‎Essays on medieval and early modern economy and society‎

‎Leuven, University Press 1977 viii + 309pp.+ frontispice (portrait of author), hardcover (editor's blue cloth), 25cm., in the series "Symbolae. Facultatis Litterarum et Philosophiae Lovaniensis" Series A vol.5, E60860‎

‎The American Economic Review, Volume XVIII [18].‎

‎Cambridge Massachusetts, American Economic Association, 1928. 8vo. Bound with the original red wrappers in contemporary half cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Library stamp to verso of title page. X, 828 pp.‎

‎First printing. ‎

‎Projet d'une dixme royale. Qui supprimant la taille, Les Aydes, les Doüanes d'une Province à l'autre (...). - [""UNSURPASSED, BEFORE OR AFTER""]‎

‎(No place, nor printer), 1707. 8vo. In contemporary full calf with five raised bands and richly gilt spine. Edges of boards gilt. Title-label is either missing or have never been added. Small paper-label pasted on to top of spine. Stains and scratches to boards. Corners bumped. Internally nice and clean. VIII, 268 pp. + 3 folded tables. ‎

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‎One of the at least seven different issues of the 12mo edition, published same year as the first edition (in 4to), in which Vauban proposed a comprehensive tax reform plan for France. The central idea was to replace the existing tax system, which heavily burdened the lower classes while exempting the nobility and clergy, with a single tax on income and property that would be fairly distributed among all citizens, regardless of social status. Schumpeter called the work 'unsurpassed, before or after, in the neatness and cogency of the argument. Purposeful marshalling of all the available data was the essence of his analysis. Nobody ever understood better the true relation between facts and argument. It is this that makes him an economic classic in the eulogistic sense of the work, and a forerunner of modern tendencies' (Schumpeter, History of Economic analysis, p. 204). 'an erudite economic work much in advance of its time, and distinguished both by accuracy of method and breadth of view' (Palgrave), 'creditable alike to the heart and the head of its illustrious author' (McCulloch). 'Though the book was published anonymously, and only a few copies issued (for circulation among friends), Vauban had to submit to the mortification of seeing it 'pilloried' by the parliament, while he himself incurred the displeasure of the king (Louis XIV).' (Palgrave). ‎

‎On the Nature of Capital (+) On the Nature of Capital: Investment, Intangible Assets, and the Pecuniary Magnate.‎

‎(Boston, Stanford University Press), 1908. 8vo. Two offprints in the original printed wrappers. Offprints from ""Quarterly Journal of Economics"", Vol. XXII, August & Vol. XXIII, November 1908. Vol. XXII: Backwrapper detached, a few small nicks to extremities. Vol. XXIII: Front wrapper detached. Fine and clean. Pp. 517-42"" Pp. 103-136.‎

‎Two scarce offprints of Veblen's important publications on the theory of capital. Here Veblen broadens the concept of capital to include the capital of knowledge. Thus, Veblen's theory laid ""the foundation for a system of property rights created to enable individuals to productively utilize knowledge that resides within the community as a whole"" (Niman, Henry George and the Development of Thorstein Veblen's Theory of Capital). ""The foundation of Veblen's theory of capital is rooted in the special position knowledge holds in society. Knowledge forms the basis for the productive use of natural resources and is a community asset that, at its most fundamental level, is not owned by a single individual. Thus, Veblen's theory begins by laying the foundation for a system of property rights created to enable individuals to productively utilize knowledge that resides within the community as a whole. These property rights make it possible for the creation and ownership of capital in the form of industrial equipment. With growth in the scale and scope of the community comes the ability to monopolize a portion of the community's asset for pecuniary gain. Monopolization then leads to a form of economic servitude that is similar to slavery."" (Niman, Henry George and the Development of Thorstein Veblen's Theory of Capital).In contrast to conventional theories of capital that are founded on the productive labor of workers and described in individualistic terms, Veblen believed that the history of humanity is not the story of a collection of independent individuals, but, rather, is based on the collective contribution of the group. The group plays an important role because it is the group that forms the entity where knowledge iscaptured and stored.""Thorstein Veblen's theory of capital as an important element in developing an evolutionary economics warrants a closer investigation into the origins of the concept. In his essay outlining the basic theory of capital, Veblen (1908) makes explicit reference to the single taxers, and to the relationship between land as an unearned source of rent and the returns associated with capital.If one considers Veblen's anthropological approach to economics, then it becomes easier to see how, as society develops, capital in the form of community-based knowledge takes on the fundamental role previously played in an earlier era by land. Veblen's theory of capital does not invalidate the earlier focus on land, but, rather, is one step further down the path of economic development."" (Niman, Henry George and the Development of Thorstein Veblen's Theory of Capital).Thorstein Bunde Veblen was an American economist and sociologist, and regarded as being the founding figure of the institutional economics movement. ""He studied economics under John Bates Clark, a leading neoclassical economist, but rejected his ideas. He did his graduate work at Johns Hopkins University under Charles Sanders Peirce, the founder of the pragmatist school in philosophy, and at Yale University under laissez-faire proponent William Graham Sumner. He repudiated their views as well. Veblen did not reject economists' answers to the questions they posed"" he simply thought their questions were too narrow. Veblen wanted economists to try to understand the social and cultural causes and effects of economic changes."" (The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics).‎

