Review by Choice Review
According to the Publisher's Note (v.1, p.viii), "The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics is a successor to the Dictionary of Political Economy edited by R.H. Inglis Palgrave published in three volumes in 1894, 1896, and 1899. These were reprinted, with corrections and additions, during the first two decades of this century under the title Palgrave's Dictionary of Political Economy." The New Palgrave, "like its predecessor, attempts to define the state of the dicipline by presenting a comprehensive and critical account of economic thought." The New Palgrave contains articles hat are diverse in their approaches and points of view and are frequently highly technical and challenging, even to the social scientist. Together the articles combine to make The New Palgrave an essential purchase for academic libraries supporting graduate programs in economics and the other social sciences, and a useful but costly acquisition for academic and public libraries that have significant strength in the field of economics. Preparation of the work began in 1983, when editors John Eatwell (Trinity College, Cambridge), Murray Milgate (Harvard), and Peter Newman (Johns Hopkins) "compiled the intial list of headings and enlisted the participation of some 100 leading economists. . . . The editors refined the head-word list and approached the many hundreds of writers who would represent the range of subjects and variety of viewpoints that comprise the discipline today." Authors were asked to include "for any particular subject its past and its prospect for the future as well as its problems of the moment," and no attempt was made to homogenize the style of the authors. This group of about 900 scholars was drawn primarily but not exclusively from British and American institutions. Regrettably, the institutional affiliations of authors are not included with the names either in the text of the articles or in the author appendix. Nine major subject categories, containing 1,179 articles, are arranged as follows: History of thought and doctrine (121 entries), Cognate disciplines (95), Natural and human resources (112), Social and political organization (105), Economic organization (115), Techniques (152), Money and macroeconomics (167), Dynamics of growth and development (145), and Value and capital (167). The length of articles varies: M.H. Persaran's "Econometrics" is 11 pages long, G. Devreu's "Mathematical Economics" is four. Fifty entries are reprinted from the original Dictionary of Political Economy, "selected to reinforce the continuity between the old Palgrave and the new." In addition, there are 700 biographies of economists born before January 1, 1916. Bibliographies, which appear at the end of each entry, vary in length. T. Scitivsky's "Balanced Growth" has a bibliography of 7 citations, while A.O. Hirschman's "Linkages" has 33. Some articles (e.g., "International Trade," "Game Theory") have more than 200 references. Biographies list both selected works and works about the subject. The editors have tried to be comprehensive and to capture different points of view by including multiple nonbiographical entries under similar but different titles. In order to find the less obvious ones, readers are directed to "see also" references; however, the use of these references appears to be uneven. As an example, there are no references from the article "Radical Political Economy" to other related subjects, but the essay "General Equilibrium" cites five related subjects. Puzzling is the absence of any reference at all to the stock market or securities either as a separate article or in cross-references to other subjects covering similar ground (e.g., "Financial Markets"). For reference use, a work of this type relies on subject access as well as the strength of its articles. The New Palgrave provides a variety of access points. Entries (which use British spelling and punctuation) are arranged alphabetically, letter by letter. "See" references are used to guide readers to the appropriate entry. "See Also" references at the end of articles link related entries. A "List of Entries" that includes all "see" references is found at the beginning of each volume. Appendix IV (subject index) groups entries under general headings (e.g., "Natural and Human Resources") within which are subheadings. Biographies are in a separate list subdivided by country; the subject of a biographical article is listed under the country where "the subject spent the most significant years of his career, rather than country of origin." The structure described so far is useful for browsing and leisure reading--both delights, even to noneconomists. More refined subject approaches are possible using the index at the end of Volume 4 with some care. This index (not to be confused with the subject index previously mentioned) contains references to "significant discussions of key subjects and can be used to link entries or to identify major sections of articles." For full access to subjects, however, readers must supplement the index by using the "List of Entries" to find "see" references, since most of the "see" references that are so useful in browsing are omitted from the index. For example, "Charity, see Altruism; Gifts" appears in the "List of Entries" but not in the index. Each of The New Palgrave's four volumes contains about 1,000 pages. The typeface is clear and each e J.O. Carnes, J.I. Dionne, B.I. Salter Social Science Library, Yale University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
For over 75 years, R.H. Inglis Palgrave's classic Dictionary of Political Economy stood largely unrevised. Under the skillful editorship of Eatwell (Cambridge), Murray Milgate (Harvard), and Peter Newman (Johns Hopkins), a thoroughly rewritten dictionary has been issued. This authoritative and comprehensive publication focuses on all aspects of modern economic thought. Only about 50 of the essays appearing in the original may be found among the 1916 signed entries, which include 655 biographies of economists past and present. The 927 scholarly contributors from around the world include 12 Nobel Prize winners in economics. Full, up-to-date bibliographies accompany the essays. Adequate cross-references, useful appendixes, and detailed indexing make this handsomely printed and sturdily bound set a worthy successor to Palgrave's magnum opus , which is still needed for historical material. Required by every library serving students and scholars in economics. Leonard Grundt, Nassau Community Coll. Lib., Garden City, N.Y. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Library Journal Review
