This edited collection looks at the emerging relationship between politics and economics. The analysis of power relations - traditionally the focus of political science - is becoming increasingly important to economists in order to understand concepts such as the 'contested nature' of market exchanges. These papers examine power relations in the firm and the market place and offer an economic perspective of political relations. The book is divided into three sections: * politics and power in economic organizations * the economic analysis of political organizations * politics, economics and social change The final section considers how a combination of economic and political tools can be used effectively to analyse social change.

This book addresses the lively interaction between the disciplines of law and economics. The traditional boundaries of these two disciplines have somehow inhibited a full understanding of the functioning of and the evolution of economic and legal systems. It has often been the case that these boundaries have had to be reshaped, and sometimes abolished, before either one of the two disciplines could successfully clarify the real life problems arising from the complex institutions of contemporary societies. The contributions to this volume encompass some of the core controversial issues in law and economics arising from interactions between legal orderings and economic institutions. They include: the nature of institutional and legislative change and the emergence of strong institutional complementarity in legal positions the relationship between private orderings and the role of the State in enforcing contracts and defining property rights the nature and dynamics of endogenous enforcement and the analysis of governance models and corporate ethics. Part of the renowned Siena Studies in Political Economy series, this book will be an essential read for postgraduates and researchers in the fields of law and economics, and the economics of institutions.

The traditional role of evolutionary theory in the social sciences has been to explain the existence of an object in terms of the survival of the fittest. In economics this approach has acted as a justification for hypotheses such as profit maximisation, or the existence of institutions in terms of their overall efficiency. This volume challenges that view and argues that one of the first tasks of economic theory should be to explain the enormous diversity of institutional arrangements that has characterised human societies.

This book addresses the lively interaction between the disciplines of law and economics. The traditional boundaries of these two disciplines have somehow inhibited a full understanding of the functioning of and the evolution of economic and legal systems. It has often been the case that these boundaries have had to be reshaped, and sometimes abolished, before either one of the two disciplines could successfully clarify the real life problems arising from the complex institutions of contemporary societies.

The contributions to this volume encompass some of the core controversial issues in law and economics arising from interactions between legal orderings and economic institutions. They include:

• the nature of institutional and legislative change and the emergence of strong institutional complementarity in legal positions
• the relationship between private orderings and the role of the State in enforcing contracts and defining propertyrights
• the nature and dynamics of endogenous enforcement and
• the analysis of governance models and corporate ethics.

Part of the renowned Siena Studies in Political Economy series, this book will be an essential read for postgraduates and researchers in the fields of law and economics, and the economics of institutions.

Contents:
1. Introduction: the co-evolution of economics and biology and the evolution of diversity Antonio Nicita and Ugo Pagano
A. Natural Selection and Social Sciences
2. The origin of organizational species Ugo Pagano
3. Biological and cultural evolution: aspects of dynamics, statistics and optimization Marcus Fieldman
4. The evolution of evaluators Daniel C Dennet
B. The Multiplicity of Learning Paths
5. Path dependent learning, and the evolution of beliefs and behaviours Paul A David
6. Learning dynamics, Lock-in, and equilibrium selection in experimental co-ordination games Vincent Crawford
7. On the dynamics of cognition and actions. An assessment of some models of learning and evolution Giovanni Dosi, G Fagiolo and L. Marengo
C. Technical Change in Learning Paths
8. Evolutionary theories of economic change Richard R Nelson
9. Diversity and irreversibility in scientific and technological systems: the evolution of an industry network F. Pammollo, A Bonaccorsi, L Orsenigo, M Riccabomi and G Turchetti
10. The firm as an evolutionary enforcement device Antonio Nicita
D. The Evolution of Norms
11. Lecture notes on equilibrium selection and the evolution of norms Robert Boyd
12. Endogenous interactions G. Mailath, L. Samuleson and A. Shaked
13. Social networks and efficient evolutionary outcomes in recurrent common interest games Stefano Vannucci
14. Community governance: An evolutionary analysis Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis
15. Cooperation and exclusion in networks Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis
16. Evolution of money Katsuhito Iwai

This edited collection looks at the emerging relationship between politics and economics. The analysis of power relations - traditionally the focus of political science - is becoming increasingly important to economists in order to understand concepts such as the 'contested nature' of market exchanges. These papers examine power relations in the firm and the market place and offer an economic perspective of political relations. The book is divided into three sections:
* politics and power in economic organizations
* the economic analysis of political organizations
* politics, economics and social change
The final section considers how a combination of economic and political tools can be used effectively to analyse social change.