Main Currents in Modem Economics deserves to be the classic it is. At the time of its original publication in 1962, Ben Seligman, a scholar’s scholar, had immersed himself in the development of economic thought since 1870. This product of his efforts is truly timeless. Why is Main Currents still modern and surprisingly up-to-date? For Seligman, the story begins with the revolt of German historical writers against the rigidity of classical doctrine, a natural starting point for contemporary theory. He takes us from the world of Thorstein Veblen to Galbraith’s theory of countervailing power and the affluent society—worlds that he makes us understand are not so far apart., Seligman also shows us how the doctrines begin to repeat themselves. Tradition is reaffirmed with the rediscovery of marginalism by Jevons, the Austrians, and J. B. Clark. A more neutral version of “equilibrium economics” is supplied by Leon Walras and Vilfredo Pareto, a main current of thought extended by John R. Hicks and Paul A. Samuelson. Seligman characterizes the principal trait of modern doctrine as the use of technique for its own sake. Dismissing G.L.S. Shackle’s writing on uncertainty, he criticizes Shackle’s use of continuous rather than discontinuous function., Main Currents may have been published too soon to be fully appreciated. Selig-man’s focus on the thrust toward technique now has a ring of truth that can no longer be ignored. As Ray Canterbery notes in his introduction, in some respects only the names of the players have changed, and Main Currents’ pertinence to today’s issues is self-evident. Economics has moved so deeply into technique that the next generation may have to rediscover the past in order to find its way out. Seligman s book is a good place to begin the journey.

Mathematical Models in Economics is a component of Encyclopedia of Mathematical Sciences in which is part of the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. This theme is organized into several different topics and introduces the applications of mathematics to economics. Mathematical economics has experienced rapid growth, generating many new academic fields associated with the development of mathematical theory and computer. Mathematics is the backbone of modern economics. It plays a basic role in creating ideas, constructing new theories, and empirically testing ideas and theories. Mathematics is now an integral part of economics. The main advances in modern economics are characterized by applying mathematics to various economic problems. Many of today's profound insights into economic problems could hardly be obtained without the help of mathematics. The concepts of equilibrium versus non-equilibrium, stability versus instability, and steady states versus chaos in the contemporary literature are difficult to explain without mathematics. The theme discusses on modern versions of some classical economic theories, taking account of balancing between significance of economic issues and mathematical techniques. These two volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs.

Paul A. Samuelson was the first American Nobel Laureate in economics, and the second overall. He was credited for "the scientific work through which he has developed static and dynamic economic theory and actively contributed to raising the level of analysis in economic science." That recognition is now thirty years old and Samuelson remains at work in the cutting edge of the discipline. He is also widely known for a basic textbook that became a landmark learning tool throughout the second half of the twentieth century. This excellent collegial appreciation focuses heavily on Samuelson's Foundations of Economic Analysis. In that work, and a series of brief essays, he has contributed to an integration of statics and dynamics by way of the correspondence principle. He has also combined the multiplier and accelerator mechanisms in a model of economic fluctuations; he has reformed the foundations of consumption theory by his concept of revealed preferences; he has developed or improved several major theorems within international trade; and created theories of maximum efficiency and maximum growth rate. Finally, he has clarified the role of collective goods in resource allocation. In considering the work and life of Samuelson, editor Puttaswamaiah, has assembled a worthy group of brilliant commentators. Among the analytic papers in this volume are "An essay on the Accuracy of Economic Prediction" by L.R. Klein, "Analytical Aspects of Anti-Inflation Policy" by Robert M. Solow, a paper by Vittorangelo Orati on Samuelson's linkage to Schumpeter and Keynes, "Money and Price Theory by Carlo Benetti and Jean Cartelier, and a concluding essay on "The Role of Samuelson's Economics" by Michael Emmett Brady. Most unusual in works of this kind are some strong critical statements, including a pungent examination of vanity as well as creativity in Samuelson's work. What emerges is a clear picture of a special scholar. Scholars and students will welcome it alike-a result that well fits the purpose and character of Samuelson. The festschrift has its origins in several issues of the International Journal of Applied Economics and Econometrics. Professor K. Puttaswamaiah has more than three decades of editing journals in economics. He is a member of the journal; Savings and Development issued at the University of Milan. He is author of Economic Development of Karnataka, Cost-Benefit Analysis, and Nobel Economists: Lives and Contributions.

