The Origins and Development of Labor Economics

Since economics emerged as a distinct field of inquiry, no other single factor hasoccupied so central an analytical role as labor. A review in the library journal, Choice, noted thatthis book "does for labor in the history of economic thought what Joseph A 5chumpeter's History ofEconomics Analysis did more generally for the whole of economics."Beginning with the origins oflabor economics' in medieval times, the book discusses the primacy of labor in the thinking ofclassical economists, and its separation from mainstream economics in the nineteenth century. Itconcludes with the "modern synthesis" of labor studies with economic theory marked by thedevelopment of human capital theory and the increasing integration of economic theory and marketanalysis in interdisciplinary institutional and industrial relations approaches to the study oflabor.Paul J. McNulty is a professor in the Graduate School of Business at ColumbiaUniversity.

Paul J. McNulty is a professor in the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University.