Theories of Value and Distribution since Adam Smith: Ideology and Economic Theory
Author: Maurice Dobb
Mr Dobb examines the history of economic thought in the light of the modern controversy over capital theory and, more particularly, the appearance of Sraffa's book The Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities, which was a watershed in the critical discussions constituted a crucial turning-point in the history of economics: an estimate not unconnected with his reinterpretation of nineteenth-century economic thought as consisting of two streams or traditions commonly confused under the generic title of 'the classical tradition' against which Jevons so strongly reacted.
Interesting textbook: The Many Faces of Political Islam or Foxbats Over Dimona
Slavery, Colonialism and Economic Growth in Dahomey, 1640-1960
Author: Patrick Manning
The small but important region of Dahomey (now the People's Republic of Benin) has played an active role in the world economy throughout the era of mercantile and industrial capitalism, beginning as an exporter of slaves and becoming an exporter of plain oil and palm kernels. This book covers a span of three centuries, integrating into a single framework the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial economic history of Dahomey. Mr Manning has pieced together an extensive body of new evidence and new interpretations: he has combined descriptive evidence with quantitative data on foreign trade, slave demography and colonial government finance, and has used both Marxian and Neoclassical techniques of economic analysis. He argues that, despite the severe strain on population and economic growth caused by the slave trade, the economy continued to expand from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, and the colonial state acted as an economic depressant rather than a stimulant.
Table of Contents:
Maps; Tables; Figures; Preface;
1. Slavery, colonialism and economic growth, 1640-1960;
2. The Dahomean economy, 1640-1890;
3. Struggles with the gods: economic life in the 1880s;
4. Production, 1890-1914;
5. Demand, 1890-1914;
6. Exchange, 1890-1914;
7. The alien state, 1890-1914;
8. Social struggles for economic ends, 1890-1914;
9. The mechanism of accumulation;
10. Capitalism and colonialism, 1915-60;
11. The Dahomean national movement;
12. Epilogue; Notes; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.
