Theory and History : an Interpretation of Social and Economic Evolution PDF Download

Author: Ludwig Von Mises
Publisher: Westport, Conn. : Arlington House
ISBN:
Category : Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Author: Ludwig von Mises
Publisher: VM eBooks
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Mortal man does not know how the universe and all that it contains may appear to a superhuman intelligence. Perhaps such an exalted mind is in a position to elaborate a coherent and comprehensive monistic interpretation of all phenomena. Man—up to now, at least—has always gone lamentably amiss in his attempts to bridge the gulf that he sees yawning between mind and matter, between the rider and the horse, between the mason and the stone. It would be preposterous to view this failure as a sufficient demonstration of the soundness of a dualistic philosophy. All that we can infer from it is that science—at least for the time being—must adopt a dualistic approach, less as a philosophical explanation than as a methodological device. Methodological dualism refrains from any proposition concerning essences and metaphysical constructs. It merely takes into account the fact that we do not know how external events—physical, chemical, and physiological—affect human thoughts, ideas, and judgments of value. This ignorance splits the realm of knowledge into two separate fields, the realm of external events, commonly called nature, and the realm of human thought and action. Older ages looked upon the issue from a moral or religious point of view. Materialist monism was rejected as incompatible with the Christian dualism of the Creator and the creation, and of the immortal soul and the mortal body. Determinism was rejected as incompatible with the fundamental principles of morality as well as with the penal code. Most of what was advanced in these controversies to support the respective dogmas was unessential and is irrelevant from the methodological point of view of our day. The determinists did little more than repeat their thesis again and again, without trying to substantiate it. The indeterminists denied their adversaries’ statements but were unable to strike at their weak points. The long debates were not very helpful.

Author: Richard R. Nelson
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674041431
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 456

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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.

Author: Dimitris Milonakis
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 0415423228
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
Shows how economics was once rich, diverse, multidimensional and pluralistic. Details how political economy became economics through the desocialisation and dehistoricisation of the dismal science.

Author: Jack J Vromen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134796579
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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The new institutional economics offers one of the most exciting research agendas in economics today. The book looks at the differences and similarities between the three main approaches.

Author: Howard J. Sherman
Publisher: M.E. Sharpe
ISBN: 9780765616517
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
This radical account of the evolution of political, social, and economic institutions weaves together strands of anthropology, sociology, political science, history, and economics. In a highly readable text, Howard Sherman explains the interconnections of ideas and economic forces, and traces the evolution of social and economic institutions from primitive times to the present. Sherman focuses on the myth of "inevitable progress" in technology, and argues that it progresses only when social and economic institutions and dominant ideas encourage it to improve. He shows that throughout history technology, as a part of the economic forces, ebbs and flows to create or undermine existing economic institutions.

Author: Ulrich Witt
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 178536507X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
Modern economies never come to rest. From institutions to activities of production, trade, and consumption, everything is locked in processes of perpetual transformation – and so are our daily lives. Why and how do such transformations occur? What can economic theory tell us about these changes and where they might lead? Ulrich Witt’s book discusses why evolutionary concepts are necessary to answer such questions. While economic evolution is in many respects unique, it nonetheless needs to be seen within the broader context of natural evolution. By exploring this complex relationship, Rethinking Economic Evolution demonstrates the significance of an evolutionary economic theory.

Author: Pierre Garrouste
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 9781781950227
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Since the 1980s there has been a renewed interest in attempts to introduce a sense of history into economic literature. In this text, the authors argue that it is not possible to explain a state of the world without first analyzing the processes that lead to that state.

Author: Geoffrey M. Hodgson
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226346927
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Of paramount importance to the natural sciences, the principles of Darwinism, which involve variation, inheritance, and selection, are increasingly of interest to social scientists as well. But no one has provided a truly rigorous account of how the principles apply to the evolution of human society—until now. In Darwin’s Conjecture, Geoffrey Hodgson and Thorbjørn Knudsen reveal how the British naturalist’s core concepts apply to a wide range of phenomena, including business practices, legal systems, technology, and even science itself. They also critique some prominent objections to applying Darwin to social science, arguing that ultimately Darwinism functions as a general theoretical framework for stimulating further inquiry. Social scientists who adopt a Darwinian approach, they contend, can then use it to frame and help develop new explanatory theories and predictive models. This truly pathbreaking workat long last makes the powerful conceptual tools of Darwin available to the social sciences and will be welcomed by scholars and students from a range of disciplines.

Author: Yuichi Shionoya
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1848446160
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
This collection of essays offers a fresh and challenging interpretation which departs from the received views of two giants among the greatest economists of all times. Distinguished scholars of Marshall and Schumpeter engage in a lively discussion of their work and convincingly argue that, despite their differences, they shared a common drive towards a broader type of social science beyond economics. It is an intriguing account that will not fail to attract and fascinate the majority of readers. Maria Cristina Marcuzzo, Università di Roma, Italy Ever since the development of the theory of biological evolution in the middle of the nineteenth century, evolutionary doctrine has posed challenges to economics. These came directly from the work of Darwin and Huxley and indirectly through economic history and the juxtaposition of dynamics with comparative statics the approach widely adopted by economists by the end of the century. The eminent historians of economics, Yuichi Shionoya and Tamotsu Nishizawa, together with a distinguished team of specialists, have produced an important set of essays that examine the positions on evolution of Marshall and Schumpeter and the economists who surrounded them. This collection is a valuable contribution to the history of economics and is highly relevant to controversies that rage still in the economics discipline today. Craufurd Goodwin, Duke University, US Traditionally it was understood that while Marshall was the synthesizer of neoclassical economics, Schumpeter challenged the dynamic conception of the economy in place of the static structure of economics. While historians of economic thought rarely discuss the work of Alfred Marshall and Joseph Schumpeter jointly, the contributors to this book do exactly this from the perspective of evolutionary thought. This unique and original work contends that, despite the differences between Marshallian and Schumpeterian thinking, they both present formidable challenges to a broad type of social science beyond economics, particularly under the influence of the German historical school. In a departure from the received view on the nature of the works of Marshall and Schumpeter, the contributors explore their themes in terms of an evolutionary vision and method of evolution; social science and evolution; conceptions of evolution; and evolution and capitalism. This timely resource will provide a stimulus not only to Marshall and Schumpeter scholarship within the history of economic thought but also to the recent efforts of economists to explore a research field beyond mainstream equilibrium economics. It will therefore prove a fascinating read for academics, students and researchers of evolutionary and heterodox economics and historians of economic thought.