A Not-so-dismal Science A Broader View of Economies and Societies

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 behavior 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.

Modern economics is like a metropolitan area. Economists' ideas about business and markets are like the magnificent buildings of the city centre. Yet most growth and prosperity is in the suburbs -- lately many of economics' greatest successes have been outside the traditional boundaries of the discipline. In the study of law, economic ideas have been the intellectual focus and `law and economics' has become a major field. 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'. The influence of the economists type thinking in other social sciences is bringing about a theoretical integration of all the social sciences under one overarching paradigm. The chapters of the book illustrate the intellectual advances that account for this unified view of economies and societies.

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 Europe 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 Really 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