The Dark Side of the Force: Economic Foundations of Conflict Theory

by Jack Hirshleifer

• ISBN13: 9780521804127
• ISBN10: 0521804124
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-10-08
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• More Book Details

Summary

The central tradition of mainline economics deals with one way of making a living; producing goods and services. But there is another way of getting ahead through conflict or the 'dark side', by appropriating what others have produced. Parallel to military aggression and resistance, the dark side includes non-military activities such as litigation, strikes and lockouts, takeover contests, and bureaucratic back-biting struggles. This volume brings the analysis of conflict into the mainstream of economics. Part I explores the causes, conduct, and consequences of conflict as an economic activity. Part II delves deeply into the evolutionary sources of our capacities, physical and mental, for both conflict and cooperation. The introductory chapter of the volume, which outlines the significance of the dark side, was the author's 1993 Presidential Address to the Western Economic Association. Other chapters investigate economic models, historical discussions, experimental tests, and applications to topics in political science and law.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Introduction	1	(6)
The Dark Side of the Force: Western Economic Association International 1993 Presidential Address	7	(18)
PART ONE CAUSES, CONSEQUENCES, AND CONDUCT OF CONFLICT
The Bioeconomic Causes of War	25	(18)
The Paradox of Power	43	(25)
Do the Rich Get Richer and the Poor Poorer? Experimental Tests of a Model of Power	68	(21)
Conflict and Rent-Seeking Success Functions: Ratio vs. Difference Models of Relative Success	89	(13)
Anarchy and Its Breakdown	102	(29)
Truth, Effort, and the Legal Battle	131	(33)
Evan Osborne
Are Equilibrium Strategies Unaffected by Incentives?	164	(19)
Eric Rasmusen
PART TWO EVOLUTIONARY APPROACHES TO CONFLICT AND ITS RESOLUTION
Evolutionary Models in Economics and Law: Cooperation versus Conflict Strategies	183	(15)
On the Emotions as Guarantors of Threats and Promises	198	(22)
What Strategies Can Support the Evolutionary Emergence of Cooperation?	220	(31)
Juan Carlos Martinez Coll
Selection, Mutation, and the Preservation of Diversity in Evolutionary Games	251	(28)
Juan Carlos Martinez Coll
There Are Many Evolutionary Pathways to Cooperation	279	(27)
The Expanding Domain of Economics	306	(37)
Name Index	343	(4)
Subject Index	347