A Not-so-dismal Science: A Broader View of Economies and Societies

by Mancur Olson, Satu Kïhkïnen

Overview

Many of economics' greatest successes have been outside the traditional boundaries of the discipline. Economic ideas have been the intellectual focus in the study of law, while in the study of politics, economists and political scientists using economics-type methods are uniquely influential. In sociology and history, economics has had a smaller but growing influence through "rational choice sociology" and "cliometrics."

This book shows that, in calling economics the "dismal science," Thomas Carlyle was profoundly wrong. Economic ideas have illuminated behaviour in all of the social sciences in addition to the economists' traditional domain. The broadening of economics and the use of economists' methods by social scientists in other fields is leading to a unified and positive view of economies and societies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198293699
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	03/16/2000
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Mancur Olson was Distinguished Professor of economics at the University of Maryland and Founder and Principal Investigator of the Center for Institutional Reform and the Informal Sector (IRIS), also based at the University of Maryland.
Satu Kahkonen is Associate Director of IRIS.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Broader View, Mancur Olson and Satu Kähkönen1. Big Bills Left on the Sidewalk: Why Some Nations are Rich and Others Poor, Mancur Olson2. Innovation and its Enemies: The Economic and Political Roots of Technological Inertia, Joel Mokyr3. Economic Institutions and Development: A View from the Bottom, Oliver E. Williamson4. Dictatorship, Democracy, and Development, Mancur Olson5. Overstrong against Thyself: War, the State, and Growth in Europe on the Eve of the Industrial Revolution, J. Bradford De Long6. The Swedish Model: A Comment on Mancur Olson's Analysis, Erik Moberg7. Affirmative Action and Reservations in the American and Indian Labor Markets: Are They Really that Bad?, Edward Montgomery8. Communities and Development: Autarkic Social Groups and the Economy, Russell Hardin9. Law from Order: Economic Development and the Jurisprudence of Social Norms, Robert D. Cooter10. The Nature of Institutional Impediments to Economic Development, Pranab Bardhan