Renowned economic historian and clergyman William Cunningham (1849–1919) published this work in 1896, which is considered a companion volume to his seminal Essay on Western Civilisation. Educated at Edinburgh, Cambridge and Tübingen, Cunningham wrote widely on theology and economics. He was a Cambridge lecturer and fellow at Trinity, Professor of Economics at King's College London, a teacher at Harvard, a founding fellow of the British Academy, and President of the Royal Historical Society. Favouring historical empiricism over deductive theory, his work, labelled neo-mercantilist, was against laissez-faire and favoured economic regulation, social religion, and conservative incremental change. This book outlines these views as part of an analysis of the basic units of economic life - exchange, possessions, money, credit, selling, price, labour, trade, profit, interest, rent, wages - and how these interact within capitalism. The work strongly influenced contemporary thought and remains relevant in the historiography of economics.
Contents
Part I. The Characteristic Features of Modern Civilisation: 1. The conditions of material prosperity; 2. Possessions and exchange; 3. Money and other valuable things; 4. Business principles; Part II. Selling: 1. The judgment of the seller; 2. The wholesale dealer; 3. The farmer and the manufacturer; 4. Forced sales; 5. Foreign trade; Part III. Hiring, Investing, and Letting: 1. The wage earner; 2. The capitalist; 3. The landlord; Part IV. Progress: 1. In society; 2. Self-discipline; 3. State intervention; Index.
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