1、iPareto, Economics and SocietyVilfredo Pareto was one of the great systems theorists of the twentieth century.His systems embraced theories of economics, psychology, sociology andpolitics. In this important work, Michael McLure takes as his subject of studythe rapport between Paretos economic and so
2、ciological approaches to theory,and consequently illuminates the role of economics in public policydevelopment.A central theme of this book is the overarching role of the mechanicalanalogy in all of Paretos work. Important aspects and implications of Paretoswork considered by the author includerelat
3、ions between pure economic theory and general sociologythe problem of collective economic welfarethe juxtaposition of Paretos political sociology to Buchanans publicchoice/constitutional economicsPareto and methodologyimplications for public policy and governmentEmerging from this investigation is a
4、 new, multidisciplinary researchframework for economists, sociologists and political scientists, and aninvaluable Paretian framework for the study of government and publicpolicy.Michael McLure is a researcher for the Western Australian Treasury onmatters related to economic and financial policy. His
5、 work on Pareto includesa four-volume edited collection, with J.C.Wood, Vilfredo Pareto: CriticalAssessments (Routledge 1999).1 Economics as LiteratureWillie Henderson2 Socialism and Marginalism inEconomics 18701930Edited by Ian Steedman3 Hayeks Political EconomyThe socio-economics of orderSteve Fle
6、etwood4 On the Origins of ClassicalEconomicsDistribution and value from WilliamPetty to Adam SmithTony Aspromourgos5 The Economics of Joan RobinsonEdited by Maria Cristina Marcuzzo, LuigiPasinetti and Alesandro Roncaglia6 The Evolutionist Economics ofLon WalrasAlbert Jolink7 Keynes and the ClassicsA
7、 study in language, epistemologyand mistaken identitiesMichel Verdon8 The History of Game Theory, Vol. 1From the beginnings to 1945Robert W.Dimand and Mary AnnDimand9 The Economics of W.S.JevonsSandra Peart10 Gandhis Economic ThoughtAjit K.Dasgupta11 Equilibrium and Economic TheoryEdited by Giovanni
8、 Caravale12 Austrian Economics in DebateEdited by Willem Keizer, Bert Tieben andRudy van Zijp13 Ancient Economic ThoughtEdited by B.B.Price14 The Political Economy of SocialCredit and Guild SocialismFrances Hutchinson and Brian Burkitt15 Economic CareersEconomics and economists inBritain 19301970Kei
9、th Tribe16 Understanding ClassicalEconomicsStudies in the long-period theoryHeinz Kurz and Neri Salvadori17 History of EnvironmentalEconomic ThoughtE.Kula18 Economic Thought inCommunist and Post-CommunistEuropeEdited by Hans-Jrgen Wagener19 Studies in the History of FrenchPolitical EconomyFrom Bodin
10、 to WalrasEdited by Gilbert Faccarello20 The Economics of John RaeEdited by O.F.Hamouda, C.Lee andD. Mair21 Keynes and the NeoclassicalSynthesisEinsteinian versus NewtonianmacroeconomicsTeodoro Dario Togati22 Historical Perspectives onMacroeconomicsSixty years after the General TheoryEdited by Phili
11、ppe Fontaine andAlbert Jolink23 The Founding of InstitutionalEconomicsThe leisure class and sovereigntyEdited by Warren J.Samuels24 Evolution of Austrian EconomicsFrom Menger to LachmannSandye GloriaRoutledge Studies in the History of Economics25 Marxs Concept of Money: The God ofCommoditiesAnitra N
12、elson26 The Economics of James SteuartEdited by Ramn Tortajada27 The Development of Economicsin Europe since 1945Edited by A.W.Bob Coats28 The Canon in the History ofEconomicsCritical essaysEdited by Michalis Psalidopoulos29 Money and GrowthSelected papers of Allyn Abbott YoungEdited by Perry G.Mehr
13、ling andRoger J. Sandilands30 The Social Economics of Jean-Baptiste SayMarkets and virtueEvelyn L.Forget31 The Foundations of Laissez-FaireThe economics of Pierre de BoisguilbertGilbert Faccarello32 John Ruskins Political EconomyWillie Henderson33 Contributions to the History ofEconomic ThoughtEssay
14、s in honour of R.D.C.BlackEdited by Antoin E.Murphy andRenee Prendergast34 Towards an Unknown MarxA commentary on the manuscriptsof 186163Enrique Dussel35 Economics and InterdisciplinaryExchangeEdited by Guido Erreygers36 Economics as the Art of ThoughtEssays in honour of G.L.S.ShackleEdited by Step
15、hen F.Frowen and Peter Earl37 The Decline of RicardianEconomicsPolitics and economics in post-Ricardian theorySusan Pashkoff38 Piero SraffaHis life, thought and cultural heritageAlessandro Roncaglia39 Equilibrium and Disequilibriumin Economic TheoryThe Marshall-Walras divideEdited by Michel de Vroey
16、40 The German Historical SchoolThe historical and ethical approachto economicsEdited by Yuichi Shionoya41 Reflections on the ClassicalCanon in EconomicsEssays in honor of Samuel HollanderEdited by Sandra Peart and EvelynForget42 Piero Sraffas Political EconomyA centenary estimateEdited by Terenzio C
17、ozzi andRoberto Marchionatti43 The Contribution of JosephA.Schumpeter to EconomicsRichard Arena and Cecile D angel44 On the Development of Long-run NeoClassical TheoryTom Kompas45 Economic Analysis and PoliticalEconomy in the Thought of HayekEdited by Thierry Aimar and JackBirner46 Pareto, Economics
