Alternative Theories of the State

摘要

Neoclassical economics "has very little use for the state and assigns virtually no positive role for the state in the economy," writes Steven Pressman in the introductory chapter of this book (p. 1). Of course, there are many vantage points from which the state can be considered, but few economics students are exposed to alternative schools of thought and most professional economists find a niche in one camp and rarely interact with those grounded in other intellectual traditions. Thus, despite all that economists have written about the state, their theories "are narrower and less nuanced" than would likely be the case in the event of cross-fertilization (p. 5).