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Prelude to Political Economy : A Study of the Social and Political Foundations of Economics by Kaushik Basu is a nonfiction available to read on EtoBox.

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Mainstream economics was founded on many strong assumptions. Institutions and politics were treated as irrelevant, government as exogenous, social norms as epiphenomena. As an initial gambit this was fine. But as the horizons of economic inquiry have broadened, these assumptions have become hindrances rather than aids. If we want to understand why some economies succeed and some fail, why some governments are effective and others not, why some communities prosper while others stagnate, it is essential to view economics as embedded in politics and society. Prelude to Political Economy is a study of this embeddedness; it argues for an'inclusive'approach to institutions and the state. Modern economics recognizes that individuals'pursuit of their own selfish ends can result in socially suboptimal outcomes - the Prisoner's Dilemma being the stark example. It has been suggested that what we need in such an eventuality is'third-party'intervention, which can take the form of imposing punishment on players. Kaushik Basu objects to this method of wishing third parties out of thin air. He argues that if a third party that could impose its will on others were available, then it should have bee

Who reads Prelude to Political Economy : A Study of the Social and Political Foundations of Economics?

Author

Kaushik Basu

Publisher

Oxford University Press, USA

Published

2003

Language

EN

ISBN

9780198296713

Category

nonfiction

Subjects

Economics, Business