Economists are inclined to think of the market economy as always existing, just developing or "growing". Historians —and anthropologists— know very well that this is not the case; quite viable non-market societies have existed upon a base of "customary" institutions; others have embodied "revenue" economies, drawing upon agricultural surplus.

An attempot is made in this book to bridge these differing approaches to economic history and teory. Its subject is the evolution of the market economy, and of its forms and institutions. While this evolution has produced many benefits, it has also its darker sides, such as slavery, usury, and the ignobler aspects of colonization. The author, an eminent British economist, dives considerable attention to these last. His discussion culminates in an analysis of the Industrial Revolution, the logic of which, he maintains, has by no means been fully comprehended.

The book is "theory", concerned with principles; but the principles are illustrated by examples drawn from four thousand years of history, and from many places, not only in Europe, but in the rest of the world.