Economics and Power

Giulio Palermo is Researcher in Economics at the University of Brescia, Italy.

• Foreword and acknowledgements1. IntroductionThe dimensions of power in social sciencesThe unidimensional view of power in economicsMethodological choices and ontological necessitiesHistorical materialism, exploitation and social coercionMarx's critique of capital and the critique of powerStructure of the bookPART I. POWER IN ECONOMICS2. The economic debate on powerThe contractual approach of Alchian and DemsetzWilliamson's transaction costs economicsThe property rights approach of Hart and MooreThe radical political economics of Bowles and GintisGolfberg's institutional perspectiveThe terms of the debate3. Power and post Walrasian economicsPost Walrasian economicsFrom Walrasian to post Walrasian economics The theoretical results of Walrasian economicsThe role of perfect competition in the debate on powerConclusions4. Power demystificationThe categories of post Walrasian economicsAs-if economic historyHistory and efficiencyFree contracting, imperfections and class relationsExchange without productionProduction, circulation, and the free trader vulgarisScientific research and cultural hegemonyConclusionsPART II. THE ONTOLOGY OF CAPITALIST POWER AND THE COERCIVE LAW OF COMPETITION5. Marx’s critique of capital and competitionCompetition in Marx's workTotal social capital and competition between individual capitals The origins of competitionCompetition and the contradictions of capitalThe development of competition and the process of capital subsumptionAssociation against competitionThe end of competitionBourgeois economics and the myth of perfect competitionConclusions6. Capitalism as a system of powerCritical realismCritical realism and Marxism The ontology of powerThe ontology of capitalist powerConclusions7. Final remarksScientific goals, methodology and ontologyFormal similarities within opposite conceptionsEconomists as servant of powerReorienting the struggle