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Europe as a whole. Towards a Comparative History of Economic Thought

Magliulo Antonio, Rome University of International Studies

The history of economic thought has mainly been both a universal history of theories and a national history of economic cultures and policies. In a world strictly divided into separate nation-states, it could not have been otherwise. But everything has changed in the last decades. We live in a melting-pot society where people with different cultural identities meet (and clash) every day. The aim of this work is to address one question: Can we imagine a (Global) Comparative History of Economic Thought that investigates, and compares, great transnational economic cultures influencing behaviours and decisions of people and governments all over the world? The work is structured into three parts. In the first paragraph, we will try to sketch a brief history of the comparative history showing how historians have used the comparative method in the past. In the second one, we will try to provide a framework, or at least some tips, for writing a new (global) comparative history of economic thought centred on transnational economic cultures. Finally, we will present the Mises’ attempt to look at Europe as a whole.

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Keywords: Europe, Comparative History of Economic Thought, Mises

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