Even a decade after the end of the 1914 1918 war, economic theory assumed that the world was tranquil and orderly. By 1939 an economic slump without parallel, allied to the re-emergence of military ambition in Europe, had brought economic theorists face to face with reality. In this classic book, first published in 1967, Professor Shackle provides a study, in exact and professional language, of the precise nature, structure, presuppositions, language and inter-relations of the theories which were formulated in these fourteen years - unparalleled in the whole history of economics except...

The language and theory of economics is very much a part of our lives; yet most of us know little of the meaning of 'inflation', 'productivity' or 'balance of payments', or of the workings of the bank rate or a national monetary policy. The problem is to bridge the gulf between the economist on the one side and the businessman, the banker, the politician, the journalist and the ordinary man on the other. Professor Shackle has provided the solution. In his book the first part of each chapter presents a familiar situation typifying some aspects of economic theory, the second comments on it and...