The Classical Theory of Economic Growth

Walter Eltis's classic account of the theories of growth and distribution of François Quesnay, Adam Smith, Robert Malthus, David Ricardo, and Karl Marx is reprinted with a substantial new Introduction setting the work in a broader context. He restates their individual contributions rigorously with extensive references to the original texts. He shows how each developed the work of his predecessors to produce a coherent and distinctive classical theory of growth.