An Anarchist's reflection on the political economy of everyday life

Boettke, Peter (2011): An Anarchist's reflection on the political economy of everyday life.

Abstract

James Scott has written a detailed ethnography on the lives of the peoples of upland Southeast Asia who choose to escape oppressive government by living at the edge of their civilization. To the political economist the fascinating story told by Scott provides useful narratives in need of analytical exposition. There remains in this work a “plea for mechanism”; the mechanisms that enable social cooperation to emerge among individuals living outside the realm of state control. Social cooperation outside the formal rules of governance, nevertheless require “rules” of social intercourse, and techniques of “enforcement” to ensure the disciplining of opportunistic behavior.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: economic development; self-regulation; political economy; peasant economy
• Subjects: O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O17 - Formal and Informal Sectors ; Shadow Economy ; Institutional Arrangements; P - Economic Systems > P4 - Other Economic Systems > P48 - Political Economy ; Legal Institutions ; Property Rights ; Natural Resources ; Energy ; Environment ; Regional Studies

References

Benson, Bruce. (1990). The Enterprise of Law: Justice Without the State. Pacific Research Institute.

Boettke, Peter. (2005). “Anarchism as a Progressive Research Program in Political Economy.” Anarchy, State, and Public Choice. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham. pp: 206-219.

Boettke, Peter. (2011). “Anarchism and Austrian Economics” New Perspective on Political Economy, forthcoming.

Buchanan, James. (1975). “The Limits of Liberty: Between Anarchy and Leviathan.” Collected Works of James M. Buchanan, Vol. 7. Liberty Fund: Indianapolis.

Coyne, Christopher J. (2006a). “Reconstructing Weak and Failed States: Foreign Intervention and the Nirvana Fallacy.” Foreign Policy Analysis 2: 343-361.

Coyne, Christopher J. (2006b). “Reconstructing Weak and Failed States: Insights from Tocueville.” The Journal of Social, Political and Economic Studies 31(2): 143-162.

Evans-Pritchard, E. E. (1969). The Nuer: A Description of the Modes of Livelihood and Political Institutions of a Nilotic People. Oxford University Press.

Falk Moore, Sally. (1978). Law as Process: An Anthropological Approach. Routledge and Kegan Paul Books.

Friedman, Milton. (1962). Capitalism and Freedom. The University of Chicago Press.

Friedman, Milton and Rose Friedman. (1980). Free to Choose: A Personal Statement. Harcourt, Inc.

Hayek, F. A. (1960) [2011]. The Constitution of Liberty: The Definitive Edition. University of Chicago Press.

Hayek, F. A. (1973). Law, Legislation, and Liberty, Vol. 1: Rules and Order. The University of Chicago Press.

Hayek, F. A. (1976). Law, Legislation, and Liberty, Vol. 2: The Mirage of Social Justice. The University of Chicago Press.

Hayek, F. A. (1979). Law, Legislation, and Liberty, Vol. 3: The Political Order of Free People. The University of Chicago Press.

Hume, David. (1739 [1896]). A Treatise of Human Nature. Clarendon Press.

Leeson, Peter T. (2003). “Contracts without Government.” Journal of Private Enterprise 18(2): 35-54.

Leeson, Peter T. (2005). “Self-Enforcement Arrangements in African Political Economy.” Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 57(2): 241-244.

Leeson, Peter T. (2007a). “Efficient Anarchy.” Public Choice 130(1-2): 41-53.

Leeson, Peter T. (2007b). “Trading with Bandits.” Journal of Law and Economics 50(2): 303-321.

Leeson, Peter T. (2007c). “An-arrgh-chy: The Law and Economics of Pirate Organizations” Journal of Political Economy 115(6): 1049-1094.

Leeson, Peter T. (2007). “Better Off Stateless: Somalia Before and After Government Collapse.” Journal of Comparative Economics. 35(4): 689-710

Leeson, Peter T. and Peter Boettke J. (2009). “Two-Tiered Entrepreneurship and Economic Development.” International Review of Law and Economics. 29(3): 252-259.

Leeson, Peter T. and Claudia Williamson. (2009). “Anarchy and Development: An Application of the Theory of Second Best.” Law and Development Review. 2,(1): 77-96.

North, Douglas C. (1981). Structure and Change in Economic History. W. W. Norton and Company.

Olson, Mancur. (1996). “Big Bills Left on the Sidewalk: Why Some Nations are Rich and Others Poor.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 10(2): 3-24.

Powell, Benjamin, Ryan Ford, and Alex Nowrasth. (forthcoming). “Somalia After State Collapse: Improvement or Chaos?” Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization.

Reid, John Philip. (1996). Law for the Elephant: Property and Social Behavior on the Overland Trail. Huntington Library Press.

Scott, James C. (2009). The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia. Yale University Press.

Stringham, Edward P. (1999). “Market Chosen Law.” Journal of Libertarian Studies 14(1): 53-77.

Stringham, Edward P. (2002). “The Emergence of the London Stock Exchange as a Self-Policing Club.” Journal of Private Enterprise 17(2): 1-19.

Stringham, Edward P. (2003). “The Extralegal Development of Securities Trading in Seventeenth Century Amsterdam.” Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance 43(2): 321-344.

Stringham, Edward P. (2006). “Overlapping Jurisdcitions, Proprietary Communities, and Competition in the Realm of Law.” Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 162(3): 516-534.

Williamson, Claudia. (2009). “Informal Institutions Rule: Institutional Arrangements and Economic Performance.” Public Choice. 139(3),: 371-387.