The Coming of Age of Political Economy, 1815-1825

(Hardback)

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The new Political Economy, which in 1815 captured the attention of a country exhausted by war and drained by economic crisis, was to have profound effects on British and, indeed, the Western world's economic and political life for more than a hundred years. Professor Langer's new study is the first to analyze fully the interplay of ideas, politics, and history in this crucial period of change. Rather than treating the theories of the classical political economists as a set of abstract formulations, the author looks at how they were actually applied to the political and moral problems of the day. He examines how the economists, their doctrines, and the ruling political alignments affected the course of history, particularly in the conflicts surrounding the Corn Law, the Poor Law, child labor, and the reform of the monetary system.

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The argument of this book is that political economy in Britain came of age' (that is, became influential) in the decade following the Napoleonic Wars. This occurred because a number of talented individuals directed their intellectual attention toward the subject and imbued the topic with scientific' trappings in an era conducive to such an approach. Langer makes his case by discussing (briefly) the doctrines formulated by key political economists and examining the use of these doctrines to influence policy, focusing on three specific issues: monetary legislation, free trade, and regulation of labor. Especially interesting are numerous quotations from contemporary periodicals illustrating reactions to the political economists and their ideas....-Choice
"The argument of this book is that political economy in Britain came of age' (that is, became influential) in the decade following the Napoleonic Wars. This occurred because a number of talented individuals directed their intellectual attention toward the subject and imbued the topic with scientific' trappings in an era conducive to such an approach. Langer makes his case by discussing (briefly) the doctrines formulated by key political economists and examining the use of these doctrines to influence policy, focusing on three specific issues: monetary legislation, free trade, and regulation of labor. Especially interesting are numerous quotations from contemporary periodicals illustrating reactions to the political economists and their ideas...."-Choice

Author Bio

GARY F. LANGER, Assistant Professor of Economics, Roosevelt University, has published journal articles in the Cambridge Journal of Economics, Economic Forum, and Contributions to Political Economy.