Walter Bagehot

The Postulates of the English Political Economy Walter Bagehot

Perhaps there never was anyone better fitted to show the real bearing of Ricardian modes of reasoning on the practical problems of life, or to bring out the fundamental unity which, in spite of minor differences, connects all the true work of the present with that of the earlier generation of economists. And in reading these essays we must remember that they deal almost exclusively with one side of what he had to say. Here he has explained the danger of assuming that the changes which are made quickly among modern English business men have been made quickly in other places and other times. But what he has written proves that had he lived he would have thrown much light on the question how the rapid changes of modern city life may help us to understand, by analogy and indirect inference, the slow changes of a backward people. - Alfred Marshall, from the Preface British journalist, WALTER BAGEHOT (1826-1877), was primarily associated with the famous and influential Manchester School of economists that emphasized radical libertarianism in economic policy. One of the early editors of The Economist, Bagehot stressed the need for additional valuable criteria in the field of economics - especially cultural and social factors. He was one of the first economists to discuss the concept of the business cycle.