Demonstrates how ideas in economics have shaped business decisions and models, as well as government policies. Discusses the pace of future innovation, how economists think about the world, and the role and importance of markets and their limits.

"The book studies the origins and evolution of economic textbooks in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, up to the turning point represented by Paul Samuelson's Economics (1948), which became the template for all the textbooks of the postwar period. The case studies included in the book...

Foreword / by Herman Daly -- Out of Texas -- Herman the economist -- Philosophy, ethics and religion -- Economics as a life science -- Scale, distribution, allocation -- Measuring the economy -- What's wrong with economic growth? -- Steady-state economics -- In defense of the steady-state...