A Perilous Progress: Economists and Public Purpose in Twentieth-Century America

by Michael A. Bernstein

Book Overview

The economics profession in twentieth-century America began as a humble quest to understand the "wealth of nations." It grew into a profession of immense public prestige--and now suffers a strangely withered public purpose. Michael Bernstein portrays a profession that has ended up repudiating the state that nurtured it, ignoring distributive justice, and disproportionately privileging private desires in the study of economic life. Intellectual...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691119678
• ISBN13: 9780691119670
• Release Date: March 2004
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 376 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Indispensable for understanding contemporary economics

What Berstein sets out to do in this 190 page book is to trace the rise of economist as a profession. Starting with the formation of the AEA in the late 19th century, Berstein traces this process all the way up to modern times, though the lion's share is dedicated to the years leading up to the sixties. The prose of the book is great, flowing easily without loosing rigour. The historical details and the depth of the research is purely amazing. For me however, what is most marvelous about this book is the way in which it manages to show how neoclassical economics won out against other competing schools of thought as a direct result of WWII. Not Poperian scientific progress, but rather Kuhninan revolutions and McCloskean rhetorics explain why the neoclassical approach, with its emphasis on rigorous mathematics, came to rule supreme. There are a few books on why economics became mathematical out there (Weintraub, Mirowski). In my opinion, this book is the best. This is a must read for anyone interested in the modern history of economic thought or the economic profession as such.