Taylor and Francis Martins, N: The Cambridge Revival of Political Economy

'This book offers an illuminating analysis of the ideas and figures in the history of political economy at Cambridge from Marshall up to the present day, in terms of a common approach' — Sheila Dow, Emeritus Professor of Economics, University of Stirling, UK 'Nuno Martins is one of the most outstanding economists of his generation. A key theme of his book is that while classical political economy is essentially a surplus theory, neoclassical economics is a scarcity theory. Martins also shows that the central problems for advanced economies and societies since the onset of neo-liberalism have not so much been about the allocation of scarce resources as offsetting the increasingly unequal distribution of surpluses. His book brilliantly rebuts the dismissal of the Cambridge School by economists such as Samuelson and Solow, and is replete with implications not only for economics but also for politics and ethics' —Stuart Holland, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, Portugal 'This book makes an important, new contribution to understanding the Cambridge economic tradition as the inheritor and further developer of the surplus approach of classical political economy. Its special achievement is to see this in broader terms than others have by framing its discussion simultaneously in terms of economic theory, the social theory, and the ethical theory. The book is philosophically and historically rich, and excellent in its grasp of a wide range of subtle issues. It is very much recommended for those concerned with the state of economics and the long run economic and social issues facing modern economies' — John B. Davis, Marquette University, USAand University of Amsterdam, Netherlands