Background

The modest purpose of this article is to offer a background tool which might facilitate the study of the great social encyclicals. It is hoped that it may be useful for those interested in analysing the social encyclicals in order to discover the economic theory implicitly contained in their economic policies. The chief characteristic of economic thought in the twentieth century was an extension of the revolutionary developments of the late nine? teenth century. Between 1870 and 1900 the mathematical method em? ployed by Jevons, Menger, Walras, Pareto, and Marshall introduced marginal and general equilibrium analyses to traditional economic doctrine. The economists of the twentieth century refined these tools and widened the range of their application. This century, however, has had two revolutionary developments of its own: Edward Chamberiin's monopolistic competition theory, which fundamentally shifted the frame? work of value theory by substituting the monopolistic competitive firm for the purely competitive firm; and Keynesian economics, which pro? foundly affected cycle theory and modified interest theory

Economics · Political science · Positive economics · Economic Theory and Institutions · Economic Theory and Policy · Psychology