Abstract
This term has been introduced frequently into economic discussion, and especially into discussions concerning the history of economic thought. Yet there seems to be a good deal of ambiguity as to what it is to mean. Moreover, there has developed considerable disagreement concerning the centrality of the ‘harmony’ idea to the development of economic thought, and similar disagreement concerning the extent to which the classical economists, in particular, are to be seen as harmony-theorists. We will return a little later to distinguish various different senses that have been attached to the term ‘harmony’ in economics. For each of these different senses, however, acceptance of the harmony thesis has been held to imply a favourable stance towards a policy of laissez-faire. It is thus not surprising that 18th-century precursors of the notion of harmony have been discovered in Cantillon and in Quesnay (Schumpeter, 1954, p. 234). And we are not surprised to find some writers emphasizing the harmony ideas they see in the classical economists, especially in Adam Smith (Halévey, 1901–4, p. 89: Heimann, 1945, p. 65), while others vehemently question the unqualified identification of these writers with harmony theories (Robbins, 1952, pp. 22–9; Samuels, 1966, pp. 6–8; Sowell, 1974, pp. 16f). It was in the middle of the 19th century that the best-known writings appeared concerning economic harmony. The term appeared in the title of two books by the American economist Henry C. Carey (Carey 1836, 1852).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
Bastiat, F. 1850. Les harmonies économiques. Paris: Guillaumin.
Carey, H.C. 1836. The Harmony of Nature. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard.
Carey, H.C. 1852. The Harmony of Interests, Agricultural, Manufacturing, and Commercial. 2nd edn, New York: Myron Finch.
Carey, H.C. 1858–60. Principles of Social Science. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott.
Carter, J.C. 1907. Law, Its Origin, Growth and Function. New York and London: G.P. Putnam’s Sons.
Ferguson, A. 1767. An Essay on the History of Civil Society. London.
Halévy, E. 1901–4. The Growth of Philosophic Radicalism. Translated from the French by M. Morris, 1928, Boston: Beacon, 1955.
Hayek, F.A. 1967. Studies in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Hayek, F.A. 1973. Law, Legislation and Liberty. Vol. I: Rules and Order, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Heimann, E. 1945. History of Economic Doctrines, An Introduction to Economic Theory. New York: Oxford University Press.
Marshall, A. 1920. Principles of Economics. 8th edn, London: Macmillan, 1936; New York: Macmillan, 1948.
Mises, L. von. 1949. Human Action: A Treatise on Economics. 3rd edn, Chicago: Regnery, 1966.
Moss, L.S. 1976. Mountifort Longfield: Ireland’s First Professor of Political Economy. Ottowa, Ill.: Green Hill.
Myrdal, G. 1932. The Political Element in the Development of Economic Theory. Translated from the German by P. Streeten, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1954.
Robbins, L. 1952. The Theory of Economic Policy in English Classical Political Economy. London: Macmillan, 1965.
Samuels, W.J. 1966. The Classical Theory of Economic Policy. Cleveland and New York: World.
Schumpeter, J.A. 1954. History of Economic Analysis. New York: Oxford University Press.
Sowell, T. 1974. Classical Economics Reconsidered. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Streeten, P. 1954. Recent controversies. Appendix to Myrdal (1932).
Teilhac, E. 1936. Pioneers of American Economic Thought in the Nineteenth Century. Translated from the French by E.A.J. Johnson (1936), reprinted, New York: Russell and Russell, 1967.
Wicksell, K. 1901. Lectures on Political Economy. Vol. I, Translated from the Swedish by E. Classen, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1934; New York: A.M. Kelley, 1967.
Editor information
Copyright information
© 1989 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kirzner, I.M. (1989). Economic Harmony. In: Eatwell, J., Milgate, M., Newman, P. (eds) The Invisible Hand. The New Palgrave. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20313-0_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20313-0_9
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-49533-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-20313-0
eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)