‎L'organisation professionnelle - Projet de réalisation en Belgique‎

‎Bruxelles, L'édition universelle 1937 151pp., 2e éd., br.orig. (dos peu restauré), 24cm., estampe, bon état‎

‎De verhouding van den staat tot het bankwezen‎

‎Utrecht, Kemink en zoon 1864 xvii + 611pp., [Academisch proefschrift ter verkrijging van den graad van doctor in het romeinsch en hedendaagsch regt aan de hoogeschool te Utrecht, 4 mei 1864], moderne gecart.band, goede staat‎

‎Philosophie économique - Etudes critiques sur le naturalisme‎

‎, Paris, Desclée de Brouwer 1933, xxvi + 224pp., dans la série "Bibliothèque française de Philosophie", qqs.estampes, texte en bel état‎

‎Restauration corporative de la nation française‎

‎Paris, Flammarion 1936 282pp., dans la série "Bibliothèque d'études sociales", br.orig., 19cm., bon état‎

‎Les difficultés de l'industrie britannique depuis la guerre‎

‎Paris, Pedone 1932 176pp., br.orig. (dos réparé), 25cm., cachet, texte en bel état, E41804‎

‎L'expérience Roosevelt - la politique bancaire et monétaire postérieure à 1934‎

‎Paris, Librairie sociale et économique 1939 iii + 132pp., br.orig. (dos restauré), cachet, texte en bon état, E41500‎

‎VINGTIEME SIECLE. N° SPECIAL : LES CRISES ECONOMIQUES DU XX° SIECLE.‎

‎ Presses de Sciences Po Presses de Sciences Po. 1996, In-8 broché, 182 pages. Parfait état.‎

‎A. PLESSIS : LES BANQUES FRANCAISES DANS LES GRANDES CRISES DU XX° SIECLE etc... Toutes les expéditions sont faites en suivi au-dessus de 25 euros. Expédition quotidienne pour les envois simples, suivis, recommandés ou Colissimo. ‎

‎L'Homme aux Quarante Écus (+) Belisaire Par Mr. Marmontel. Nouvelle Edition. - [VOLTAIRE'S ONLY WORK ON ECONOMICS]‎

‎Londres, No printer stated (L'Homme aux Quarante Écus) Leipsic, Lebrecht Crusius (Belisaire Par Mr. Marmontel), 1768. 8vo. Contemporary full calf with five raised bands and richly gilt spine with red leather title-label. Boards and capitals with some wear. pasted on to pasted down front free end-paper. (8),317,(7), pp. [Belisaire Par Mr. Marmontel]" 89 pp. [L'Homme aux Quarante Écus] + four engraved plates (with offsetting).‎

