The Fortunes of Economics

Beginning of article

The Fortunes of Economics Economics and its Enemies: Two Centuries of Anti-Economics by William Oliver Coleman (Palgrave-Macmillan, London, 2002, hardback, 328 pages, A$198)

In this excellent work of scholarship, the Tasmanian academic William Coleman reviews the attacks on economics that have persisted since its foundation and which continue unabated today. In the opening chapter, the author draws the battlelines between the accusers and the defendants, and describes the field of action. This patient and methodical introduction leads into a careful and balanced description of two centuries of conflict over economics.

This absorbing study provides not only detailed …