This book presents a new theoretical framework for the analysis of production processes. Based on a rigorous reconstruction of the intellectual heritage of economics, it also considers issues traditionally left aside by economists--the distinctions of the three dimensions of the production process (tasks, capabilities, and materials in process), the organizational approach to scale and size, and the idea that different institutional set-ups may be compatible with the same objective standard of efficiency.

This volume broadens our concept of reasoning and rationality to allow for a more pluralistic and situational view of human thinking as a practical activity. Drawing on contributors across disciplines including philosophy, economics, psychology, statistics, computer science, engineering, and physics, "Reasoning, Rationality, and Probability" argues that the search for strong theories should leave room for the construction of context-sensitive conceptual tools. Both science and everyday life, the authors argue, are too complex and multifaceted to be forced into ready-made schemata.

This volume outlines a novel approach to the analysis of structural economic dynamics. It is based on detailed considerations of micro-organizational features of economic systems, and how networking patterns of technological and institutional change influence them. This is a much-needed basis for work in economic dynamics, considering interactions between emergent structures and historically evolving constraints. The work breaks new ground in the investigation of the relationship between economic theory and economic history.

This volume outlines a novel approach to the analysis of structural economic dynamics. It is based on detailed considerations of micro-organizational features of economic systems, and how networking patterns of technological and institutional change influence them. This is a much-needed basis for work in economic dynamics, considering interactions between emergent structures and historically evolving constraints. The work breaks new ground in the investigation of the relationship between economic theory and economic history.

This volume addresses the subject of uncertainty from the point of view of an extended conception of rationality. In particular, the contributions explore the premises and implications of plausible reasoning when probabilities are non-measurable or unknown, and when the space of possible events is only partially identified.

Sir John Hicks (1904 89) was a leading economic theorist of the twentieth century, and along with Kenneth Arrow was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1972. His work addressed central topics in economic theory, such as value, money, capital and growth. An important unifying theme was the attention for economic rationality 'in time' and his acknowledgement that apparent rigidities and frictions might exert a positive role as a buffer against excessive fluctuations in output, prices and employment. This emphasis on the virtue of imperfection significantly distances Hicksian economics from both the...

This volume, first published in 1991, represents a wide-ranging inquiry into the general field of structural economic analysis and provides a thorough appraisal of the method of economic dynamics. It comprises nine original essays by distinguished scholars, all of which assess different aspects of the concept of economic structure. The analytical contribution of the volume is to draw attention to the relationship between 'horizontal' and 'vertical' treatments of economic structure that have characterized economic theory. The former focuses on the circular character of economic relationships,...

Economists since the first industrial revolution have been interested in the links between economic growth and the resources needed to support the growth process, often pointing to resource scarcities as a hindrance to growth. Offering a counter perspective, this volume highlights the positive role that scarcities play in triggering technical progress and economic growth. It provides a new approach to the economic theory of resources by outlining a structural framework for the political economy of scarcity and rents, and offers a novel way of organising empirical evidence concerning the role...

Resources, Production and Structural Dynamics offers a fresh approach to the economic theory of resources, outlining a new structural framework for the political economy of scarcity and rents, and proposing a novel way of organising empirical evidence concerning the role of resources in industrial growth.