‎Published the same year as the original Geneva-edition. ""L'Homme aux Quarante Écus"" (The Man of Forty Crowns) is the only work in which Voltaire occupies himself with the sole subject of economy. It was created as a fable in response to the economic policies of the physiocratic school: ""The wealthy industrialist could smile as he endorsed the doctrine that he should not be made to pay the tax because he added nothing to wealth [since they believed only land could yield a surplus]. This anomaly inspired Voltaire to write a lively satire, The Man with Forty Crowns"" in it the wealthy financier who escapes taxation taunts the poor farmer who pays taxes for both, although his income is only forty crowns."" (Oser. The Evolution of Economic Thought, p. 29). Despite Voltaire's satirical attitude towards the wealthy industrialist he did advocate luxury as a positive economic good. In ""Le Mondain"" (1736) and ""La Défense du Mondain"" (1737) he praised luxury goods as both a desirable personal philosophy of life and as means of assuring national prosperity.‎

‎Englands Vorherrschaft aus der Zeit der Kontinentalsperre‎

‎Leipzig, Duncker & Humblot 1912 xx + 381pp.+ 1 map & 1 portrait of A.von Peez, VG‎

‎Sud'by kapitalizma v Rossii. [i.e.: The fate of capitalism in Russia]. - [THE EPITOME OF NARODNIK ECONOMICS AND THE FIRST SERIOUS ATTEMPT AT ANALYZING RUSSIAN CAPITALISM]‎

‎S.-Peterburg, Typografiya M.M. Ctasiulevitsa, 1882. 8vo. Bound in an elegant recent red half calf binding, in pastiche, with five raised bands and gilt lettering to spine. Heavily underlined thoughout in blue and red. Title-page repaired at inner hinge, far from affecting text. No stamps. (4), 312 pp.‎

‎The exceedingly scarce first edition of this landmark work of Russian economics, being Vorontsov's seminal pre-revolutionary book ""The Fate of Capitalism in Russia"", which constitutes, not only the first serious attempt at analyzing Russian capitalism, but also one of the earliest (and the first Russian) theoretical statements of the assumption of economic development along non-capitalist lines. Vorontsov, together with Danielson - who was greatly inspired by the present work - is considered the major exponent of Narodnik (and pre-revolutionary) economics, of which the present work is essentially the epitome. ""In the 1880's, after the revolutionaries had clearly abandoned their indifferences to political forms, legal Populism became a distinctly separate movement with its own ideology. The common denominator linking the often very different members of this movement was the postulate of noncapitalist industrialization to be initiated and directed by the state, which would safeguard the interests of the small producers. The leading and most characteristic representative of this trend was V. P. Vorontsov (1847 - 1918). His book [the present] was the first ambitious attempt to analyze the specific features of Russian capitalism"" at the same time, it was an original statement of the theoretical assumptions of economic development along noncapitalist lines."" (Walicki, A History of Russian Thought)Vorontsov argues that that Russia's lack of an adequate internal market and the continued vitality of the peasant commune in Russia precluded any possibility that capitalism could ever supplant the agrarian economy that existed there"" the process of industrialization had been initiated in Russia but the backwardness compared to the rest of Europe meant that the industrialized mode of production would be kept in Europe, meaning Russia would have to import instead of export goods and thereby be kept on a comparatively low industrialization level due to the lack of internal market. Vorontsov, however, saw this as a not necessarily negative development. He wrote: ""The countries which are latecomers to the avenue of history have a great privilege in comparison with their foregoers, a privilege consisting in the fact that the accumulated historical experience of other countries enables them to work out a relatively true image of their next step and to strive for what others have already achieved not instinctively but consciously, not groping in the dark but knowing what should be avoided on the way."" [From the present work].Vorontsov was one of the first Russian economists to study the works of Karl Marx, the historical materialism of whom he was strongly influenced by. Vorontsov, inspired by Marx, maintained that crises are caused by production of surplus value, which becomes the real purpose of the economy under capitalist relations. The ""problem of the home market"" and the excess of production over consumption are manifestations of the fact that the capitalist class is not in a position to consume the entire surplus value produced. Vorontsov had therefore worked out a Marxist version of the underconsumption approach, which converged with the one first introduced by Malthus: Crises emanate from ""over-saving,"" or, in Marxist terms, from the inability of the capitalists to consume surplus value.""The views of the other Marxist theoreticians of the Narodnik current, first and foremost Nikolai Danielson, who in 1891 presented his theses in comprehensive form in his ""Outlines of our Social Economy after the Reform"" converged with the basic conclusions of Vorontsov's analysis: inability of the economy to absorb the product generated owing to capitalism's inherent tendency to increase production beyond society's ability to consume. Within this framework, Danielson is nevertheless to be distinguished from Vorontsov as regards the factors that cause underconsumption: contraction in the purchasing power of the popular masses (and not the inability of capitalists to consume the surplus value)."" (MILIOS, Tugan-Baranowsky and Effective Demand)The present work had a profound influence upon the Narodnik movement and is considered the movements economic background. It is commonly rendered as ""populism"" or ""peopleism"", an ideology which took ""peasant collectivism as a vehicle for non-capitalist development in Russia. The Narodnik movement developed along two paths: The intellectual, media based approach (The most influential and to which Vorontsov belonged) and the revolutionary agitation against the Tsardom. Though their movement achieved little in its own time, the Narodniks were in many ways the intellectual and political forebearers of the socialist revolutionaries, who went on to greatly influence Russian history in the 20th century.‎

