Chapter 1 - Introduction

Summary

Following World War II, historical schools of economics have generally been neglected within the arena of economic theory, because of the strong positions held by the classical and neoclassical schools of economic thought. In recent years, and especially after the financial crisis of 2008, a revaluation of this way of seeing the economy is emerging. Historical thought was not limited to Germany, but flourished in neighbouring countries like Norway. To complete the picture of the development of political economy, namely the development of historical and institutional approaches to economics, this book will contribute to the Norwegian part of the broader European picture of late nineteenth-century economic thought.

The story is told through the life and works of Norway's most influential economist and an important intellectual and jurist during the last decades of the nineteenth century, Torkel Halvorsen Aschehoug (1822–1909). This book will analyse his economic thought and how he developed it in a Norwegian context with an extensive international orientation. However, economics was not an international science in his day, nor did he write in any well-known international languages. It is a paradox that his genuinely international thought has remained a secret to the international history of economic ideas. The re-evaluation of his thought in this book will be most valuable for all readers interested in the history of economic thought and of Norwegian political economy and intellectual history in general, and it will make his work accessible to a non-Scandinavian-speaking audience.