The article deals with the relation between assumptions of economic theories and their political implications. Two canons of economic science are being analyzed according to the degree of abstraction. A hypothesis is that the more abstract formal canon is connected with a liberal kind of...

This paper reconsiders the anteriority of Torrens’ theory of natural wage to that of Ricardo. Ricardo was influenced by Torrens’ thinking when writing the chapter on ‘Wages’ of the Principles. For many historians of economic thought, this influence is limited to Torrens’ focus on the...

Italian Abstract: Per giustificare l’autorità e la validità della scienza economica, gli economisti sono spesso ricorsi all’argomento che le leggi e i postulati di questo sapere sono verità scientifiche, nel senso di verità empiriche, logiche o autoevidenti. Tuttavia, questo discorso, in...

Ricardo's model of capital accumulation is studied on the basis of his distinction between natural and accidental causes that are associated with permanent and temporary effects. The consequence is that, from the two contemporary interpretations of this model: theses of Hollander and Peach, only...

This paper forms part of a research project investigating conceptions of the relationship between micro-level self-seeking agent behaviour and the desirability or otherwise of the resulting macro-level social outcomes in the history of economics. I identify two kinds of conservative rhetorical...

Much of the literature surrounding Schumpeter's 1942 Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy has focused on his reformulation of democratic theory rather than on the perceived tensions in the classical variant which motivated his reorientation. In contrast to the position of Schumpeter, the rational...

A focus on the information used in Bentham’s felicific calculus sheds new light on the contemporary debate in normative economics opposing non-welfarism to welfarism. As a utilitarian, Bentham is de facto welfarist on a moral sense. Unexpectedly, this study shows Bentham resorts to...

When we take seriously Smiths's oft-expressed admiration for the "beauty of a systematical arrangement of different observations connected by a few common principles" (WN, V.i.f.25) and seek those"connecting principles" within his own system of thought, his "positive index of welfare" loses its...

While there can be no disputing Smith's clear intent to employ his labor-commanded unit as a medium of value measure, we are still left with the problem of reconciling the multiple forms and characteristics taken on by this measure and the various applications to which it is put.That is the task...

Kornai János rendszerparadigma-fogalmából és az ott felsorolt közgazdászok névsorából kiindulva, a tanulmány kiemel néhány mozzanatot ennek eszmetörténeti előzményeiből. A hatvanas évek szociológiai irodalmában időszerűtlennek tartották a nagy elmélet létrehozását, a...