‎Counter Defensive being the Story of a Bank in Battle.‎

‎London, Hodder and Stoughton, (1946). Royal8vo. Fine orig. hmorocco. Uncut. Top edge gilt. On handmade paper. (8),106 pp. Frontisp. and 27 plates. Presented to C.V. Bramsnaes, Esq.‎

‎L'économie agricole de la Chine‎

‎Louvain, De Vlaamsche Boekenhalle / Ecole des Sciences politiques et Sociales de Louvain 1925 188pp.avec ills., 25cm., br.orig., qqs.cachets, petite étiquette sur couverture, non coupé, bon état, E74000‎

‎L'économie agricole de la Chine‎

‎Louvain, De Vlaamsche Boekenhalle / Ecole des Sciences politiques et Sociales de Louvain 1925 188pp., avec ills., 25cm., brochure originale, non coupé, très bon état, X98257‎

‎Betrachtungen über die Zürcherischen Wohnhäuser, vornehmlich in Absicht auf die Brandcassen und Bürger = Protocoll, samt einigen andern dahin einschlagenden ökonomisch=politischen Bemerkungen.‎

‎Zürich, Crell, Gessner, Füesslin und Comp., 1778. Contemp. full mottled calf. Gilt spine, raised bands, titlelabel with gilt lettering. A paperlabel pasted on upper part of spine. Stamps on title-page. 123 pp. and 13 folded tables. Free endpapers cut out. Light browning to title-page, otherwise clean.‎

‎First edition.‎

‎Der richtige und unbetrügliche Himmels-Weg eines Christen, Welcher einem jedweden klärlich zeiget,‎

‎Leipzig, 1736. 8vo. In contemporary full calf with four raised bands and richly gilt spine. Small paper-label pasted on to top of spine. A few small holes to boards, otherwise a nice and clean copy. (28), 1031, (70) pp.‎

‎Seventh edition of this popular guide on how to live a pious life and escape damnation.‎

‎Considerations on the Trade and Finances of this Kingdom and on the Measures of Administration with Respect to those great National Objects since the Conclusion of the Peace. - [""IMPORTANT AND EXTREMELY RARE"" WORK ON BRITISH TRADE AND FINANCE]‎

‎London, J. Wilkie, 1766. 4to. In the original printed wrappers. Lacking backstrip and with a small stain to back wrapper, otherwise a very fine and clean copy. 119 pp.‎

