Wartime in the history of economic thought: episodes in European history

Abstract

The paper is concerned with war in the history of economic thought. It looks at disputes about abstraction versus historicism over the long 19th century, in relation to war and the state. It then looks at the historical setting in which Léon Walras and others developed their ideas of political economy. It concludes with reflections on the presence or absence of the state in modern economic history.