An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change

An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change

Author: Richard R. Nelson

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 1985-10-15

Total Pages: 456

ISBN-13: 9780674041431

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This book contains the most sustained and serious attack on mainstream, neoclassical economics in more than forty years. Nelson and Winter focus their critique on the basic question of how firms and industries change overtime. They marshal significant objections to the fundamental neoclassical assumptions of profit maximization and market equilibrium, which they find ineffective in the analysis of technological innovation and the dynamics of competition among firms. To replace these assumptions, they borrow from biology the concept of natural selection to construct a precise and detailed evolutionary theory of business behavior. They grant that films are motivated by profit and engage in search for ways of improving profits, but they do not consider them to be profit maximizing. Likewise, they emphasize the tendency for the more profitable firms to drive the less profitable ones out of business, but they do not focus their analysis on hypothetical states of industry equilibrium. The results of their new paradigm and analytical framework are impressive. Not only have they been able to develop more coherent and powerful models of competitive firm dynamics under conditions of growth and technological change, but their approach is compatible with findings in psychology and other social sciences. Finally, their work has important implications for welfare economics and for government policy toward industry.


Book Synopsis An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change by : Richard R. Nelson

Download or read book An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change written by Richard R. Nelson and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1985-10-15 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book contains the most sustained and serious attack on mainstream, neoclassical economics in more than forty years. Nelson and Winter focus their critique on the basic question of how firms and industries change overtime. They marshal significant objections to the fundamental neoclassical assumptions of profit maximization and market equilibrium, which they find ineffective in the analysis of technological innovation and the dynamics of competition among firms. To replace these assumptions, they borrow from biology the concept of natural selection to construct a precise and detailed evolutionary theory of business behavior. They grant that films are motivated by profit and engage in search for ways of improving profits, but they do not consider them to be profit maximizing. Likewise, they emphasize the tendency for the more profitable firms to drive the less profitable ones out of business, but they do not focus their analysis on hypothetical states of industry equilibrium. The results of their new paradigm and analytical framework are impressive. Not only have they been able to develop more coherent and powerful models of competitive firm dynamics under conditions of growth and technological change, but their approach is compatible with findings in psychology and other social sciences. Finally, their work has important implications for welfare economics and for government policy toward industry.


Economic Theory and Social Change

Economic Theory and Social Change

Author: Hasse Ekstedt

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2010-06-30

Total Pages: 325

ISBN-13: 1136948821

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This book is a discourse on modelling Man in a social context. Its focus is on economic main-stream theory in its capacity to handle basic problems such as uncertainty, social dynamics and ethics. The point of departure is a systematic critique of the specific methodology of economics and its axiomatic structure. The ultimate aim is to develop an economic theory for a socially sustainable society. Economic Theory and Social Change analyses the foundation of economic market theory in relation to its social implications. On rejecting the axiomatic structure of the market theory Hasse Ekstedt and Angelo Fusari analyse the concept of growth and uncertainty with respect to a more realistic modelling of man, The book also addresses central political problems and their potential solutions, including permanent unemployment, distribution of income, the interaction of real and financial growth, money and the credit system. In seeking objective values to help to obtain a socially sustainable society, the book traces a tentative revision of economic and social thought based on a deepening of some crucial features of modern economies and societies. These features include innovation, the connected flows of uncertainty, entrepreneurship, and their role in fuelling and characterizing economic growth and development. This book will be of interest to postgraduate students and researchers of Economics, particularly to those focussing on Economic Theory and Political Economy.


Book Synopsis Economic Theory and Social Change by : Hasse Ekstedt

Download or read book Economic Theory and Social Change written by Hasse Ekstedt and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-06-30 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a discourse on modelling Man in a social context. Its focus is on economic main-stream theory in its capacity to handle basic problems such as uncertainty, social dynamics and ethics. The point of departure is a systematic critique of the specific methodology of economics and its axiomatic structure. The ultimate aim is to develop an economic theory for a socially sustainable society. Economic Theory and Social Change analyses the foundation of economic market theory in relation to its social implications. On rejecting the axiomatic structure of the market theory Hasse Ekstedt and Angelo Fusari analyse the concept of growth and uncertainty with respect to a more realistic modelling of man, The book also addresses central political problems and their potential solutions, including permanent unemployment, distribution of income, the interaction of real and financial growth, money and the credit system. In seeking objective values to help to obtain a socially sustainable society, the book traces a tentative revision of economic and social thought based on a deepening of some crucial features of modern economies and societies. These features include innovation, the connected flows of uncertainty, entrepreneurship, and their role in fuelling and characterizing economic growth and development. This book will be of interest to postgraduate students and researchers of Economics, particularly to those focussing on Economic Theory and Political Economy.