‎First edition of Thomas Whately's ""important and extremely rare"" (Higgs) work on British trade and finance primarily in the New World. This is the first thorough and first full description and defense of the the first direct tax ever levied by Parliament upon the colonies. The implementation of this tax resulted in the Boston Massacre and the formation of the Boston Tea Party and, eventually, in the expulsion of the British in 1776. By publishing the present defense, Thomas Whately earned himself a prominent place in the events that led to the American Revolution.""Thomas Whately, the most influential British official in colonial policy in his time, published a work on British trade and finances in 1766 [the present work] with this as his opening sentence: ""That the wealth and power of Great-Britain depend upon its trade is a proposition, which it would be equally absurd in these times to dispute or prove"". In the same year, Edmund Burke asserted that ""liberty and commerce"" were ""the true basis of its [Britain's] power."" (Draper, A Struggle for Power: The American Revolution].This policy eventually became fatal: In 1765 the Stamp Act was the first direct tax ever levied by Parliament upon the colonies. All newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets and official documents had to have the stamps. All 13 colonies protested heavily, as popular leaders like Henry in Virginia and Otis in Massachusetts rallied the people in opposition. Thomas Whately (1726-1772), an English politician and writer, was a Member of Parliament, who served as Commissioner on the Board of Trade, as Secretary to the Treasury under Lord Grenville, and as Under- secretary of State under Lord North. ""Important and extremely rare. Reprinted in ""Scarce Tracts"", 1787, and there attributed to T. Whately."" (Higgs)Higgs 3757Goldsmith 10157Sabin 103122 Hollander 1987Kress 2489 (erroneously ascribed to William Knox)‎

‎Historia del pensamiento economico‎

‎Buenos Aires (Mexico), Fondo de Cultura Economica 1948 863pp., 1ère édition espagnole, soulignements sur pages 11-97, sinon en bon état‎

‎Allianser mellan Arbetare och Arbetsgifvare. En ny företeelse på det socialpolitiska området. [Studenterföreningen Verdandis Småskrifter. 109.].‎

‎Stockholm, (1902). 8vo. Original printed orange wrappers. Wrappers fully intact but loosened from book block. Internally very fresh and clean. Uncut. 30 pp.‎

‎First edition, third thousand. Wicksell contributed to a number of different economic disciplines, including his groundbreaking work in monetary theory. ""The standard view of the quantity theory before Wicksell was that increases in the money supply have a direct effect on prices - more money chasing the same amount of goods. Wicksell focused on the indirect effect. In elaborating this effect, Wicksell distinguished between the real rate of return on new capital (Wicksell called this the 'natural rate of interest') and the actual market rate of interest. He argued that if the banks reduced the rate of interest below the real rate of return on capital, the amount of loan capital demanded would increase and the amount of saving supplied would fall. Investment, which equaled saving before the interest rate fell, would exceed saving at the lower rate. The increase in investment would increase overall spending, thus driving up prices. This cumulative process of inflation would stop only when the banks’ reserves had fallen to their legal or desired limit, whichever was higher.In laying out this theory, Wicksell began the conversion of the old quantity theory into a full-blown theory of prices. The Stockholm school, of which Wicksell was the father figure, ran with this insight and developed its own version of macroeconomics. In some ways this version resembled later Keynesian economics. Among the young Swedish economists who learned from Wicksell were Bertil Ohlin, Gunnar Myrdal, and Dag Hammarskjöld, later secretary general of the United Nations."" (Tthe Library of Economics and Liberty).‎

‎The Alphabet of Economic Science. Part one (all that appeared). Elements of the Theory of Value or Worth. - [ECONOMICS BASED ON MATHEMATICAL METHOD]‎

‎London & Naw York, Macmillan and Co, 1888. Small 8vo. Orig. olive full cloth. Spine worn, otherwise fine. Hinges a bit weak. XIII, (3), 142, (2, -advertisements) pp. + 10 folded plates.‎

