This is an account of the theories of growth and distribution of Francois Quesnay, Adam Smith, Robert Malthus, David Ricardo and Karl Marx. This edition has a new introduction setting the work in a broader context. The author shows how each developed the work of his predecessors.

The essays in this book reassert a powerful thesis in the historiography of economics that the views we take of current economic issues influence our interpretation of the history of economic thought, and vice versa. They will be welcomed both by historians of economic thought and by economists...

Unemployment and the Economists addresses economic ideas, beliefs and arguments regarding the causes and possible cures of unemployment – a matter of recurring interest and concern for economists throughout history.