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In this volume, Sir Alan Peacock, one of Britain's most noted public economists, poses the question as to whether the history of economic thought is an essential part of the training of public finance economists. He argues that the perspective gained by studying the origins of public choice analysis can offer an important stimulus to scientific progress. The first lecture analyses the increasing popularity in recent years of the modernist, anti-historical point of view. The second criticises those theories of growth in government expenditure which ignore the political process. The third lecture draws on Adam Smith and David Hume to extend the conventional economic model of bureaucracy. In the final lecture, Peacock considers the problem of controlling public sector growth and points to ways of overcoming them. The book ends with short commentaries by seven public economists.

British economist Peacock compiles 23 articles, most originally published in the 1980s and 1990s, representing his views of economic freedom, including its underlying philosophy, its influence on the critique of economic policy, and the problems encountered in expanding it. They represent his diverse experience, ranging from academic speculation to close involvement with policy issues. Though stooping occasionally to mathematics, he addresses officials in business and government, social scientists, and philosophers who want to know what economists are talking about with all their numbers. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

One of our most distinguished economists, Sir Alan Peacock, also happens to be a nonagenarian.

After nearly three and a half -- rather too exciting -- years as a young war-time sailor, Alan Peacock expected to return to a life of quiet contemplation. Instead he became an activist economist frequently engaged in controversies about the conduct of economic policy lasting all his professional life. His earlier experiences at trying to ‘do good' will resonate with all those who have attempted to influence political action, but the account is also designed to inform and entertain those who are curious to know whether economists are actually human. The author has lived long enough to have become a Fellow of both the British Academy and Royal Society of Edinburgh and was knighted for public service in 1987.

The ten modules here cover both areas of particular concern in the teaching of science - organising the classroom for investigations, reviewing science coverage on a whole school basis - and the ways in which issues of more general concern in the primary curriculum (the multicultural dimension, planning for individual progression, assessment etc.), affect the teaching of science.

First Published in 1989 Teacher education through classroom evaluation is about the IT- INSET (Initial Training- In-Service Education and Training) approach to improving children’s learning. It argues that continuous improvement depends upon the quality of teachers’ theorising about learning and teaching. With help of case studies, it discusses important themes like evaluation strategy; IT- INSET in practice; the benefits of IT- INSET; influence of training institutions; helping and hindering factors and the present and future of IT- INSET, to showcase that IT-INSET represents both a philosophy of teacher education and a school-based programme of collaborative evaluation. This book is a must read for scholars and researchers of education.

Originally published in 1971, this book uses the famous Tinbergen/Theil approach to the theory of economic policy, demonstrating the place of fiscal policy in a realistic policy context. The volume marries analytical developments in macroeconomics to the influence on the economy of the system of public finance. Attention is given to the problem co-ordinating fiscal policy with other policy instruments, notably monetary policy. A final chapter discusses the problems encountered in applying fiscal policy models to real situations.

A fascinating account of the early days of Antarctic exploration from an expert storyteller.