The Elgar Companion to Radical Political Economy.

• Author: Dugger, William M.

Edward Elgar must have loved reading encyclopedias and reference books as a youth, for as a man he loves publishing handbooks and companions in economics. And, it is fortunate for us that he did and he does, for his love has produced a whole series of valuable reference books and anthologies in economics. He has filled a large void in the field, and he has given heterodox economics fair treatment as well. He has helped keep the profession of independent publisher a noble one. But under current conditions, the cost of his doing so has been high - look at the price of this book! Although it is not Elgar's fault, he is to be praised for his contribution, I fear that the academic scholar is going the way of the industrial worker. We are being alienated from our means of production. We can no longer afford to own the tools of our craft. We can no longer buy the books and journals we should have in our own personal libraries. Increasingly, we are becoming dependent upon our employers for access to the means of production - books and periodicals. The decisions of others - of those above us in the academic hierarchy - now govern our use and access. We no longer subscribe to journals. We no longer buy books. We try to get them at the library. It has changed in just three generations. My mentors owned large personal libraries. My young colleagues do not. Visit around for yourself and see what I mean.

As for the book under review, it is an excellent short encyclopedia of radical political economics. The entries are made up of concepts and ideas. No biographical entries are included because this "Companion" is intended for use along with the Dictionary of Dissenting Economists published by Elgar in 1992. The "Companion" starts out with an introduction defining radical political economy. Then, it contains 103 entries of about four pages each. The entries were written by 105 different contributors from eleven countries and one colony. Over half (57) of the contributors come from the United Kingdom; 23 come from the United States; eight from Italy; four from Canada; three from Australia and Germany; two from Brazil; and one from France, Austria, Denmark, Greece, and Hong Kong. The editors must have gone to considerable lengths to get such an internationally wide range of contributors.

The editors also carefully define radical political economy to include a wide range of dissident schools of thought. Classified by rounding thinker, the editors explicitly...