Economics–Scientific and Otherwise

Abstract

THESE books constitute a not unrepresentative sample of what is constantly being published under the head of 'Economies'—a heading which covers both genuinely scientific works and crude polemics. "Economics for Everyman" and "Economic Well-being" are of the latter kind, and are easily disposed of. Mr. Purdom's book is a blueprint for a system of national economic planning constructed in happy innocence of both the political and the economic problems involved. Mr. Coe has erected a Utopia on the basis of the writings of John Ruskin, with a moral earnestness which, alas, is no substitute for sound analysis, and which cannot preserve him from a fundamental fallacy about the nature and functions of money.

Economics for Everyman

By Arthur Coe. Pp. xii + 275. (London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1948.) 16s. net.

Economic Wellbein

By C. B. Purdom. Pp. 222. (London: Ivor Nicholson and Watson, Ltd. 1948.) 8s. 6d. net.

Fundamentals of Economics

By Dr. Myron H. Umbreit Elgin F. Hunt Dr. Charles V. Kinter. Pp. xi + 461. (New York and London: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1948.) 22s. 6d.

Economics

An Introductory Analysis. By Prof. Paul A. Samuelson. Pp. xx + 622. (New York and London: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1948.) 27s.

Economic Man in Relation to his Natural Environment

By C. Reinold Noyes. Vol. 1. Pp. xiv + 692. Vol. 2. Pp. ix + 693–1443. (New York: Columbia University Press; London: Oxford University Press, 1948.) 82s. 6d. net.