Culture and Economic Explanation

Donald W. Katzner is Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts / Amherst, USA.

• 1. Introduction: Culture, Economics and Economic Behavior 2. Western Economics and the Economy of Japan 3. 'What are the Questions?' 4. An Analytical Vision of the Workings of the United States Economy 5. The Workings of the Japanese Economy 6. Explaining the Japanese Economic Miracle 7. The Role of Optimization in Economics 8. Economics and the Principle of Uniformity 9. Cultural Variation and the Theory of the Firm 10. Culture and the Explanation of Choice Behaviour

'In this volume of essays Donald Katzner probes the cultural foundations of western economic theory. He argues that the predictive power of standard economic models depends on the relevance of behavioural assumptions that are culturally quite specific and, taking the case of Japan, he shows that where the culture is different, standard models fail badly. As always, his work is both thought-provoking and challenging.' -Charles Perrings, Arizona State University, USA'This book is thought-provoking and wide-ranging in its approach to this important topic.' -- CHOICE December 2008 Vol. 46 (M. Veseth, University of Puget Sound)'Culture and Economic Explanation as a collection of essays comes with three particular merits. First, careful selection, appropriate arrangement, and amendment by two original essays bestow the collection with a true value added. Second, with eight of the ten essays readily accessible to generalist readers, the book represents an important contribution to any collection on modern Japan. Third, individual essays contain a precious stock of references to particularly insightful works on the Japanese economy.' - George D. Blind, Journal of East Asian Studies