This volume of intellectual biography takes the Italian economist, sociologist, political scientist Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923) from his disillusionment with liberal and pacifist activism, to the original development of pure economics and the composition of his Treatise on General Sociology and the test of this latter on the war and post-war events.

This three volume series of intellectual biography considers the life, work and impact on economic, social and political theory of the Italian economist, sociologist and political scientist Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923). This second volume follows Pareto from his time teaching at Lausanne to the juncture in his life where he first began to make theoretical contributions of his own. Mornati considers Pareto’s work on pure economics, general equilibrium, welfare economics and the economic case for socialism, as well as his critical observations of Italian and Swiss public policy.

This three volume series of intellectual biography considers the life, work and impact on economic, social and political theory of the Italian economist, sociologist and political scientist Vilfredo Pareto (1848–1923). This volume covers the period starting from his childhood up to his early political activism, amateur journalism and initial scholarly contributions. His pre-Lausanne years are often neglected by students of Pareto, but form the intellectual and biographical background to his later contributions to economic, social and political theory.

This volume seeks to restore Vilfredo Pareto to his rightful place in the history of social and economic thought, bringing together studies by leading scholars to mark the centenary of his death in 1923. Assessing Pareto’s many contributions to the social sciences and his unique integration of the disciplines of sociology, politics, and economics, it addresses the relative neglect of Pareto’s work and explores both his continuing relevance to social research and the influence of his thought on subsequent developments in sociology and social theory. As such it will appeal to scholars across the social sciences with interests in the history of sociology and the importance of Pareto’s thought.

This book, set out over three volumes, provides a comprehensive history of economic thought in the 20th century with special attention to the cultural and historical background in the development of theories, to the leading or the peripheral research communities and their interactions or controversies, and finally to an assessment and critical appreciation of economic theories throughout these times. It takes as its subject matter the canon of publications by major thinkers who self-consciously conceived of themselves as 'economists' in the modern academic sense of the term. It is a history of how, when and where the discipline of Economics took root in major universities and scientific communities of economists, and evaluates the emergence of different 'schools' of thoughts. Volume I addresses economic theory in the golden age of capitalism. It considers the contributions of Marshall, Pareto, Wicksteed, Schmoller, Bohm-Bawerk, Schumpeter, Wicksell, Fisher, Veblen and other major thinkers, as well as the universities of Cambridge, Lausanne, Vienna, Berlin, and some others in US, before concluding with a look at the impact that the great war had on the discipline. This work provides a significant and original contribution to the history of economic thought and gives insight to the thinking of some of the major international figures in economics as shown in major works published across the last 130 years. It will appeal to students, scholars and the more informed reader wishing to further their understanding of the history of the discipline.

This book examines the history of economic thought and of political economy over the past 250 years. It presents an accessible introduction to the lives and ideas of some of economics' most prominent theoreticians, including at least one representative of each major school of economic thought. Additionally, learning objectives, summaries, key takeaways, and revision questions are included to facilitate learning and self-assessment. The concise nature of this book makes it an easy-to-use guide to the early pioneers of political economy (Smith, Ricardo, Marx, Walras), the 20th century innovators of economics (Keynes, Schumpeter, Hayek, Friedman, Solow), or the more recent research in the discipline (Nash, Sen, Stiglitz, Krugman). Those interested in the history of economic thought will find this book to be an invaluable resource.