Trousson, Raymond / Vercruysse, Jeroom (dir.), Dictionnaire general de Voltaire. (Champion classiques, references et dictionnaires 18) 1272 p. 2020:10 (Champion, FR) <670-9>
ISBN 978-2-38096-016-7 paper ¥7,064.- (税込) EUR 38.00

J.G.バックハウス他編　A.スミスの300年間－欧州諸国における需要と影響
Backhaus, Juergen G. / Chaloupek, Guenther et al. (eds.), 300 Years of Adam Smith: Reception and Influence in Selected European Countries. (The European Heritage in Economics and the Social Sciences 27) 200 pp. 2024:7 (Springer, GW) <730-15>
ISBN 978-3-031-63260-0 hard ¥40,014.- (税込) EUR 169.99

To mark the 300th anniversary of Adam Smith's birth, the 37th Heilbronn Symposium on Economics and the Social Sciences was dedicated to his outstanding oeuvre, but above all to his most famous work, "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" (1776), which is regarded as a keystone of modern economics. The influence of Smith's doctrine has made a lasting contribution to the development of a modern understanding of society and the economy and, in particular, the functioning of markets. This is not least because of the breadth of his approach, with overlaps between political economy, social philosophy and ethics. The planned volume builds on the current state of Smith research and also provides new insights into the dissemination of Smith's ideas in German-speaking countries, but also in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.

M.ヴェーバーの経済に関する社会学的思想
Maurer, Andrea (ed.), Max Weber's Sociological Thought on the Economy. 240 pp. 2024:9 (Agenda Pub., UK) <730-154>
ISBN 978-1-78821-707-1 hard ¥21,450.- (税込) GB￡ 75.00 *

Max Weber (1864-1920) has long been considered a founding figure of sociology. This book offers a fresh reading of Weber's work and highlights his thinking about the economy and economic interactions in society. Complicated by the reception history precipitated by his untimely death, the workings of the economy and capitalism are themes that run throughout his writings but are often overlooked or subordinated to his sociology. In an attempt to restore Weber's place in the history of economics and to relate his approach to social science to the field today, a distinguished group of Weberian scholars explore the life and works of Max Weber, his interest in economic institutions and forms and his most influential analytical concepts.

W.ゴドウィンとT.R.マルサス－経済学、正義、人口、貧困者
Reisman, David, William Godwin and Thomas Robert Malthus: Economics, Justice, Population and the Poor. 259 pp. 2024:7 (Palgrave Macmillan, UK) <730-156>
ISBN 978-3-031-62112-3 hard ¥28,244.- (税込) EUR 119.99 *

This book explores the lifelong dialogue between Thomas Robert Malthus and the libertarian anarchist William Godwin. Shedding light on important topics in the history of economic and political thought, it examines Godwin's rejection of the new industrial order and his insights into a post-acquisitive, post-conflictual future. It shows that Malthus felt Godwin had neglected the ever-increasing pressure of population on scarce food and that control could not be superseded by automaticity so long as the productivity of the land was limited by the law of nature. Godwin and Malthus situated their views on population in the broader context of individual choice, property rights, normative constraint and the status of the poor. Godwin and Malthus were committed to an economy that was equitable as well as efficient. Their proposals for social betterment make the book relevant to contemporary debates even as it sheds light on two giant thinkers of the past.

経済学の帝国主義の誤った預言者たち－数理市場モデルの限界
Watson, Matthew, False Prophets of Economics Imperialism: The Limits of Mathematical Market Models. 312 pp. 2024:7 (Agenda Pub., UK) <730-157>
ISBN 978-1-78821-766-8 hard ¥17,160.- (税込) GB￡ 60.00 *

This book studies the methodological revolution that has resulted in economists' mathematical market models being exported across the social sciences. The ensuing process of economics imperialism has struck fear into subject specialists worried that their disciplinary knowledge will subsequently count for less. Yet even though mathematical market models facilitate important abstract thought experiments, they are no substitute for carefully contextualised empirical investigations of real social phenomena. The two exist on completely different ontological planes, producing very different types of explanation. In this deeply researched and wide-ranging intellectual history, Matthew Watson surveys the evolution of modern economics and its modelling methodology. With its origins in Jevons and Robbins and its culmination in Samuelson, Arrow and Debreu, he charts the escape from reality that has allowed economists' hypothetical mathematical models to speak to increasingly self-referential mathematical truths. These are shown to perform badly as social truths, consequently imposing strict epistemic limits on economics imperialism. The book is a formidable analysis of the epistemic limitations of modern-day economics and marks a significant counter to its methodology's encroachment across the wider social sciences.

スコットランド啓蒙思想における年金基金の起源と近代的な年金管理への経路
Milevsky, Moshe A., The Religious Roots of Longevity Risk Sharing: The Genesis of Annuity Funds in the Scottish Enlightenment and the Path to Modern Pension Management. 265 pp. 2024:7 (Springer, GW) <730-16>
ISBN 978-3-031-62402-5 hard ¥30,598.- (税込) EUR 129.99

This book presents a unique historical study on the origins of longevity risk management and its links to religious institutions in the eighteenth century. Throughout history, monarchs, affluent patrons, and wealthy benefactors routinely pledged to provide their devotees with pensions or life annuities, mirroring the biblical concept of 'daily bread for life'. Until the eighteenth century, however, the uncertainty around the longevity of beneficiaries' lives and the difficulty of budgeting for random financial obligations had posed economic challenges that often led to insufficient funding and high default rates. This book narrates the genesis of longevity risk pooling and the first successfully funded annuity scheme in history, an eventual prototype for national pension plans around the world. It examines how a group of Protestant clergymen, scientists, and intellectuals associated with the Presbyterian Church of Scotland pioneered innovative methods for setting up a reversionary annuity and widow's pension plan, guided by actuarial principles. Unknown to many, the economist Adam Smith, and other literati of the Scottish Enlightenment, invested in this novel annuity. Illuminating the social and theological contexts of this scheme, the book argues that religious belief played a critical role in the development of best practices around the prudent management of longevity risk. The practices, values and beliefs in divine probabilities were at the heart of these thought leaders' confidence in long-term financial projections. Shedding light on this fascinating aspect of actuarial history by an examination of the archival records, while also linking to contextual discussions of modern pension challenges, this book will be of interest to scholars and readers interested in finance, insurance, pensions, and religion.