Any hike through the history of economic thought is always a fascinating experience for the reader. However, only rarely does an economist, historian of economic thought or philosopher of science - not without courage, and even at the risk of compromising his or her prestige - tackle the difficult task of providing us with such an opportunity. Moreover, if the author also tries to clarify the meanings of pivotal economic concepts or theories, success is in no way assured - as Fritz Machlup discovered with his Essays on Economic Semantics (1963). Such efforts usually produce superficial, cliche-ridden analyses of the issues or carry methodological or even ideological biases that are not always obvious to the reader.
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