The Economic Point of View: An Essay in the History of Economic Thought
By Israel Kirzner
The present essay is an attempt to explore with some thoroughness an extremely narrow area within the field of the history of economic thought. Although this area is narrow, it merits a scrutiny quite out of proportion to its extension, relating as it does to fundamental ideas around which the entire corpus of economic thought has revolved for some two centuries. It remains as true today as ever before that the direction taken by economic theory is in large measure determined by the “point of view” adopted by the economist as his special perspective. It is in this connection that the present study seeks to make its contribution, by setting up the problem in its proper context as a chapter in the history of ideas…. [From the Preface]
Translator/Editor
Laurence S. Moss, ed.
First Pub. Date
1960
Publisher
Kansas City: Sheed and Ward, Inc.
Pub. Date
1976
Comments
2nd edition. Foreword by Ludwig von Mises.
Copyright
The text of this edition is copyright ©1960, The Institute for Humane Studies. Introduction to the second edition is copyright ©1976, The Institute for Humane Studies. Reprinted by permission of the Institute for Humane Studies.
Acknowledgments
The author gratefully acknowledges his indebtedness to the courtesy of the following institutions, associations, and publishers:
The American Economic Association (for permission to quote from their publications, including the
Survey of Contemporary Economics, 1949); George Allen and Unwin Ltd. (for permission to quote from N. Senior,
Outline of Political Economy, and J. Bentham,
Economic Writings, edited by Stark); Jonathan Cape Limited (for permission to quote from L. Mises,
Socialism, and L. Robbins,
The Economic Causes of War); Columbia University Press (for permission to quote from E.R.A. Seligman,
Economic Interpretation of History, 1902, and from Political Science Quarterly, 1901); the editorial Board of
Economica (for permission to quote from
Economics, 1933, 1941); the editor of the
Economic Record and the Melbourne University Press (for permission to quote from the
Economic Record, No. 61, November, 1955); The Free Press (for permission to quote from
Max Weber on the Methodology of the Social Sciences); Harper and Brothers (for permission to quote from F. H. Knight,
The Ethics of Competition); Harvard University Press (for permission to quote from the
Quarterly Journal of Economics and from H. Myint,
Theories of Welfare Economics, 1948); William Hodge and Co. Ltd. (for permission to quote from Max Weber,
Theories of Social and Economic Organization); Howard Allen, Inc. (for permission to quote from K. Boulding,
The Skills of the Economist); Richard D. Irwin, Inc. (for permission to quote from T. Scitovsky,
Welfare and Competition); Kelley and Millman, Inc. (for permission to quote from W. Mitchell,
The Backward Art of Spending Money); Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. (for permission to quote from S. Patten,
Essays in Economic Theory, edited by R Tug well); Longmans, Green and Co., Ltd. (for permission to quote from R Hawtrey,
The Economic Problem); The Macmillan Company, New York (for permission to quote from L. Haney,
History of Economic Thought, 1949, F.S.C. Northrop,
Logic of the Sciences andHumanities, 1949, A. Marshall,
Principles of Economics, 1920); Macmillan and Co. Ltd., London (for permission to quote from
Economic Journal, International Economic Papers, and works by Croce, Hutchinson, Jevons, Macfie, Marshall, Robbins, and Pigou; for the Pigou works acknowledgment is gratefully extended also to the St. Martin’s Press, Inc., New York); Oxford University Press and the Clarendon Press, Oxford (for permission to quote from the
Proceedings of the British Academy, and from 1. Little,
Critique of Welfare Economics); Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd. (for permission to quote from P. Wicksteed,
The Common Sense of Political Economy, F. A. Hayek,
Road to Serfdom, and G. Myrdal,
Value in Social Theory); Staples Press (for permission to quote from E. Cannan,
Wealth, E. Cannan,
Theories of Production and Distribution, D. H. Robertson,
Economic Commentaries); University of Chicago Press (for permission to quote from F. A. Hayek,
Road to Serfdom, F. H. Knight,
History and Method of Economics, and from the
Journal of Political Economy); The Viking Press, Inc. (for permission to quote from T. Veblen,
The Theory of the Leisure Class, The Place of Science in Modern Civilization, Essays in Our Changing Order, and W. Mitchell [editor],
What Veblen Taught); Yale University Press (for permission to quote from L. Mises,
Human Action).