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The First Serious Optimist : A. C. Pigou and the Birth of Welfare Economics / Ian Kumekawa.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2017]Copyright date: ©2017Description: 1 online resource (352 p.) : 6 halftonesContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780691163482
  • 9781400885206
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 330.1556092 23
LOC classification:
  • HB103.P54 K86 2018
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction. History and Economics -- Chapter 1. Beginnings -- Chapter 2. Ethics, Politics, and Science -- Chapter 3. Bearing Fruit as Well as Light -- Chapter 4. War, Peace, and Disillusionment -- Chapter 5. Retreat to the Ivory Tower -- Chapter 6. Paradigms Lost -- Chapter 7. Another War and a Fresh Start -- Chapter 8. To "Really Do a Little Good" -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary: 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 "externalities" 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 "the first serious optimist."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.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9781400885206

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction. History and Economics -- Chapter 1. Beginnings -- Chapter 2. Ethics, Politics, and Science -- Chapter 3. Bearing Fruit as Well as Light -- Chapter 4. War, Peace, and Disillusionment -- Chapter 5. Retreat to the Ivory Tower -- Chapter 6. Paradigms Lost -- Chapter 7. Another War and a Fresh Start -- Chapter 8. To "Really Do a Little Good" -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

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 "externalities" 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 "the first serious optimist."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.

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)