The ordinary business of life : a history of economics from the ancient world to the twenty-first century / Roger E. Backhouse.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Prologue -- The ancient world -- The Middle Ages -- The emergence of the modern world view -- the sixteenth century -- Science, politics and trade in seventeenth-century England -- Absolutism and enlightenment in eighteenth-century France -- The Scottish enlightenment of the eighteenth century -- Classical political economy, 1790-1870 -- The split between history and theory in Europe, 1870-1914 -- The rise of American economics, 1870-1939 -- Money and the business cycle, 1898-1939 -- Econometrics and mathematical economics, 1930 to the present -- Welfare economics and socialism, 1870 to the present -- Economists and policy, 1939 to the present -- Expanding the disciplines, 1960 to the present -- Epilogue: economists and their history.

Traces the history of economics from the ancient world to the twenty-first century, discussing how different cultures have used economics to their benefit and downfall.