This IEA publication deals head-on with a number of widely quoted myths about the market economy. In the case of the philosophical myths, such as the idea that economists believe that everybody is greedy, the author, Christopher Snowdon, carefully and entertainingly unpicks the misguided ideas...

This chapter reviews the recent debate about the role of social capital in economics. We argue that all the difficulties this concept has encountered in economics are due to a vague and excessively broad definition. For this reason, we restrict social capital to the set of values and beliefs...

In Block and Barnett (2005), we make the case that the best way to promote peace and prosperity, to protect the environment and fight poverty is to rein in government to the greatest extent possible. Each of our critics (Batten and Szilagyi 2005; Higgins 2005; Jonker 2005) challenges this thesis, and we...

Despite Westphalian notions of the social contract as an instrument that secures rights and freedoms, the social contract is not a guarantor of rights and freedoms as demonstrated by intellectuals such as Hegel, Marx and Foucault

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) and Karl Marx (1818-1883) showed future generations the principles to understand industrialization as the birth of cultural and social phenomena connected to the division of labour. Furthermore, these authors combined contrasting elements such as...

This chapter reviews the recent debate about the role of social capital in economics. We argue that all the difficulties this concept has encountered in economics are due to a vague and excessively broad definition. For this reason, we restrict social capital to the set of values and beliefs...

This chapter reviews the recent debate about the role of social capital in economics. We argue that all the difficulties this concept has encountered in economics are due to a vague and excessively broad definition. For this reason, we restrict social capital to the set of values and beliefs...

Portuguese Abstract: Segundo a perspetiva Marxista tradicional – do chamado "materialismo dialético" – toda e qualquer realidade (natural, física, social, etc.) é em si mesma contraditória, dialética, devendo a ciência ser baseada nessa mesma dialética "materialista". Lucio Colletti,...