Economic Studies

E-160: Longmans, Green, and Co. Good. 1895. Second Printing. Hardcover. Hardcover. 8vo. Longmans Green & Co London, 1888. Vi , 215 pgs. 2nd edition. Bound in publisher's plain green cloth boards, gilt lettering on spine, blind line around edges on front. Boards have wear present to the extremities of the boards (corners and extremities bumped and rubbed). Large price present in pencil to the reverse of the front board. Light foxing present. Text is free of marks. Binding tight and solid. Sir Robert Giffen accords the Economic Studies very high praise, referring to them as 'with all their incompleteness, the most important work which Bagehot left'. This posthumously published collection of essays includes chapters on The Postulates of Political Economy; Adam Smith and our Modern Economy; Malthus; Ricardo; the Growth of Capital; Cost of Production. It 'was intended to establish both the aims and frontiers of economics, and clearly indicates, even in its fragmentary condition, the practical basis he had in mind. He rejected the idea of a universal science of economics applicable to every society, blaming this conception for the abstract and dry nature of so much economic theory. Theory should be based on facts, and he defined political economy as 'the science of business, such as business is in large and productive training communities. Its principles, far from being applicable to every country, were only relevant to those in which business was based on the principles of freedom of contract and the unfettered transfer of capital and labour.' e-187; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 280 pages .