be done now. Mike McCracken is an Ottawa political economist and econometrician. he can be reached at [e-mail] or thier Web page at www/informetrica.com

Rating:
Summary: Teachings of a brilliant teacher
Review: With a few excerpts from the works of the most important economic thinkers in history, Robert Heilbroner gives his readers a perfect overview of the evolution in economic thought, from theorization to calculation and from prices to employment.

The excerpts are superb. Even for those who read some or most of the quoted works, there is the flavour of the author's own concise and highly perceptive comments.
Hereafter a few excerpts of the excerpts:
B. Mandeville: Thus every Part was full of Vice, Yet the whole Mass was Paradise.
A. Smith: Civil government is in reality instituted for the defence of the rich against the poor.
and the author himself: Wealth has always been a proxy for power.

Heilbroner is always also focused on the 'Veil of Economics' (the title of one of his highly recommendable books), because for him economics is inextricably socio-political.
His comments show us that 'the engines of history do not draw all their energies from economic drives and institutions'.
He regrets the actual sorry state of the economic profession dominated by abstract-minded theorists without social concern.
His last plea is for a rekindling of the tradition of political economy.

This book contains a perfect and highly useful index.
A great book composed and written by a superb free mind.