Abstract
The subject of these lectures is the Theory of Economic Development. But, as befits the foundation under which they are delivered, their object is historical rather than analytical. My intention is to trace the evolution of ideas on this subject rather than to contribute to contemporary speculation. My full title therefore is not The Theory of Economic Development in Modern Economic Analysis, but rather The Theory of Economic Development in the History of Economic Thought.
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Notes
For a powerful critique of stage-theory, see Walter Eucken, Die Grundlagen der Nationalökonomie (1947), especially pp. 63–111.
A typical example is Andrew Yarranton’s somewhat neglected England’s Improvement By Sea and Land (1677).
See, e.g., Baudeau, Première Introduction à la Philosophie Économique, ed. Dubois (Paris, 1910) p. 4: ‘Les arts non productifs, bien loin d’être inutiles, font dans les états polices le charme et le soutien de la vie, la conservation et le bien-être de l’espèce humaine…. Ce n’est donc pour déprécier ou aviler cette espèce d’industrie très utile, très nécessaire, qu’il faut distinguer l’art fécond ou productif de l’art stérile ou non-productif. C’est qu’en effet l’un prépare et augmente la fécondité de la nature et de ses productions, l’autre se contente d’en profiter.’
On the significance of the Tableau in this connection Professor R. L. Meek, Economics of Physiocracy (1962), should be consulted, especially pp. 287–96.
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, ed. Cannan (1904) vol. i, p. 1. All further references to The Wealth of Nations are to this edition.
As is well known, there is no systematic treatment of distribution in the Lectures on Justice, Police, Revenue and Arms, ed. Cannan (1896), which are to be regarded, in the last three sections, as a first outline of the theory of The Wealth of Nations.
David Ricardo, Works, ed. Sraffa (1951–2) vol. i, p. 5. All further references to Ricardo’s Works are to this edition.
John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy, ed. Robson (1965) p. xcii. All further references to Principles of Political Economy are to this Toronto edition.
William Ellis, Outlines of Social Economy (1846) pp. 1–4.
Memorials of Alfred Marshall, ed. Pigou (1925) p. 415.
See Gustav Cassel, Theory of Social Economy (1923) vol. ii, pp. 503 seq., Spiethoff’s article on Krisen in the Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenschaften, a translation of which appears in International Economic Papers, no. 3
Hicks, A Contribution to the Theory of the Trade Cycle (1950).
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© 1968 Lord Robbins
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Robbins, L. (1968). General View. In: The Theory of Economic Development in the History of Economic Thought. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-00149-1_1
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