Social Theory and Economic Change

Social Theory and Economic Change

Author: Tom Burns

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-10-11

Total Pages: 118

ISBN-13: 1136444408

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Tavistock Press was established as a co-operative venture between the Tavistock Institute and Routledge & Kegan Paul (RKP) in the 1950s to produce a series of major contributions across the social sciences. This volume is part of a 2001 reissue of a selection of those important works which have since gone out of print, or are difficult to locate. Published by Routledge, 112 volumes in total are being brought together under the name The International Behavioural and Social Sciences Library: Classics from the Tavistock Press. Reproduced here in facsimile, this volume was originally published in 1967 and is available individually. The collection is also available in a number of themed mini-sets of between 5 and 13 volumes, or as a complete collection.


Book Synopsis Social Theory and Economic Change by : Tom Burns

Download or read book Social Theory and Economic Change written by Tom Burns and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-10-11 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tavistock Press was established as a co-operative venture between the Tavistock Institute and Routledge & Kegan Paul (RKP) in the 1950s to produce a series of major contributions across the social sciences. This volume is part of a 2001 reissue of a selection of those important works which have since gone out of print, or are difficult to locate. Published by Routledge, 112 volumes in total are being brought together under the name The International Behavioural and Social Sciences Library: Classics from the Tavistock Press. Reproduced here in facsimile, this volume was originally published in 1967 and is available individually. The collection is also available in a number of themed mini-sets of between 5 and 13 volumes, or as a complete collection.


Economics, Culture and Social Theory

Economics, Culture and Social Theory

Author: William A. Jackson

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 1849802114

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. . . the book is excellent in setting out and explaining a fundamental critique of economics one moreover that has been missed by most other current critics of the field. Making this case is an achievement. Hopefully, it will have a greater impact than its author probably expects. Journal of Cultural Economics Economics evolved by perfecting the taking of culture out of its reductionist and virtual world. But culture has recently been reintroduced, both as a sphere of application for an otherwise unchanging methodology and as a weak form of acknowledging that the economic alone is inadequate as the basis even for explaining the economy. This volume is an essential critical starting point for understanding the changing relationship between economics and culture and in offering a more satisfactory and stable union between the two. Ben Fine, University of London, UK Economics, Culture and Social Theory examines how culture has been neglected in economic theorising and considers how economics could benefit by incorporating ideas from social and cultural theory. Orthodox economics has prompted a long line of cultural criticism that goes back to the origins of economic theory and extends to recent debates surrounding postmodernism. William A. Jackson discusses the cultural critique of economics, identifies the main arguments, and assesses their implications. Among the topics covered are relativism and realism, idealism and materialism, agency and structure, hermeneutics, semiotics, and cultural evolution. Drawing from varied literatures, notably social and cultural theory, the book stresses the importance of culture for economic behaviour and looks at the prospects for a renewed and culturally informed economics. The book will be invaluable to heterodox economists and to anyone interested in the links between culture and the economy. It takes an interdisciplinary approach, arguing against the isolation of economics, and will therefore hold wide appeal for social scientists working in related fields, as well as for economists specialising in cultural economics and economic methodology.