18、 and SocietyThe mechanical analogyMichael McLurePareto, Economics andSocietyThe mechanical analogyMichael McLureLondon and New YorkFirst published 2001by Routledge11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EESimultaneously published in the USA and Canadaby Routledge29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001Routl
19、edge is an imprint of the Taylor theories of knowledge, psychology, and power; theoriesof elites and of the circulation of elites; theories of logical and non-logicalconduct; and, inter alia, theories not only of gains from trade but of powerand mutual manipulation, with knowledge and pseudo-knowled
20、ge amongthe instruments of power in the manipulation of psychic states. The notionof Pareto optimality hardly reflects what Pareto believed was actually goingon in society, economy and polityor, for that matter, in the minds ofindividual economic actors.The neglect of his larger understanding and to
21、tal system, however, isdue, to no small degree, to Pareto himself. Pareto was one of a relativehandful of economists who emphasised the combination of optimality andequilibrium as analytical tools. The twin foundational features of neoclassicaleconomics thus are due in part to him: first, the pictur
22、ing of the economy interms of a pure abstract a-institutional conceptual model of the market; andsecond, the neoclassical research protocol calling for the production of unique,determinate, equilibrium, optimal results.Still, given the broad compass of Paretos total system and the complexityof the m
23、ultiplicity of elements that comprise that system, it is not surprisingthat his system can be interpreted, formulated and extended in differentways. In this respect, Paretos total system is akin to that of Adam Smith.Smiths system includes the three domains of moral sentiments and rules,law and gove
24、rnment, and market, and rests on diverse paradigmaticfoundations: naturalism, supernaturalism, empiricism, utilitarianism,xisecularism, pragmatism, historicism, and more. Whereas the broad outlinesof Smiths system are clear, both their meaning and significance and theirrelations to questions of poli
25、cy are not, and multiple interpretations haveensued. The same is true of Pareto.The matter is more complicated. The interpretation of Pareto varies, first,with ones choice of general interpretive standpoint; second, with onesspecific formulation of that standpoint; third, with how one specifies Pare
26、tosevolving ideas, i.e. which of his publications one deploys; and fourth, withones choice of a basis of comparison. Apropos of the last, Michael McLurejuxtaposes James Buchanans ideas to those of Pareto. But Buchanans ideashave evolved in material respects; and instead of Buchanan, McLure mighthave
27、 used Friedrich von Hayek, whose ideas, too, have not only alsoundergone change but have been given different readings.McLures work pursues one general line of development, advancingParetos mechanistic approach while endeavouring both to maintainsomething of the breadth of his system and to distingu
28、ish between conclusionspertaining to form and to substance. McLure develops1 the relation between pure economic theory and general sociology2 the use of mechanism and determinism3 the relation of Paretos categories of logical and non-logical conduct inlight of items 1 and 24 the problem of collectiv
29、e economic welfare5 the juxtaposition of Paretos political sociology to Buchanans publicchoice/constitutional economics6 the implications for public policy and governmentThe result is not Pareto; it is not as much, if at all, an attempt to restatePareto in modern terms, as it is a reformulation and
30、extension of Pareto inthe modern mode. One wonders how Pareto would react to this work:would he applaud McLures formulation and use of mechanism anddeterminism, of form and substance, and of stable and unstable socialequilibria, or would he lament the loss of open-endedness and even ofambiguity char
31、acteristic of his total system of interdependence over time?McLure is very complimentary about my work on Pareto, now over aquarter-century old. Both my agenda and my analytical methods are differentfrom McLures, and I am not entirely comfortable with, first, his specifictreatment of my work in rega
32、rd to his notions of freedom as change andcontrol as continuity, and of government and the policy process; and second,with what, of Paretos total system, he has had to finesse in order to reachhis analytical equilibrium conclusions. The informed reader will appreciatethat I have no quarrel with McLu
33、re; my displeasure is with the modernmode of doing economics that uses equilibrium and optimality in a mannerthat tends to emasculate much of what is so interesting and important inxii ForewordParetos total systemthe process of interdependence among knowledge,psychology and power variables.Nonethele
