Chapter 43: Comparative Economic Systems

Satyananda J. Gabriel

Comparative economic systems Comparative economic systems, as a distinct subdiscipline of economics, began in the United States during the 1930s with the publication of textbooks such as William N. Loucks and J. Weldon Hoot's (1938) Comparative Economic Systems . However, as Maurice Dobb (1949) would note in his critical review of Loucks's text on the subject, comparative economic systems was already a thriving field of study in Europe, especially Britain. Benjamin Ward (1980) argues that comparative economic systems emerged as a field of study initially because of the utopian novels of the later nineteenth century and practicing communes whose existence both influenced the novels and was influenced by them. Novels such as Edward Bellamy's (1888) Looking Backward helped to spur political mass movements and inspired the development of utopian communities, perceived as alternative economic and social systems to those prevalent at the time. Undoubtedly this was in reaction to the ...

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