The Economics of Property Rights: Toward a Theory of Comparative Systems (International Studies in Economics & Econometrics) - Hardcover

Pejovich, Svetozar

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0792308786 ISBN 13: 9780792308782

Publisher: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1990

Synopsis

To understand recent developments in Eastern Europe requires a method of analysis that is capable of internalizing into a theoretical framework (i) the logical premises deduced from the costs of transactions and incentive structures generated by various institutions and (ii) the evidence for refutable implications of those premises. The economics of property rights is such a theory. It expands the scope of the ability of economic analysis to explain a wide range of institutional structures and provides empirical corroboration of its logical implications. The economics of property rights is, then, an effective scholarly instrument that offers more significant understanding of the three current issues in the area of comparative economic studies: (i) evaluating the performance of alternative institutional arrangements, (ii) explaining the failure of socialist institutions in Eastern Europe, and (iii) identifying the costs (political as well as economic) of institutional reforms in that part of the world. In that sense, the book is both timely and relevant. In the late 1980s East Europeans crossed the threshold of fear and forced their leaders to abandon Marxism. With that theory of history dead and buried, the cost of current sacrifices in the pursuit of socialism has risen relative to the present value of its expected future benefits.

About this title

Review

`It goes without saying that Professor Pejovich is one of the founding fathers of the economics of property rights. This new theory has revolutionised economic reasoning since the early sixties in two ways: firstly by making law a subject of economic analysis, and secondly by introducing the real world of uncertainty and incomplete knowledge into mainstream economics. Nowadays the Property Rights School is part of the quickly expanding fields of transaction cost analysis and institutional economics. It is rapidly changing our understanding of what is going on in our daily life. The readings in these two volumes cover the classics of property rights economics through to the latest developments in a tremendous area of fresh and informative research. I highly recommend them as a superb collection.' -- Christian Watrin, Universitat zu Koln, Germany

About the Author

Edited by Svetozar Pejovich, Professor Emeritus, Texas A&M University, US, Honorary Doctorate, University of Belgrade, Serbia and Professor of Law and Economics, University of Donja Gorica, Montenegro

Edition details

• Publisher: Kluwer Academic Publishers
• Publication date: 1990
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0792308786
• ISBN 13: 9780792308782
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224