Introduction -- Normative versus positive analysis in the history of the theory of production -- The division of labour and the theory of the firm -- Proto-neoclassicals and the theory of production -- Appendix: a very brief history of perfect competition -- The representative firm -- The...

This paper looks at the history of the theory of production. Before the seventieth century, with the advent of mercantilism, the predominant mode of enquiry was a descriptive/normative one. The frameworks applied were ethical and/or religious. The questions asked were about what production or...