‎The rare first edition of this important work on mathematical economics, one of Wicksteed's main works, in which he sets out to solve ""some of the most crucial problems of Political Economy on which the foremost Economists have disputed unavailingly for generations for lack of applying the mathematical method. A glance at the ""Index of Illustrations"" will show that my object is to bring Economics down from the clouds and make the study throw light on our daily doings and experiences, as well as on the great commercial and industrial machinery of the world."" (Preface, p. X).Philip Henry Wicksteed (1844-1927) was en English theologian, classicist and medievalist now primarily famous for his contributions to economics. He studied classics at University College in London and Manchester New College and later on became interested in Economics, primarily in an attempt to resolve social problems with the aid of economic theories. He was one of the fist disciples of Jevons and continued his ideas of marginal utility theory. Though not highly influential in his own time, Wicksteed came to influence many great economists of the later generation, e.g. Ludwig von Mises and the ""Austrians"" of that generation. ""I wish that space permitted me to do justice to the personality of Philip Henry Wicksteed (1844-1927) as it radiated upon me, in 1906, during and hour's chat on the lawn in front of his house at Wantage - his repose that owed nothing to callousness, his benevolence that was not weakness, his simplicity that went so well with his refinement, his unassuming modesty that did not lack dignity. As it is, I can merely record that this theologian, who was a lecturer on Dante, stood somewhat outside of the economic profession - one of the reasons why his work, particularly excellent on the pedagogical side, did not leave a more discernible mark."" (Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis, p. 831). His books did sell very poorly at the time of their appearance, which is why several of the early ones on economics are now so rare.He did, however, publish significant economic works, which, though to a large extent based on Jevons' theories, came to stand out as valuable and interesting in themselves. ""The general complexion of his system is Jevonian -he was in fact the only Jevonian theorist of note- but he shook off so many old things that still stuck to Jevons' exposition and added so many corrections and developments -partly under Austrian influence- that he may be said to have worked out something that, though of course a revision of the marginal utility system, was his own."" (Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis, p. 832).It was due to his concern for ethics and the ideologies behind the modern commercial society that this excellent theologian turned to economics and tried to make comprehendible the inequalities of wealth and income. He became a lecturer on economics at the University of London in a program intended to teach adults who had not been able to go to university.In this fairly small but important work, Wicksteed aims ""at giving what theologians might call a ""saving"" knowledge of the fundamental proposition of the Theory of Value"" for this, but no more than this, is necessary as the first step towards mastering the ""alphabet of Economic Science"". (Chapter I, p. (1)).‎

‎Bemerkungen über den dänischen Wechselcours.‎

‎Kopenhagen, Chr.Gottlob Prosts Forlag, 1789. No wrappers. 78,(1) pp.‎

‎Originaltrykket af et væsentligt og tidligt dansk nationaløkonomisk værk hvori han også behandler den tabsgivende kompagnihandel.Bibl. Danica II: 854.‎

‎Der Natürliche Werth. - [THE FIRST FULLY DEVELOPED THEORY OF VALUE - COINING ""IMPUTATION""]‎

‎Wien, Alfred Hölder, 1889. 8vo. Uncut in the original printed yellow wrappers. Light soiling and a few minor nicks to extremities. A very fine and clean copy. XVI, 239 pp.‎

‎First edition, rarely seen in the original wrappers, of this important work in which Wieser attempts to apply marginal utility analysis to the determination of cost, thus for the first time fully developing a theory of value. The work ""ranks high as an original achievement"" and is one of the very earliest to realize the information value of prizes. It is furthermore here that the term ""imputation"" is coined.""It was only with Friedrich von Wieser's book [the present] that an attempt was made to fill the lacuna left by Menger and Böhm-Bawerk. Wieser makes it clear that without a solution to the problem of 'imputation' the new theory would remain incomplete and would be subjected to the widespread criticism that it cannot deal with production. The problem is posed as follows"" 'The statement that the productive goods receive their value from the value of their produce suffices only to evaluate [schätzen] the collaborating factors of production as a whole, but not separately. In order to be able to do also this, a rule is needed which allows one to apportion the total produce in detail.'(Wieser, 1889)."" (Steedman, Socialism & Marginalism in Economics 1870 - 1930). ""[H]e continued to work on the same problems and also on what he regarded merely as a first step toward a theory of value that was to be fully developed in [the present work]. He employed the expository device of studying value in a centrally directed economy and suggested possible applications of utility theory to public finance. The book gained him almost immediate acclaim, and it was soon translated into English"" (Frederich von Hayek in IESS).""[In the present work he] worked out the Austrian theories of cost and distribution (he coined the phrase 'Zurechnung', imputation), which Menger had not more than sketched, and this work must in spite of the latter fact and also in spite of glaring faults of technique, rank high as an original achievement. (Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis)""In this work he applied the marginal utility theory not only horizontally, i.e. to trading and exchange, but also vertically, i.e. to production processes. He defined the value of higher goods produced alongside them, thus developing his imputation theory. Wieser, who possessed a certain ""obsession with compulsive computability"" is recognized as one of the first economist to realize the information value of prices."" (Schulak, the Austrian School of Economics). Masui p. 909Menger col. 395.‎