David Reisman Livres

Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) was a leading figure in the British classical school of economics, best-known for extending the insights of Adam Smith at a time of revolutionary improvements in agriculture and industry. This book explores the way in which he accounted for the tendency to overpopulation, the exhaustion of arable land and the deficiency of effective demand. Malthus relied on historical and empirical evidence in the spirit of Bacon and Hume, but also backed up his data with a priori hypotheses that link him to his contemporary, David Ricardo. Malthus was strongly in favour of free trade, the minimal State, the gold standard and the abolition of poverty relief. Always a pragmatist, however, he was just as much in favour of public education, contra-cyclical public works and a safety net of tariffs and bounties to encourage national self-sufficiency with regard to food. He was both an economist and a clergyman and saw the two roles as interconnected. Malthus believed that a benevolent Deity had created vice and misery in order to shake human beings out of their natural indolence that would otherwise have condemned them to still greater distress. This title provides a clear and comprehensive examination of Malthus’s economic and social thought. It will be of interest to students and scholars alike.

The book delves into the intellectual exchange between Thomas Robert Malthus and libertarian anarchist William Godwin, highlighting their contrasting views on economic and political thought. It focuses on Godwin's criticism of the industrial age and his vision for a future free from conflict and acquisition. In contrast, Malthus argues that Godwin overlooks the critical issue of population growth and its impact on food scarcity, emphasizing that natural limitations on land productivity necessitate some form of control rather than relying on automatic systems.

Focusing on the economic and political ideas of two pivotal figures in early 20th-century Britain, this book explores their contributions to welfare economics, social welfare, nationalization, and public policy. Active from the 1880s to the 1930s, they influenced the discourse on heterodox economics and social democracy through their extensive writings and participation in Royal Commissions. Their involvement in local and central government and their role in establishing the London School of Economics highlight their lasting impact on economic thought and public policy.

Schumpeter was an interdisciplinary political economist who made institutional transformation the centrepiece of his theory of supply and demand. This comprehensive monograph reconstructs and assesses Schumpeter's contribution to the restless economics of entrepreneurship, disequilibrium and search. Examining the evidence from all of Schumpeter's published work, the book fills a significant gap in the literature of economic thought. Partly because Schumpeter was so prolific, partly because he touched on so many interrelated topics, there have been few books that have sought to span the whole of this important author's influential insights. This volume will appeal to scholars, students and researchers who are interested in exploring the complexities of Schumpeter's vision and his intellectual system. It will be entirely accessible to non-evolutionary economists. Historians of economic thought will find this a valuable and novel interpretation of Schumpeter's work.