To add to Steve Kates' highlighting of the influence in America of Henry Clay's Economics: An Introduction for the General Reader, this text is recommended in the fourth (1926) and 5th (1930) editions of R T Ely et al., Outlines of Economics. They write: "Henry Clay's Economics, a very readable book, is available in an American edition, prepared by E. E. Agger."



One other notable American text, not mentioned so far, is Henry George's Science of Political Economy, 1898, published shortly after George's death in October 1897 while campaigning for mayor of New York. Though not quite finished, it runs to 545 pages and is a comprehensive text in the classical tradition. Book II, Ch. VIII ("Breakdown of Scholastic Political Economy") laments the influence of protectionism in the teaching of economics in America. He writes (p.208):
     "So general is this scholastic utterance that it may now be said that the science of political economy, as founded by Adam Smith and taught authoritatively in 1880, has now been utterly abandoned, its teachings being referred to as teachings of "the classical school" of political economy, now obsolete."



- Roger Sandilands

________________________________
From: Societies for the History of Economics [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Steve Kates [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2014 1:15 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [SHOE] Early 20th Century Principles of Economics Texts

In a reply to a recent request for any centenary celebrations coming up in economics in 2016 which was put out by the editors of the History of Economics Review, our HET journal here in Australasia, I wrote:

"2016 is the hundredth anniversary of the publication of what I think of as the best single introductory text on economics published in the twentieth century, Henry Clay's Economics: an Introduction for the General Reader. I would very happily provide you with a shortish note on this great text - you have to see just its publication history from 1916 to 1942 when the second edition was published to appreciate just how extraordinary it was. Used everywhere, including Oxford and Cambridge, and not just mechanics institutes. Also the best summary of pre-Keynesian theory available, in my view, from any source."

I realise that the request in this instance is for "introductory economics textbooks published in the United States" and Clay was published by Macmillan in the UK. But looking here at my lovely first edition, the second listing of the publisher's location reads in a way which does suggest that it would have had a publication history within the US:

"The Macmillan Company
"New York . Boston . Chicago
"Dallas . San Francisco"

And as in indication of its presence in the United States, I also have this: Problems and Exercises to Accompany Clay's Economics for the General Reader and Ely's Outlines of Economics, which was published in 1921, whose author was:

"H. Gordon Hayes
"Professor of Economics in Ohio State University"

I might point out that in this set of questions - which you might for fun test your graduate students on for their understanding of economics - it is Clay who is mentioned before Ely.

I will finally mention that in The Great Gatsby, a text as American as it gets, we have this passage in reference to Gatsby himself as he stands waiting in the library for Daisy to arrive:

"[He] looked with vacant eyes through a copy of Clay's Economics."

If even Gatsby was reading Clay, who wasn't? See http://fairmodel.econ.yale.edu/rayfair/pdf/2000c.pdf for the more complete story, where we find that the first American edition was not published until 1919. And as a footnote to this reply, I might mention to Ray Fair - and this may be a very rusty memory - that Fitzgerald spent some of the years during World War I at my old alma mater, the University of Toronto, where it is likely the book would have been available and in use.



On 18 December 2014 at 07:20, Dan Hirschman <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
Dear SHOE,

I'm working on an analysis of introductory economics textbooks published in the United States between about 1890 and 1950 (the period between Marshall and Samuelson, roughly). I've accumulated an ad hoc collection of texts based on the holdings of my library and scattered references in the secondary literature (Elzinga 1992, Walstad et al 1998, and Giraud 2013 in particular), but I was hoping that there might be some more systematic way to generate a universe of texts from which to sample. Does anyone have a recommendation for a good source that discusses principles texts in this period, perhaps with information on relative influence (number of editions, course adoptions, or sales)? Does such a source exist?

Thanks very much!
Dan Hirschman
PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
University of Michigan


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Dr Steven Kates
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