34、ss, McLures approach and his interpretation and extension ofParetos analysis are legitimate and lead to much thought and reflection.Given the approach McLure has taken, he reaches many insightful conclusions.If some or muchbut not allof what Pareto considered important isfinessed, Pareto has largely
35、 only himself to blame!One of McLures conclusions may be cited. He writes thatWhen there is political instability associated with forces for change inthe substance and form of government, public policy cannot beconsidered in isolation from action to modify the balance of politicalpower, and a positi
36、ve theory of public policy (as defined from thisstudy) cannot be developed.This conclusion derives from at least two things. First, that analysis of staticstable equilibrium is highly limited in regard to the analysis of power. Thesubstantive conclusions are a function of, and give effect to, the st
37、ructure ofpower (governing whose interests count, say, as a cost to others), such thatrejection of the substantive conclusions compels consideration of changingthe structure of power. Second, the particular specification of a positivetheory of public policy used in the study, which is narrower than
38、the broadestone to be found in Pareto.Neither McLures nor my treatment of Pareto will be final. Pareto is soimportant, in my view, that much more work along his lines is eminentlywarranted.McLures work is a significant contribution. Indeed, if it succeeds inexpanding the domain of public choice/cons
39、titutional economics it will havemore than compensated for having to finesse some of Paretos ideas. Evenbetter, if it succeeds in expanding Paretian economics beyond Paretooptimality in the minds of economists, it would be a huge success.Foreword xiiiPrefaceThe research programme that culminated in
40、this book followed from thechance discovery of a selection of Paretos work in 1994, during a break inan evening class on the Italian language. While aimlessly browsing theeconomics shelves at the university library, my curiosity was aroused bytwo sets because they were written in Italian; one entitl
41、ed Corso di EconomiaPolitica (Pareto 1949a, 1949b), the other entitled Lettere a Maffeo Pantaleoni(Pareto 1960a, 1960b, 1960c). Both sets were written by Vilfredo Pareto,with the latter edited by Gabriele de Rosa.On first examination I was intrigued. Not only did they appear to beimportant documents
42、 for historians of economics, they also shed considerablelight on the role of economics in public policy development within its politicalcontext. The latter point was particular interesting to me. At the time, I wasemployed by the Western Australian Treasury Department to research revenuepolicy matt
43、ers, and had often contemplated the limits of economic theoryfor policy purposes and how social factors should be considered. Followingthe discovery of these volumes, a profound interest in Paretos contributionto the study of economics and society soon emerged.The consequent research programme which
44、 developed, and which resultedin this book, focused on the relationship between Paretos pure economicsand general sociology. The central point of reference for the programmewas Paretos analogy with mechanics, with the consequent rapport betweenthese two theoretical approaches to social phenomena exa
45、mined to determinewhether it could provide a suitable framework for the study of governmentand public policy.This book is a socio-economic study. It attaches considerable importanceto Paretos successive approximations approach to science and, related tothis, his variation in the level of determinism
46、 in pure theory when socialforces are either stable or unstable. The study culminates in the developmentof a synthetic framework for the study of government and public policy.This should be regarded as a suggested Taretian framework for the study ofpolitical conduct, rather than Paretos framework.I
47、believe that this book makes three worthwhile contributions: it correctserrors in the economic literature on Paretos mechanical analogy; it clarifiesfindings in the secondary literature on Pareto and policy; and it enhancesxivthe existing literature by introducing a particular synthesis to the study
48、 ofpolitics.Interestingly, this manuscript has been finalised for publication at a timewhen there is a renewed interest in the European continent in the work ofPareto. The trigger for this revival appears to be the one hundredth anniversaryof Paretos first major economic work, the two-volume French
49、languageCours dEconomie Politique, first published in 1896 and 1897. The increasednumber of articles and publications on Pareto provides clear evidence ofthis renewed interest. There are three particularly important examples. Volume3 of the 1997 (Italian produced) journal, History of Economic Ideas, is devotedto Pareto and his Cours. The papers from the 1997 conference on Paretoand the Cours at the University of Turin are currently in preparation forpublication as a book (Malandrin and Marchionatti, forthcoming). Finally,
