Product Description

Hodgson calls into question the tendency of economic method to explain all economic phenomena using the same catch-all theories. He argues that you need different theories and that historical contexts must be taken into account.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #839633 in Books
• Published on: 2001-08-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Review

'How Economists Forgot History' is a great book. It takes things that I dimly knew and exposes them excellently. The issue of 'historical specificity' is vastly important and one that is totally forgotten by most economists who implicitly, and all-too-often explicitly, argue that 'the more general the better' - Richard Lipsey

'Hodgson's erudition is deeply impressive. Overall he must know more than anyone in the world about the roots of historical and institutional economics. In this volume the importance of thinking about institutions comes across very clearly, as does the contribution of the old institutional economics to this endeavour. This is an important book, which clears the ground for a new, constructive approach to economics that can contribute to a deeper understanding of the world in which we live.' - Professor Paul Ormerod, Volterra Ltd, UK

'In this outstanding, thought-provoking and lucidly written book, Geoffrey M. Hodgson explores the important relationship between economic theory and history, challenging the universalistic doctrine of neoclassical economics. He succeeds impressively...The book provides effective guidance for economists who are prepared to rethink theory formation in a novel way.' - Professor Kurt Dopfer, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland

'This is a splendid piece of intellectual history. Hodgson breathes new life into past ideas and the issues surrounding them. These revived ideas are terribly important for the current generation of economists, both mainstream and heterodox. It is the first book I have seen that gets the complex story of historismus into a proper intellectual context.' - Professor Paul Dale Bush, California State University at Fresno, USA

'This is an impressive study relating the German historical school to institutional and modern economic theory. It shows that Frank Hahn was wrong: the insights of history have not been absorbed; economists need to know the history of ideas and the history of the economy.' - Professor David Colander, Middlebury College, Vermont, USA

'Clear, up-to-date and informative review of an important series of topics ... this book is timely, welcome and fills

From the Back Cover
Economics today has been widely criticised as being more concerned with mathematical technique than the understanding and explanation of real world phenomena. However, one hundred years ago, in Europe and America, economics was fused with the study of history and its practitioners emphasised the importance of the understanding of specific institutions.

How Economics Forgot History shows how the German historical school addressed a key problem in social science and concerned themselves with the historical specific character of economic phenomena and the need to make economic theory more sensitive to the historical and geographical variety of different socio-economic systems. Examining the nature and evolution of the problem of historical specificity, it shows how this problem was tackled by the likes of Karl Marx, Gustav Schmoller, Carl Menger, Werner Sombart, Max Weber, Alfred Marshall, John Rogers Commons and Frank Knight. It is also argued that alongside Lionel Robbins, leading figures such as John Maynard Keynes, Joseph Schumpeter and Talcott Parsons also helped to divert the social sciences away from this problem.

Geoffrey M. Hodgson concludes with some suggestions as to how modern economics can begin to once again take this problem on board, and become more sensitive to the great structural and institutional changes in history, as well as those we have witnessed in recent decades. He argues that disciplinary boundaries have to be re-evaluated, in an effort to once again provide the social sciences with an adequate historical vision.

About the Author
Geoffrey M. Hodgson is a Research Professor in Business Studies at the University of Hertfordshire. He has published widely in the academic journals and his previous books include Economics and Utopia (Routledge, 1999)