The Cambridge History of "Capitalism"

Peter Temin

Journal of Economic Literature, 2015, vol. 53, issue 4, 996-1016

Abstract: This review essay of the two-volume Cambridge History of Capitalism (2014), edited by Larry Neal and Jeffrey G. Williamson, is divided into three parts. First, I describe three chapters from the second volume that I recommend for all economists to add depth to their understanding of the world economy today. Robert C. Allen analyzes the world distribution of income; Randall Morck and Bernard Yeung discuss the history of business groups; and Peter Lindert surveys private and public programs to help the poor. In each case, they analyze historical backgrounds that illuminate current issues. Second, I criticize the definition of capitalism used in these volumes as too expansive to be useful. I argue that this definition mars the essays in first volume by stimulating a fruitless search for capitalism in the millennium before the Industrial Revolution. Third, I describe the essays in this reference work starting from the most recent and ending with those about antiquity. (JEL N00, P10)

JEL-codes: N00 P10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
Note: DOI: 10.1257/jel.53.4.996
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