This reader in the history of economic thought challenges the assumption that today's prevailing economic theories are always the most appropriate ones. As Leland Yeager has pointed out, unlike the scientists of the natural sciences, economists provide their ideas largely to politicians and...

Introduction -- The Tradition of Economic Thought in the Mediterranean World from the Ancient Classical Times Through the Hellenistic Times until the Byzantine Times and Arab-Islamic World -- Mercantilism -- The Cameralists: Fertile Sources for a New Science of Public Finance -- The Physiocrats,...

This book discusses Samuel Pufendorf and his contributions to the development of the European Enlightenment and the emergence of economics as a social science. Born in 1632 in Saxony, Pufendorf wrote widely on natural law, ethics, jurisprudence, and political economy and was one of the most...