Brief History of the Economy

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a very short history of economics that anyone can understand
A01=Daniel Cohen
Adam Smith
are we getting richer
Author_Daniel Cohen
capitalism
Category=KC
Category=KCZ
Category=KJ
communism
Daniel Cohen's final work
distributive justice
economic growth is the religion of the modern world
economic inequality
economy and climate change
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eq_business-finance-law
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eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
equality
fair division of labour
gap between rich and poor
how to solve the problem of scarce resources
human development and economy
human history and economic growth
Keynes
Marx
modern societies and material prosperity
modern society and wealth disparity
political economy
politics of climate change
redistribution
Schumpeter
short and readable overview of economics
socialism
very short history of the economy
wealth
what are the key economic ideas?
what is the history of the economy?
who are the great economists?

Product details

  • ISBN 9781509568307
  • Weight: 295g
  • Dimensions: 145 x 218mm
  • Publication Date: 21 Nov 2025
  • Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Ltd
  • Publication City/Country: GB
  • Product Form: Hardback
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Economic growth is the religion of the modern world. It promises a solution to the most basic drama of our human existence: wanting what we don’t have. But we live in a time when the frenzied pursuit of economic growth is jeopardizing the planet’s viability and our very survival as a species. How did we get to this point in human history? How did we allow the pursuit of growth to become the apotheosis of human development?

To answer these questions, the distinguished economist Daniel Cohen takes us on a journey to understand human desire and the different registers on which it has expressed itself throughout history. He brings his panoramic grasp of the subject to bear on the key stages of social and economic development, from the Neolithic revolution to the digital age. The ideas of the great economists – from Adam Smith and Karl Marx to Joseph Schumpeter and John Maynard Keynes – are situated in their historical contexts and explained clearly and concisely. The result is a triumph of ambition and brevity: a history of the economy in 100 pages.

This book – the final work written by Daniel Cohen – will appeal to anyone interested in the economy and in the tension between a limited world and unlimited desires that lies at the heart of the great challenges we face today.

Daniel Cohen (1953-2023) was a Professor of Economics at the École normale supérieure and founding member of the Paris School of Economics. His many books include Homo Economicus: The (Lost) Prophet of Modern Times (2014), Homo numericus (2024) and A Brief History of the Economy (2025).

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