The paper is concerned with war in the history of economic thought. It looks at disputes about abstraction versus historicism over the long 19th century, in relation to war and the state. It then looks at the historical setting in which Léon Walras and others developed their ideas of political economy. It concludes with reflections on the presence or absence of the state in modern economic history.
(Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2023-02-28) Rothschild, Emma
The central drama of the Wealth of Nations is the reciprocal influence of states and markets. It is played out in Smith's denunciations of regulated companies.
The paper examines the political and economic circumstances in which Frank Knight wrote "Economic Theory and Nationalism" in 1934–1935 and the changing politics of state power in relation to economic life. It points to new possibilities for an economic history of the state and of government in economic life.
