The ideology of efficiency: Searching for a theory of policy analysis

Bromley, Daniel W.

doi:10.1016/0095-0696(90)90062-4

Cited by 201 publications

(119 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…7 A situation is considered to be Pareto optimal (or Pareto efficient) if it is not possible to improve the level of well-being of one given economic agent without implying a reduction in the well-being of at least one other agent. 8 On the potential Pareto improvement test and the Kaldor-Hicks compensation criterion, see, for example, Bromley (1990) andZerbe Jr. (2001). 9 Only the externalities relevant from the point of view of the Pareto optimum are of interest.…”

Section: Social Costs As the Results Of A Lack Of Marketsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Costs: Where Does the Market End?*

Neves¹

2012

rccsar

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The markets are a powerful economic coordination mechanism. Even so, their limitations cannot, and should not, be ignored. The wide range of costs originating from business activities within the framework of capitalism and subsequently externalised or, more accurately, transferred to other agents or to society as a whole with no repercussions on the price mechanism, is one particularly striking example of these limitations. This article contrasts the different concepts of social costs existing in economics literature, ranging from the identification of the problem as a "market failure" to the more heterodox (and less wellknown) concept of K. William Kapp, according to whom social costs are an intrinsic and inevitable problem within the institutional context of capitalism. The nature of the problem is discussed initially, followed by a presentation, albeit brief, of two fundamental fault lines separating the prevailing conventional approach and Kapp's heterodox one: the concept of efficiency adopted and the way in which the question of valuation of social costs is viewed.

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Section: Social Costs As the Results Of A Lack Of Marketsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Costs: Where Does the Market End?*

Neves¹

2012

rccsar

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“…It is in this discipline that efficiency as a value, morphs into a seemingly observable natural phenomenon. Economist Daniel W. Bromley (1990) put his finger on this precise process when he wrote: "'economic efficiency' has no logical claim to 'objectivity. '…”

Section: Re-enchantment As Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hicks and Kaldor argued that how people used these goods to increase their welfare should be left up to political scientists and sociologists. This division of academic jurisdiction-in conjunction with the myth of a self-regulating market-meant that hot-button issues like income distribution were a matter of policy instead of economic analysis (Bromley, 1990;Gowdy, 2004).…”

Section: Re-enchantment As Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

Anti-authoritarian metrics: recursivity as a strategy for post-capitalism

Banks

2016

TEKN

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This essay proposes that those seeking to build counter-power institutions and communities learn to think in terms of what I call "recursivity." Recursivity is an antiauthoritarian metric that helps bring about a sensitivity to feedback loops at multiple levels of organization. I begin by describing how technological systems and the socio-economic order co-constitute one-another around efficiency metrics. I then go on to define recursivity as social conditions that contain within them all of the parts and practices for their maturation and KEYWORDSEfficiency; counter-power; organizational design; rationalization; recursion. RESUMENEste artículo propone pensar en la construcción de instituciones y comunidades de contrapoder a partir del concepto que denomino "recursividad". Recursividad es una métrica antiautoritaria que contribuye a la percepción de los bucles de retroalimentación del valor social en diferentes niveles organizativos. En el texto, comienzo por describir cómo los sistemas tecnológicos y el orden socioeconómico se co-constituyen mutuamente en torno a métricas de eficiencia. Después, paso a definir la recursividad como las condiciones sociales que contienen en su interior todos los elementos necesarios para su maduración y expansión. Asimismo, muestro cómo todas las organizaciones dotadas de recursividad, como los históricos commons ingleses, han sido marginadas o destruidas. Por último, me enfoco en cómo el principio de la propiedad privada de los bienes de producción es inherentemente antitética a los circuitos cerrados de recursividad. Todo el artículo está enfocado hacia el estudio de planificación urbana desde principios recursivos.

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“…Economists like to believe they are "valuefree." If so, they will replace the "tragedy of the commons" with "the tragedy of overuse" and often will ascribe overuse to suppressing common rights, not upholding them (Bromley, 1990;Wantrup and Bishop, 1975).…”

Section: "Rent-seeking" Perverts the Marketmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Taxable Surplus in Water Resources

Gaffney

1992

Contemporary Economic Policy

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Taxes or rental charges for water use are bearable and legal and would spur water economy, but the following fallacies impede acceptance of these ideas: (1) water rights are real property, (ii) a charge on water would be passed on to consumers, (iii) the cost of water is just its development cost, (iv) markets solve most problems if property rights are firm, (v) only consumptive use is a social cost, and (vi) common rights must spell tragedy. This paper dispels these fallacies while advocating taxation and/or rental charges for water use.

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The ideology of efficiency: Searching for a theory of policy analysis

Cited by 201 publications

References 14 publications

Social Costs: Where Does the Market End?*

Social Costs: Where Does the Market End?*

Anti-authoritarian metrics: recursivity as a strategy for post-capitalism

The Taxable Surplus in Water Resources

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