From Economic Man to Economic System: Essays on Human Behavior and the Institutions of Capitalism

This book’s essays discuss human behavior and the institutions of capitalism. The essays are non-technical and are written so as to be accessible to students of all disciplines and to all other persons interested in capitalism and in economic behavior. They often present unconventional views of the topics they discuss. Those containing unconventional views discuss self-interested behavior, selfish gene theory, the meaning and social function of private ownership, the externality problem, the nature of the firm, and the rise of capitalism. The essays are not meant to be a textbook, but they offer a useful supplementary reading source for courses in business, economics, and law that deal with human behavior in the marketplace and with capitalism, ownership, markets, and firms.

Harold Demsetz is Arthur Anderson UCLA Alumni Emeritus Professor of Business Economics at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he has taught since 1971 and where he directed UCLA's business economics program. Counted among the world's 100 most eminent economists in Mark Blaug's book Great Economists since Keynes, his published work was recently ranked as among the top ten most frequently cited bodies of work by an economist. Who's Who in America and Who's Who in Economics, among other directories, include his biography.