Robbins' "Essay" gave economics a definition that came to dominate the professional literature. This definition laid a foundation that could be seen as justifying both the narrowing of economic theory to the theory of constrained maximization or rational choice and economists' ventures into...

This thoroughly updated and revised edition of a popular and authoritative reference work introduces the reader to the major concepts and leading contributors in the field of law and economics. The Companion features accessible, informative and provocative entries on all the significant issues,...

The Coase theorem occupies an important place in the history of modern economics. Its implication that institutions are irrelevant for economic performance, though, posed great difficulties for economists, both in their treatment of the theorem per se and in their attempts to grapple with the...

Paul Anthony Samuelson made wide-ranging contributions to scholarship in the history of economic thought over the course of his long professional career, doing so using a distinctive approach to the subject that was both a source of significant insights into the ideas of the past and the subject...