A not-so-dismal science : a broader view of economies and societies / edited by Mancur Olson and Satu Kähköne

Olson, Mancur

ISBN 10: 0198293690 / ISBN 13: 9780198293699

Published by Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2000

About this Item

Near fine copy in the original gilt-blocked cloth. Slightest suggestion only of dust-dulling to the spine bands and panel edges. Minor library marks remain (internally). Remains particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and strong. Physical description; 274 pp., ill. Contents; 1 Big Bills Left on the Sidewalk; Why Some Nations Are Rich, and Others Poor; 2 Innovation and its Enemies: The Economic and Political Roots of Technological Inertia; 3 Economic Institutions and Development: A View from the Bottom; 4 Dictatorship, Democracy, and Development; 5 Overstrong Against Thyself: War, the State, and Growth in Eyrope on the Eve of the Industrial Revolution; 6 The Swedish Model: A Comment on Mancur Olson's Analysis. 7 Affirmative Action and Reservations in the American and Indian Labor Markets: Are They Realty That Bad?8 Communities and Development: Autarkic Social Groups and the Economy; 9 Law from Order: Economic Development and the Jurisprudence of Social Norms; 10 The Nature of Institutional Impediments to Economic Development; Index. Subjects; Economics Philosophy. Economics Sociological aspects. Institutional economics. 1 Kg.

Seller Inventory # 390537

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A not-so-dismal science : a broader view of economies and societies / edited by Mancur Olson and Satu Kähköne
• Publisher: Oxford : Oxford University Press
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0198293690
• ISBN 13: 9780198293699
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st edition.

About this title

Synopsis

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.

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.