ABSTRACT
All across Europe in the nineteenth century, economists ran for and were elected to Parliament. Massimo Augello and Marco Guidi, the editors of this volume, have uncovered a fascinating moment in the history of economic ideas, and the chapters in this volume show the many social, cultural, moral, and intellectual reasons that this incursion of economists into elected office took place. The European economists who were elected to office did not champion only one set of economic ideas, of course, and they were not always successful in their attempts to legislate new rules for their emerging national economies. Still, there is at least some kind of pattern to the ambitions and careers of these European economists; as feudalism faded, and industrialism emerged, these men were interested in helping to define the newly emerging economic order.