Book Synopsis Economics, Culture and Social Theory by : William A. Jackson

Download or read book Economics, Culture and Social Theory written by William A. Jackson and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2009 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: . . . the book is excellent in setting out and explaining a fundamental critique of economics one moreover that has been missed by most other current critics of the field. Making this case is an achievement. Hopefully, it will have a greater impact than its author probably expects. Journal of Cultural Economics Economics evolved by perfecting the taking of culture out of its reductionist and virtual world. But culture has recently been reintroduced, both as a sphere of application for an otherwise unchanging methodology and as a weak form of acknowledging that the economic alone is inadequate as the basis even for explaining the economy. This volume is an essential critical starting point for understanding the changing relationship between economics and culture and in offering a more satisfactory and stable union between the two. Ben Fine, University of London, UK Economics, Culture and Social Theory examines how culture has been neglected in economic theorising and considers how economics could benefit by incorporating ideas from social and cultural theory. Orthodox economics has prompted a long line of cultural criticism that goes back to the origins of economic theory and extends to recent debates surrounding postmodernism. William A. Jackson discusses the cultural critique of economics, identifies the main arguments, and assesses their implications. Among the topics covered are relativism and realism, idealism and materialism, agency and structure, hermeneutics, semiotics, and cultural evolution. Drawing from varied literatures, notably social and cultural theory, the book stresses the importance of culture for economic behaviour and looks at the prospects for a renewed and culturally informed economics. The book will be invaluable to heterodox economists and to anyone interested in the links between culture and the economy. It takes an interdisciplinary approach, arguing against the isolation of economics, and will therefore hold wide appeal for social scientists working in related fields, as well as for economists specialising in cultural economics and economic methodology.


The Theory of Social and Economic Organization

The Theory of Social and Economic Organization

Author: Max Weber

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2009-11-24

Total Pages: 327

ISBN-13: 1439188874

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This bookis an introduction to Max Weber’s ambitious comparative study of the sociological and institutional foundations of the modern economic and social order. In this work originally published in German in 1920, Weber discusses the analytical methods of sociology and, at the same time, presents a devastating critique of prevailing sociological theory and of its universalist, determinist underpinnings. None of Weber’s other writings offers the reader such a grasp of his theories; none displays so clearly his erudition, the scope of his interests, and his analytical powers.


Book Synopsis The Theory of Social and Economic Organization by : Max Weber

Download or read book The Theory of Social and Economic Organization written by Max Weber and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2009-11-24 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This bookis an introduction to Max Weber’s ambitious comparative study of the sociological and institutional foundations of the modern economic and social order. In this work originally published in German in 1920, Weber discusses the analytical methods of sociology and, at the same time, presents a devastating critique of prevailing sociological theory and of its universalist, determinist underpinnings. None of Weber’s other writings offers the reader such a grasp of his theories; none displays so clearly his erudition, the scope of his interests, and his analytical powers.


Economics as a Social Science

Economics as a Social Science

Author: Andrew M. Kamarck

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

Published: 2009-04-21

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 0472022024

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Economics as a Social Science is a highly readable critique of economic theory, based on a wide range of research, that endeavors to restore economics to its proper role as a social science. Contrary to conventional economic theory, which assumes that people have no free will, this book instead bases economics on the realistic assumption that human beings can choose; that we are complex beings affected by emotion, custom, habit, and reason; and that our behavior varies with circumstances and times. It embraces the findings of history, psychology, and other social sciences and the insights from great literature on human behavior as opposed to the rigidity set by mathematical axioms that define how economics is understood and practiced today. Andrew M. Kamarck demonstrates that only rough accuracy is attainable in economic measurement, and that understanding an economy requires knowledge from other disciplines. The canonical hypotheses of economics (perfect rationality, self-interest, equilibrium) are shown to be inadequate (and in the case of "equilibrium" to be counterproductive to understanding the forces that dominate the economy), and more satisfactory assumptions provided. The market is shown to work imperfectly and to require appropriate institutions to perform its function reasonably well. Further, Kamarck argues that self-interest does not always lead to helping the general interest. Economics as a Social Science examines and revises the fundamental assumptions of economics. Because it avoids jargon and explains terms carefully, it will be of interest to economics majors as well as to graduate students of economics and other social sciences, and social scientists working in government and the private sector. Andrew M. Kamarck is former Director, Economic Development Institute, the World Bank.