What do modern academic economists do? What currently is mainstream economics? What is neoclassical economics? And how about heterodox economics? How do the central concerns of modern economists, whatever their associations or allegiances, relate to those traditionally taken up in the discipline? And how did economics arrive at its current state? These and various cognate questions and concerns are systematically pursued in this new book by Tony Lawson. The result is a collection of previously published and new papers distinguished in providing the only comprehensive and coherent account of these issues currently available. The financial crisis has not only revealed weaknesses of the capitalist economy but also highlighted just how limited and impoverished is modern academic economics. Despite the failings of the latter being more widely acknowledged now than ever, there is still an enormous amount of confusion about their source and true nature. In this collection, Tony Lawson also identifies the causes of the discipline’s failings and outlines a transformative solution to its deficiencies. Amongst other things, Lawson advocates for the adoption of a more historical and philosophical orientation to the study of economics, one that deemphasizes the current focus on mathematical modelling while maintaining a high level of analytical rigour. In so doing Lawson argues for a return to long term systematic and sustained projects, in the manner pursued by the likes of Marx, Veblen, Hayek and Keynes, concerned first and foremost with advancing our understanding of social reality. Overall, this forceful and persuasive collection represents a major intervention in the on-going debates about the nature, state and future direction of economics.

Muslim countries are facing serious problems in managing their economic life. Their inherited colonial ways of achieving economic aims are in basic contradiction to certain aspects of Islamic values and intended economic goals. Thus, it is imperative for Muslim countries endeavoring to escape underdevelopment and social injustice to turn to Islamic teaching and the Islamic way of harnessing human potentials to improve economic conditions and ascertain the necessary requirement for effective economic development.Islamic economics, as developed by Muslim jurists and social scientists (fuqaha'), needs to be recast in modern terms and developed further to deal with complex realities of the modern society. This book is one step on the long march to Islamizing the science of economics. It contains a selection of papers from the proceedings of the economic conference held in Cairo in 1988. These papers are a valuable contribution to the cause of modernizing Islamic economics.

With the failure of economics to predict the recent economic crisis, the image of economics as a rigorous mathematical science has been subjected to increasing interrogation. One explanation for this failure is that the subject took a wrong turn in its historical trajectory, becoming too mathematical. Using the philosophy of mathematics, this unique book re-examines this trajectory. Philosophy of Mathematics and Economics re-analyses the divergent rationales for mathematical economics by some of its principal architects. Yet, it is not limited to simply enhancing our understanding of how economics became an applied mathematical science. The authors also critically evaluate developments in the philosophy of mathematics to expose the inadequacy of aspects of mainstream mathematical economics, as well as exploiting the same philosophy to suggest alternative ways of rigorously formulating economic theory for our digital age. This book represents an innovative attempt to more fully understand the complexity of the interaction between developments in the philosophy of mathematics and the process of formalisation in economics. Assuming no expert knowledge in the philosophy of mathematics, this work is relevant to historians of economic thought and professional philosophers of economics. In addition, it will be of great interest to those who wish to deepen their appreciation of the economic contours of contemporary society. It is also hoped that mathematical economists will find this work informative and engaging.

The appropriate role of mathematics in economics has been controversial for two hundred years, and has been a matter of ongoing debate as economics became more mathematical after the Second World War. Controversy has been heightened after extensive criticisms of models used for analysis, prediction and risk assessment prior to the great financial crash of 2008. In this topical collection, Professor Hodgson brings together the seminal classic and recent essays published since 1945 on the role of mathematics in economics, by leading authors including six Nobel Laureates, and from a variety of perspectives.

Designed to give second-year undergraduates an intuitive understanding of basic mathematical techniques, and when and why they are applicable. Building on the traditional framework of calculus, the notion of a concave function is used to link the new algebraic methods with the more familiar graphical approach-and to introduce the modern use of duality in economic analysis. Final sections on consumer theory and the theory of the firm offer solutions to problems set earlier in the book. Contents: Sets, functions and their graphs; Differential calculus and local optima; Concave functions, global and constrained optima; Duality; Integration, first order differential and difference equations; Consumer theory and the theory of the firm; Appendix: Linear algebra^R