Good synopsis but poor analysis

books:

	• Economic Theory in Retrospect Mark Blaug Cambridge University Press, 1997 - 751 pages average customer review:based on 5 reviews view larger image
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Good synopsis but poor analysis

I have always felt uneasy with this book since I was an under graduated student, 30 years ago. This is undoubtedly a quiet useful book for anyone who needs a bird's-eye view of the classics in economics. If you don't have time to read Smith's Wealth of Nations or Marshall's Principles, here you have the book you need. However, it is not here that you can look for a good analysis of the meaning and implications of the main schools of economic thought, as well as the relevance of the work of its most distinguished authors and their social and intellectual environment. That is reason why I always preferred Schumpeter's History of Economic Analysis. Today, that I am lecturing this course my dissatisfaction has increased, among other reasons because you have more and better textbooks, such as Lionel Robbins' History of Economic Thought, Mark Skoussen's Making of Modern Economics, or Jürg Niehams' History of Economic Theory, which I really enjoyed reading because they try to make a portrayal of the intellectual and human stature of the most important economists of all times and their background.

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Good synopsis but poor analysis

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good for econ dudes

as an econ major i found this book highly informative and interesting. however, if you are not mathematically inclined you might find some of the models and graphs difficult to follow, especially the ones involving differential equations.
but if you are an econ dude, this book is great. lots of insight about how commonly used theories and models came about. well written for the most part, but somewhat wordy at times.

Still the best of its type

The standard text for anyone who wishes to analyse economic theory. Blaug takes the approach that an economic theory can be criticised on two levels. It may have a mismatch with the environment and or it may be internally flawed as a theory. By concentrating on theory Blaug helps the reader acquire their own critical faculties for assessing economic theories without getting bogged down on endless details associated with, "but things were different then," or with defendants of marxist economic theory, "but things would be different."

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This is a history of economic thought from Adam Smith to John Maynard Keynes--but it is a history with a difference. Firstly, it is history of economic theory, not of economic doctrines. Secondly, it includes detailed Reader's Guides to nine of the major texts of economics in the effort to encourage students to become acquainted at first hand with the writings of all the great economists. This fifth edition adds new Reader's Guides to Walras' Elements of Pure Economics and Keynes' General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money as well as major additions to the chapters on marginal productivity theory, general equilibrium theory and welfare economics.

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