Reason, Ideology, and Democracy: A Study in Entangled Political Economy

Tuszynski, Meg Patrick, Wagner, Richard E.

  • 出版商: Palgrave MacMillan
  • 出版日期: 2024-10-18
  • 售價: $5,480
  • 貴賓價: 9.5$5,206
  • 語言: 英文
  • 頁數: 290
  • 裝訂: Hardcover - also called cloth, retail trade, or trade
  • ISBN: 3031698398
  • ISBN-13: 9783031698392
  • 下單後立即進貨 (約1週~2週)

相關主題

商品描述

Democratic political systems are often thought to be preferable to all others for supporting liberty. Around the world, nations that are more democratic tend to be freer across various aspects of life and human experience. This book undertakes a social scientific analysis of this claim and finds it to be wanting.

The reality of democratic systems does not adhere to popular rhetoric. One of the key reasons for this is that our system is an entangled system, one in which the realm of the political and commercial are so intertwined that they cannot be easily separated. Businessmen have political interests, and politicians have commercial interests. The implication of this entanglement is that alleviating the problems that emerge in democratic systems is not a simple matter of rolling back damaging interventions. Due to the logic of entanglement, returning to a "free market" is not possible in most cases.

The authors pull economics back to its classical roots to analyze the social orders that best allow people to live together. The world is not constantly aiming at placidity, as the prevailing economics of equilibrium would have us think. We live in a world of change and turbulence, so our social science requires a framework that deals with this turbulence robustly. Classical economists beginning with Adam Smith sought to uncover which forms of human association allowed us to live better together. The authors explain Smith's observations, asking the same sorts of questions of readers today. Because the baseline assumption of entanglement does not allow one to divide the world so clearly into two distinct structures, the authors parallel Smith's approach, focusing on forms of association rather than political or commercial structures. Focusing on human association, the authors help readers uncover the manifold structures humans have devised that allow them to tame the turbulence and live lives more harmoniously with others.

商品描述(中文翻譯)

民主政治體系常被認為比其他體系更能支持自由。在全球範圍內,越是民主的國家,往往在生活和人類經驗的各個方面也越自由。本書對此主張進行了社會科學的分析,發現其實際情況並不如人們所想。

民主體系的現實並不符合流行的言論。這其中一個關鍵原因是,我們的體系是一個交織的系統,政治與商業的領域如此緊密相連,以至於無法輕易分開。商人有政治利益,而政治家則有商業利益。這種交織的含義是,緩解民主體系中出現的問題並不是簡單地撤回有害的干預。由於交織的邏輯,在大多數情況下,回到「自由市場」是不可能的。

作者將經濟學拉回其古典根源,以分析最能讓人們和諧共處的社會秩序。世界並不總是追求平靜,正如主流的均衡經濟學所認為的那樣。我們生活在一個變化和動盪的世界中,因此我們的社會科學需要一個能夠有效應對這種動盪的框架。從亞當·斯密開始的古典經濟學家們試圖揭示哪些人類結合的形式能讓我們更好地共同生活。作者解釋了斯密的觀察,並向當今的讀者提出相同類型的問題。由於交織的基本假設不允許將世界清晰地劃分為兩個截然不同的結構,作者借鑒斯密的方法,專注於結合的形式,而非政治或商業結構。專注於人類結合,作者幫助讀者揭示人類所設計的多樣結構,這些結構使他們能夠馴服動盪,與他人更和諧地生活。

作者簡介

Meg Patrick Tuszynski is Managing Director of the Bridwell Institute for Economic Freedom and Research Assistant Professor in the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University. Tuszynski has published research in Public Choice, Southern Economic Journal, Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, and American Journal of Entrepreneurship, among others. She has also published popular pieces in outlets including Investor's Business Daily, Washington Examiner, Dallas Morning News, and Daily Caller.

Richard E. Wagner is Holbert L. Harris Professor of Economics, Emeritus, at George Mason University. He has authored more than 25 books and 200 journal articles across a diverse spectrum of subjects in economic theory and political economy. He was the founding co-editor of Constitutional Political Economy from 1989-1997, and he is currently a member of the editorial boards of Constitutional Political Economy, Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice, Journal of Infrastructure, Policy, and Development, and Review of Austrian Economics.

作者簡介(中文翻譯)

梅格·帕特里克·圖辛斯基(Meg Patrick Tuszynski)是布里德威爾經濟自由研究所的常務董事,並擔任南方衛理公會大學考克斯商學院的研究助理教授。圖辛斯基在《公共選擇》、《南方經濟期刊》、《創業與公共政策期刊》、《區域分析與政策期刊》和《美國創業期刊》等期刊上發表了研究成果。此外,她還在《投資者商業日報》、《華盛頓檢查員》、《達拉斯晨報》和《每日來電》等媒體上發表了多篇熱門文章。

理查德·E·瓦格納(Richard E. Wagner)是喬治梅森大學的霍爾伯特·L·哈里斯經濟學榮譽教授。他在經濟理論和政治經濟學的多個主題上撰寫了超過25本書籍和200篇期刊文章。他曾於1989年至1997年擔任《憲法政治經濟學》的創始共同編輯,目前是《憲法政治經濟學》、《公共財政與公共選擇期刊》、《基礎設施、政策與發展期刊》和《奧地利經濟學評論》的編輯委員會成員。