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.

Elaine Hadley is Professor of English and Gender Studies at the University of Chicago, USA. Audrey Jaffe is Professor of English at the University of Toronto, Canada. Sarah Winter is Professor of English and Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, USA.