A Little History of Economics by Niall Kishtainy

A Little History of Economics

by Niall Kishtainy

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History & Foreign Affairs

Kishtainy's contribution to the Yale "Little Histories" series — a friendly, chronological tour of economic thought from Aristotle's "just price" through behavioral economics and the 2008 financial crisis.

Core ideas
  • The book treats economic thought as a sequence of attempts to answer the same recurring questions (what creates value? what's a fair price? how do we handle scarcity?) — each generation's answer revealing what it was actually anxious about.
  • The classical-neoclassical-Keynesian-monetarist-behavioral arc is the spine, but the book gives equal attention to dissenters (Marx, Veblen, Schumpeter, feminist economists) rather than narrating a triumphal march.
  • The accessible voice makes it useful for filling gaps in economic-history reading without slogging through Smith, Ricardo, or Keynes directly.
Published2017
Pages256
ISBN9780300206364
ReadFeb 2024
intellectual history

Connected to 6 other books

shared themes first
The History of Money: A Story of Humanity by David McWilliams The History of Money David McWilliams Shares History & Foreign Affairs Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber Debt David Graeber Shares History & Foreign Affairs How Countries Go Broke: The Big Cycle (Principles) by Ray Dalio How Countries Go Broke Ray Dalio A cross-theme link Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty by Daron Acemoğlu Why Nations Fail Daron Acemoğlu A cross-theme link How Markets Fail: The Logic of Economic Calamities by John Cassidy How Markets Fail John Cassidy A cross-theme link The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness by Morgan Housel The Psychology of Money Morgan Housel A cross-theme link

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