Politics and Economics - Papers in Political Economy by Lord Robbins (1st 1963). A5, Hard cover, 231 pages. Cover slightly worn. Book in good readable condition. Old Library book.
The papers in this collection fall into three divisions.
The first consists of a single paper, 'On the Relations between Politics and Economics', in which an attempt is made to assess the influence on politics of economic thought and the extent to which any theory of economic policy is itself dependent on political assumptions. These are matters on which I have written a certain amount in the past, but, since I have never succeeded in making my views immune from misunderstanding, I hope that this more systematic treatment will not be thought to be superfluous.
The second division comprises six papers which, in various ways, are concerned with the general theory of the state and relations between states, with special reference to the principles of economic policy. The first, 'Freedom and Order', is in the nature of a confession of faith on ultimate ends and means. The two following, 'Art and the State' and 'Equality as a Social Objective', consist of elucidations and applications of some of the points raised therein, while the fourth, 'Hayek on Liberty', a review article on Professor Hayek's thought-provoking and courageous Constitution of Liberty, affords the opportunity for further discussion of ultimate conceptions and their history. The last two papers in this division, 'The Meaning of Economic Integration' and 'Liberalism and the International Problem', are concerned with international relations, both from an economic and a more general point of view.
The third division consists of three papers of a rather more technical nature, concerned with problems of high finance. The first, a review article on Sir Donald MacDougall's important book on the Dollar Problem, develops a little, with special reference to Sir Donald's analysis and predictions, a point of view which I have elaborated at some length in the central papers of my Economist in the Twentieth Century . . .
