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Hardback – 198 x 129 mm – 224 pages

ISBN 9781843682219

A total delight: every economist should read this book – and every poet!
Simon Jenkins

Shelley called poets 'the unacknowledged legislators of the world' – but it might be far truer to say they are the unacknowledged economists. Shelley himself wrote of his plans for pump-priming the economy with industrial ventures, and even planned a steam-boat service in the Mediterranean; Walter Scott introduced paper money to Scotland; Hilaire Belloc advocated a return to the land; John Ruskin was vilified for believing that the labourer might be worthy of his hire – and that investments in education, libraries, social security might bring riches.

John Ramsden looks at eleven great writers, from Daniel Defoe to Ezra Pound, to examine their contribution to economics. Surprisingly, many of them made an original and lasting impression on the subject; unsurprisingly, they wrote about it with passion, commitment and wit. This hugely entertaining book is also a fascinating alternative history of economic thought, interesting to professionals as well as the general reader.