Classical Economic Growth
Reviews of Classical Economic Growth: an analysis in
the tradition of Adam Smith by Gavin C Reid, Basil Blackwell.
‘Many
themes are explored in this book.
The book as a whole is a very individual mix of institutional economics
and analytical growth theory and represents a valuable and timely
contribution’
Renee
Prendergast, The Times Higher Education Supplement
‘The
dominant themes are division of labour in the widest sense, and the process of
disequilibrium growth and accumulation. The first theme is concerned with
dynamic technological progress rather then an allocative
mechanism. Though the formal parts
of the text concentrate on aggregate variables, such as the total labour force,
the supply of capital and the like, the relationships between the variables are
firmly grounded in micro-behavioural and institutional frameworks, and
considerable emphasis is also placed on the importance of sectoral
relationships…For all the major and sub-themes discussed, recourse is had
to a rich and varied analytical literature… The book should certainly be
read …and the discussion of alternative formulations of Smith’s
growth model in the literature is particularly commended. The clarity of exposition makes the book
suitable for undergraduate studies.
It can provide a starting point for post-graduate projects. It may even serve to educate some of my
clever but ill-informed colleagues.’
J M Alec Gee, The Economic Journal
Reid uses
present-day analytical economics to expound his basic Smithian
growth model, and to critique previous representations of it by Adelman, Barkai, Eltis, Galbraith, Higgins, Hollander and Samuelson. Reid models the division of labour using
an aggregate production function Y = Y(K, N, T, M) where K is capital, N is
labour, T the fixed stock of land, and M = M(Y) represents the division of
labour (or endogenous technical progress) dependent upon the extent of the
market…This… provides the basis for the …stadial
view of societal evolution…This book provides useful service in emphasizing the
continuing relevance of Smithian growth analysis and
correcting some of the misapprehensions which have arisen regarding its nature.
Andrea Maneschi, History of
Political Economy
Smith’s
prime concern, it is argued, was with economic growth and capital
accumulation. Here, the crucial
element is the division of labour, which, in the context of competition, is
responsible for generating a climate of dynamic increasing returns. But, from the perspective of this
author, it is this process which is responsible for creating disequilibrium
situations, the resolution of which provides the key to subsequent accumulation
and economic growth. Indeed,
‘the emergence of a new stage involves converting a state of stable but
undesirable equilibrium into one of unstable but desirable growth’. The need is to analyse disequilibrium
departures from the steady state growth path…
This is a
scholarly work, concisely written, well referenced and up-to-date. In discussing the division of labour,
economies of scale and technical progress it ranges widely over many issues,
encompassing, for example, …Keynesian and Classical models of
fluctuations and growth. It is of
particular relevance to the doctrines of Adam Smith.
G K Shaw, Economic Affairs
‘There
are plenty of interesting ideas in this book’
Anthony
Brewer, The Manchester School