Microeconomics (ebook)

Argumento de Microeconomics (ebook)

"This important and highly impressive volume is intended as an overview of cutting-edge developments in microeconomics for graduate students. . . . The work is well written and carefully structured. . . . [T]his is a very fertile and inspiring book, of much broader use than its intended audience. . . . Its analytical accounts of institutional structures and its masterly fusion of institutional and evolutionary themes might eventually warrant its status as a modern classic."--Geoffrey M. Hodgson, Economics and Philosophy

"Sam Bowles reminds the student from the first page to the last that microeconomic theory is an attempt to understand economic institutions in order to inspire us to improve the world. This book may be a turning point in bringing economics back to its real political economic roots."--Ariel Rubinstein, Tel Aviv University and Princeton University

"The standard neoclassical competitive model of economic behavior has been significantly extended in the last fifty years by emphasis on interaction among small groups (game theory), on extended models of human motivation based in part on human evolution, and on divergent information bases of participants. A rich but scattered literature has now received a brilliant synthesis and development in Samuel Bowles's new book. Microeconomics will be an indispensable part of future teaching in microeconomics at the graduate or advanced undergraduate levels, as well as an excellent source of information for the practicing economist."--Kenneth J. Arrow

"Homo economicus is dead, but whose Homo behavioralis will replace him? For those who care, this sustained and honest attempt to explore the implications for economic theory of one of the leading candidates is essential reading."--Ken Binmore, University College London

"An important and highly original book that shows how an evolutionary version of microeconomics can be brought to bear on central questions of economic growth and organization."--Peyton Young, Johns Hopkins University

"This is one of the most engaging books of its kind that has been written, intellectually challenging and a pleasure to read. It presents an innovative and unconventional perspective on microeconomics and, as such, is a book that many will want to teach from--I will."--Kaushik Basu, Cornell University

"Bowles does a masterful job of expanding the boundaries of received microeconomic theory by drawing upon cutting edge ideas from behavioral and experimental economics, evolutionary game theory, and the new institutional economics. I don't know of anyone who has woven such a wide range of literature into an equally coherent vision of post-Walrasian microeconomic theory."--Gregory Dow, Simon Fraser University

"There must be dozens of introductory books with the word 'microeconomics' in the title, but for ambition alone Samuel Bowles's volume stands out. Not only does Bowles convey the elements of the conventional theory of capitalist economics--he offers a wealth of cutting-edge material as well . . . . [His] theory is neat, thought-provoking, and highly original--as is much else in this most unusual take on microeconomics."--Eric Maskin, Science0Preface ix
Prologue: Economics and the Wealth of Nations and People 1
Part I: Coordination and Conflict: Generic Social Interactions 21
Chapter One: Social Interactions and Institutional Design 23
Chapter Two: Spontaneous Order: The Self-organization of Economic Life 56
Chapter Three: Preferences and Behavior 93
Chapter Four: Coordination Failures and Institutional Responses 127
Chapter Five: Dividing the Gains to Cooperation: Bargaining and Rent Seeking 167
Part II : Competition and Cooperation: The Institutions of Capitalism 203
Chapter Six: Utopian Capitalism: Decentralized Coordination 205
Chapter Seven: Exchange: Contracts, Norms, and Power 233
Chapter Eight: Employment, Unemployment, and Wages 267
Chapter Nine: Credit Markets, Wealth Constraints, and Allocative Inefficiency 299
Chapter Ten: The Institutions of a Capitalist Economy 331
Part III: Change: The Coevolution of Institutions and Preferences 363
Chapter Eleven: Institutional and Individual Evolution 365
Chapter Twelve: Chance, Collective Action, and Institutional Innovation 402
Chapter Thirteen: The Coevolution of Institutions and Preferences 437
Part IV: Conclusion 471
Chapter Fourteen: Economic Governance: Markets, States, and Communities 473
Problem Sets 502
Additional Readings 529
Works Cited 537
Index 571