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This article looks at 33 economics books that were published before 1750 and appeared in ten editions or more before 1850. This is a period – before Physiocracy and before the works of Adam Smith – which has been largely neglected in the history of economic thought. The article sheds new light on the early bestselling contributions of German and Italian economists, and on an internationally famous Spanish economist at the time. Also of interest is that three of the bestselling English economists of the period are so forgotten that they do not even have an entry in Wikipedia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic literature is giving new attention to Lionel Robbins' main contributions to economic theory, confined for several decades to the Essay, systematically misunderstood as the manifesto of the epistemology of neoclassical economics, where its underlying ontology characterized by rational maximizing agents, social atomism and a positivistic approach to economics is systematized and laid down. This paper aims at verifying ‘which’ Robbins was received in Italy in the 1930s and 1940s and what was the attitude of Italian economists, from the manifold approaches that characterized the debate in Italy in that period, towards him. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper we briefly review the work of Wassily Leontief, in respect for his memory and appreciation of his accomplishment. His work encompasses and redirects the entire field of economics, including pure theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Preface to the second edition of his Theory of Political Economy (1879), W. Stanley Jevons announced an extraordinary turn in his analysis as he abandoned much of the explanatory framework used in the body of the text to explain cost of production and distribution. It is shown here that, when the Theory is read in the context of the objective and structure of Jevons' distribution analysis, the turn can be explained as Jevons' response to the realization that he was only able to reconcile his analysis of cost of production and of distribution in a special case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the demand-led approach to growth, the long-period tendencies of quantities cannot be effectively studied through theoretical positions entailing normal utilization of capacity. Whether in the form of constant or of average normal utilization, this assumption contradicts the supposed autonomy of aggregate demand. Analysis of the operation of the adjustment of capacity to demand suggests that potentially offsetting forces make fully adjusted positions irrelevant. As quantities cannot be assumed to gravitate towards such positions, the relations between quantity variables determined on the normal utilization hypothesis provide a poor guide to the analysis of reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The manuscripts of André Morellet (kept in the Municipal Library of Lyons) contain numerous notebooks in which Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations is discussed. They are an interesting but little used source for the study of the early reception of Smith's work in France. The frequent comparisons Morellet makes between Smith's views and those of contemporary French economists provide new insights into the, often subtle similarities and differences between the leading economic theorists of the second half of the eighteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides information on rules and guidelines for contributors to 'The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought' regarding submission of papers for publication. Agreement regarding the publisher's rights to reproduce and distribute the article; Specifications regarding manuscript submission; Rules on referencing; Rules on offprints and journal copy.

Provides information on the objectives and interdisciplinary scope of 'The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought.' Publication history of the journal; Objective of the journal; Interdisciplinary approach of the journal to the publication of articles.