In How Economics Became a Mathematical Science E. Roy Weintraub traces the history of economics through the prism of the history of mathematics in the twentieth century. As mathematics has evolved, so has the image of mathematics, explains Weintraub, such as ideas about the standards for accepting proof, the meaning of rigor, and the nature of the mathematical enterprise itself. He also shows how economics itself has been shaped by economists’ changing images of mathematics. Whereas others have viewed economics as autonomous, Weintraub presents a different picture, one in which changes in mathematics—both within the body of knowledge that constitutes mathematics and in how it is thought of as a discipline and as a type of knowledge—have been intertwined with the evolution of economic thought. Weintraub begins his account with Cambridge University, the intellectual birthplace of modern economics, and examines specifically Alfred Marshall and the Mathematical Tripos examinations—tests in mathematics that were required of all who wished to study economics at Cambridge. He proceeds to interrogate the idea of a rigorous mathematical economics through the connections between particular mathematical economists and mathematicians in each of the decades of the first half of the twentieth century, and thus describes how the mathematical issues of formalism and axiomatization have shaped economics. Finally, How Economics Became a Mathematical Science reconstructs the career of the economist Sidney Weintraub, whose relationship to mathematics is viewed through his relationships with his mathematician brother, Hal, and his mathematician-economist son, the book’s author.

a landmark in the contemporary approach to economics"The Observer "it is as good a book as its most obvious predecessors in the genre: Smith's Wealth of Nations and Marshall's Industry and the Trade"Times Educational Supplement Setting out the problems to be solved if mankind is to be freed from poverty, Theory of Economic Growth embraces the disciplines of economics, history, sociology, politics and anthropology in its coverage. Focussing on output and growth (rather than distribution and consumption) the book discusses economic institutions, knowledge, capital, population, resources and government, and their role in the growth of output per head of population.

First published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

* Examines the history and philosophy of the mathematical sciences in a cultural context, tracing their evolution from ancient times up to the twentieth century * 176 articles contributed by authors of 18 nationalities * Chronological table of main events in the development of mathematics * Fully integrated index of people, events and topics * Annotated bibliographies of both classic and contemporary sources * Unique coverage of Ancient and non-Western traditions of mathematics