Book Synopsis Economics as a Social Science by : Andrew M. Kamarck

Download or read book Economics as a Social Science written by Andrew M. Kamarck and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2009-04-21 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economics as a Social Science is a highly readable critique of economic theory, based on a wide range of research, that endeavors to restore economics to its proper role as a social science. Contrary to conventional economic theory, which assumes that people have no free will, this book instead bases economics on the realistic assumption that human beings can choose; that we are complex beings affected by emotion, custom, habit, and reason; and that our behavior varies with circumstances and times. It embraces the findings of history, psychology, and other social sciences and the insights from great literature on human behavior as opposed to the rigidity set by mathematical axioms that define how economics is understood and practiced today. Andrew M. Kamarck demonstrates that only rough accuracy is attainable in economic measurement, and that understanding an economy requires knowledge from other disciplines. The canonical hypotheses of economics (perfect rationality, self-interest, equilibrium) are shown to be inadequate (and in the case of "equilibrium" to be counterproductive to understanding the forces that dominate the economy), and more satisfactory assumptions provided. The market is shown to work imperfectly and to require appropriate institutions to perform its function reasonably well. Further, Kamarck argues that self-interest does not always lead to helping the general interest. Economics as a Social Science examines and revises the fundamental assumptions of economics. Because it avoids jargon and explains terms carefully, it will be of interest to economics majors as well as to graduate students of economics and other social sciences, and social scientists working in government and the private sector. Andrew M. Kamarck is former Director, Economic Development Institute, the World Bank.


Social Stratification and Economic Change

Social Stratification and Economic Change

Author: David Rose

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2022-03-29

Total Pages: 197

ISBN-13: 1000562654

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First published in 1988, Social Stratification and Economic Change brings together, for the first time in textbook form, some of the most significant work both theoretical and empirical on stratification in Britain. In part I, David Rose provides on overview of stratification research, and papers from David Lockwood, John Goldthorpe, Gordon Marshall, Ray Pahl, and Claire Wallace tackle key theoretical issues. In part II, six papers commissioned for the book report on empirical studies and their implications. By bringing together an outstanding group of authors, all at the forefront of their field, the book makes an important contribution to debates on social stratification and will be invaluable for both students and researchers in sociology.


Book Synopsis Social Stratification and Economic Change by : David Rose

Download or read book Social Stratification and Economic Change written by David Rose and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-03-29 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1988, Social Stratification and Economic Change brings together, for the first time in textbook form, some of the most significant work both theoretical and empirical on stratification in Britain. In part I, David Rose provides on overview of stratification research, and papers from David Lockwood, John Goldthorpe, Gordon Marshall, Ray Pahl, and Claire Wallace tackle key theoretical issues. In part II, six papers commissioned for the book report on empirical studies and their implications. By bringing together an outstanding group of authors, all at the forefront of their field, the book makes an important contribution to debates on social stratification and will be invaluable for both students and researchers in sociology.


Social Theory and Economic Change

Social Theory and Economic Change

Author: Tom Burns

Publisher: Tavistock Publications

Published: 1972

Total Pages: 104

ISBN-13: 9780422754101

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Book Synopsis Social Theory and Economic Change by : Tom Burns

Download or read book Social Theory and Economic Change written by Tom Burns and published by Tavistock Publications. This book was released on 1972 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:


Reorienting Economics

Reorienting Economics

Author: Tony Lawson

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-08-21

Total Pages: 406

ISBN-13: 113452594X

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Contemporary economics is characterized by a mismatch between its methods of analysis and the nature of the world it seeks to interpret. Despite regular economic crises and ongoing critique of the discipline, the drift from political economy into applied mathematics appears to continue unabated. In this book, Tony Lawson advocates a relignment of economics with social reality. In analyzing mainstream economists' misplaced universality, the author places ontology at the heart of a reoriented future in which economics is integrated within the wider human and social sciences.


Book Synopsis Reorienting Economics by : Tony Lawson

Download or read book Reorienting Economics written by Tony Lawson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-08-21 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contemporary economics is characterized by a mismatch between its methods of analysis and the nature of the world it seeks to interpret. Despite regular economic crises and ongoing critique of the discipline, the drift from political economy into applied mathematics appears to continue unabated. In this book, Tony Lawson advocates a relignment of economics with social reality. In analyzing mainstream economists' misplaced universality, the author places ontology at the heart of a reoriented future in which economics is integrated within the wider human and social sciences.


Social Theory and Economic Change

Social Theory and Economic Change

Author: University of Edinburgh. Faculty of Social Sciences

Publisher:

Published: 1961

Total Pages: 104

ISBN-13:

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Book Synopsis Social Theory and Economic Change by : University of Edinburgh. Faculty of Social Sciences

Download or read book Social Theory and Economic Change written by University of Edinburgh. Faculty of Social Sciences and published by . This book was released on 1961 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: