The political economy of conflict and appropriation /
[Book]
edited by Michelle R. Garfinkel, Stergios Skaperdas.
New York :
Cambridge University Press,
1996.
ix, 182 pages :
illustrations ;
24 cm
Papers presented at a conference held at the University of California-Irvine in May 1994.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction : conflict and appropriation as economic activities / Michelle R. Garfinkel and Stergios Skaperdas -- Towards a model of territorial expansion and the limits of empire / Ronald Findlay -- Predation and production / Herschel I. Grossman and Minseong Kim -- Competitive trade with conflict / Stergios Skaperdas and Constantinos Syropoulos -- Increasing returns to politics in developing contries with endogenous protection in a fixed-factor model / Nakgyoon Choi and Stephen P. Magee -- Demosclerosis, or special insterests "R" us : an information rationale for public gridlock / Susanne Lohmann -- Deforestation, investment, and political stability / Robert T. Deacon -- Violence nnd the assignment of property rights on two Brazilian frontiers / Lee J. Alston, Gary D. Libecap, and Robert Schneider.
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The essays in this volume integrate conflict and appropriation into economic analysis. In the first of two sets of essays, the actual or potential use of force is a primary determinant of aggregate outcomes. In the second set, appropriation takes subtler forms and is mediated by the political process of modern states. Collectively the essays indicate how, once appropriation is taken into account, some central properties of traditional economic analysis, as well as the presumption that they hold in reality, can break down. The contributions are part of the recent trend of reintroducing politics into economics, a trend that is having a growing impact on political science as well as on economics.
Traditional economic analysis has concentrated on production and trading as the only means by which individual agents can increase their welfare. But both the history of industrialized countries and the current experience of many developing and transition economies suggest a major alternative: the appropriation of what others have produced through coercion, rent seeking, or influence peddling. Appropriation was how nobles, bandits, and kings used to make a living. The same is true nowadays for mafia bosses, army generals, lobbyists, and corrupt officials.
Economics-- Political aspects, Congresses.
Power (Social sciences)-- Economic aspects, Congresses.
Économie politique et politique, Congrès.
Pouvoir (Sciences sociales)-- Aspect économique, Congrès.