Review of Famous figures and diagrams in economics , edited by Mark Blaug and Peter Lloyd

This thick volume brings together 58 short articles or entries on the theme of diagrammatic exposition in economics. The book is divided into three parts, and is opened by a significant introduction of about twenty pages in which the two editors provide an overview of the general spirit in which the book was conceived and produced, as well as a short history of the use of figures and diagrams in economics. In the latter, they give some insights into periods—that is, basically, pre-1870—that are not covered in the book, which focuses on modern economics. Following the introduction, there is an interesting appendix that lists curves/diagrams in chronological order of their “discovery”, together with the name of the first economist to draw them (pp. 20-23). Part I discusses figures used in a partial equilibrium setting and makes up about half the entries (28/58). These are in turn separated into three themes: “basic tools of demand and supply curve analysis”, “welfare economics”, and “special markets and topics”. Part II is centred on “general equilibrium analysis” (17 entries) and divided into the themes of “basic tools” and “open economies” (i.e., international trade theory). Part III explores figures used in macroeconomic theory (13 entries). The first theme is “macroanalysis and stabilization”—a title which I found slightly awkward for entries that are almost all (8/9) dedicated to macroeconomic equilibrium diagrams of one kind or another. The second theme is “growth, income distribution and other topics”. Reading this book certainly provides interesting insights on a number of aspects related to the use of geometry in modern economics. However, as an historian of economics who has developed an interest in