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Democracy and knowledge : innovation and learning in classical Athens / Josiah Ober.
LIBRA JC75.D36 O25 2008
Available from offsite location
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Ober, Josiah.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Democracy--Greece--Athens--History--To 1500.
- Democracy.
- Political participation.
- History.
- Greece--Athens.
- Political participation--Greece--Athens--History--To 1500.
- Athens (Greece)--Politics and government.
- Athens (Greece).
- Greece--Politics and government--To 146 B.C.
- Greece.
- Politics and government.
- Physical Description:
- xvi, 342 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
- Place of Publication:
- Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2008]
- Contents:
- Athenian Money, Taxes, Revenues xviii
- Chapter 1 Introduction: Dispersed Knowledge and Public Action 1
- Theory and Practice 3
- Rational Choice and Joint Action 6
- Premises and Problem 12
- Caveats and Method 22
- The Argument and Its Contexts 28
- Experts and Interests 34
- Hypothesis 37
- Chapter 2 Assessing Athenian Performance 39
- Historical Evaluation 40
- Aggregate Flourishing 43
- Distribution of Coinage 48
- Athens versus Syracuse and Sparta 52
- Citations in Greek Literature and Other Measures 53
- Athens x 12: A Multiperiod Case Study 55
- Democracy as an Explanatory Variable 70
- Republics, Democracies, and Athenian Exceptionalism 75
- Chapter 3 Competition, Scale, and Varieties of Knowledge 80
- Competition and Its Consequences 80
- Participation and Scale 84
- Social, Technical, and Latent Knowledge 90
- Preferences, Parties, and Costly Information 97
- Hierarchy, Democracy, and Productivity 102
- Knowledge Processes as Public-Action Strategies 106
- Chapter 4 Aggregation: Networks, Teams, and Experts 118
- Institutional Design: Incentives, Low Cost, Sorting 118
- Establishing a Naval Station, 325/4 B.C. 124
- Demes and Tribes as Social Networks 134
- The Council of 500: Structural Holes and Bridging Ties 142
- Organizational and Individual Learning 151
- Boards of Magistrates as Real Teams 156
- Ostracism, Assembly, and People's Courts 160
- Chapter 5 Alignment: Common Knowledge, Commitment, and Coordination 168
- Alignment and Hierarchy 169
- Following Leaders, Rules, and Commitments 172
- Cascading and Social Equilibrium 179
- A Trial for Treason, 330 B.C. 183
- Common Knowledge and Publicity 190
- Rational Rituals and Public Monuments 194
- Architecture and Intervisibility 199
- Scaling Common Knowledge 205
- Chapter 6 Codification: Access, Impartiality, and Transaction Costs 211
- Intention and Interpretation 211
- Open Entry, Fair Procedure, and Transaction Costs 214
- A Law on Silver Coinage, 375/4 B.C. 220
- Silver Owls, Athenian and Imitation 226
- Approval, Certification, Confiscation 231
- Legal Standing and Social Status 241
- Rules and Rents: Historical Survey 245
- Expanding Access 249
- Democracy and Social Security 254
- Horizons of Fairness 258
- Chapter 7 Conclusions: Government by the People 264
- Knowledge in Action 264
- The Democracy/Knowledge Hypothesis Revisited 268
- Formality and Experimentation 270
- Institutions and Ideology 272
- Exceptionalism and Exemplarity 276
- Appendix A Aggregate Material Flourishing 281
- Appendix B Distribution of Coins in Hoards 285
- Appendix C Prominence in Classical Greek Literature 287
- Appendix D Impact of Constitution and Historical Experience 289
- Appendix E Athenian State Capacity and Democracy, 600-250 B.C. 292.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages [295]-332) and index.
- ISBN:
- 9780691133478
- 0691133476
- OCLC:
- 202545162
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