Assembling contributions from top thinkers in the field, thiscompanion offers a comprehensive and sophisticated exploration ofthe history of economic thought. The volume has a threefold focus:the history of economic thought, the history of economics as adiscipline, and the historiography of economic thought. Provides sophisticated introductions to a vast array oftopics. Focuses on a unique range of topics, including the history ofeconomic thought, the history of the discipline of economics, andthe historiography of economic thought.

This collection of papers reflects the variety of interpretations and definitions connected with the concept of `mercantilism' which have evolved historically during the last two centuries. They range from interpretations of `mercantilistic' ideas to interpretations of policies. They stress the relationship between economic, social and political ideas and range from the 17th to the late 20th century. Lastly, they provide us with more knowledge of specific national cases as well as a discussion of mercantilism as a general phenomenon.

Politicized Economies illuminates the high tide of mercantilism in England and the entrenchment of controls in the French and Spanish economies between 1540 and 1640. Ekelund and Tollison subject mercantilist foreign trade to neoclassical-neoinstitutional analysis, examining the general economic organization of the mercantile companies and focusing on the economic inner workings of the East India Company. The authors probe for the origins of the modern corporation in the early joint stock companies of England and analyze the effects of regulatory forms on the business organizations that emerged to engage in foreign trade.