Several authors have detected a paradigm shift in contemporary science: from a reductionist or mechanicist approach to a holistic or systemic one. This transition in paradigms should be perceptible in several disciplines, starting in biology and extending itself to others areas. In light of the...

A new comprehension of Adam Smith's writings arose in the last years. These studies emphasized the political and ethical dimensions of his work and its connection with the eighteenth-century context. This article reviews the historical reception of Smith's works and discusses the recent...

This article explores why Smith's work is a turning point in the history of economic thought. The constitution of an economic discourse and the delimitation of the economy sphere are attributed to: i) the specific nature of Smith's moral philosophy; ii) his way of conceiving economic action as...

The theoretical legacy of Carl Menger involves works on value, capital and the origin of social institutions. There is a huge literature on Menger, that has been growing since Schumpeter wrote his short article on the founding father of Austrian Economics in 1921. Reavaliations concerning the...

The catharsis produced by the early 1620’s trade crisis had a significant impact on the way economic themes were regarded by public opinion in England. As a result, those who analyze the ideas put forward in the documents written during that period – be they printed pamphlets or...

Darimon’s book - De la réforme des banques – is the starting point of Grundrisse. This paper presents its structure and discusses how Marx’s critiques are part of his elaboration on the role of credit in capitalism and in the transition towards socialism. Marx’s trajectory from...

This article presents an outline of the biography of David Riazanov. The article discusses Riazanov’s participation in the political and intellectual life of Russia, and his role in the discovery and the publication of the literary legacy of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, which culminated in...

This paper investigates the sustainability of the Brazilian federal domestic debt using quarterly data from 1981 to 1998. A debt is considered sustainable if the government's budget is intertemporally balanced. Sustainability is tested through the mean-zero stationarity of the discounted...

This paper examines the emergence of an economic discourse separated from ethics or political philosophy. It argues that the works of Locke are a decisive moment in this process, for disclosing the existence of a sphere of the economy distinct from the sphere of the politics. Furthermore, the...

This paper presents Notebook B113, one of Marx’s unpublished manuscripts, and suggests its importance for highlighting the monetary and financial issues which Marx was investigating after 1867. A combination of deciphering an index prepared by Marx and reading the 1868 editions of The...