We use cookies to enhance your experience on our website. By continuing to use our website, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Find out more

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.

Print Price: $33.95

Format:
Hardback
198 pp.
142 mm x 221 mm

ISBN-13:
9780199466832

Publication date:
December 2016

Imprint: OUP India


Evolution of Economic Ideas

Adam Smith to Amartya Sen and Beyond

Vinay Bharat-Ram

Do you know that Karl Marx, who despised the capitalist class, was actually raised in an upper-middle-class family? And that the distinguished economist John Maynard Keynes scored poorly in economics in the civil service examination - which he attributed to the examiner's lack of knowledge of the subject?

Vinay Bharat-Ram, in this delightful and breezy read, offers revealing glimpses into the lives and social circumstances of some of the most influential economic thinkers who have determined the way we understand economics today. Brimming with fascinating nuggets from their lives, this book journeys from Adam Smith's free-market capitalism to Amartya Sen's welfare economics and beyond, demystifying several momentous economic developments along the way. It explains how the social conditions and unique circumstances of these philosophers shaped their sometimes rich and sometimes absurd ideas that eventually formed the foundation of modern economics.

Giving a wide berth to the much-dreaded buzzwords that have long hindered an easy understanding of economics, this concise book, laced with warm humour, casts light on ideas that have held generations of economists in thrall.

Readership : General readers. Also Students and scholars of economics and allied social sciences interested in the history of economic thought, economic philosophy, and political economics as well as institutional libraries, departments of institutions related to the study of economics, economic philosophy, and history of economic thought.

Preface
Acknowledgements
The Great Optimist
The Pessimists
The Angry Genius
The Marginalists
The Transition from Political Economy to Economics
The Trajectory of Partial Equilibrium Analysis
Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Money Matters
The Saviour of Capitalism
The Keynesians
The Duel Begins
Mont Pèlerin
The Great Monetarist
The Development Economist
The Guru of International Trade
Conscience of the Economics Profession
Reality versus Theory
Bibliography
About the Author

There are no Instructor/Student Resources available at this time.

Vinay Bharat-Ram is the chairman of DCM Limited, the chairperson of the Population Foundation of India, and life trustee of the Institute of Economic Growth, University of Delhi. Educated at the universities of Delhi (St. Stephens College), Michigan, and Harvard, he holds a PhD in economics from the University of Delhi.

Making Sense - Margot Northey and Joan McKibbin

Special Features

  • Explores ideas of economic thinkers through the lens of their lives and social circumstances.
  • Lucid narrative based on author's interactions with his students.