Geoffrey M. Hodgson
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226168005
- eISBN:
- 9780226168142
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226168142.003.0017
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic Systems
The introduction outlines the aims of the book and the perspective adopted. The importance of adequate definitions of key terms is stressed. This vital task of conceptual precision has been ...
More
The introduction outlines the aims of the book and the perspective adopted. The importance of adequate definitions of key terms is stressed. This vital task of conceptual precision has been downgraded and the meaning of several key terms has been corrupted. Important theorists of capitalism, including Karl Marx, Max Weber, Joseph A. Schumpeter, John Maynard Keynes, and Friedrich A. Hayek, are discussed. The adopted theoretical approach of legal institutionalism is outlined. There is also a short overview of the literature on the origins of capitalism. The definition of capitalism developed in the book is cited. Finally the structure and content of the book are outlined.Less
The introduction outlines the aims of the book and the perspective adopted. The importance of adequate definitions of key terms is stressed. This vital task of conceptual precision has been downgraded and the meaning of several key terms has been corrupted. Important theorists of capitalism, including Karl Marx, Max Weber, Joseph A. Schumpeter, John Maynard Keynes, and Friedrich A. Hayek, are discussed. The adopted theoretical approach of legal institutionalism is outlined. There is also a short overview of the literature on the origins of capitalism. The definition of capitalism developed in the book is cited. Finally the structure and content of the book are outlined.
Geoffrey M. Hodgson
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226168005
- eISBN:
- 9780226168142
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226168142.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic Systems
The aim of this book is to define the nature of capitalism. But our understanding of that system has been impaired by the deep corruption within the social sciences of key terms such as property, ...
More
The aim of this book is to define the nature of capitalism. But our understanding of that system has been impaired by the deep corruption within the social sciences of key terms such as property, exchange, markets, and capital. Using a new theoretical approach called legal institutionalism (which differs profoundly from both Marxism and much pro-market libertarianism) this book defines these key concepts clearly, and establishes the constitutive role of law and the state within capitalism. Capitalism emerged fully in the eighteenth century, when developments in financial institutions enabled a take-off in production and trade. While markets are central to capitalism, it is not simply a market system: unavoidably it contains different subsystems of governance, production, distribution and exchange. Furthermore, capitalism cannot in principle have markets for everything, or bring everything under within the orbit of commodity exchange. The book further considers the global development of the system in the twenty-first century, including the implications of increasing knowledge intensity in production, the challenges to US hegemony from China and elsewhere, and the drivers of inequality within the system.Less
The aim of this book is to define the nature of capitalism. But our understanding of that system has been impaired by the deep corruption within the social sciences of key terms such as property, exchange, markets, and capital. Using a new theoretical approach called legal institutionalism (which differs profoundly from both Marxism and much pro-market libertarianism) this book defines these key concepts clearly, and establishes the constitutive role of law and the state within capitalism. Capitalism emerged fully in the eighteenth century, when developments in financial institutions enabled a take-off in production and trade. While markets are central to capitalism, it is not simply a market system: unavoidably it contains different subsystems of governance, production, distribution and exchange. Furthermore, capitalism cannot in principle have markets for everything, or bring everything under within the orbit of commodity exchange. The book further considers the global development of the system in the twenty-first century, including the implications of increasing knowledge intensity in production, the challenges to US hegemony from China and elsewhere, and the drivers of inequality within the system.
