Books in the Eliot Janeway Lectures on Historical Economics series

In 1900 the newly appointed Austrian prime minister, Ernest von Koerber, initiated a novel program of economic development designed to solve the political and economic problems of the Habsburg Monarchy. Ambitious and ingenious as the plan was, it proved a failure, and in this book Alexander Gerschenkron assesses its career and significance for both Austrian and European history. The author explains the importance of Koerber's experiment as a way of increasing Austria's economic strength while drawing the country out of divisive political struggles. He ascribes its failure primarily to the obstructionist tactics of Eugen von Boehin-Bawerk, the famous economist, who headed the Austrian Ministry of Finance. In describing the experiment's brief but striking success, Professor Gerschenkron challenges the widespread belief among scholars that disintegrating nationalist forces were irresistible.Originally published in 1977.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Do rich industrial nations underestimate the threat to their economic stability posed by demands for a new international economic order? Are the developing countries wrong to assume that their economic advancement depends on a transfer of wealth from the richer nations? Sir W. Arthur Lewis's provocative analysis of the present economic order and its origins suggests that the answer to both questions is yes.Professor Lewis perceptively illuminates aspects of recent economic history that have often been overlooked by observers of international affairs. He asks first how the world came to be divided into countries exporting manufactures and countries exporting primary commodities. High agricultural productivity and a good investment climate allowed countries in Northwest Europe to industrialize rapidly, while the favorable terms of trade they enjoyed assured them and the temperate lands to which Europeans migrated of continuing dominance over the tropical countries. At the core of the author's argument lies the contention that as the structure of international trade changes, the tropical countries move rapidly toward becoming net importers of agricultural commodities and net exporters of manufactures. Even so, they continue to depend on the markets of the richer countries for their growth, and they continue to trade on unfavorable terms. Both of these disadvantages, he concludes, stem from large agricultural sectors with low productivity and will disappear only as the technology of tropical food production is revolutionized.Originally published in 1978.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Challenging such established ideas as the inevitability of the business cycle and the taboo on deficit spending, the group of economists associated with the Kennedy Council of Economic Advisers attempted in the 1960s to convert their theories into government policy. The successes, failures, elations. and frustrations of what came to be called the New Economics is the subject of James Tobin's fascinating account, based on the Janeway Lectures given at Princeton in 1972. In making his assessment of the New Economics, Professor Tobin draws on his close involvement in policymaking during the Kennedy years.Originally published in 1974.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.