Theory in Economic Anthropology

by Ensminger, Jean; Gwako, Edwins Laban; Acheson, James M.; Earle, Timothy; Hunt, Robert C.; Bell, Duran; Durrenberger, E. Paul; Cohen, Jeffrey H.; Obukhova, Elena; Hansen, Karen Tranberg; Wilk, Richard; Henrich, Joseph; Winslow, Deborah

• ISBN13: 9780759102057
• ISBN10: 0759102058
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-12-20
• Publisher: AltaMira Press

Summary

This new volume from the Society for Economic Anthropology examines the unique contributions of anthropologists to general economic theory. The authors challenge our understanding of human economies in the expanding global systems of interaction, with models and analyses from cross-cultural research. The book will be a valuable resource for anthropologists, economists, economic historians, political economists, and economic development specialists.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Introduction Theory in Economic Anthropology at the Turn of the Century	ix
Jean Ensminger
Part I The New Institutionalism	1	(78)
Property Rights and Incentives for Agricultural Growth: Women Farmers' Crop Control and Their Use of Agricultural Inputs	3	(24)
Edwins Laban M. Gwako
Transaction Cost Economics: Accomplishments, Problems, and Possibilities	27	(32)
James M. Acheson
Experimental Economics: A Powerful New Method for Theory Testing in Anthropology	59	(20)
Jean Ensminger
Part II Rethinking Wealth, Exchange, and the Evolution of Social Institutions	79	(56)
Commodity Flows and the Evolution of Complex Societies	81	(24)
Timothy Earle
Economic Transfers and Exchanges: Concepts for Describing Allocations	105	(14)
Robert C. Hunt
Polanyi and the Definition of Capitalism	119	(16)
Duran Bell
Part III Small Producers Interacting with the Wider World	135	(62)
Chayanov and Theory in Economic Anthropology	137	(18)
E. Paul Durrenberger
Nicola Tanneenbaum
Space, Place, and Economic Anthropology: Locating Potters in a Sri Lankan Landscape	155	(28)
Deborah Winslow
Indians, Markets, and Transnational Studies in Mesoamerican Anthropology: Predicaments and Opportunities	183	(14)
Jeffrey H. Cohen
Part IV Commodity Chains and the Formal/Informal Sector Distinction	197	(40)
Transcending the Formal/Informal Distinction: Commercial Relations in Africa and Russia in the Post-1989 World	199	(22)
Elena Obukhova
Jane I. Guyer
Commodity Chains and the International Secondhand Clothing Trade: Salaula and the Work of Consumption in Zambia	221	(16)
Karen Tranberg Hansen
Part V The Role for ``Big Theory'' in Economic Anthropology	237	(59)
When Good Theories Go Bad: Theory in Economic Anthropology and Consumer Research	239	(12)
Richard Wilk
Decision Making, Cultural Transmission, and Adaptation in Economic Anthropology	251	(45)
Joseph Henrich
Index	296	(17)
About the Contributors	313