Economic Laws and Economic History

Raffaele Mattioli Lectures

by Charles P. Kindleberger

This book is essentially an exercise in methodology, addressed to economists and economic historians alike. Too many economists discover a relationship or a uniformity in economic behavior, develop a model, and use it to explain more than it is capable of, including on occasion all economic behavior. In Economic Laws and Economic History Charles Kindleberger makes a powerful case against the idea that any one model or law could be used to unlock the basic secrets of economic history.

Genres: Economics, History

208 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1990

About the author

Economic historian. More at Wikipedia

Reviews

[Irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely dense read, and took a while to read through it despite being a rather short book. But well worth the effort. The section on manufacturing and agriculture was useful to know for developing economies, whereas the section on international monetary demand still has implications for today's world (despite the book having been published a little before the euro was a currency). Highly recommend.

[Diego · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro muy didáctico desde una perspectiva histórica, muestra grandes aplicaciones que en retrospectiva muestran la gran relevancia de 4 teorías o "leyes" económicas, la Ley de Engels, Lewis, Grensham y smith, la discusión posterior a los 4 análisis es muy enriquecedora y muestra como estas son valiosas herramientas en el repertorio del economista.