The Dark Side of the Force: Economic Foundations of Conflict Theory - Hardcover

Hirshleifer, Jack

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521804124 ISBN 13: 9780521804127

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2001

Synopsis

The central tradition of mainline economics deals with only one way of making a living: namely, producing useful goods and services. But there is another way of getting ahead-- through conflict or the "dark side"--that is by appropriating what others have produced. Logically parallel or military aggression and resistance, the dark side includes nonmilitary activities such as litigation, strikes and lockouts, takeover contests, and bureaucratic back-biting struggles. This volume brings the analysis of conflict into the mainstream of economics. Part I explores the causes, conduct, and consequences of conflict as an economic activity. Part II delves more deeply into the evolutionary sources of our capacities, physical and mental, for both conflict and cooperation.

About this title

Review:

"Hirshleifer has spent a quarter century exploring human behavior, especially behavior in conflict, in territory that belongs to sociologists but in territory that the proprietors have left largely unexploited. Hirshleifer brings to the work the tools of an economist, but also a curiosity and an insight that are rare among economists. The book is so much fun that the reader may lose sight of how important it is." Thomas C. Schelling, Emeritus, Harvard University

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0521804124
• ISBN 13: 9780521804127
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 366