This collection of articles edited by Samuel Bowles examines the power relations that underpin markets and presents analyses of politics from an economic perspective.
It is striking how it has taken so long for economists to realize that the assumptions of neoclassical economics are so far removed from the real world of raw, naked power. Instead of perfect competition, we observe oligopolies and monopolies dominated by rent-seekers who cozy up to, or are even sometimes, elected politicians. So much ink was wasted on stating the obvious.
I was also annoyed by the constant use of formal models for theories that can be explained by one or two sentences. Perhaps I just don't understand them, but rather than illuminate, I see them as exercises in obfuscation. If the point of inquiry is understanding, then models that only a select few can understand, and yield very few testable propositions, do not advance the cause of knowledge at all. It is doubtful, therefore, how economics has helped clarify the nature of power.
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