----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- I've read with interest of the different perspectives on Wealth of Nations in relation to contemporary works. As a medievalist, I can't help but wonder how the list members perceive that body of work in relation to the development of political economy as a science during the preceding centuries. Medievalists, of course, like to stress the evolutionary nature of many developments which extend across the medieval and modern periods, and recently arguments have been appearing which suggest that the science and practice of what constitutes political economy began to thrive in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Did the science of political economy of the eighteenth century differ fundamentally from previous discussions? In other words, what would be considered the distinguishing features of these later works as a genre? Thanks for any leads Randall Storey University of Reading ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]