Search results for ""author gerhard wegner""

The purpose of this book is to reconsider economic liberalism from the viewpoint of political liberalism. The author argues that advocates of economic liberalism largely overlook empirical political preferences which, in many societies, go far beyond a limited role of the state. Recent difficulties of reforming the welfare state provide evidence that political preferences are at odds with liberal economic policy in numerous cases. This fact challenges a political conception which demands a limited state role but also claims that citizens' preferences 'as they are' should determine the content of policies. Using an evolutionary perspective on economic liberalism, the book develops new arguments about how economic liberalism can be brought into line with political liberalism.Drawing on an evolutionary theory of markets, Gerhard Wegner reinforces the claim that liberal economic policies are conducive to prosperity in society, but he argues that the liberal promise of prosperity does not translate into corresponding political preferences on the part of citizens. A tension between political and economic liberalism arises which lies at the centre of this book.Political Failure by Agreement will strongly appeal to postgraduate students and researchers of global governance, political theory, political economy and institutional economics.

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This important book analyses evolutionary approaches to economic policy. Its main purpose is to explore the policy implications of evolutionary economics, in particular of approaches inspired on the one hand by Schumpeter and revived by Nelson and Winter which deal with industrial evolution under constant institutions and, on the other hand, of approaches inspired by Hayek and North, which analyse the ways in which institutions themselves evolve. Hitherto evolutionary economists have paid little attention to policy issues, and the relatively few policy implications that they have produced are divergent. Whereas the Neo-Schumpeterian approach has often been used to support political interventions, the Hayekian viewpoint holds that economic policy detracts from economic performance. More systematic evolutionary analysis of economic policy is required if these one-sided findings are to be transcended. Furthermore, such analysis can be expected to develop a coherent theory of economic policy which will plug the gaps and rectify the errors (such as approval of socialist planning and Japanese industrial policies) of both neoclassical and alternative approaches to policy. Evolutionary economists and policy analysts will find this book of great interest, as will economists and students of economics who are interested in enlarging their views with excursions outside the standard curriculum.

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This important book analyses evolutionary approaches to economic policy. Its main purpose is to explore the policy implications of evolutionary economics, in particular of approaches inspired on the one hand by Schumpeter and revived by Nelson and Winter which deal with industrial evolution under constant institutions and, on the other hand, of approaches inspired by Hayek and North, which analyse the ways in which institutions themselves evolve. Hitherto evolutionary economists have paid little attention to policy issues, and the relatively few policy implications that they have produced are divergent. Whereas the Neo-Schumpeterian approach has often been used to support political interventions, the Hayekian viewpoint holds that economic policy detracts from economic performance. More systematic evolutionary analysis of economic policy is required if these one-sided findings are to be transcended. Furthermore, such analysis can be expected to develop a coherent theory of economic policy which will plug the gaps and rectify the errors (such as approval of socialist planning and Japanese industrial policies) of both neoclassical and alternative approaches to policy. Evolutionary economists and policy analysts will find this book of great interest, as will economists and students of economics who are interested in enlarging their views with excursions outside the standard curriculum.

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