On Browsing Through the New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics: I

Abstract

Last January I received my four volume set of the New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. As has been said, it really is not a dictionary but an encyclopedia. Many of the entries bring the reader up to date on the latest advances in economic theory. But “over 700 of the nearly 2000 entries” are on the lives and works of important economists who either have passed away or “have reached the age of seventy by 1 January 1986” (I. ix). Even the theoretical entries often contain a history of the subject, and many subjects would be classified as history of economic thought entries. (See the Subject Index. IV. 980-988.)