The First Serious Optimist (eBook)

A. C. Pigou and the Birth of Welfare Economics

Ian Kumekawa (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2017
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
9781400885206 (ISBN)

Infos

A groundbreaking intellectual biography of one of the twentieth century's most influential economistsThe First Serious Optimist is an intellectual biography of the British economist A. C. Pigou (1877-1959), a founder of welfare economics and one of the twentieth century's most important and original thinkers. Though long overshadowed by his intellectual rival John Maynard Keynes, Pigou was instrumental in focusing economics on the public welfare. And his reputation is experiencing a renaissance today, in part because his idea of "e;externalities"e; or spillover costs is the basis of carbon taxes. Drawing from a wealth of archival sources, Ian Kumekawa tells how Pigou reshaped the way the public thinks about the economic role of government and the way economists think about the public good.Setting Pigou's ideas in their personal, political, social, and ethical context, the book follows him as he evolved from a liberal Edwardian bon vivant to a reserved but reform-minded economics professor. With World War I, Pigou entered government service, but soon became disenchanted with the state he encountered. As his ideas were challenged in the interwar period, he found himself increasingly alienated from his profession. But with the rise of the Labour Party following World War II, the elderly Pigou re-embraced a mind-set that inspired a colleague to describe him as "e;the first serious optimist."e;The story not just of Pigou but also of twentieth-century economics, The First Serious Optimist explores the biographical and historical origins of some of the most important economic ideas of the past hundred years. It is a timely reminder of the ethical roots of economics and the discipline's long history as an active intermediary between the state and the market.

Autor

Ian Kumekawa is a PhD candidate in history at Harvard University, where he works on the history of economic thinking.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 6.6.2017
• Zusatzinfo: 6 halftones.
• Verlagsort: Princeton
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Beruf / Finanzen / Recht / Wirtschaft ► Wirtschaft
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Wirtschaftsgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Pädagogik ► Sozialpädagogik
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft ► Volkswirtschaftslehre ► Wirtschaftspolitik
• Schlagworte: academic economics • Academic journals • A. C. Pigou • ad hoc • Alfred Marshall • Alfred the Great • Amartya Sen • Arnold Toynbee • Arthur Balfour • Arthur Cecil Pigou • A Study in Public Finance • atrocity • Austin Robinson • Austrian School • author • awareness • behalf • Betterment (investment service) • Bloomsbury Group • British economist • british idealism • Bureaucracy • bureaucrat • Calculation • Cambridge • Capitalism • Capital levy • Carbon Taxes • Career • Chancellor of the Exchequer • Clarence Pigou • climate crisis • common people • Competition • competitiveness • Conditional Offer • Consideration • consumer • correspondent • coursework • Criticism • Currency • Darwinism • Data • Dawes Plan • Death • Demand curve • Dennis Robertson (economist) • Determination • Direct Marketing • Disenchantment • Disillusionment • Disposable and discretionary income • distrust • economica • Economic Ideas • Economic Inequality • economic interventionism • Economic planning • Economic Policy • economic problem • Economics • Economic science • economics journals • economic surplus • Economic Theory (journal) • economist • economy • Edwin Cannan • Employment • Environmental economics • erudition • Essays (Montaigne) • Ethical movement • ethics • Eugenics • Exchange Rate • Expense • Externality • fellow • Finance • First Book • First-rate • Fiscal Policy • Font Bureau • Foray • Free Trade • Genre • G. M. Trevelyan • Government • Great Depression • Gregory Martin (scholar) • Harrow School • henry sidgwick • Herbert Foxwell • H. H. Asquith • historical reformer • Hugh Dalton • idealism • income • incumbent • Industrial Fluctuations • inefficiency • Influence • Institution • Intelligentsia • Interwar Period • IS–LM model • Joan Robinson • John Maynard Keynes • John Neville Keynes • John Stuart Mill • Keynesian Economics • Labour Party • Laissez-faire • Lecture • legacy • Liberalism • Lionel Robbins • Manifesto • Manufacturing • marginal utility • Market Failure • Measures of national income and output • Methodology • Michel de Montaigne • monetary policy • Morals • Multitude • Nationalization • New Course • New Zealanders • Nora Lees • Objectivity • optimism • Optimist • organic unity • Oscar Browning • Pamphlet • Patriotism • Paul Samuelson • Paul Volcker • Penmanship • Philip Noel-Baker • Piero Sraffa • pigou • Pigovian Tax • Policy • Political Advocacy • Political Economy • Political Involvement • Politician • Politics • pollution • Potentiality and actuality • Poverty • prima facie • Primary Beneficiary • Principles of Economics (Marshall) • Principles (retailer) • Profession • protectionism • Protective tariff • proxemics • Publication • Public Finance • Publicity • Public welfare • raw material • Real Income • reason • Recession • Relative price • Reputation • Retirement • Ronald Coase • Royal Commission • saving • Scarcity • Science • Scientist • self-fashioning • Self-Interest • Sidgwick • Social Credit • Socialism • social reform • Social Science • societal wellbeing • State Action • State Apparatus • Subconscious • Subsidy • Suggestion • Supply (economics) • tariff • Tax • Textbook • The Economic Journal • The Economist • The General Theory • Theory of value (economics) • Thought • tripos • Uncertainty • Unemployment • Utilitarianism • Utility • wage • Wealth • Wealth and Welfare • welfare • Welfare Economics • Welfare State • World War I • World War II • Writing • year
• ISBN-13: 9781400885206 / 9781400885206