Palgrave Resurrected: A Review Article

Abstract

The publication of The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, edited by John Eatwell, Murray Milgate, and Peter Newman (1987), is a notable event for economists: four bulky volumes containing about 4.3 million words entirely devoted to the intricacies of the discipline. Few economists can be oblivious of the New Palgrave's existence by now, for rarely has an economic work been so sedulously promoted by its publishers or so widely noticed in newspapers and magazines. The list of its 927 contributors includes many stars of the first magnitude in the economists' firmament, and the 1,916 entries produced by these contributors range widely in both content and length, exemplifying a variety of styles and approaches. It will be the rare economist-remarkably well read or with remarkably narrow interestswho will find nothing fresh or stimulating. The casual browser will discover many appealing or intriguing combinations of topic and author and will be loath to lay down the work as one entry after another catches the eye. Some of the longer theoretical surveys will become the staple of graduate reading lists. Other entries, especially those of a more reflective or speculative character, should stimulate fresh thought and suggest new topics for research. It is hardly to be expected in an enterprise of this scale that all the entries should be equally successful and meritorious. The reader is sure to find some that baffle, irritate, or bore. Also, the sophistication and prior knowledge presupposed vary radically among entries. Some of the more technical ones will be accessible only to readers with a substantial mathematical background (try, e.g., William Parry on Ergodic Theory), while many of the considerable number of entries written from a Marxist perspective presume familiarity with Marx's