Focusing on the transition from political economy to economics, this volume seeks to restore social content to economic abstractions through readings of nineteenth-century British and American literature. The essays gathered here, by new as well as established scholars of literature and economics, link important nineteenth-century texts and histories with present-day issues such as exploitation, income inequality, globalization, energy consumption, property ownership and rent, human capital, corporate power, and environmental degradation. Organized according to key concepts for future research, the collection has a clear interdisciplinary, humanities approach and international reach.  These diverse essays will interest students and scholars in literature, history, political science, economics, sociology, law, and cultural studies, in addition to readers generally interested in the Victorian period.

        

                                                                             

"This fascinating and useful volume of essays marks a new stage in the study of political economy from the standpoint of Victorian studies. ? this volume is a welcome opening in Victorian studies to some non-British and even radical approaches to economic history. ? Though unified by their engagement with nineteenth-century political economy, the essays in this volume splinter out in many directions, each engaging with a new set of contemporary theorists and problems." (Eleanor Courtemanche, Victorian Studies, Vol. 64 (3), 2022)