The Story of Agricultural Economics: A Review

Ordinarily this article would appear in our Book Review section with the usual citation: The Story of Agricultural Economics in the United States, 1840-1932. By Henry C. and Anne Dewees Taylor (with foreword by Everett E. Edwards). The Iowa State College Press, Ames, Iowa. XXVI+ 1121 pages. 1951. $10. But this is no ordinary book. Rather, if the editors may anticipate their reviewer, this is "a surprisingly good book," one which we think should be called to the attention of all agricultural economists who are interested in the development of their science or discipline. For this is essentially a research product in which the Taylors have traced the development of agricultural economics from its somewhat uncertain beginnings into the year 1932. The plan of the project was based on the idea of quoting the actual words of the agricultural economists themselves rather than simply submitting the ideas of the authors. This task of finding the original sources and making the appropriate selections was a difficult one. In fact, some 200 persons contributed in varying degrees, with the work of collecting materials starting so long ago as 1939 in the form of a joint effort of the senior author, then Managing Director of the Farm Foundation, and the History Section of our Division of Statistical and Historical Research.