History of Economic Thought, 3rd Edition 3rd Edition

Thank you.

Review of E.K. Hunt & Mark Lautzenheiser, 'History of Economic Thought: A Critical Perspective (third edition)'This book reflects impressive expertise and extensive scholarship. It is timely in light of the current world-wide economic meltdown, providing the essential concepts and historical background to let readers interpret the news of the day and to anticipate some likely future events. I have to give it 5 stars because its strengths greatly outweigh its weaknesses. I will detail just a few of those strengths before turning to some obvious gaps. Major strengths: (1) the authors are card-carrying economic theorists, and they present their material from the perspective of Economics insiders; this is a great strength, but it also leads to some weaknesses mentioned below; (2) the book is consistently well-written, though occasionally the reader may be confused by some technicalities; better to err in this direction than the opposite, however; (3) the treatment of Marx, Veblen, Sraffa, and others is a welcome corrective to their usual cursory dismissal by the mainstream; even the discussion of Adam Smith is enlightening; (4) topics like alienation of labor, mystification of class relations by mainstream ideology, and the inexorable rise of the military-industrial complex gain new force by being clearly linked to a centuries-old capitalist dynamic. It is particularly interesting to see how Marx's critique was anticipated in many ways by some of the revered founding fathers of economics, the earliest defenders and advocates of capitalism.As for weaknesses, these can be summed up in one point: for 'A Critical Perspective,' this book is not critical enough. The reason, as mentioned above, is that the authors keep to a disciplinary perspective well within academic Economics. For example, they have little or no systematic leverage when it comes to incorporating "externalities" like unsustainable population growth and dramatic depletion of energy and other natural resources. As a supplemental set of readings, the following is a very short list which expands the disciplinary perspective, first from Political Economy to "Economic Politics" (Jay Hanson, 'From Capitalism To Democracy'), then to Anthropology and Sociology beyond industrial societies (Marvin Harris, 'Cultural Materialism'), then to Biology and Physics (Meadows, Randers, & Meadows, 'Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update'), and finally to individual and group decision making: Behavioral Economics, as represented in the work of Herbert A. Simon, Vernon Smith, Daniel Kahneman, and Amos Tversky -- all of whom are mentioned cursorily by Hunt & Lautzenheiser -- and the vivid picture of class arrogance in Karen Zouwen Ho's 'Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street,' which is not mentioned. Most of these items have to do with thinking straight about cause and effect. A good guide to thinking straight about means and ends is John Rawls's 'A Theory of Justice.'The 5-star rating is still warranted, because that short bookshelf, which is anchored by 'History of Economic Thought,' only adds support for the authors' fundamental critical perspective, drawing that support from a range of disciplines related to Economics.

The hard part of writing this review for this book is understanding how much I wanted to like it. However there are two issues that stand clear when reading Hunt and Lautzenheiser's book:1. The bias is unmitigated.Everyone has bias, this is a fact of life and we learn new biases as we study things, especially things over which we have heated debates, such as economics. So, is it surprising that an author of an economics text will inevitably show their hand to one degree or another? No, it isn't. The issue here is how obvious the bias is. Hunt and Lautzenheiser buck the neoclassical economics trend that has pervaded the economics scene for the last several decades, but they often go too far in showing ugly and unsympathetic views of historic economic trendsetters. This never falls into the region of insulting Adam Smith or David Ricardo, but they tread too closely, too often.The positive side to this is that what we obtain reading the text is a contrasting view to the ones held by non-socialist economists, but the duty of the explanatory author to paint their subject in the light AND the dark is the mitigation they fail to approach.2. The Personal History of the Economist.We live in an era where we understand that what is as important to understanding a philosophy is reading/hearing the philosophy from as close to the source as possible. If you want to understand Sartre, read Sartre (though maybe read a few introductory books around his particular case to make sure you're getting the idea). Hunt and Lautzenheiser do this part of their job well; they often quote lengthily, yet not lazily from the source material. However, we also live in an era where we understand that the writer's background and surroundings, their teleology, determines so much of where they come from, and how their ideas came to be. The authors fail to do this kind of backgrounding for their subjects. Though it is obvious we don't want to read through/wade through every triumph and failure that brought these economists to the table, when you forget to tell us that Malthus was an ordained reverend in the Anglican church, you've failed miserably at giving a full picture. Perhaps this was to evade an interpretation by their readers that would cause the reader to despise Christianity based on the cognitively dissonant work of one man, but I doubt that. I am now forced, if I wish to understand Malthusian economics better, to go and find a biography on the man, but it is not the work of Hunt and Lautzenheiser that causes this, it is their lack of work and my previous knowledge of the Reverend.The reason I do not completely condemn this book is because the actual theory/"thought" is well represented with full quotations from the economists and a sympathetic understanding of the theory if not the motive behind it.

While the cover page of the book is as described "History of Economic Thought", every single page within it is from another book, titled "Introductory Geotechnical Engineering".I am very confused as to why such an issue could even occur, someone must've swapped out the inside of the book. Anyone else with similar experiences?I look forward to a fair explanation from the seller.Thanks!

I never wrote a review of a book without reading it in full, but for this book, i will make an exception. It is a great book with lots of valuable information. It is must read for anybody who would like to gain knowledge about the economy as introductory with all the economic theories old and new.Although it is excellent book whoever read it, must be used to volumes reading. But still, regardless, the book is useful as a source of information and reference.

Le livre est arrivé à la date prévue et en très bon état.