First published in 1952, as the second edition of a 1949 original, this book contains a discussion of the role of expectation in relation to the workings of the economy. For the purposes of the discussion, expectation is defined as the act of creating imaginary situations, of associating them with named future dates, and of assigning to each of the hypotheses thus formed a place on a scale measuring the degree of belief that a specified course of action will make this hypothesis come true. The text also contains appendices and a detailed index. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in economic theory and methods of dealing with economic uncertainty.
The language and theory of economics is very much a part of our lives; yet most of us know little of the meaning of 'inflation', 'productivity' or 'balance of payments', or of the workings of the bank rate or a national monetary policy. The problem is to bridge the gulf between the economist on the one side and the businessman, the banker, the politician, the journalist and the ordinary man on the other. Professor Shackle has provided the solution. In his book the first part of each chapter presents a familiar situation typifying some aspects of economic theory, the second comments on it and introduces and explains the relevant technical terms. This 1968 edition has two additional chapters: one on input-output analysis and activity analysis, the other giving an account of the theory of growth originated by Sir Roy Harrod.
Even a decade after the end of the 1914–1918 war, economic theory assumed that the world was tranquil and orderly. By 1939 an economic slump without parallel, allied to the re-emergence of military ambition in Europe, had brought economic theorists face to face with reality. In this classic book, first published in 1967, Professor Shackle provides a study, in exact and professional language, of the precise nature, structure, presuppositions, language and inter-relations of the theories which were formulated in these fourteen years - unparalleled in the whole history of economics except perhaps by the years of the Physiocrats and Adam Smith. These theories are not prototypes on the way to something better but are of essential and permanent importance.
This book is unusual in several ways, most obviously because it is written along the lines of a Greek dialogue. It contains a great deal of highly condensed economic theory conveyed by means of a series of questions and answers, Professor Shackle aims questions at the undefended sectors of the economist's fortress, and presents in this form an extremely condensed version of a mass of accepted economic insights. The result is an introduction to economic theory which it is a pleasure to read. The questions which Professor Shackle asks are provocative and serve to focus the reader's attention. Professor Shackle strikes a happy balance between adopting a broad approach and providing instruction in basic economic concepts. His emphasis on the psychology of the individual decision maker and the innate uncertainties of the economic system provides the student with a much more mature view than most expositions.
Originally published in 1969, the second edition of Professor Shackle's book has a fresh preface, an extra chapter and a number of additions to its bibliography. The extra chapter is concerned with the point at which one would decide to abandon an old policy and replace it with a new one. It is, in the words of the author, a further, rather radical development of the Stockholm sequence analysis. Professor Shackle examines how a decision can be rational only in a special sense, that of exploiting to the best present effect, on the decision-maker's state of mind, the scope afforded to imagination by what is known and by the gaps in that knowledge. The attempt made in this book to provide a theory of such decision has been called 'an existentialist economics'.
By their nature and purpose different economic theories make almost opposite assumptions and use entirely different conceptions or aspects of time. These contrasting assumptions, which occur frequently, are essential to the nature of the various theories and cannot therefore be combined into a general theory. Coherence can only be obtained by an explicit scheme in which these theories are ordered to each other. In this book Professor Shackle seeks a single, unified and coherent basis which would serve for all economic theories, particularly in regard to their treatment of time and to the possibility of acquiring the knowledge on which these theories are based. Professor Shackle's examination of these theories and models will be of interest to economists attempting to find coherence in the diversity of economic theory.
It is Shackle's view that human conduct is chosen with a view to its consequences. But these are in the future, which cannot be directly known. Expectation will confine itself to what is deemed possib
This book is a collection of some of Professor Shackle's papers written between 1939 and 1953 is largely concerned with the problems of 'expectation' and 'uncertainty' and with reducing these universal factors to some sort of plausible rules. Also included are essays on interest rates, on investment and employment, and on the philosophy of economics. This book, by one of the finest economic writers of his time, will appeal to anyone with an interest in the history of economics.
Professor Shackle (1903–1992) was best known for his extensive and scholarly work on the theory of the making of business decisions in conditions of uncertainty. He also made important contributions to the theory of rates of interest and showed an exceptional ability to combine theoretical work with a practical understanding of the business world. Professor Shackle believed that economics is not pure logic but is part of the endeavour to describe the integral nature of man. Originally published in 1966, this volume contains a collection of his articles, all concerned in some way to show his approach to economic thought.
This volume unites scholars from all over the world, and with very different theoretical perspectives. Their chapters probe into typical Shacklean themes of time and money, uncertainty and expectation
