[size=9.72222px]DescriptionThis is a book about the discovery of the great macroeconomic concepts and ideas by a group of very exciting people between the late seventeenth and early nineteenth century. The writers concerned included the anatomist Sir William Petty; John Law a convicted Scottish murderer who became Prime Minister of France; Richard Cantillon, a multi-millionaire banker apparently murdered in London in 1734; the Scottish philosopher, David Hume; the French writer, Francois Quesnay, personal physician to the King's mistress, Madame de Pompadour; the former seminarian and future Prime Minister of France, Anne Robert Jacques Turgot; the author of the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith; and Henry Thornton, who, along with William Wilberforce, was instrumental in having Parliament legislate against the slave trade. The book shows how these economic writers discovered many of the key concepts of macroeconomic theory long before the term macroeconomics gained currency in the 1930s.
Features
An accessible introduction to a group of influential 18th-century economists who are considered to be the founding fathers of macroeconomic and monetary theory
Written in a lively and engaging style, helping readers to imagine themselves in the different worlds of each writer discussed
Shows readers how economic concepts evolve and are influenced by contemporary developments
Product Details304 pages;ISBN13: 978-0-19-954322-9ISBN10: 0-19-954322-4
About the Author(s)Antoin E. Murphy is an associate professor of economics and fellow of Trinity College Dublin. His previous works include Richard Cantillon: Entrepreneur and Economist (OUP, 1986) and John Law: Economic Theorist and Policy-maker (OUP, 1997). He is a joint managing editor of The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought. In 2001, the European Society of the History of Economic Thought awarded him the Jerome Blanqui prize for the best published work on the history of economic thought resulting from his editing of Du Tot Histoire du Systeme de John Law (1716-1720) published by I.N.E.D./P.U.F., Paris 2000.