Series: Contending Perspectives in Economics

This series is based on the book Contending Perspectives in Economics, by John T Harvey PhD, which I consider to be an EXCELLENT book, which anyone who has even a casual interest in economics should read. It is written in plain language and it seems to do an excellent job of explaining why we have so many different schools of economic thought, and how some have become so entrenched.

Contending Perspectives in Economics, Chapters 1 and 2

Contending Perspectives in Economics: Image of the book cover
This entry is part 1 of 9 in the series Contending Perspectives in Economics

This blog post series is my attempt to summarize, and do justice, to the book Contending Perspectives in Economics by John T Harvey PhD. I consider this book to be exceptionally well written and to clearly explain: Various and diverse schools of thought (perspectives) in economics How they came to be the way they are […]

Neoclassical Economics: What is it? Where did it come from?

Neoclassical economics: Image of a "generic" demand supply curve showing equilabrium
This entry is part 2 of 9 in the series Contending Perspectives in Economics

Those neoclassical economic people love their equilibrium curves? Right? Anyway, this post is a summary of chapter 3 of the book Contending Perspective in Economics by John T Harvey Ph.D. I’m summarizing this book because it’s such a great little book (151 pages, but packed full of insights). So without further ado, what, and why, […]

Marxism: What is it? Where did it come from?

Marxism: An image of a post of Groucho Marx with the word "Marxism" underneath
This entry is part 3 of 9 in the series Contending Perspectives in Economics

I’m pretty sure everyone knows Marxism came from the mind of Karl Marx, so the deeper question is what ideas influenced his thinking? This post is a summary of chapter 4 of the book Contending Perspective in Economics by John T Harvey Ph.D. I’m summarizing this book because it’s such a great little book (151 […]

Austrian Economics: What is it? Where did it come from?

Austrian Economics: Image of a book cover: An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought by Murray N. Rothbard
This entry is part 4 of 9 in the series Contending Perspectives in Economics

Austrian economics and libertarianism are not the same things, but there does seem to be a very strong overlap. This post is a summary of chapter 5 (Austrian Economics) of the book Contending Perspective in Economics by John T Harvey Ph.D. I’m summarizing this book because it’s such a great little book (151 pages, but […]

Post Keynesian economics: What is it? Where did it come from?

Post Keynesian economics: The image is of a business cycle as modeled by post Keynesian economics
This entry is part 5 of 9 in the series Contending Perspectives in Economics

Post Keynesian economics is called post Keynesian because the name “Keynesian” was taken,. Ironically, by economists who do not follow the teachings of John Maynard Keynes, whom the school of thought is named after. This occurred due to a fundamental misunderstanding of something Keynes wrote in his General Theory (more on this later). This post […]

Institutionalism: What is it? Where did it come from?

Institutionalism: The image is an aerial view of the Washington monument and the reflecting pond, showing the back of the Lincoln memorial in the foreground
This entry is part 6 of 9 in the series Contending Perspectives in Economics

The image for this post is a little misleading. Institutionalism is not about what most people consider to be institutions, but rather the culture and how culture defines/imposes rules we all follow. In a way, this is another example of economists putting names on things that at first glance don’t make much sense. So (in […]

New Institutionalism: What is it? Where did it come from?

New institutionalism: A picture of a presentation slide defining some relevant terms
This entry is part 7 of 9 in the series Contending Perspectives in Economics

New institutionalism is the economic offspring of neoclassical economics and constitutionalism. New institutionalists believe the quasi rational choices individuals within a market-based economy make are limited and guided by the societal institutions of that society. Like other economic schools of thought, new institutionalism was started when an economist wrote an article or two that didn’t […]

Feminist economics: What is it? Where did it come from?

Feminist economics: The picture shows the cover of a journal "Politics & Society"
This entry is part 8 of 9 in the series Contending Perspectives in Economics

Feminist economics is not exclusively about gender issues and inequality. It seems that at its core it analyzes how and why unpaid care work is not considered to be economically valuable when unpaid care work directly enables the activities we do think are economically valuable. Researchers in feminist economics draw some ideas from neoclassical economists, […]

Ecological economics: What is it? Where did it come from?

Ecological economics: Image shows three areas inside each other. The economy is inside of society which is turn is inside of environment.
This entry is part 9 of 9 in the series Contending Perspectives in Economics

Ecological economics, to me, is simultaneously fascinating and depressing. Fascinating because it starts with the natural sciences of ecology, biology, and thermodynamics. Depressing because the waste we’re creating from our technology and industry is changing our biosphere faster than we as a civilization might be able to accommodate, or survive. This post is a summary […]