Types of Economic Theory

Book excerpt: First published in English 1929, this is a reissue of the nineteenth edition of Othmar Spann's classic history of economic thought, which is strongly influenced by the German Romantic tradition. Spann intended the work to serve as both history of economic thought and a critique of the main theories and systems of political economy, analysing the basic problems of economics in the light of the evolution of economic theory. His study encapsulates everything from pre-mercantile economics through to the political economy of the early twentieth century, encompassing such diverse subjects as the physiocratic system, the development of German political economy and the evolution of socialism.