Collected Works of James Steuart (Hardcover)

An important forerunner of Adam Smith, James Steuart's economic thought largely influenced and anticipated that of Malthus, and is acknowledged in Marx's "Das Kapital" no less than 13 times. McCulloch recognized Steuart as the author of "the first English work which had any pretensions to be considered as a systematic and complete view of the subject". Yet Steuart's work was almost totally eclipsed during the domination of classical orthodoxy in 19th century economic theory. Although his major work, "An Inquiry into the Principles of Political Economy" [1767] was well received, Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations", published nine years later, totally ignored the book and thus greatly weakened Steuart's reputation as a serious economist. In recent times, however, the importance and quality of Steuart's contributions on many central questions of economic theory has been recognized. A comparison with Smith's analysis of economic policy shows Steuart's thought to be enriched by his experiences in Europe of a wide and varied range of economic, social and political conditions.