Prelude to political economy : a study of the social and political foundations of economics / Kaushik Basu.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Basu, Kaushik.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Economics--Political aspects.

Economics.

Economics--Sociological aspects.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (305 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Oxford [England] ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2000.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This volume aims to understand why some economies succeed and some fail, and why some communities prosper while others stagnate, so economics must be seen as embedded in politics and society. It is a study of this embeddedness.

Contents:

Contents; Preface; Part I. PRELIMINARIES; 1. Introduction; 1.1. Incident off Grand Trunk Road; 1.2. Positive Political Economy; 1.3. An Overview; 2. Games and Misdemeanors: Game Theory for the Uninitiated; 2.1. Motivation; 2.2. Hex; 2.3. Normal-Form Games; 2.4. Extensive-Form Games; 3. Individual Rationality; 3.1. The Concept of Rationality; 3.2. Internal Consistency; 3.3. Procrastination and Addiction; 3.4. The Traveler's Dilemma; 3.5. The E-mail Game - Almost; 3.6. The Paradox of Cognition; Part II. SOCIETY; 4. Social Norms, Culture and Beliefs; 4.1. Of Mice and Men

4.2. The Bridge on Forest Home Drive 4.3. A Digression on ""Association""; 4.4. Equilibrium-Selection Norms; 4.5. Hawk, Dove and Maynard's Cuckoo; 4.6. Norms, Polyphiloprogenitive; 4.7. Beliefs; Part III. THE STATE; 5. Law and Economics; 5.1. The Law According to Social Science; 5.2. Law and Economics: A New Approach; 5.3. Law and Enforcement: A Model; 5.4. A Digression on Freedom of Speech; 5.5. Concluding Remarks; 6. Power and Coercion; 6.1. Of Dyads and Triads; 6.2. Political Power, Havel's Allegory, and McCarthyism; 6.3. Triadic Markets and Coercion; 6.4. A Digression on Sexual Harassment

6.5. On the ""Man of Influence""6.6. Concluding Remarks; 7. On Advising Government; 7.1. A Science of Advising?; 7.2. Advising Endogenous Government; 7.3. Cheater's Roulette; 7.4. A Moral Conundrum; 8. The Concept of ""State""; 8.1. Preamble; 8.2. The Standard View and Its Brood of Fallacies; 8.3. State as Beliefs; 8.4. The Dane County Farmers' Market; Part IV. ETHICS AND JUDGMENT; 9. Welfare and Interpersonal Comparisons; 9.1. Preliminaries; 9.2. If I Were You...; 9.3. Income and Welfare; 10. Utilitarianism and Rights; 10.1. Basic Concepts

10.2. Escher's Waterfall and a Critique of Utilitarianism10.3. Rights and Liberty; 10.4. Morals and Solipsism; Part V. CONCLUSION; 11. Some Concluding Remarks; 11.1. Introduction; 11.2. The Pdomain Problem; 11.3. Games and Reality; 11.4. The Free Rider; 11.5. Conclusion; Appendix. Notes on Methodology: Various and Sundry; A1. Introduction; A2. Knowledge and Skepticism; A3. Assumptions; A4. Hume's Law; A5. Methodological Individualism; A6. Determinism and Choice; References; Name Index; Subject Index;

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [263]-279) and indexes.

Description based on metadata supplied by the publisher and other sources.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-19-926185-7

0-19-152274-0

1-282-05245-4

9786612052453

OCLC:

191827140