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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 behaviour 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.
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A NOT-SO-DISMAL SCIENCE
A Broader View of Economies and Societie s Edited by
Mancyr Olson Satu Kahkone n
OXfORD UNIVERSITY PRES S
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OXFORD U N t V E R S f T Y PRES S
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Oxford i s a registered trade mark of Oxford Universit y Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Oxford University Press 2000 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) Reprinted 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced , stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any fbnn or by any means, without the prior permission i n writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproductio n outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Right s Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover And you must impose this same condition on any acquirer ISBN 0-19-829369-0
To our colleagues at IRIS
Preface We ar e al l familiar wit h metropolita n area s in which th e centra l city, while gaining some high-rise buildings, ha s a stagnant population an d an increasing proportion o f poor people a t the same time that the suburbs are growing and prosperous. To a degree, moder n economics is like such a metropolitan area . Magnificent a s we believ e th e skyscraper s at th e cente r o f economics are , in most American universities the number of economics majors has declined, the proportion o f economics major s who go on to graduate work in the discipline has fallen, an d the job marke t for those who hav e earned a doctorate in economics has tightened. In macroeconomics, no singl e paradigm has generated the professional consensus that characterizes successfu l science. In most parts of economics, contrary t o popula r belief , economist s usuall y agree . Economi c quackery nonetheless often command s more attention from, the press and the politicians tha n th e bes t economics , an d government s ofte n choos e publi c policies that economists know to be absurd. At th e sam e time , th e suburb s o