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Preface

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2012

Samuel Bowles
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Herbert Gintis
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Bo Gustafsson
Affiliation:
Uppsala Universitet, Sweden
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Summary

If it were not for the hope that a scientific study of men's social actions may lead, not necessarily directly or immediately, but at some time and in some way, to practical results in social improvement, not a few students of these actions would regard the time devoted to their study as time misspent.

(A. C. Pigou, The Economics of Welfare, 1932)

The contributions to this volume encompass a wide range of subjects pertaining to the analysis, understanding and evaluation of economic systems in regard to their structural as well as to their behavioral and evolutionary aspects: capitalism, socialism, institutions, rules, ownership, power, participation, agency, incentives, conflict, cooperation, productivity, and investment behavior. But it seems to me that the underlying common denominator is somehow related to the quest for an economic régime that is able to bring about an acceptable trade-off between efficiency and participation (democracy) in modern society. It may be held that this quest has seemingly been removed from the agenda as a consequence of the decline and fall of socialism in the world. But such a conclusion would certainly be premature, and for several reasons. In the first place, it is debatable whether the socioeconomic system in Eastern Europe had anything more in common with traditional images of socialism than collective ownership of the means of production and planning.

Type
Chapter
Information
Markets and Democracy
Participation, Accountability and Efficiency
, pp. xv - xviii
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1993

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  • Preface
  • Edited by Samuel Bowles, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Herbert Gintis, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Bo Gustafsson, Uppsala Universitet, Sweden
  • Book: Markets and Democracy
  • Online publication: 05 March 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511983580.001
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  • Preface
  • Edited by Samuel Bowles, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Herbert Gintis, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Bo Gustafsson, Uppsala Universitet, Sweden
  • Book: Markets and Democracy
  • Online publication: 05 March 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511983580.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Preface
  • Edited by Samuel Bowles, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Herbert Gintis, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Bo Gustafsson, Uppsala Universitet, Sweden
  • Book: Markets and Democracy
  • Online publication: 05 March 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511983580.001
Available formats
×