Description
Book SynopsisIn the standard analysis of economic institutions - which include social conventions, the working rules of an economy, and entitlement regimes (property relations) - economists invoke the same theories they use when analyzing individual behavior. This book challenges these theories.
Trade Review"At last, someone has written a hard-hitting demonstration that formulating the problems of economic policy in the 'old institutionalist' framework of analysis yields far greater insights than do attempts to frame these problems of achieving 'economic efficiency'. Daniel Bromley has written such a book: Sufficient Reason ... and it should be widely read by both the supporters and critics of environmental economics."--Bryan Norton, Environmental Values "In the absence of a consensus there is still the ongoing debate over the making of policy and judgments concerning welfare. To that debate, Bromley's book is a welcome and valuable addition."--Malcolm Rutherford, Journal of Economic Methodology
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Preface ix PRELUDE 1 CHAPTER ON: Prospective Volition 3 CHAPTER TWO: The Task at Hand 20 PART ONE: On Economic Institutions 29 CHAPTER THREE: Understanding Institutions 31 CHAPTER FOUR: The Content of Institutions 43 CHAPTER FIVE: Institutional Change 67 PART TWO: Volitional Pragmatism 85 CHAPTER SIX: Fixing Belief 87 CHAPTER SEVEN: Explaining 103 CHAPTER EIGHT: Prescribing and Predicting 115 CHAPTER NINE: Volitional Pragmatism 129 PART THREE: Volitional Pragmatism at Work 153 CHAPTER TEN: Thinking as a Pragmatist 155 CHAPTER ELEVEN: Volitional Pragmatism and Explanation 166 CHAPTER TWELVE: Volitional Pragmatism and the Evolution of Institutions 180 CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Volitional Pragmatism and Economic Regulations 199 CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Sufficient Reason 212 Bibliography 225 Index 235
