Andreas Bergh is associate professor in Economics at Lund university and fellow at the Research Institute of Industrial Economics in Stockholm.

His research concerns the welfare state, institutions, development, globalization, trust and social norms.

He has published in journals such as European Economic Review, World Development, European Sociological Review and Public Choice. He is the author of 'Sweden and the revival of the capitalist welfare state" (Edward Elgar, 2014).

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apr152012

Liars and outliars av Bruce Schneier

IMG 1466En bok som verkar sympatisk: Liars & Outliers av Bruce Schneier. Några utdrag ur Arnold Klings recension:

He says that there are four "societal pressures" that induce cooperation: moral pressures (internalized desires to cooperate); the value of reputation; institutional and legal incentives; and security systems. …

Kling citerar följande ur boken:

From the perspective of trust, societal dilemmas involve a Red Queen Effect. On one hand, defectors should evolve to be able to better able to fool cooperators. And on the other, cooperators should evolve to better recognize defectors. It's a race between the ability to deceive and the ability to detect deception.

Samt

Schneier sprinkles a fair amount of this anti-corporate rhetoric into the book. The classic pro-market defense would be that Facebook is induced by market forces (consumer demand, competition) to act as its users' agent. However, I could concede that those market forces work less than perfectly. Still, I would suggest that government acts quite imperfectly as an agent for consumers, also. To be sure, Schneier does not turn to government as the all-purpose solution for market imperfections, and in that regard he shows more wisdom than most mainstream economists.

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Reader Comments (1)

Håller med Kling om den lite slentrianmässiga företagskritiken, men boken är klart läsvärd. Däremot är det - surprise, surprise - snarare en bra debatt/översiktsbok (principal-agent-problem, regulatory capture, diverse spelexempel, reciprok altruism av mer eller mindre generaliserat slag...) än Den Stora Sammanhållande Förtroendeteorin som omslaget utlovar.

(utvecklat annorstädes: http://www.svensktidskrift.se/?p=43263 )
16 apr | Unregistered CommenterAnders M.L.

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