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This volume introduces two unique and hitherto largely unknown contributions to the making of modern economic knowledge and makes them available internationally for the first time in full English translation. The messages of the books are seemingly contradictory, one focuses on the role of individual interests and the other on the role of government., but together they form two important pillars for the economics profession: self-interest and industrial policy.
- Written in 1597 Barthélemy de Laffemas’ General regulation for the establishment of manufactures (originally in French: Reiglement général pour dresser les manufactures) is one of the earliest voices in the history of political economy emphasizing the necessity of manufacturing and large-scale industry as the source of the wealth of nations.
Located somewhat at the cross-roads between medieval Scholasticism and early mercantilism the book presents a basic version of the infant industry argument and European standard model of economic development which evolved into the works of Enlightenment thinkers such as Colbert and Friedrich List and of the nineteenth- and twentieth-century industrial policy in all the countries that followed England’s path to industrialization, including the post-WW II Marshall Plan. - Leonhard Fronsperger’s On the praise of self-interest (German original: Von dem Lob deß Eigen Nutzen, 1564) is the first documented instance of the ‘Mandeville paradox’, a theorem in modern economics usually associated with much later writings including Bernard de Mandeville’s Fable of the Bees (1705/14), and Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations (1776).
“Reinert and Rössner provide us once again with important perspectives on ‘pre-classic’ European economic thought with relevance to modern-day issues. Their book offers translated works by 16th-century economists Laffemas and Fronsperger, enhancing our understanding of economic theory and policy. No chatbot can yet replace such a valuable and unique contribution.” —Wolfgang Drechsler, Professor of Governance at TalTech’s Ragnar Nurkse, Department of Innovation and Governance, Honorary Professor of University College London in the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, and Associate and Member of the Advisory Board at Harvard University’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies.
Introduction; 1 Barthélemy de Laffemas (1545–ca. 1611) as an Early Economist: Context and Scholarly Voices in the English-language Literature, Erik S. Reinert and Philipp Robinson Rössner; 2 General Regulation for the Establishment of Manufactures (1597), Barthélemy de Laffemas Translated from the original French by Philip Stewart; 3 Leonhard Fronsperger (1520–ca. 1575) as an Early Apology of the Market Economy, Rainer Klump and Lars Pilz; 4 Leonhard Fronsperger ‘On the Praise of Self-Interest’ (1564), Translated from the original Early New High German by Philipp Robinson Rössner with Julia McLachlan